One day, my father told us a shocking news. He said, “I have been transferred to a far off area near a jungle.”

We all got shocked and stared at him unbelievingly. He continued, “We have to shift to our new house near my working place.”

So whether we liked it or not, we had no options but to pack our luggage and head to this place. After a couple of days, we moved to this new place. The house was very big with so many rooms. But it had been abandoned for the last many years so everything was tattered, rusted and almost broken. The garden was not green and the grass was dry and brown, with leaves from the trees scattered all around.

It was not wrong to say that the house was a perfect setting for any horror movie. Apart from the eeriness of the house, what excited us kids was that we all had our own rooms.

On one side of the house was the jungle and a graveyard, and unfortunately, my room had this view.

It took us several days to clean the house and make it lively. But due to its isolated location, it was unusually quiet all the time; at night, all the critters from the wild used to come out to hunt for food and while doing so, they made weird as well as scary sounds.

One night, I heard my room’s door opening with a screech. I became horrified but when the door opened, I saw my close friend, Asad, from my old school standing there. I was amazed because my old school was 500km away and wondered how Asad could come at night. But seeing him was a joy so I forgot the scary part and began talking to him and telling him about my new school.

Before going, he warned me not to tell my parents that he came to meet me. When I asked him why, he said, “They won’t like me coming at this hour of the night, so they will not let me play with you again.”

The next night he came again and we both played. This routine went on for a few more days and, as a result, I could not wake up in the morning because we played in the night.

Many times, I asked Asad to join my new school, so that we don’t have to play at night but he told me that he was comfortable with this routine and asked if I don’t want him to come, he will not visit me again. Of course, I didn’t want that.

I wanted to tell mum that Asad comes at night and we play together, but the fear that mum would get angry made me remain quiet.

On holidays also, Asad started to come to play with me in the backyard.

Once, I was riding my bicycle very fast and did not notice that there was big rock in the middle of the way. Just when I was about to trip over, I noticed Asad running in front of me and he took away the rock, all in the matter of microseconds. I was stunned; I stopped and looked at him. He just smiled. This and many similar incidents occurred where Asad saved me from minor and major accidents.

Days passed into months. One day, my father came in rushing through the front door, he seemed so happy. He screamed in excitement, “Pack up everyone, we have to move to our old house; I am transferred back!”

We were so delighted to hear the news. However, I was not that happy because now I had to share my room with my brother like I did before.

But the thought delighted me that now Asad won’t have to come this far to play with me and that we will follow our old routine of studying and playing together.

Back in my old school, I surprised Asad in the class, he was also happy to see me. And asked, “Tell me about your house and that new school you went.”

I asked, “Oh yeah, as if you don’t know anything!”

“How would I know?” he said.

“So was it your ghost visiting me every night to play?” I laughed.

“Hey, you really have gone mad after living at such an isolated place!” he laughed loud.

“Asad, I am serious. Didn’t you come all the way to play with me at night?” this time I was serious.

“Are you serious? You know very well my parents never allow me go out at this young age and that too so far away!” he said.

This was the moment of realisation for me. The Asad I met in the house always came in the night and always warned me not to tell anyone about it. He saved me at various places with an unusual speed and strength, impossible for any human. I realised it was not the real Asad, but a friendly ghost who wanted to have kiddie company.

As I thought about that ‘Asad’, a cold yet pleasant breeze touched my faced out of nowhere. I smiled.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 24th, 2018