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A Forgotten Friend and an email-(Part1)
Nathan Grayson studied his emails and saw one mail with the urgent tag on it. The sender's name was Michael. Michael? But didn't he die two years back...? The page opened in front of Nathan invoked a complete album of childhood and teenage memories...
They used to sneak off with loads of Mangoes, guavas and occasionally some apples from the nearby orchard when they used to live at their farm house. Michael was a funny boy... at times he used to be too enthusiastic... breaking things on his way... while at other moments he was found near the river or under a tree sitting and thinking. Nathan had once asked him to try poetry. Though he did not mean it... still Michael wrote a poem about the river. It was extraordinary! Though Nathan didn't understand much of literature but still he felt as if the poem was alive...
Michael was one of the best friends of Nathan. Michael's death news came to Nathan on a hot and sweaty afternoon. How could Nathan forget that day? That day took away his best friend with promise of nevering returning him back. But how can a dead person send an email? That too with a "urgent" tag on it?
Any ordinary person will think of a ghost but Nathan thought that it could be that someone had hacked Michael's email. Nathan opened it. It was just a "Hi!".
Why would it be called urgent if all you want to say was a "Hi!"?
Nathan was just about to close the window when someone from inside his mind told him to reply back... He wrote a Hi back to the same mail. He sighed... whatever it was... technical problem, a hack, ghost ... it gave a kind of happiness to Nathan to be able to talk to his old friend...
At night, Nathan again opened the laptop for some office works and was astonished to see that there was another mail from Michael's account. This time it asked ,"How are you?"
Nathan was so surprised by this that he stop blinking for a while. But he can not deny that this also made him smile. Nathan wrote back"Fine ... how are you?" and was about to close the laptop when a message popped in his WhatsApp. He opened it and was bewildered to see an unknown number writing to him... he opened the chat. The person's username was Michael Jones!!
It was written that-"Hi...I came here, to WhatsApp. Email is a bit backdated these days, isn't it?"
After this Nathan started chatting with the person on the other side uncontrollably. He forgot that two years ago he had heard Michael's death news...
But wives are the best reminders. Bonnie instantly reminded it to her husband that the person he was chatting with can not be Michael... that he died two years ago. This time Nathan completely blew up the point by saying that ,"I only heard that he is dead... I never saw it, did I? It could be a rumour. "
Bonnie gave up and went to sleep. Little did she know that these old friends had been chatting for almost the whole night... Why will not they? 6 years is not a joke ... Last time Nathan saw Michael when he left the village for the city. Michael was a grown up man with a great black moustache at that time. Is he still the same?Maybe...maybe not.
They had so much to say to each other...When Nathan went to sleep... it was already 3am on the clock.
A week passed by and things started to become a bit more nasty. Nathan has stopped going to the office. He did not have much interest in eating, sleeping, reading, or shall I just say, anything! His only ambition was to stick to his mobile phone or to the laptop screen... or rather to Michael's chat. Bonnie used to laugh about it the first few days telling that this Michael guy was turning out to be a "Wife-in-law" of hers. But now she started thinking about a doctor... a psychiatrist.
Dr. Leo Murray is a middle aged person with a good nature but a rough personality. He entered in Nathan's room and kept staring at him with angry eyes for a lot of time. Then slowly his eyes drifted towards his laptop. He said,"Mrs. Grayson? Why has this not been removed from his room?"
He said the 'this' as if he was referring to something worth the garbage bin. Bonnie replied,"I could not doctor. He was desperate. He kept on saying that taking it away would mean seeing his death...."- her eyes were nearly filled with tears.
Bonnie had already told everything in detail to Doctor Murray the previous evening so he knew that the friend with whom Nathan is seemingly chatting with was heard to be dead almost two years ago.
Murray sat beside Nathan on his bed and suddenly his rugged attitude seemed to soften a lot. He asked with a soft voice,"Are you sure Nathan that this is the same friend with whom you have spent your childhood?"
