Intertwined by Fate

By sanchit garg

Do you remember your dreams? Did you ever have a dream so real it felt like a memory?

If the memories are painful, will you still want to remember them?

Sometimes, being able to forget is such a blessing.

An unknown entity left behind a trail of dead bodies and Rameshwar is left with nothing except to curse his fate. More and more questions and mysteries continue to surround him.

This is a story about a person who failed at everything. All he wished was to break inanimate objects instead of the promises he made.

Nothing can be more painful than losing your loved ones! But when you lose something, is that the end of it? Is there no way to turn back things to the way they were?

Uncover a dark secret that spans many decades and will take you on a serpentine adventure involving mysterious findings, nerve-wracking dreams, and a deadly encounter with an unknown entity in a place of its choosing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Self-Published
• Release date: Sep 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201766849

sanchit garg

is a B.tech from IIT Delhi and is currently working with a PSU. He loves to write suspense and horror stories. in his free time, he enjoys playing RPG and Strategy games on his laptop. Playing guitar and watching anime also interests him. apart from this, he can be seen engaged in adventure sports, animation, dismantling gadgets, etc.

Book preview

‘

When we are alone,

the heart is not afraid to speak.

More so, when it’s about love!

’

Chapter 01

Anamnesis

––––––––

6th January 2018

It was quite a normal day at the office and I was busy in a project. Suddenly, I received a call from an unknown number. I was sceptical to pick it up, so when it rang for the second time, I picked it up.

The voice from the other side said, Hey, bro!

Hearing this voice, I quickly realized that it was my friend Ajit from college.

I replied, Hi, Ajit!

He was shocked, Wow! You still remember me. That’s great. So, what are you doing these days?

Just the normal. You tell me, what are you up to these days?

Well! I just joined a new job due to which I will have to shift from Bangalore to Delhi. I also broke up with my girlfriend. That’s all. How’s your life going?

What? I didn’t know you had a girlfriend! And why did she broke up with you?

He laughed, No! I broke up with her. It was too time-consuming and I couldn’t dream of a future with her after staying for a year in live-in with her.

I was shocked to hear about this new side of his. He was quite a normal person at college. The only difference was that he had built up quite a physique as per his Facebook photos which would sometimes show on my timeline.

I asked, What? You were in a live-in with a girl?

Yep, times change. So, what about you? You must have made quite a few girlfriends?

I lamented, Do I look like that to you? I want a girlfriend for sure. I really do. But I don’t think I ever would. I don’t even know how to talk to girls.

It’s so easy. You are not using your charm.

I laughed, Hell! I don’t know if I even have one, to begin with. I think I am just not made for it. Leave it!

You're a fine-looking guy. I thought handsome guys couldn't be loners. Maybe you just need to learn a few things.

I laughed, If I am handsome, the real handsome guys will cry tears of sorrow. I am probably just an ugly guy. It’s better to think that way.

Maybe, it’s just because you’re too shy and bad at flirting?

I don't have any problem with how I am. Now I see you nagging me!

I tried to shift the issue to something else. Because what others do is that they try to give you tips on how to get one. But when you don’t feel like that about someone, it’s not worth it. At least that’s what feels like to me. Somewhere deep down, I had already realized after so many years that falling in love was just not possible for me, with how I was.

I asked, So, when are you coming to Delhi?

No plans right now. But maybe in a month or two.

Okay! That’s good. Let’s talk sometime later. My boss is calling me.

Yeah, for sure. Bye.

Was there something wrong with me? Why someone like me who wants love the most in the world is still single?

Maybe because I am cursed or was cursed in my past life. What else the reason could be? I tried to find out the reason for so long that at one point I realized that maybe I was just an ugly guy. Then I found that even ugly guys had girlfriends, so I realized that maybe there was something more to this. I could not talk to most people. I tried hard at times to not be myself and talk to people but it was so hard. I still couldn’t talk to girls. They are so different and scary. First smiling and then looking with a cold expression. What do they expect me to do? To smile back at them, but why should I? Most of them don’t even stimulate me intellectually or give me the vibe that would make me talk with them. So I try to never look at them. But even then, nothing happens. How would it? I was just an odd person in this perfect world meant for perfect people to live in, perfect at least in one way or the other, who always thought of themselves and their needs, before the other.

. . .

6th January 2018

While I was checking my Instagram, I saw a strange profile under the story field. There was a person I had never seen before. I reached to her profile.

