Aatma

Hide and Seek

It was a cold winter morning when Asha, an orphan, came to live in the Baptist Orphanage in Mumbai. She had tragically lost her parents in a brutal train accident a year ago. Asha was 5 at that time, a sensitive and ripe age where everything adults do leave a lasting impression on them. Unlike other kids her age, Asha was very aloof and would talk to herself. Families would find her talking to nothing and stop the moment she would notice their presence in the room. Finding her a bit weird, she had been passed on from one relative to another. Asha’s last guardian found it creepy when she found Asha seated near her dead cat. Doubting Asha had murdered it, her guardian decided to give her away to the orphanage.  

Life had surely played an ugly game with the little girl, but like every happy ending, she found a silver lining amidst the clouds of gloom. “Hey! I am Jay, would you like to play with me?,” a young lad enquired as she sat idle on a swing.

“No…” she replied softly and failed to meet his eyes.

“Why not? Oh, I get it, we aren’t friends yet,” He slapped his head.

“What’s your name?” He smoothened the creases off his shirt.

“Asha…” she meekly answered and held on to her doll tightly.

“Did an old lady send you to live here amongst us?” he asked curiously.

“No...” she whispered.

“Oh, then it must be your father, right?” he stated, and got the same reply.

“Oh, so you’re like me then. I lost both my parents,” he sighed and scratched his head. “Do you remember how they looked?” he added and wondered whom she belonged to, because Asha looked unlike the destitute who were usually brought to the orphanage.

“No…” she shook her head and cringed as a faint memory of her parents crossed her mind.

Jay gave her a thoughtful look and snapped his fingers. “Wait here, I’ll be right back!” he went away to get something.

Asha waited and gazed up at the clouds before he returned and grabbed her attention. “Here, I got new clothes for your doll, I stole from Priya but please don’t tell her,” he said and handed her the clothes.

“These are nice….Thank you…” Asha smiled for the first time.

“So are we friends now?” Jay asked eagerly to which Asha smiled and gave her hand.

As the months passed they developed a close bond with each other and could be separate. One sunny morning the nun woke up Asha and got her neatly dressed. 

“There, you look as pretty as a doll now,” The nun admired her as she fixed her hair cli 

“I want to know where you’re taking her!” He demanded and flared his nostrils. 

“Out of the way, Jay or you’ll be taking 10 laps on the ground today,” She frowned and walked away with Asha.

“Where are we going?” Asha mustered courage and asked the nun as they walked through the corridors.

“To meet your parents!” The nun replied while Asha looked on in confusion.

“My parents died!” She reminded the nun who just laughed before explaining.

“You new parents my dear. You will finally get a family,” The nun quotes and walked into the father’s office where a couple waited for them.

The couple fell in love with Asha the second they saw her. They had brought toys, candies and new dresses especially for her.

“Thank you, you both are very kind,” She said after spending a good amount of time with them.

“Congratulations Asha, you will be moving in with your new parents tomorrow,” The father announced.

“What about my best friend, Jay? Will he be coming with me too?” Asha asked innocently.

“I’m afraid he will have to stay my dear,” The father replied lovingly.

“Then I'm not going! I can’t leave him alone,” Asha complained and dropped the gifts given by her new parents. The parents were shocked to see her cry and run away. The nun interrupted and assured them that Asha would forget Jay soon and it was just a childish tantrum.

While Asha cried in the garden, her new parents signed the adoption papers and were excited to take her home the following day.

“Did they hurt you, Asha?” Jay placed his hand on her shoulder from the back.

Asha was relieved to see him and embraced him tight. She narrated everything that happened inside and expected him to get angry but he didn’t.

“Wow...you’re being adopted, That’s cool!” He smiled half heartedly.

“No it’s not cool! They won’t let me take you along,” She sobbed. “How can we stay apart, Jay?” She continued sobbing.

“Hey don’t cry! I’ll come visit you, okay?” He assured her though he knew that was beyond possible.

“Promise?” She wiped her tears and looked at him.

“Pinky promise!” He kissed her forehead before she felt better.

“I tell you what! Let’s play hide and seek with the others today,” He suggested so she would forget all about her worries.