Murray expected Nathan to be outraged...but he was surprised to see that Nathan calmly replied,"Yes...It is Michael... the same old Michael."
Murray tried a lot for a complete hour to make Nathan understand that whatever is going on is anything but correct. He agreed that there was no harm in talking with Nathan talking to his old friend... but there were other things too. His office, his own health and above all...Bonnie. He also said that if it was any other woman in place of her, then she would have left Nathan by now.
At about 4 in the evening, Murray got up to leave.
When he was about to step outside, he remembered something,came back and asked Nathan if he could take his laptop with him. Nathan gave him a dreadful look with a frown absolutely free! Murray thought a little and then he asked if he could take Nathan's phone instead. Nathan can talk with his friend from the laptop if he wanted to. This time Nathan let Murray do that. Murray assured Bonnie and left with the phone.
Nathan was engrossed in talking with Michael...when suddenly Michael said bye and went away for the day. Nathan was sad again. These days Nathan's only happiness was Michael's chat. Without it he was quite empty, emotional, just like a doll. Nathan came to think about it...why was this happening to him... it's like taking a drug, knowing that it is harming you but you can't get away from it. Has something really wrong with him? Then why was Bonnie behaving in such a way? Most of time she would stare at him with marble eyes. At other times,when she thought that Nathan wasn't noticing, she would cry her eyes out. Nathan loved her...at least if not "loves her". Nathan doesn't understand what these feelings are that pop up from nowhere in the background of his mind.
Bonnie was becoming exceeding depressed and frustrated at the same time. What does this Michael guy think of himself? Or if not Michael then at least whoever has hacked his WhatsApp and everything and is using it? What does the person want? Bonnie understood that if it was not Michael then the person must have known the two friends from a long time or else he would not have been able to provide unknown details about their friendship. Bonnie first thought it to be a ghost... but now he is sure that it is a person. She did not have a logic then and still she doesn't have one.
Everything was so good...one email just one email destroyed everything....
Bonnie again started to cry.
So this was the first part!
Happy reading and writing!
© Swagata
They used to sneak off with loads of Mangoes, guavas and occasionally some apples from the nearby orchard when they used to live at their farm house. Michael was a funny boy... at times he used to be too enthusiastic... breaking things on his way... while at other moments he was found near the river or under a tree sitting and thinking. Nathan had once asked him to try poetry. Though he did not mean it... still Michael wrote a poem about the river. It was extraordinary! Though Nathan didn't understand much of literature but still he felt as if the poem was alive...
Michael was one of the best friends of Nathan. Michael's death news came to Nathan on a hot and sweaty afternoon. How could Nathan forget that day? That day took away his best friend with promise of nevering returning him back. But how can a dead person send an email? That too with a "urgent" tag on it?
Any ordinary person will think of a ghost but Nathan thought that it could be that someone had hacked Michael's email. Nathan opened it. It was just a "Hi!".
Why would it be called urgent if all you want to say was a "Hi!"?
Nathan was just about to close the window when someone from inside his mind told him to reply back... He wrote a Hi back to the same mail. He sighed... whatever it was... technical problem, a hack, ghost ... it gave a kind of happiness to Nathan to be able to talk to his old friend...
At night, Nathan again opened the laptop for some office works and was astonished to see that there was another mail from Michael's account. This time it asked ,"How are you?"
Nathan was so surprised by this that he stop blinking for a while. But he can not deny that this also made him smile. Nathan wrote back"Fine ... how are you?" and was about to close the laptop when a message popped in his WhatsApp. He opened it and was bewildered to see an unknown number writing to him... he opened the chat. The person's username was Michael Jones!!
It was written that-"Hi...I came here, to WhatsApp. Email is a bit backdated these days, isn't it?"
After this Nathan started chatting with the person on the other side uncontrollably. He forgot that two years ago he had heard Michael's death news...