What? She looks familiar. Do I know her? Where have I seen her before? And how the hell did she appear in my friend list. I don't remember sending her a friend request and judging by how she looks and where she's located, I don't think that she would ever send me a friend request. I should remember, but I don't. Nothing's coming to mind. It's odd. I'm foggy about so many things lately.

Should I ask her this? No, I shouldn't. That would make it so awkward. I should leave it here. Maybe I just don’t remember and I can ask her one day if we do talk. Though the possibility of that happening is too low considering I don't know how to talk with people and have nothing great to say even.

Leaving this thought behind, I decided to check her story post. There was a quiz.

Matthew has $20. He spends $15 on Red Bull. What does he have?

This is easy. $5 and wings as Red Bull gives you wings.

Should I send this to her, but I hope that it doesn’t look awkward for a nobody like me to reply to her post. I thought for a few seconds and then decided to send the message as I had nothing to lose.

She replied back many hours later, No. He has a lack of sleep. Red bull keeps you up at night.

I replied back, But a Red Bull wouldn't keep me up at night. You sure this is the right answer? As Red Bull gives you wings and not insomnia.

She replied back with a laughing emoji.

. . .

1st January 2019

A year passed and we didn’t communicate at all. For all I knew, the conversation was dead since that day and we were never talking again, but a strange thing happened. She messaged me out of the blue.

She replied to one of my story posts, The only productive thing I did today was reading your Instagram stories.

When I looked at the message a few hours later, I was shocked. What! Maybe she meant this message for someone else. Why would she message me after a year since her last message? After I made the conversation awkward.

I replied back, You call this productive. That’s good. I hope you have a fun-filled year ahead.

I slept the whole day! Every break I took from my nap, I was reading your stories.

I was confused. Huh! Why would she do that? I couldn’t ask this, so I continued the conversation in the only way I knew.

Good! I took a leave from work to meet my friends but I later ended up sleeping the whole day. And now, I am reverse answering. By the way, I didn’t take any breaks while sleeping.

Oh, nice! Good night.

I wished back, Good night and sweet dreams.

A night, I went to sleep and woke up in completely dark surroundings. I found myself running in some kind of a tunnel. A lady was sitting in the backdrop and something was wrong with her. I tried to stop myself, but couldn't. I thought to leave her as I didn’t even know who she was. But don’t know why my eyes turned moist and I could feel tears on my cheeks. What the hell was wrong with me? I just couldn't fathom why would I even cry. I just kept running and running and finally woke up in my bed, panting badly with moist eyes. There was a pain in my chest which I couldn’t understand why that was there.

. . .

4th January 2019

She messaged me, So your vacation is over, it seems?

I replied with a sad emoji, Yes.

That’s sad! I ditched my physiology lecture today.

College life is fun, and here I am working in a shitty job. By the way, what’s the Philippines like?

Hehe! It’s fun! But medicine is killing me.

I joked, You better take some more medicine for it then. Just so, it doesn’t kill you.

Let me tell you a secret. I hate medicinal tablets and being admitted to hospitals.

I only hate Doctors with a syringe in their hands. It’s too deadly.

She replied back with a laughing emoji, Hehe! Same here.

What the hell! She’s studying medicine and hates hospitals and syringes. She’s weird like me. For a reason that I couldn’t explain, she interested me somehow. It’s so strange, how can someone other interest me. But I couldn’t recall anything even if I exerted effort.

. . .

6th January 2019

She replied to a picture of mine that I had shared on my Instagram story, The picture you posted, no matter what you do, you would still look like a kid.

But, what do I do then, because kids are out and adults are in. Should I post a tag on my head, ‘me an adult’?

I don’t think that will work either. Maybe you just need to get over the idea of you being an adult. What say?

Yes! This is good. It can solve a lot of problems.

Aww! See, I am good.

You sure are. So, kids don’t have beards?

Yeah! Doctors won’t keep beards, especially surgeons. But I have an idea. When I finally graduate and have a lot of Doctor colleagues, I can refer you to a plastic surgeon.

No! I don’t want plastic sticking on my face. Let’s leave it. How about having long hair?

Don’t worry! They do it good. But with long hair, you would look like a girl.

No! I don’t want to turn into that kind of person. I’m better straight.

It’s still fine. I heard it’s legal in India.

I better shift to some other country, then.

It’s very common in the other countries as well.

Then, I better shift to Mars. If there’s no one there, I can live peacefully. Unless some aliens abduct me and do some strange experiments.

That would be great. Do convey my regards to all your neighbouring aliens.

I will show them this chat. Finally, revenge!

They will be like, ‘Ohh, this poor kid. Let’s not harm her. Instead, bless her with all the answers to the upcoming long exams’.

