10

JUNE 10, 2017 / NASVERSIX

“How did it disturb you?

Lina was curious and didn’t hesitate to ask while Jeremy was brewing Milo in his room. The aroma of Milo filled the room.

He passed a glass to Lina and sipped a bit from his glass before answering.

“At night, usually. When I closed the lights, it’d ask me questions…”

“Questions?”

“Haah. Some of them are ‘Why don’t you talk to me?’… ‘Was what happened my fault?’ – things along those lines.”

“Did you answer?”

Jeremy laughed. “Are you crazy? Wanting to reply to whatever that thing is! What if I give it a bad answer> It might just go crazy!”

“Well, who knows…”

“But… there was that one time that I did answer…”

“Hah? Really? Which question?”

“That night, after I turned the lights off and was already tucked I my bed… I felt like someone was sitting on the bed. When I looked, there was no one there, but even in the dark, I could see the depression at the place where that ‘thing’ was sitting. The sheets were even crumpled there. After that… I heard It asking… ‘You love me, right?’” Jeremy told in full details.

“Uuiii… a romantic ghost!”

“Ha, isn’t it scandalous? After that, do you know what I answered?” Jeremy paused for a moment to look at Lina’s reaction. Lina shook her head. “I replied… I do!”

“After that… I felt that ‘thing’ getting up from my bed. I thought that it was satisfied with my answer so I turned to the wall. Then… I sensed someone breathing next to me. I held my breath. I hoped that it’s like a Chinese ghost – if you hold your breath, it wouldn’t disturb you. Then… it said… ‘Please don’t ignore me like this.’ I kept my silence. It stayed next to me, breathing, for quite a while. Then it suddenly… disappeared.”

Lina breathed out. She didn’t even realise that she had been holding her breath since earlier. Jeremy’s storytelling style was really effective. No wonder he became the president of the Drama Club.

“Wait. That ‘thing’… is a guy, right?” Lina suddenly asked.

“Probably.”

“Then? Now that it’s being feely with you…?”

“So…?”

“You… straight or not?”

Jeremy sighed. “Your question has no basis.”

The first thing Khalil saw when stepping into the counsellor’s room was a small framed picture on a table, and the counsellor immediately saw his gaze.

“How’ve you been?” as expected of a counsellor, the question brimming with formality went out of her mouth effortlessly.

“Why are you here?” Khalil finished it off. He had no time for all this foreplaying.

The counsellor sighed and then turned quiet. It didn’t seem like she had any plan on answering, and Khalil was in no mood to wait.

“How long have you been working here? Around 5 years, right?” Khalil asked again.

“Give or take, yeah…”

“From the moment you started, I bet you’ve been disturbed, right?”

“It wasn’t that bad in the beginning. It’s becoming worse now,” she explained.

“I see. So you waited until it got bad before finding a solution?”

“I didn’t know it’d get this bad.”

“Oh, don’t give me that! This is your specialty! Your so-called gift! You once said that things like this can’t be left alone for long. They’ll become restless… and when they do, they’ll get angry. They’ll start messing everything up. Do you want it to be so?” Khalil’s voice was now borderline the ‘screaming’ zone.

The counsellor sighed, silent, not being able to defend herself.

“You’re selfish, you know that?” Khalil kept attacking. “You’re doing it for yourself, right? You didn’t stop it earlier so that you could meet him every day, right?”

“Yeah! So what? Of everyone, you’re the one who should understand it best, Khalil!” this time, it was the counsellor who yelled.

Khalil breathed in, and then out, slowly. He massaged his forehead, trying to dispel an incoming headache. This kind of stress was not good for him.

“You miss him. I get it. You know I get it. But this is not the way…”

“I know, Khalil. That’s why I called you. To solve this,” the counsellor said while wiping away the tears that spilled unintentionally earlier.

Khalil sighed. “I still don’t know how I should be going around this…”

“I want you to meet someone. After that, maybe you would understand more.”