1

Danny could see the dead. He even spoke to them. But, the fact that he didn’t knew about his uniqueness, was a mystery.

During the summer vacation, Danny travels.

This summer, the fourteen-year-old Danny ‘Djinn’ da Costa was at Valencia, Mangalore – a coastal town, down the South of India, which mostly smells of salt and fish. He never smoked (the boys of his age would die to taste a Rothmans or maybe even a local Beedi or some going to an extent of weed, pride of a teenage possession you see) or boozed or flirted with short-skirted sashaying girls.

Not that he was a tight upper-lipped boy, rather, this was because, he did not belong to this town. He had come here for a visit, and was staying at his uncle Donald’s home, an army officer, which by default, commanded all sorts of discipline that would even turn a vagabond, sincere.

Infact, he had come to visit his only cousin, Alfie Benett, six years elder to him, and with a contrasting mind and tummy. Alfie was a smart lad, very good at studies and chess. Contrasting because, the smart demeanour was beaten by his mindless eating. He always ate and he ate a lot (no swallowed). He would just come home and grab a snack from the refrigerator and wash it with soda. Observing Alf eat was a wonder. One would question, where does he get the time to digest all that goes in? Sometimes Danny believed Alfie was a cow – just swallowed his food and digested the cud at leisure.

Alf would be at the college during the day, and in the evening, he would be seen doing the homework, and then on, the long nights stretching on the bed watching movies or listening to Oasis.

Well, that was the boring part for Danny. He had no one to speak. Alf had given him access to the laptop and the Internet, but, for a growing lad like Danny, he needed a good company – at least during this short vacation.

This led Danny to a confused thinking, if he was a bore or if he were incomplete. Sometimes, he would walk to Alf and lay his hand on his shoulders while he’d been watching a movie. Once Alf returned home pissed and had given Danny a stare, which answered all his doubts that he was not interested in Danny’s company.

That left Danny alone and to explore the new territory on his own.

Valencia was lined with old Portuguese and Victorian style villas, with abundance of greenery. So, he would roam around, sometimes, visiting the park or visiting the old library at Attavar.

2

Danny borrowed books from the library using Alf’s ID, mostly Stephen King’s. He’d sit in the garden and read the book. One day, as he was engrossed in reading, he noticed a window open. He looked up and it was a wooden window of a neighbouring Victorian bungalow, belonging to Mr and Mrs. Komti. He probably would have ignored it, until he saw someone standing there and looking at him.

It was still dusk, and in the twilight, he would not be fooled by any apparition. It was just that clear. As he looked up, he saw a fair young girl in a pale-yellow tunic, perhaps of his own age he thought, turn around swirling her spread curly hair and close the window. Danny thought, she was beautiful and he was in love.

He kept gazing at the window for another few minutes but there was no response. The girl never came again.

He would not dare ask his aunt Molly, who the neighbour was and Alf was a trouble anyway. So, he decided to let it pass by.

At around 8 pm post dinner, as he stood by the window of the first floor to take a look (curiosity gets the better of one’s wants) at the neighbouring house, he saw the same girl seated on a swing looking at the full moon.

For the first time that he was at Valencia, Danny was a happy boy, and he smiled.

Without a time to lose, he ran into his room. Alf wasn’t there, maybe still at his tuitions. He checked himself in the mirror and thought he was okay. In front of him, and in the wardrobe was Alfie’s items, which only men used and he knew he was just a boy. He took courage to try them all (love challenges anything as they say). He combed his hair, applied cologne on his beardless chin, applied brilliantine on his hair, and then finally, applied the best of perfumes.

Once he was satisfied, he ran to the window to double check. The girl was still there swinging. He ran down the stairs and to the garden.

3

The sound of footsteps crunching the loose gravel startled the girl, who looked at that direction. Danny was standing there like a hero of a 2000’s movie.

‘Hi,’ he said.

The girl smiled, but, continued swinging and staring at him.