No! They are going to abduct you, too.

I will be glad.

I asked, Wow! By the way, don’t you get bored with my boring talk?

No! Not at all!

Hmm! How is this possible. I don’t even know how to talk with people, and she’s not bored with me. Others would have probably ignored me by now. Maybe she’s trying to make me feel good.

Then, it’s only working till you finally decide to blacklist me for life.

No one is going to do that. Don’t worry.

She won’t? Strange! Maybe if she talks with me more, she would. I’m just an idiot. People get bored with me easily.

Okay! If you say so.

We talked for a day or two and then she left my message on ‘read’. I felt that maybe she got busy or bored with me. I knew it was a given with how I was, so this was meant to happen one day or the other.

. . .

13th January 2019

She posted a picture with her and her friends studying on her Instagram story in the morning.

Ohh! She had her exams and here I was thinking it was the end for me. Should I go ahead and reply to her story? Well! I do feel like I can talk with her, so I should try, but I don’t know what to say.

After thinking for a few minutes, I messaged, So, full-on study mode?

She replied, Got exam tomorrow. It’s Monday.

Then you people started early. Studying at college generally started on the night before the exam for me. So, this is expected.

Hehe! Obviously!

Well! I should not disturb her. I can’t let her waste time due to me and get bad grades. I should just bid her goodbye.

Keep up the good work.

. . .

A few days later, I commented on her story post as I expected that her exams would have been over by now, but she didn’t give any response.

A day or two later, I again commented on her story post, but there was no response still. She did read both my messages. I thought that maybe her exams were still going on.

A few days later, she was posting a lot many story posts and I realized that her exams would have ended by now. Somewhere I felt that it was weird and I should have waited for her message, but there was finally someone who showed a bit of interest in me, so I didn’t want to make it a lost cause. This time luckily, she replied back with a happy emoji and nothing else.

She’s really cute. That was my first impression of her. And she’s weird. That was my second impression after I realized that she liked what my mind was full of. For the first time ever, I found myself gushing about all the weird theories with someone. This is when I realized that it was not that I was afraid to talk with people, it was that I never found someone who would listen to me. Finally, there was someone who listened to me patiently and didn't make fun of me. Though I didn't know if she believed me or not.

A day or two later, I again commented on her new story posts, but she didn’t reply back. I realized that I definitely did something wrong.

I tried to message her time and again, but I’d get too scared and stop. I wanted to talk to her more, find out her interests, her favourite food and drinks. Things like that.

Well! What was I even hoping, why would someone like her want to talk with me, with an idiot who doesn’t even know how to talk normally. I thought that this was the end. At least I know that I tried the best I could as per my level. I decided not to disturb her by message her again.

. . .

Two months later, she reacted to my story post with a smiling emoji.

I was not someone who would ignore anyone’s message as I believed that people just didn’t have too much time in the world to waste on people who didn’t matter. While I did want to return the favour by not replying back, it was not my intention to hurt her. Maybe certain things were going on in her mind or life.

So, I replied with a happy emoji as well.

After this, we did talk casually on some days about totally random things and somehow the conversations took a good enough time.

One day, she cut the conversation in between and said, Let’s talk something else.

I was scared as to what do I do now. I was such a fool as anime, ghosts, and movies were the only things I know of. I never knew a single pinch of how normal people conversed with each other.

I asked, How about ghosts? But only if you want to get scared.

She replied, Yeah! I mean I’m super interested. Even though I know I will get scared.

I said, Okay! I was staying in a single room at a hostel. On one winter night, well on the same night, my friend was staying one floor down my room. His room’s latch suddenly opened at around 3 am. And at the same time, I experienced two ghosts, Djinn, to be more precise, taking me somewhere. They were tightly holding my hands. Well! I resisted and woke up to find my hands, both hands, having red finger marks at the same spot they held me with marks of nails too. When we discussed with a worker on the next day, he told us the hostel was built on a burial ground.

She said, What the hell! I would have died.

I continued, And a few days later, a crow was following me daily. At one point, he came to my window and crash-landed on it. Luckily it had a steel net so I was saved. But the blood spread all over it.

She asked, OMG! And you continued to live there?

I replied, Yep. I continued to. I had no other option. So, I mostly slept after 4 in the morning because it’s always the time between 2 to 4 AM when strange things happen.

She said, I hate them. I hate all the negativity around. You know ghosts always tend to come closer to people who want to see them. So, I pray every day and I pray for them. The lights are all up in my room. Seriously, I’m really scared now.