“Yay! Hide and seek!” She jumped in excitement and ran along with him to join the other kids.

The kids were having a ball playing with each other. Soon it was time for dinner and the cook rang the bell. Everyone came out of their hiding and raised towards the dining hall. Everyone except Asha was present at the table, Jay noticed this and asked his friends if they had seen her. Nobody knew where she had been hiding. 

“Maybe she didn’t hear the bell and is still hiding!” Elroy said as he drank his soup.

“Then I must find her!” Jay left the table but was stopped by the nun.

“Not so fast, young man. Finish your dinner,” The nun remarked.

“But Asha…” He tried explaining but in vain.

After finishing his dinner while the rest got ready for bed, Jay was out in the playground looking for Asha. “ASHA!”  he called out loudly in hopes that she would reply to him.

The weather was cold and breezy.  Jay went crazy looking for her everywhere but couldn’t find her.

“ASHA it’s not funny! Come out!” He called out to her as his heart raced.

“JAY! Why aren’t you in bed?” The nun found him in the cowshed and scolded him.

Jay then narrated everything and noticed the shocked expression on the nun’s face.

Soon the whole staff including the father set out in the cold winter night to search for Asha.

“Asha...please come back…” Jay’s eyes welled in fear of losing her.

Year 2021:

Jay woke up with a start after seeing the same nightmare of the day Asha went missing forever. He was all of 27, working in a real estate company and having his own apartment.

Splashing water across his face, he looked at the mirror and reached for his sleeping pills. It had been a year since he was having those recurring nightmares where little Asha would tap him and run away, calling him to find her.

Jay hadn’t thought he had forgotten her but after moving back to the city after a long stay abroad, memories just seemed to flood back. Jay wondered where Asha would be now after all these years. He recollected how nobody could trace her that night and the days after. The police claimed she might have gotten kidnapped but never really worked on that case. Asha’s missing case was a closed case.

“I must visit the orphanage, only then will I have some peace,” He said to himself and planned to head there.

The place had changed a lot when he stepped into the orphanage. All that remained the same was the European architecture of the orphanage building.  Jay felt a wave of sad nostalgia as he walked around thinking about his time with Asha. 

“Hehehe!” 

Jay heard a kid laugh and run from behind. He turned around but there was no one. 

“Find me!” 

Jay’s hair stood on end when he hear a familiar girl’s voice from the back. 

“What is happening? Am I hallucinating now?” He got worried and stepped out to the ground.

“Jay, it’s your den to find me!” The voice got louder and clearer. 

“Jay began sweating and looked around/ “Asha? Is that you!” He mustered courage and asked. A giggle was all he got in response followed by footsteps that trained off in another direction.

“Wait!” Jay turned and ran in the direction where he heard the footsteps. He was now at the back of the building. A gust of wind blew through his hair, it felt like just yesterday when he set out looking for Asha on that cold wintery night.

“Asha…” He looked up at the building and suddenly paused.

There was something on the scaffolding up there. Lucky for Jay there was a ladder leaning against the wall that looked like it had not been moved for years. Something was telling him to climb it and investigate the scaffolding. Jay climbed the rickety ladder and stood on the scaffolding. 

“Oh LORD…..is that….” Jay froze seeing a tiny skeleton with the remains of the pretty dress she had worn that day.

“Asha...you were hiding here all this while?” He broke down and cried after finally finding Asha after 22 long years.

As he cried he wondered why Asha never climbed down the ladder. He doubted that someone must have moved the ladder and Asha got trapped up there.

“You froze to death that winter night, didn’t you?” He looked at the huddled skeleton and felt like several knives had been stabbed in his stomach.

Jay’s phone rang, his girlfriend reminded him to come home.

“I’ll be there..” He replied and proceeded to step down when all of a sudden he lost his balance and fell down, breaking his neck.

Jay woke up feeling the sensation of a little girl tapping him. “Asha!” Jay rubbed his eyes and stood up.

“You found me!” She jumped in relief and embraced his legs. 

“Asha how come I can see…” Jay froze and turned to look at his lifeless body on the ground.

“