A CHINK WITH A LINK

“Can you do it?” Jared asked skeptically.

“Yes I can. But why have you come here? This is my workplace and I don’t like talking over here.” Ashley whispered pulling Jared aside by his elbow.

“Wendi gave me your number. You weren’t picking up your phone so…… I came to………I am sorry but I need to talk. It’s an emergency.” Jared pleaded.

“It’s always urgent, all the time. How long she’s been like this?” Ashley asked.

“Twenty hours. Is it too late?” Jared looked vexed.

“No. But I’ll be there after 5 pm not before that.” Ashley said comforting Jared.

Ashley stood right in front of the window. She was a bit worried today. She moved a little more close to the window and took a deep sigh. “Oh!! There she is.” Ashley thought.

And the next moment she jumped right in through the window.

She took very careful steps while walking behind Jennifer. She maintained a safe distance from her.

“Whoa…..it’s a beautiful place. What place is this? There are so many trees and beautiful flowers all around. I can feel their freshness and fragrance. It’s a park perhaps or an enormous garden. “Well! I should keep track on Jennifer. I am here for her not to take a walk in the park or whatever it is.” thought Ashley taking brisk steps behind Jennifer.

Ashley now stood in front of a huge mansion with wide eyes and jaw touching the ground. She increased her speed and saw Jennifer walking inside the giant gate. Ashley was elegantly following her as she couldn’t let her escape from her eyes or she could get lost inside this huge mansion. Jennifer went upstairs and she was getting close to enter her room. Ashley almost came running and slipped into her room along with her. Jennifer banged the large oak wood door behind her.

Ashley kept her palm on her chest and exhaled a deep sigh. Jennifer was sitting at one corner of her bed, sulking deeply. Ashley will have to wait for the right moment now. Time is draining fast. 30 minutes later Jennifer pulled the drawer of her dressing table and pulled back a knife. And now it was show time for Ashley. She moved quickly and stood right in front of Jennifer. Jennifer was awestruck and screamed with fear.

“Who are you? How did you get in my room?” Jennifer asked shakily.

“Jennifer please put away that knife first, and then we can talk.” Ashley said firmly.

“Why would I talk to you? Who are you? And how dare you enter my room and instruct me?” Jennifer yelled.

“Jennifer listen to me carefully. I have come from very far away but I cannot stay for a long time. I have to go back soon. Don’t kill yourself without knowing the truth. What you saw was just a delusion, a mirage. It’s not the whole truth. You will regret Jennifer if you end your life right now.” Ashley said affectionately.

Ashley continued “I am Ashley. I am here to save you and to show you the truth. Hold my hand and come with me.”

Ashley extended her hand towards Jennifer. Jennifer held her hand and walked out of the mansion. They didn’t stop until they reached the window. A bright golden light was coming out through the window.

They walked closer. Ashley said “look over there. What do you see through the window?”

Jennifer saw her parents, her brother and Rex, her fiancée sitting around her bed and she is sleeping in a deep, very deep sleep.

Jennifer said “why do they look so wretched as if I am dead. Or am I?”

Ashley looked at her softly and said “no you are not dead, yet. You are in coma. And I am here to take you back to life. Look at Rex. What do you feel? Was it worth taking your life? Go back to your life and get your answers. Now you feel it right?”

Jennifer started sobbing. She said “yes now I know how valuable life is.”

Ashley extended her hand and said “are you ready then?”

Both of them jumped through the window into the world of reality. The Jennifer, who was lying on the bed, opened her eyes.

It was quite dark when Ashley left Rex’s house. Another case solved. Ashley was born with a special and unusual gift. She could send her soul to travel in the past or future through a window. Ashley was 11 years old when she came to know about this weird quality of her. Ashley’s father met with an accident and went into a coma. That night Ashley stayed at the hospital with her mother. Her mother fell asleep and Ashley tip-toed to her father’s bed and sat beside him. She took her father’s hand in her. Then something happened. Ashley closed her eyes and saw a large window, she stepped into it and she reached that moment when the accident occurred. She held her father’s hand and returned back through the same window along with her father, just then her eyes opened and she felt her father’s finger pressing her hand. That was the beginning. Ashley never took up this supernatural power seriously until she finished college. A similar case came forward with one of her classmate when Ashley used her power for the second time. Since then her childhood friend Wendi brings such cases to Ashley and she brings back the wandering souls back to their bodies. She never charges anything for doing this. She believes it to be a noble job for the mankind.

Ashley reached home almost running on the deserted streets. Mom was asleep. She heated the food in the microwave and finished her dinner quickly and rushed to her room. She was exhausted completely. She jumped into the bed but find it hard to close her eyes. “I am so exhausted but why can’t I sleep?” thought Ashley.

Suddenly she saw the window of her bedroom getting bigger and it emitted a strong white light. Ashley was unable to look at the bright light. Slowly she walked to the window and saw a small girl standing at the other side of the window, beckoning her. Ashley jumped into the window and started walking towards the girl. She was a pretty little girl of 4-5 years old. She was wearing a very pretty white frock with red strawberries printed all over her frock. Her hair was neatly tied with a red ribbon. She was looking divine.

“Come fast I will take you somewhere. My friend is waiting for you.” said the little girl.

Ashley quietly followed her. They stopped near a staircase. The girl climbed the stairs jumping and hopping and Ashley was just following her trail. Then the stairs ended and they were standing amidst clouds, white, cottony clouds. The girl pointed her index finger and said “there he comes.”

Ashley couldn’t see anyone at all. What she saw was a huge ball of light and nothing else and that huge ball of light was talking.

“Ashley, my child I am so glad to meet you. I have been waiting for you from a very long time.” the voice said.

Ashley looked with amusement towards the light. She was totally speechless.

The voice said “I am God. I blessed you with a power. But dear child you have desecrated the laws of nature. You can travel to the past as well as future but you cannot bring back souls to life!! You cannot decide whether they will live or die. Every creature on this earth takes birth or dies for a reason and a meticulous time is scheduled for each and everyone. You cannot clutter up the balance of birth and death.”

God paused for a while, waiting for a reply perhaps.

Ashley was overwhelmed. She lowered her eyes and said “God please accept my apology. Whatever I did, I thought for the betterment of the mankind. I thought returning back their loved ones to them will make them happy. I never thought the other way round. I am sorry.”

There was a long silence. Ashley felt the presence of a serene divinity all around.

God said after a while “Ashley you are a very kind person. Use your power in something more productive, something which can be supportive for the mankind, maintaining the laws of nature. The window of opportunities will be always open for you. Take a look through that window with more possibilities. Go back and find it out yourself.”

The white ball of light faded away slowly and there was a clear blue sky over Ashley’s head. Number of beautiful birds was flying all around tweeting and chirping and her eyes opened suddenly.  

“Oh!! I had a dream, a strange dream.” Ashley thought sitting on her bed rubbing her eyes and yawning.

She walked towards the window of her room and gazed outside. “What a pleasant sunny morning. The dream was strange but what if whatever god said to me was correct. Probably I have jeopardized the balance of birth and death. No I should utilize my power in something more gratifying without violating the laws of nature. I should look at my aptitude from a different angle now onwards.” Ashley thought staring at the rhododendron tree in her garden.

The tree is blooming with spectacular, fiery red flowers. Suddenly her eyes caught the sight of a little girl picking up the rhododendron flowers from the ground and Ashley’s mind was blown completely. The girl was wearing a white frock with red strawberries printed all over her frock and her hair neatly tied with red ribbon. Ashley couldn’t move from the window. And then she saw the girl looking at her with a pretty smile and her eyes shone with a bright white light.