I am a ‘Medium’ a wall to spirit and human world’… When Smriti said these words Akshat went totally numb for a while and then he started laughing… Laughing his heart out…. ‘ So are you saying that you are a Medium, a medium that divides the human and spirit World, and you are expecting me to believe this shit’ Akshat said barely controlling his laughter’. Seeing his reaction Smriti was little offended. ‘ just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t makes it wrong’ Smriti taunted Akshat. ‘ Yeah Right! Seriously! You want me to….’ Akshat was about to complete his sentence when his mother called him out for dinner. ‘ Akshat come down for dinner, and ask Smriti to come too’ his mother called him from downstairs. ‘ Yes Maa! I will be there in 5 minutes’ he replied back in the same tone his maa did.

So I was saying… Akshat was about to say when he was interrupted by Smriti. ‘ You don’t say anything, let’s go for dinner I am hungry’ Smriti said in a irritated tone. ‘ Oh! So your hunger thrives for food, I thought you must be drinking blood of people, and eating them’ this time Akshat taunted her. ‘ I don’t care, what you think I am here for a purpose, and I will focus on that’ she said showing no importance to his words. Akshat laughed at her, she ignored him they were leaving the room for dinner when Akshat saw someone standing in the room… A man, he was in his mid 30s, he looked horrible, he had blood all over his body, and he had bullet shot in his head. Akshat screamed in panic. Hearing his scream Smriti turned towards him, ‘ Now what happened?’ she asked, Akshat shakingly pointed his fingers towards the man in his room. Smriti looked at the man with a calm face and stood in front of the wounded man, he walked through her and vanished in her. When the man passed through her Smriti went weak and screamed in pain. As soon as the man vanished Akshat went to Smriti and held her in his arms, and helped her sit, gave her water. He could see now very clearly that what happened to his grandma, he could also see that Smriti was in immense pain, that a normal human couldn’t bear it, even she couldn’t. ‘Are you ok?’ He asked her sitting by her side. ‘yes!’ Smriti replied in a very calm tone, ‘the pain is for the moment’ she added. ‘ But you are weak’ he said caring for her. ‘ Yeah! I know let’s go have some dinner’ she said trying to stand on her feet. He stood up with her ‘ you sure you can walk downstairs’ he asked again. ‘ yes! I can… Let’s go your mother must be waiting for us’ and she went on, Akshat was walking behind her to hold her if she falls.

After midnight around 1 o’clock…

Everybody in the house was in sleep. One more soul passed through Smriti around 12:45 am, Akshat heard her scream and came running to her room. He couldn’t sleep after what Smriti said, after what he saw in the room. ‘Smriti.. you ok?’ Akshat knocked on Smriti’s room. No reply came from the room, he knocked again, but no reply. He got worried, he slowly went to his mother’s room took the key of guest room and silently opened the door and stepped in and saw Smriti lying on the floor. He got worried, he closed the door took her in his arms, and laid her on the bed, he sprinkled water on her face, she went cold, he rubbed her feet and palm, Akshat was terrified inside, but he also knew there is no point calling anyone. He kept trying to warm her, and finally she came back to her consciousness. As soon as she opened her eyes Akshat hugged her tightly. ‘ Thank god! You are Ok’ he said hugging her. ‘ Don’t worry! I won’t die’ she replied trying to calm him down. Then he looked at her, checked her temperature, it was normal now. ‘Do you want something to eat?’ He asked her. ‘ Yes! Something sweet, I am little weak’ she replied. He went down in the kitchen brought some chocolates from the freezer. ‘ How did you come in? The door was locked’ she questioned him while eating the chocolate. ‘ I heard your scream, I got worried, I knocked on the door but you didn’t replied so I used the spare key of the room’ he said explaining himself. ‘ Oh! Ok! Thank you’. She replied smiling back at him. There was silence in the room for a while, and then Akshay said… ‘ so you really are a medium?’.…

Hearing him Smriti replied, ‘ If you believe so’ and laughed at him. Tell me something Smriti, Akshat said, ‘ How come you are the wall of the human and spirit World but all I see in you is human, but I can’t deny what I saw on the funeral day and today in my room’ Akshat added. ‘Calm down! I will tell you everything’ Smriti said trying to calm him down. Now listen to me very carefully…

‘ Human and spirit world’s are two different world, both the worlds are not meant to cross each other because if this happens it will cost the loss as equals to apocalypse. Back in days some spirits often tried to escape their world and haunt people here. When people die, but they are attached to something, it’s not easy for them to leave this world, so they often try to escape and come here, but souls don’t belong here. So God created a wall that is standing on the five bricks… water, air, soil, fire, and the sky… A human body is made of all these five elements, and after death they are said goodbyes by these 5 elements, if you noticed in the funeral. So I am not exactly the wall but I am brick of that wall… I am the soil. Humans can see us because we are half dead and half alive, we balance both the world, we are the passage to the doors of heaven and hell… But there is always pros and cons of everything, the pro of this work is we feel happy to maintain the balance between the both worlds and the con is, when an impure soul passes through us, it crushes our soul from inside and we fall weak, this is the reason when your grandma passed through me, I was healthy and sound, but when that wounded man passed through, I felt weak. He was goon, who died in a police encounter, he killed many innocent people, so when he passed through me, he crushed my soul from the wrath of his. And you know the fun fact Akshat… I was not the one who was the passage to your grandma’s soul, I was there by mistake. It is not easy to absorb soul for one brick alone, so the age group is divided to everyone, Water is the passage to infant and children from age group 1-10, air is passage to teenagers of age group 10-25, soil is the passage to middle age group 25-40, fire is the passage to age group of 40-60, and sky is passage to age group of ‘ 60s and after that. And I am a Brick naming soil, see my name also says that Smriti ( sculpture) made of soil. So this is the reality of my world. I know it’s painful, but it’s not my….. Smriti was about to complete her sentence when Akshat interrupted her… He took a deep breath and said, ‘… I know it’s not your decision’… Hearing him she frowned at him… And said … ‘ No! IT’S NOT MY CHOICE BUT IT’S MY NEED’… the pain I feel of passing souls through me, it’s nothing in front of my need of being the MEDIUM… she said with a sad face and in a low tone….

Hearing her words… Akshat wondered what can be so important to her that she is ready to suffer this much… He couldn’t hold himself back, and asked her, what need you can have that is so important to you, you are a medium… ‘ Yes! I am Medium now, but I was human once, and….. ‘ she didn’t complete her sentence and went silent…

To be continued…

Madhu