Haunted

She freezes on the spot with fear. She can't move a muscle. The world seems to whirl around slowly. She shivers slightly when sweat drops erupt at the back of her nape. Her body goes icy as if someone has doused cold water on her. Whatever strength she has drains off in a moment and she can taste the bile that has risen up her throat. That's it. She would faint now or throw up, she thinks. She grips the railing along the road. Ice cold again, metallic.

She wants to run away from that girl. The girl that only she can see- grinning broadly, lost in her phone, near that same bus stand where she had stood somewhere in the past, at happier times. Happier? God no, she was the happiest back then. The ghost of that girl lurks there, quite oblivious to her.

If she doesn't run now, that ghost of the happy girl would spot her. She does not know what would happen then.
Confrontation?
Accusation?
Insinuation?

She closes her eyes tight shut.

Run! A distant voice urges her and she lifts her feet with a great difficulty.

The Gulmohor tree. Memories. Bittersweet. Again the happy girl standing there, looking far away, dressed carefully at her best, probably waiting for someone, a foot tapping on the ground covered in red petals, in a casual rhythmic way, tiptoing inbetween, biting her nails playfully, impatiently, smiling shyly to herself. The smile that spreads on the entire face, not just lips, the smile that lights up her eyes...

She can't bear the sight. She averts her eyes and hurries ahead.

She isn't angry. Not at all. Not worried. Definitely not. She is just scared. The girl follows her everywhere and she feels like a fugitive- hiding and running away from her. How would she know which places are haunted by the girl? It's like landmines, she keeps stepping on one every now and then unknowingly.

A bell rings. A temple. The last resort, the ultimate sanctuary of every living being... Marble walls, beautiful idol... A burning lamp... A soothing smell of incense sticks...

Should she? She hasn't been there for so long. She starts climbing the marble stairs.

No. No! The same girl- praying this time, eyes closed, serene smile, wishing for something that she exactly knows of,  remembers.

Tired, she slumps on the stairs. She never gets inside. What if she sees that same face in place of the God as that girl sees? What if she secretly wishes for the same thing that girl does? What if she never has a courage to be as content as the girl is?

She has trapped herself. Like a spider that spends years in weaving a beautiful web and then ends up trapped in the same.

Where could you run when even your sanctuary doesn't calm you down anymore? Besides, one cannot run away from oneself.