What The Eyes Don't See

21 | The School Magazine

"Of course, you can! I won't mind it at all. In fact, I will love it."

Anay nodded. He felt the magazine tucked inside his hoodie. He took it out and handed it over to Kautuk.

Kautuk's brow creased. "What is this?"

"Vishwa had this. He got it in my house."

Kautuk flipped through the pages. He saw Anay's name under the poem and stopped and smiled for a moment. Then he leafed through the other pages and came to the last page with the photograph. He lingered there for a while, then squinted at it, and finally pointed at Anay's face. "You were one handsome dude, man!"

Anay laughed.

"But why did Vishwa have it?"

"That's what I am going to find out."

Kautuk held his gaze.

"I am going to ask Shanaya," Anay said finally. "She's in the photograph, look. She might have some clue."

Kautuk's hand had been resting on Anay's shoulder so far. It moved. A shadow crossed his face. "We have had this talk before, Anay. Be careful about her."

"I am," he said, "but this is the only way to find out."

Anay rose then and signaled Kautuk to move out of the room with him.

***

It was around the seventh apology after which she turned to look at his face.

They were in a café near the jewelry shop she worked in. Being lunchtime, she had managed to get an hour off from her boss. Anay had called her but she didn't receive the call, then sent a long message of apology, and then called again. She agreed to come to meet but the anger was still on her.

"Shanaya, you have to trust me," he said. "If I said something, it was only because I was worried for your safety. I didn't want you to come to any harm."

"Spoken like a man!" she scoffed. "Worried for his girl's safety. Please stop talking, Anay."

"I don't mean it like that, Shanaya. Please don't judge me before you hear my story. I know it was my fault that I didn't tell you about it earlier, but that's what I am here for now."

She turned to look at him and then glanced at her watch. "Twenty minutes is what I have," she said, "and then I have to get back to the boss who keeps ogling my bosom."

"Okay, then!" Anay took a long sip of his iced tea and then began. In the next five minutes, he gave her a synopsis of all that had happened. He told her even the gory stuff; for once, he let himself go. The look in her eyes became more and more intense as he narrated each event, and that made him tell her more. He stopped at Vishwa's accident. By that time, her jaw had fallen open in amazement.

"What the—" she said, letting out the long breath that she had been holding in so far. "Is this for real, Anay? What the hell did you just tell me?"

"It's true, Shanaya, each and every word of it. Just as it happened. I am being haunted by a spirit. He is all around me, and I have no clue why he has latched on to me. But I know that he has been fucking each and every aspect of my life. And that is why I am so scared for you and... and..."

"So, what changed? Why did you call me now?"

"For this." Anay extracted the magazine from inside his hoodie and threw it on the table.

"This?" Shanaya picked it up. Despite everything, a smile grew on her lips. "Oh my God! You still have this? It's our tenth-grade school magazine."