Such a response would have made anybody uneasy, but, not Danny.

‘I’am Danny. Your next-door neighbour,’ he said.

Although Danny was a handsome lad and had spoken to some pretty girls (of his age and those elder to him) before, he had a second thought whether his charm would work on this girl. He had never tried this before and he believed his inexperience was showing out there on centre stage.

The girl just nodded and asked him to come near him doing a hand gesture.

Danny smiled and sat beside the girl on the swing. The girl continued her smile. She was an angel, he’d thought. His heart was beating faster.

‘Is there no power in your house?’ he asked for a start, pointing to the massive old bungalow with no lights. Not even a candle was glowing from the inside. The entire building was pitch dark. An odd setup amidst the evening lights.

‘Well, yeah! Maybe’ she said and gave a soft laugh. ‘Are you new in town?’

‘How did you guess?’ he asked.

‘Its easy. I haven’t seen you since I arrived here,’ she said.

‘Yeah, what a dunce I’am, ain’t it?’ he said. ‘I’am Alfie’s cousin by the way, he is your real neighbour.’

‘That’s nice. Are you the one from Bangalore? And trying to be friends with big Alf,’ she asked.

‘Hey, how do you know all that. Is that a wild guess?’ he asked.

‘Maybe yeah, maybe no,’ she said.

‘That Alf is an ass-hole, isn’t it? Doesn’t know how to be a pal.’

‘Take it easy. Does he still eat those potato chips?’ she asked.

‘Yeah and he farts every 5 minutes, BANG…, and says its all wind from the pipe. I know it is a lie, as it is more obnoxious than the one coming out from an exhaust of a chemical plant. He knows that too, but, he just grins. That annoys me the most.’

The girl laughed.

‘What is your name?’ he asked.

‘I’am sorry. My name is Saina. You can call me Rose,’ she said.

‘Well, hello Rose. That’s a good pet name to have.’

She just smiled.

‘So, what are you doing outside in this chilly night Rose? You might get a cold bout.’

‘I’am cold already,’ she said and laughed. ‘You need not worry about that. I was here for you,’ she said.

‘What do you mean? You were here for me? I don’t understand,’ he said.

‘I know you would come to meet me because its only you who had seen me in days. Because, its only you who have it in you,’ she said.

‘What have I got in me, sorry?’ he asked. ‘Is that a wild guess of something which you say I have as a super hero?’ he asked.

Danny was beginning to believe that the girl was trying to add him as her friend.

‘Hmm.. well, you are close, but, its not a wild guess. But I will just keep it a suspense for now,’ she said. ‘It’s a peek to paradise and you are just so unique.’

‘You must be joking at a poor guy who is new in town, isn’t it?’

‘Haha, no. I don’t infact,’ she said.  ‘I know of many things. I’d been like this for a while, seeking information from this universe, you see.’ The girl looked serious for a moment and she continued staring at the full moon.

‘Really? I wonder how?’ he asked.

The girl looked at him straight into his eyes. ‘I was like you. Too curious to know. Perhaps that made me what I’am now,’ she said.

Danny was puzzled.

She continued. ‘Perhaps you might not have noticed there are too many unanswered things that exists in this world. Seeking those answers would take a lifetime, my friend.’

‘You are different,’ he said.

‘You mean strange?’ she asked.

‘No, something like those intellectual guys out there. You speak of some things that I cannot comprehend,’ he said.

‘Well, tomorrow, you will be answered,’ she said.

‘What is that?’

‘You have a new talent now. I can sense that. That is what I’ve learnt from you. I examine my subjects and tell them what they are. Its only me who can tell these things to you. No one else can tell that, at least in their lifetime. Unfortunately, there are not many, except you.’

‘Haha. That is a joke. The only talent that I must have, is to probably roam around and meet new people,’ he said.

She smiled again and paused.

‘My parents are coming tomorrow. Would you like to meet them?’ she asked.

‘Well, why not?’ he said. ‘Perhaps you could introduce me to them.’

