1.

Siddharth had been born on land but he had always known, deep down, that he was meant for the sea. He looked at the waves and his ship sailed with him. He could hear his men toil on the deck and he felt a certain fondness for them. They had left their homes the second he had decided he wanted to sail. They had known how important this was for him. And there had been no questions, not even once. 

Being a pirate was tough, but it was something he was willing to do if they were all together. 

They had gathered enough money in the last twenty years. It was not about the thrill anymore for them. The crew had families of their own. Their kids had grown up and left them as soon as they had learnt what their fathers did. It had been hard, but somehow, all of them had something anchoring them like their ship.

Siddharth hears footsteps and then a hand on his shoulder.

“Thinking about Meghna again?”, The Captain let the question hang in the air with the salt. He had seen Siddharth grow up in front of his own eyes. Siddharth’s father was the best on the ship for as long as he had been. Life took different turns and so did Siddharth’s father. 

Siddharth did not answer. It had always been Meghna. Meghna had been his anchor. Meghna’s body was all that was left now. Siddharth had been away on a sail when it had happened. It was hard to believe that it had been six years. Six years since Meghna had opened his eyes and  looked at him the way only she could. The doctor’s had called it a coma. 

2. Six years ago

“Her spirit has left her body”, the doctor explained. His eyes had a certain seriousness that Siddharth had a hard time believing. 

“What does that mean? Her body is there right? The machines are still working?” Siddharth tapped his foot impatiently against the floor. 

“Mr. Nanda, you must understand. She is in a coma. It is unlikely that her heart will beat on it’s own again” the doctor crossed his arms and braced himself for an outburst. People did not take such news well and his past experiences had left him blinded in one eye.

Siddharth did not speak for a long time. He stopped tapping his foot against the floor. 

Loss was not something he came frequently across. But was this a loss at all?

Sid stood up and walked to the room where Meghna lied. 

He looked at her through the window and felt something uncomfortable.

Was this a loss, at all, when she was right there? The machines had started beeping two weeks ago and had not stopped. Meghna looked the same. Air was being pumped in and out of her lungs. Her body stayed still. Her face looked as peaceful as she had always looked when sleep took over.

Was this a loss, when her body was all that was left?

3.

Siddharth had believed in ghosts. He knew it would be ignorant to think that all the things that could be seen by humans were the only things to exist. 

And so when he remembered the myth of the spirits that escaped to islands when their bodies became too tired, he did not question it for a second. 

He had picked up his phone and called all the people he had known by name and by heart. And they had picked up. 

He would bring Meghna back. At any cost.

4.

Their whole village used to gather every Sunday evening. The old people told the legends that were passed down from their own ancestors. It had been a quiet agreement that they did not want their children to forget where they had come and what battles had been fought. That courage came from ideas and words first, and from swords and knives later.

And as he sat and watched Meghna in the hospital, he could not help but remember one particular story.

5.

Death had always been mysterious for everyone. Life was something that people had seen. But there had been cases when people had got stuck in between. 

The doctors called them a coma. Siddharth’s people called it being stuck.

Their spirits had run away. Their spirits were tired. And they had decided to leave their bodies behind. And as the legend went, they could only be found if they wanted to be found. If there was even the smallest chance that their spirit would recognise their loved ones and their love.

There was no one keeping count, but Sid knew at least thousands had tried going to the spirit island. And though the spirits were not harmful, they were not very welcoming either. It was there he had met Meghna for the first time. 

As a pirate, he had seen all the beauty of the world. He had seen rubies, diamonds and blood. He had seen snow and hail alike. But nothing could compare to the first time Meghna had looked back into his eyes.

6.

Meghna had been left behind by her family at the island at a young age. She had no memories of them except the fleeting colour of her father’s watch and her mother’s cries for help. The spirits had found her crying alone near the sea waves. They pitied her. They did not know that such loneliness could exist in someone’s body and mind alike. Guided by them, she learnt how to make fire and climb trees. She found mushrooms and fruits that would fit the cuisine of a king and a peasant. She found joy as the spirits told her the stories of the world. All the stories that they had never got the chance to tell their own loved ones. And she had listened. She had learnt languages that were soon to be forgotten and the ones that were yet to be learnt by other islands and countries. Meghna had found a home and so had the spirits. But they knew, when the time was right, fate would come and take her away to her real destiny.

7.

Sid had spent days, months and years. He knocked on every door that answered and broke down the ones that did not. He sailed day and night. His crew did not complain. They starved on the days that food ran out and they ran thirsty on the days that water did not suit their bodies. Yet, they knew how hard love was to find and how easy it was to lose if you looked away for far too long. They had spent years looking for all the treasures in the world but something worth living, came only at the end of their search. 

Sid started with the families of the people that had already been lost searching for the island. He heard all kinds of stories and emotions. He heard about all the grief they had left behind. And he wondered if one day, his family would tell his story the same way. 

8.

Meanwhile, the doctors looked at Meghna and stood at crossroads. Sid had left them with the promise that Meghna would wake up soon. That he would bring her back. That they were all wrong. 

And as much as they hated to believe him, they could not take her off the machines without the guardian’s consent. And so they waited.

9.

The men shouted in unison as they saw an island just as the diaries had described. It was smaller than they had expected but it was just as dark. And most importantly, Meghna would be there. It was the Island she had lived half her life on.

10.

They did not have to search for Meghna's spirit. Mostly, because they could not. The spirit island was not meant for the living ones. It was an escape.

But Meghna’s spirit was in the exact place that Sid had seen her first. It did not look happy. It looked at him as if it had known he would be arriving.

The spirits let their disapproval be known at the human presence and the island shook. They pointed at him and Siddharth knew only he would be allowed from this point. He would stand at the edge of the sea and beg for love. He would beg Meghna to come back. He would stand at the edge and beg like a man with the same desperation as someone who had lost everything. But Meghna would not look at him like she had known him. Like she had spent the past twenty years with him. Like she had spent each moment of happiness and sadness with him. Like she had loved him once. 

And Siddharth knew that somewhere along the fights and arguments, his ego had drained all the love that Meghna had ever grown for him. Now, she would not come back . Now she would be considered lost. Unless.

11.

The hospital floor trembled as a group of doctors ran to the ICU. Only one person was allowed at a time but this time all of them barged in as the patient took her first breath in eight years. She opened her eyes and a tear fell down.

12.

A few days later, Sid came with a bouquet of roses to the hospital. As he walked through the hallway to the ICU, every other doctor shook his hands in awe. They had only heard about such miracles, witnessing first-hand had only been a dream. Yet, it had happened.

One day, Meghna had woken up as if eight years had not passed by.

She had opened her eyes. She could count to a hundred. She could spell out her own name. 

Brain damage was not a possibility anymore. Her heart beat faster but it beat on it’s own.

Sid would enter the ICU room with a happy cheer. Meghna would look away from him.

And she would understand. She would know that if love was never given, it could be snatched, anyway. If spirits had run away, they could be dragged back against their will. She would learn that her husband would burn a whole island, her childhood home, if it meant things would go his way. 

Meghna would keep a knife with her, at all times, for the rest of her life. And one day, when Meghna would take karma in her own hands, her husband's spirit would have no refuge.