dream or real??

it was few minutes for midnight when someone tapped akhila on her back...

there was nothing great about that day, better call it 'working day' as akhila had been working all day and well beyond 'normal working hours'.
she had planned to leave early when she got a call from her OSC to finish some work ASAP, EOD (add any other terms which you know)... cursing him she stayed back to finish whatever crap or work he had assigned... it was around 10 when all her project mates left for a small break, which she knew would get extended for more than an hour. but she wanted to finish it ASAP and find some peace in her comfortable bed.

the entire floor had a deserted look. there was not single soul other than her s in the entire work area. it was hard to believe that this was the same place which used to be jam packed with people till day break. akhila had never experienced such silence. even water droplets from the tap in pantry was amplified n number of times. only voices to be heard were that of the guard s wireless, when he had to report status every 30 min. and sometimes voices of few house-keeping ladies who were cleaning the adjacent work area. it was very welcoming to hear a human voice now. any weak hearted would have fled from there at first possible chance... but our girl was brave(or rather pretended to be brave). probably the fact that the entire work area was illuminated was a bit comforting. she started working like a dog.

in about one and a half hour akhila finished her work and was ready to leave. she called up her flatmate whose shift ended at 12. akhila asked her to let her know when her shift was over so that both of them could leave together. she was very tired and fell asleep with her keyboard as her pillow...

it was few minutes for midnight when someone tapped akhila on her back...
it was hard to say if it was in her dream or someone had really come by. may be it was here flatmate who had come by to take her home. or may be her project mates had finally decided to come back and finish their part of work. but when she opened her eyes she could find neither any one around her nor anyone hiding to scare her... same silence greeted her... same sound of water droplets, same messages of wireless.

but something was different. what was it???
hmmmmm
oh yes. there was no light in the entire floor save her cubicle s. she perfectly remembered her monitor being on, but now it had been turned off someone had visited her cubicle for sure. also there was a note on her board saying "do not waste power"
'it must be abhishek, he and his stupid "save power" ideas!!! but where is he now?'thought akhila.

just then she heard some voices coming from pantry.
it became clear in sometime. someone was playing a song...
"gumnaam hain koi... badanaam hain koi... kis ko khabar, kaun hain woh anjaan hain koi..."
this is enough to scare anyone in a deserted dark building, that too past midnight!!!

gathering up all her courage akhila went near the pantry and the sight shocked her... there were white smoke like figures floating in air. her legs knew exactly what to do... RUN!!!.
but she was afraid to make any noise so quietly she went to her cubicle and was about to leave when she saw someone approaching. phew!! what a relief to see a living soul...
he came near her cubicle...
in a voice as low as possible she whispered "do not go near pantry. i saw strange white figures floating in mid air. they are ghosts!!!. do not laugh at me now"

he : " i wont laugh at you... i know there are few in pantry... infact i thought you were one too"
she: " no i am not. i am still alive"

he looked a bit disappointed...

she: " you came here thinking i was a ghost??? are you nuts? i would have run if i were you"
he : " why would i run from a beautiful ghost?? ;-)"
she: " very funny!! now dont make noise. you might attract them. lets get out of here before they notice"
he : " do not be afraid of them. they are friendly ghosts. they haunt only people who had caused them trouble when they worked here. of course if you waste power or do not respect nature you must be careful about prithvi. he was environment freak... the rest of the lot haunt their clients, onsite-coordinators appraisers etc etc... you dont have to be afraid of them."
she: " you seem to know a lot about ghosts. who are you"
he(moving his hand forward) : " oh! sorry i forgot to introduce myself."
she was about to touch his hand...
he : " i used to be Nischal"
she(looking up): "used to be?? have you changed your name? "
he was silent for a while. they had eye contact for a while. it is true that eyes say a lot of things... then his sight gradually rolled down... her s followed his. now both' s focusing at her tiny, gentle hands...
she did not take much time to realize what he meant by "i used to be...." her had hand passed through his...
realizing that she would panic he tried to comfort her.
he : " do not be scared of me. as i said earlier we wont harm you. i used to work here. when i started i wanted to be the best, so worked very hard. i used to be here even during weekends. later on my onsite guy started burdening me with more work. i was going crazy with work. my brain could not get the rest it required. it cracked up. you can say i was mental..."

there was a silence

he : " then one day i was riding my vehicle. i liked high speed. it used to be a tranquilizer. but that day something was wrong. a bus came in front of me suddenly. you might find this funny. but by this time work had affected my brain to such an extent that instead of searching for breaks my brain was searching for Alt Ctrl Del. and with in no time my body was under the bus and i was floating in air the other ghosts you saw in pantry...."

silence again. she knew not what to do. run away from there or comfort him, to be scared or to laugh out loudly.

he: " i have been observing you for more than 3 months and the way you are working, i can say that it wont be long before you join us."
she:" you have been observing me from the past 3 months?? where ?? and how come i didnt see you ?"
he :" we do not have to show ourselves to everyone. i only came in front of you because you looked tensed. you know i have a huge crush on you. that toy chair on you CPU is my favourite place. i sit there the whole day. your face looks very beautiful from there. you look really pretty with your lip gloss... i ll be waiting for you. not that i want you to die soon... live long and live happily... but just know that i ll be waiting for you."

listening to this she sank to her chair and lost consciousness...
then

it was few minutes "past" midnight when someone tapped akhila on her back...
she got up with a shrill cry to find that all the lights in the floor except her cubicle were switched off. her monitor was was also turned off. there was a note on her board saying "do not waste power".
her flat mate was stand behind her, asking her to calm down...

to this day she is not sure if it was really abhishek who had switched off all lights and her monitor, or if it was that ghost...
to this day she is not sure if it was all her dream or she had really met the ghost who had a huge crush on her...
however today she does works "normally"...
even today she has that "toy chair" on her CPU . she didnt want to hurt the ghost s sentiments i suppose ;-)