I said, But I have experienced ghosts in light too. So, this is deadly, still. Now, I am going to try to sleep and dream of Dragon Ball Z. Goodnight

She said, Sleep tight

. . .

A day or two later, she asked if we could message in Facebook Messenger. This was confusing for me as to why would we want to converse there when Instagram was pretty good. Even though I sparsely used Messenger, I decided there was nothing wrong to do that. So, we connected there.

Literally, talking with her was so much fun. Like the same-same feeling. I didn’t understand how was someone like her hiding for so long? I just hoped that I don’t fall in love with someone without knowing whether they liked me or not beforehand. 

We continued our old conversation about ghosts but half an hour to an hour later, she messaged, Okay, now you're scaring me. Let’s talk something else

I said, Yes.

This again. What do I speak of now? Hmm! I am so confused. I think this is it. The end of everything. Now, I would just go silent and she would think I don’t want to talk with her. I hate myself!

She asked, So, how's life?

Wow! She’s literally an angel! A lifesaver! If she does this, I can never feel bad about myself. I know that I need to grow somehow, I just don’t know how to yet.

I replied, It’s awesome. I had like 10 burgers in the evening, 200 ml of mayonnaise, 3.5 litres of coke, jumbo-sized french fries, and 2 large extra cheese pizzas.

In your dreams, mister!

Dreams can come true. If you can dream it, you can do it.

Okay. I wish it could be that way for you.

Yes. Sometimes things can happen just like that.

Oh yeah, sure!

Even though I literally had nothing great to talk about, I just couldn’t understand what was making her continue talking with me and how could I talk with her, especially a girl when I have always been afraid of talking to them. Something was weird and I had no idea.

. . .

25th April 2019

We were still normally conversing on the ghost stuff when she said, You should marry a white lady.

I replied, I am not a racist. Don’t tell me you are a racist?

Marry a black lady, then.

I am not going to marry anyone. But on the off chance that I do, I won't marry a lady. I would marry a woman.

Okay, fine.

I asked, Who are you going to marry?

Why would I marry?

You won't?

Maybe! When was the last time you had been in a relationship?

Never, since I have been born.

What?

"I don't get into this stuff easily. I did like a girl when I was in 6th class. She smiled beautifully and was intelligent. Those were probably the two factors that made me like her. But I never dared to talk to her and express my feelings. Also, we never ended up together in the same class after that, so it was what it was. When I went to college and created my Facebook account, the first thing I did was to find her. After what was like 3 to 4 days of endless browsing, I finally found her and connected with her.

I googled how to talk to someone and asked her about her day, her favourite colour, and stuff like that. It was so awkward for me that I couldn’t even converse for more than 5 minutes with her.

I was confused about how to tell her about my feelings, so I messaged one of my friends from the same school. While I wanted to wait for some precise moment, he told that it’s better to let her know now and not miss the chance. I was sceptical as my heart wasn’t ready for this, but still, I ended up telling her the next day that I liked her in school and even now, and that was all. End of the crush!

Actually, I was such a fool. Possibly because I hardly get crushes on normal people. And if I have a crush on someone, all I want is to get married to them. I don’t know but I just can’t hurt someone by playing with them. So, I was a child in primary school wanting to marry his crush, but I also knew that she wouldn’t as I was not someone extraordinary. So, I decided to work on myself and at least get in college before saying anything to her.

While hearing a ‘no’ hurt for a few days, what hurt more was realizing that how could I even expect her to say ‘yes’ when she didn’t even know me at all.  This realization made me understand that I was completely at fault and the crush feelings got away in one moment. Probably, it was not even a crush, just one child liking the other as children always get fascinated by others.

And now that fool was feeling something different. Do I like her as a person or do I really have a crush on her? Even if I do, I should try to understand her more and find out how she is and whether she even likes me or not. I can’t say to her that I have a crush on her knowing well that she doesn’t feel anything about me.

She said, Oh, okay! Sorry about that! I mean it’s okay to love someone, but just be careful. One can fall in love quickly. I was stupid too once.

Falling in love too fast is not love, maybe.

Yeah, maybe. Most of the time, it's pure lust.

What lust? Why would someone love the other who is thousands of kilometres away from them and knowing well that they don’t know when will they even meet them? Where would the lust even come in? But I may be wrong in this as there may be people who share inappropriate pics and do video calls, which may end up quite close to the lust thing. Well! If you love someone, why would you even ask for any of that? Don’t they realize that everyone is imperfect from the outside and people age too? In the end, what really matters is the connection of two souls and that comes from understanding each other.