‘That, I presume they would do for sure,’ she said.

Danny was feeling a bit bored and irritated. This wasn’t going as he had expected. The girl was weird he’d thought.

‘Meaning?’ he asked.

‘I mean, I might not be there then,’ she said looking at the full moon again.

‘Well, going out somewhere, I guess?’ he asked.

She remained silent for a while. They both looked at each other.

‘I’d been to Bangalore once. Its such a nice place. Wish I could go there again,’ she said.

‘Yeah indeed, where have you been in Bangalore?’ he asked.

‘To my aunty’s place. She lives in Basavanagudi. Such a haven,’

‘Yes, of course. These are old places in Bangalore,’ he said.

‘Yes. Old places with a lot of memories. Just like this house. Memories are hard to let go,’ she said.

‘You like your house. I do mine myself. But, I prefer to stay detached,’ he said.

‘No…. No…, That is a false. How can one be detached of something that is treasured so deep in one’s heart. That stays in your memories. It is just not possible to remain detached. The stronger your memory, is due to your emotional existence with it, which then brings a lot of memories, my dear,’ she said.

‘Woah! I don’t know all this gibberish. I just am being honest with you. As a traveller, I like to roam and that brings joy. A lot of fun. There is no point in being attached to anything. Do you know what I mean?’ he said.

‘Perhaps tomorrow will change your perspective,’ she said.

‘What’s so special about tomorrow?’

‘You wait and watch,’ she said.

Danny realized that the girl was crazy and perhaps a loner too. No-one might want to have a girlfriend, with such an outcast. He just wanted to run away from there. But did not know how. Staying lonely is better at times.

Danny just gazed the ground adjusting his sweat shirt.

As if she had read his mind, she responded.

‘You should be leaving now, Danny. I think you are irritated,’ she said.

Danny just got up, rubbed his nose and walked away from the swing without uttering anything and without turning back.

Once he reached the door, he felt it wasn’t polite to have left that place in such a rude manner. Probably, he should have said a ‘Bye’.

When he eventually turned back to look at that girl, he found no one. The swing has stopped swinging.

4

Dawn came much quicker and Danny was still in bed, with the past shut behind him.

Unknowingly to him, the neighbourhood was abuzz with people looking pitifully at Mr and Mrs. Komti, who had just entered their bungalow. Many were standing and murmuring in a light tone not to grab their attention. Even Kuppusamy, the locality beggar doing his morning rounds, was standing and watching.

When Danny woke up, he was in a sort of hangover of yesterday’s happenings. For a change, Alf found Danny amusing when Danny was thinking.

‘What’s up chum? Why the sullen face?’ he asked Danny.

‘I find this very annoying. You Mangalorean’s are bit daft at times,’ he said.

‘Why do you say?’

‘That Saina. Isn’t she annoying. How do you even manage with her?’

‘Who Saina?’ he asked.

‘Why, your neighbour, of course?’ he asked.

‘What the heck man. She is dead for a week. Her parents are gone for her funeral in Andhra. That is where she stayed during her last days. They have reached today morning, I suppose.’

‘What?’ he gasped.

‘How do you know her? Did you speak to her? Do you have it in you to see the dead?’ Alfie joked.

‘No, just by some passer-by who narrated her story,’ he brushed it aside.

He walked to the window to see Mr. Komti speaking to some people and closing the gate. Looking at him was Rose standing near the gate.

She then looked up towards Danny. Danny just turned away from the window aghast.

As the day brightened, so did Saina’s words make sense to him. Something that he only possesses, Danny could now see, and not just see, but, communicate with the dead.

—-

I write this story after feeling greatly impressed and inspired, reading my favourite author Stephen King’s novel, ‘Later’, in which the protagonist sees the dead.

Its not a scary feeling to write this ghost story, but infact, I enjoy writing ghost stories and will keep writing them, whenever, the juice of inspiration is high on me.

Hope you people enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.