But wives are the best reminders. Bonnie instantly reminded it to her husband that the person he was chatting with can not be Michael... that he died two years ago. This time Nathan completely blew up the point by saying that ,"I only heard that he is dead... I never saw it, did I? It could be a rumour. "
Bonnie gave up and went to sleep. Little did she know that these old friends had been chatting for almost the whole night... Why will not they? 6 years is not a joke ... Last time Nathan saw Michael when he left the village for the city. Michael was a grown up man with a great black moustache at that time. Is he still the same?Maybe...maybe not.
They had so much to say to each other...When Nathan went to sleep... it was already 3am on the clock.
A week passed by and things started to become a bit more nasty. Nathan has stopped going to the office. He did not have much interest in eating, sleeping, reading, or shall I just say, anything! His only ambition was to stick to his mobile phone or to the laptop screen... or rather to Michael's chat. Bonnie used to laugh about it the first few days telling that this Michael guy was turning out to be a "Wife-in-law" of hers. But now she started thinking about a doctor... a psychiatrist.
Dr. Leo Murray is a middle aged person with a good nature but a rough personality. He entered in Nathan's room and kept staring at him with angry eyes for a lot of time. Then slowly his eyes drifted towards his laptop. He said,"Mrs. Grayson? Why has this not been removed from his room?"
He said the 'this' as if he was referring to something worth the garbage bin. Bonnie replied,"I could not doctor. He was desperate. He kept on saying that taking it away would mean seeing his death...."- her eyes were nearly filled with tears.
Bonnie had already told everything in detail to Doctor Murray the previous evening so he knew that the friend with whom Nathan is seemingly chatting with was heard to be dead almost two years ago.
Murray sat beside Nathan on his bed and suddenly his rugged attitude seemed to soften a lot. He asked with a soft voice,"Are you sure Nathan that this is the same friend with whom you have spent your childhood?"
Murray expected Nathan to be outraged...but he was surprised to see that Nathan calmly replied,"Yes...It is Michael... the same old Michael."
Murray tried a lot for a complete hour to make Nathan understand that whatever is going on is anything but correct. He agreed that there was no harm in talking with Nathan talking to his old friend... but there were other things too. His office, his own health and above all...Bonnie. He also said that if it was any other woman in place of her, then she would have left Nathan by now.
At about 4 in the evening, Murray got up to leave.
When he was about to step outside, he remembered something,came back and asked Nathan if he could take his laptop with him. Nathan gave him a dreadful look with a frown absolutely free! Murray thought a little and then he asked if he could take Nathan's phone instead. Nathan can talk with his friend from the laptop if he wanted to. This time Nathan let Murray do that. Murray assured Bonnie and left with the phone.
Nathan was engrossed in talking with Michael...when suddenly Michael said bye and went away for the day. Nathan was sad again. These days Nathan's only happiness was Michael's chat. Without it he was quite empty, emotional, just like a doll. Nathan came to think about it...why was this happening to him... it's like taking a drug, knowing that it is harming you but you can't get away from it. Has something really wrong with him? Then why was Bonnie behaving in such a way? Most of time she would stare at him with marble eyes. At other times,when she thought that Nathan wasn't noticing, she would cry her eyes out. Nathan loved her...at least if not "loves her". Nathan doesn't understand what these feelings are that pop up from nowhere in the background of his mind.
Bonnie was becoming exceeding depressed and frustrated at the same time. What does this Michael guy think of himself? Or if not Michael then at least whoever has hacked his WhatsApp and everything and is using it? What does the person want? Bonnie understood that if it was not Michael then the person must have known the two friends from a long time or else he would not have been able to provide unknown details about their friendship. Bonnie first thought it to be a ghost... but now he is sure that it is a person. She did not have a logic then and still she doesn't have one.
Everything was so good...one email just one email destroyed everything....
Bonnie again started to cry.
So this was the first part!
Happy reading and writing!
© Swagata