I said, You can’t get yourself hurt, and hurt someone else, too. Better try to know a person first, let them know you, and then get into love. Right?

But how well can you know a person? Like how long does it take? How do we know?

It would take a hell lot more time. A lot more talking. Well, I am still confused in this too.

We just get blinded by our thoughts most of the time. I had feelings for this guy. I thought I knew him but nope. Okay, I'll tell you. I didn't have any crushes on anyone during my school days. But then there's this guy, who was quite older than me. So we chatted and chatted for a long time. I had a spark for him, but I was scared to death, so I kept it to myself. I kept my feelings unsaid for three whole years! I don't know what really made me stick to him, not his appearance, nothing, but I don't know what. He finally confessed it to me and that was the best thing. But things took a turn for the worse in the next few weeks and I just blocked him. He wasn’t confident enough to go forward. That was the first and last time I had feelings for someone. He had so many excuses to leave and I didn't stop him! So, it just got over.

Now, I seriously hate that guy. If you really love someone, then you should be confident enough that you can do anything for the other, for the sake of your love. If you don’t have that confidence in yourself, why even go ahead and hurt someone. May he just beguiled her. Throwing his cards at the right moment.

She said, You could have slept by now.

I replied, No, I couldn't.

Why?

What why? I got to know such a piece of important information about her, how can I even sleep now. I feel like it’s the morning now. But why do I feel so bad? I made her remember a bad moment. I am such a bad person.

I replied, I felt it was a little too early to sleep. Plus, your message came in and I couldn't just ditch that.

Sometimes I feel like if she spends too much time talking with me, when will she study? Studying medicine is tougher than engineering, right? I just don’t want to be a bad person even though no matter how much I enjoy talking with her. Clearly, my sleep routine of sleeping at 11 PM was done for, but even then, I literally wake up with a smile on most of the days now.

I said, Hehe! Goodnight!

How could I speak with her so freely? Maybe I liked her, that's why? These words of love were beginning to proliferate inside my heart. Making me feel that there was someone out there who possibly likes me back.

In all these text conversations with her, the only thing that I wanted to say to her is Don’t go but instead I end up saying Goodbye. I don’t know how did this happen, but she was someone whom I could talk to endlessly. But I know that if I did that, I would be selfishly thinking just about myself. If I don’t care about her dreams and goals, what am I even doing here? I have to be a bad person even if she tells me otherwise.

I focused on my work and with tired eyes, I went to sleep at around 1:20 AM.

Chapter 02

A New Identity

––––––––

I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling. I was in my room, but these faint voices were coming from somewhere. I looked to my right and Nandana was not there. In shock, I quickly jolted myself to get up and look around.

Starting from the right, I turned my gaze in a 180-degree fashion only to stop at someone standing in front of Nandana’s cupboard. With one look, I instantly knew that this was Nandana, but how was this possible?

Was this heaven? Did I get to be with her, again? I really couldn’t accept this. Do a devil, like me, get to spend his days with her? Even after all that happened, I still get to have happiness. What is wrong with this world?

A few seconds later, she turned back and looking straight at me, said, I didn't think you'd wake up.

Trying to hold my tears inside, I replied, Even I wasn’t sure that I would meet you again. Even after all my crimes. But it wasn't me, you have to understand. There's this thing inside of me. You have to believe me. I never wanted any of this. I should have died before anything bad happened to you. I... I should never have gone there.

She was confused, What are you saying? What crime?

It's not just about me. It's you. You have to remember. The dream. The deaths. The old house. I don't know what to believe, but I’m scared. I don't want to lose you ever again.

What are you talking about? Lose me? I'm right here. Nothing is going to happen to me. Nothing is going to happen to any of us.

I was confused, Isn’t this heaven? You all died and ended up here. And now, I am here as well.

She laughed, What did you imagine in your sleep?

How long was I unconscious?

A pretty long time. You have never slept this long even when I have been trying so hard to get you to wake up.

I couldn’t understand. It was a dream. All of that which happened with us was a dream. But why did it feel so real? The unbearable pain and everything else. It’s so hard to accept that it was just a dream. But maybe that’s all it was. A dream. Ghosts or any other otherworldly things probably just exist in the dream world.

I said, Maybe, I had a dream...

She asked, A dream? What dream?

How can I tell her that? Even though I no more want to hide anything from her, I can’t tell her this. Maybe, I will forget this in a day or two, and it will be like it never happened.

I lied, I can't remember it now.

"Huh! You'll just cause trouble... I know you