Rajjo stood on the terrace wearing a hospital gown. Rano and Karam were still enduring her silence as another month passed by. They asked her how long she wanted to be in limbo? But Rajjo knew she was waiting for something. She was waiting for a word, a direction. She was gearing up for a journey. She had kept her mother away from the hospital. Perhaps she needed to see her. The restlessness inside was growing. The churning of change had begun.

She had to be patient. She could see the days slip away into nights and weeks into months in Devi’s eyes but she was in waiting. Her routine was the same, long walks in the hospital compound and one question to the floor nurse on duty. Room No. 10 – did the patient wake up yet?

The nurse was Mary’s replacement, younger and beautiful with sad eyes. Her name was Sitara. She smiled the same way and shook her head. It seemed she was certain he was never going to.

Rajjo stared out of the window looking listless, when Rano announced the doctor who just entered the room. The quiet doctor who entered with Rajjo – stepped forward as Rano gave him a look. It was his turn to try. Before he could say anything, Rajjo looked him in the eye, ‘You know of a sobbing young girl who stays here? Many people have seen her but are scared to say. We are becoming friends now. She stays in suite No. 9. Why have you locked it?’

‘We are going to reopen it soon.’ The doctor was clearly flustered.

‘Exactly 4.30 in the morning she stands at the foot of the bed, crying,’ Rajjo looked at the doctor and his team in a disapproving manner.

‘It is nothing, there is some renovation work. There is no young girl here.’ As the doctor said it, the nurse behind shifted in discomfort.

‘Mary told me that the nurses felt nausea or sensed someone following them even after they’ve left.’ Rajjo countered. ‘Your official report says that the nurses are horrified as the suite has been shut after the girl died in the suite a year ago. Inexplicable feelings of sadness, unease and sudden drops in temperature have also been reported in that room.’

The doctor clarified, ‘You know how the nurses have an overactive imagination – they hold on to a story to amuse themselves.’

Rajjo smiled at him, disbelieving. She had cornered him.

‘What are you trying to say?’ The doctor stood his ground firmly.

Rajjo looked at him with manic eyes and whispered, ‘She crawls on the walls and she plays with the others, she will get me some information and she will whisper it in my dead ear, in return she asked me to tell her parents she will find a way back. Can you deliver the message to her parents?’

Everyone in the room was rooted to the spot with fear. Including Rano. Rajjo was beyond saving perhaps.