Ink is thicker than water

2. The whisperer

"Good night, honey." I snuggled up closer to my husband.

He kissed the top of my head and whispered"Good night, love."

And exactly at the moment we both leaned in for a kiss, our bedroom door burst open.

"Momma, Papa!" My son and daughter, who were five year olds, jumped on our bed and laid down between us.

"Cockblock." I saw my husband mouth to me and did a futile attempt of muffling my laughter.

"You two not asleep yet?" I asked them both pulling the comforter over the four of us.

"No." My daughter, who looked really cute with her front teeth gone recently, told.

"Tell us a story." My son piped in.

"Yeah, tell us a story." My husband joined in with them.

"No, the three of you are going to sleep now and tomorrow you will hear a story from me. " I told them and turned to switch off the lights.

"No story, no sleep."

"Argh, fine."

I turn back to face them and think for some time about what story to tell them.

"Once upon a time, a -" I was instantly cut off when my kids began yelling 'no' at the top of their voices.

"We want something real." My son spoke up.

"Tell us your love story." My daughter had no trouble coming up with a genre.

I thought about the story I wanted to say for a really long time but never found the right time.

"Sure." I say Indian style on my bed and faced the three people I call my world in front of me.

"In my high school, when I was in my junior year, one of the seniors had committed suicide inside the school. I-"  I was cut-off yet again.

"I don't want our kids to listen to spooky stories. They asked our love story . Tell them about it." My husband said and I could see the tiredness in his eyes.

"Mister, you are not the only one whom I had loved." This reply of mine made him open his mouth ajar. "Besides, it's not a spooky story."

"Okay back to the story. Lots of students said that if you stayed up late in school you could actually hear him whispering. I was scared after listening to all these stories. I used to be this quiet, little, awkward girl with no friends. One day I went to the library and got lost in the world of books but I soon realised that it was fifteen past six. Sweat began to trickle my forehead as I rushed to the parking lot. But as fate would have it, the parking lot was locked and it was empty except for my car. I didn't know what to do and all the suicide stories made me really scared. At the exact moment a tear rolled down my eyes, I heard someone whisper." 

I have a dramatic pause to look at my children who looked very scared but waited for me to continue the story. So I did.

"He said 'hey, don't cry. It's alright.' I really thought it was my end but then the parking lot's gate swung open. I didn't have the time to process anything, I just took my car and sped off. But nothing unusual happened. The next day I was stuck at calculus test for which I didn't prepare at all. 'What is the answer to 5?' I kept muttering over and over again. 'It's 3.' I heard the same whisper I heard the previous day. Slowly I realised that he was not all that harmful. He only whispered answers and stuffs. He came to know that I had no friends, he even made attempts to talk to me. His name was Xavier. That day I went home and flipped the previous year's year book and searched for him and when I finally found his picture, boy I was more than impressed." I said the last sentence looking at my husband knowing the type of effect it would have on him. I could see the jealousy in his eyes.

"What happened next, Momma?"

"Well what could have happened? I fell in love with him. I started staying after school to have this long heart-to-heart conversations with him. He was also a good friend to me. Whenever I felt down or insecure he always gave me these pep talks which worked really well. Doesn't it sound comical ? Falling in love with a ghost."

"But I never found out the reason why he committed suicide. I tried asking him but whenever the topic came up , the whispers would be gone and I would be all alone. I was actually quite convinced that we were soul mates and nothing could come between us. " I told with a sad smile.

"One day in the school parking lot, a guy bumped into me. He was very rude and I called him a jerk. Xavier burst out laughing. He laughed for a really long time and when I asked him what happened he said that I was going to marry that jerk one day. That's how I met your dad for the first time." I smiled at him.

"Wait ,we actually met before college?" He asked to which I nodded my head.

"But by the way Xavier casually said I was gonna marry another guy made me realise that he didn't love me and to him I was merely a friend. I tried a lot to move on, but I couldn't. Slowly even senior year got over and I didn't go to school anymore. The whispers stopped. Then I joined college, met your dad, fell in love again. But inspite of it all, Xavier will always be my first love." By the time I finished this story, the kids were already asleep and my husband gave me this weird look.

"Is this story real?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Nope. Our love story is PG-13 so I had to make another one up." I told him and laid down next to my kids.

"Good night,baby." I called out to him.

"Good night,babe." I turned the other side and faced the wall.

"Why did you lie to them saying you didn't hear my whispers after finishing school?" I heard Xavier whisper.

"I don't want them to know about you. It doesn't feel right to me." I whispered back.

"When were you planning to tell me that you were in love with me?" I could hear the mocking tone in his whisper.

"Shut up, Xavier." I whispered back.