"So! Why do you want to go on Earth?" The gatekeeper asked.

"I want to be with my love Vikram, I can't live without him." I blurted out.

"Live! You are already dead, child!" He said laughing.

"Please! Lord! I want my Vikram back. I will not able to stay anywhere, without him. I can't even stay even one second away from him. Please, see if you can do anything, I beg of you." I requested him a lot.

"Fine child, I can do something about it, but you must speak with Lord Yamaraj himself. He will give you a solution for your inconvenience. Go! My blessings are with you." He said.

Thank you lord!" I said going towards Lord Yamraj's darbar (royal court).

"Lord! Help me!" I said to Lord Yamaraj.

"I have already heard your conversation with royal gatekeeper. Child! Your wish is very difficult to take place, but definitely not impossible. I hope you know what are you thinking. Your thinking isn't right child."

"But, lord! I am very sure about my decision. There's no way I am going to change it. I will do anything to get back with Vikram." I said.

"Fine, I give you 30 days to complete your wish. Now listen to me very carefully. You can do one thing, which is to bring him to the 'Death house' with you. Because, for how long you are going to wander on Earth aimlessly in disgusting ghost body, that too for a living person. Hence, if you bring him with you here, you will at least get to stay with him. Understand!"

"Oh yes lord! That's a great idea! I will do as you say. So when do I start?"

"Remember one thing, I give blessings only in return of something. A promise! You will have to promise me that, when you bring him with you, you both shall straight away sent to 'Naraka' (Hell)." He said.

I was shocked by this unusual promise, but I shall stay happy with Vikram wherever we live. May it be Hell or Earth. So I quickly promised him, "I promise Lord! We shall proceed to hell as soon as we enter afterlife."

"Very well! But also listen to the consequences of not completing your work on time. If you fail to bring him with you within 30 days, then you will be severely punished in Hell, also you will lose him forever."

I swallowed hard at his words, which sent chills down my spine. "I promise, I'll be on time lord."

"Very well, now go straight from here, you will see a staircase which will lead you to Earth. There you will see a mansion, a scientist named Dr. Russell lives there. He will guide you for your further journey."

"A scientist! Wouldn't he be scared of me as I am still a ghost?"

"No, he won't get scared because he's a ghost himself. He has helped over hundreds of uncrossed spirits like you. Now go! Your time starts now!" Saying this he vanished, leaving me into complete darkness.
As I took my next step, a loud noise of people screaming, crying, laughing, fell on my ears. It was spooky. I felt ashamed of myself, that I was frightened despite of being a ghost myself. I could make out, a staircase was already present before me, but it sent chills down my spine because, the staircase was not made of any cement, or marble but a huge chain of spirits roped in together formed a shape of staircase. All the spirits were looking at me as if they are gonna eat me raw. I swallowed hard and went near the stairs. Suddenly all the spirits started howling loudly. "Aah!" I screamed with fear.

"Relax! I have to do this for Vikram! Now come on. Put your foot forward! It's alright! I am a ghost, chill!" I spoke to myself as I climbed on the first step. Good! I was doing good. I felt a sigh of relief until some of the spirits tried to bite my leg. Whoa! They had sharp teeth like vampires. They won't stop biting. God! I was so scared that I literally ran down the stairs, slipping in that process and rolled all the way downstairs.

Pain! I could feel the pain rising in my nerves, even my leg was broken, I glanced at my legs and to my horror, they were facing backwards. It looked horrible, and nauseous. I dragged myself down again until I felt ground under me. I stood up on my own using my whole strength.

Everything was foggy and cold. I saw a huge mansion, in front of me. I remembered Lord Yamaraj's words. OK I have to find Dr. Russell. What an irony. A ghost meets doctor.

The mansion was covered in black and grey colour. 'Bhoot bangla' (Ghost house) was the first thing that came in my mind looking at it. As I stood before the enormous gate of that mansion, one of the statues present in it's entrance moved. It opened its eyes which were plain black, void of any expressions. It scared the hell out of me. The enormous gate finally opened automatically, and I went inside. The creepy statue kept staring at me.

I rang the doorbell, which also had an irritating sound. A gruesome looking woman wearing white robe approached. I turned my gaze away from her, as it was too much to digest her horror appearance. She was worst than any witch in a horror movie. Worst of the worst. Still I could take out some of the details of how she looked. Major part of her face was destroyed, that included her forehead, nose, lips, ears. Only her eyes shone within that destroyed canvas.

"Yes! May I help you?" She spoke and I felt like vomiting. God! Her voice was even more dangerous than her appearance. Her voice was loud, heavy and alien. I had never heard such a voice ever. When she spoke, my ears burned.

I gathered all my courage and spoke, "I...want to...uh...meet a man named Dr. Russell."

"What for?" Her eerie voice fell on my ears again.

"I will tell him myself. Please show me, where he is." I said.

"I'll tell you, but you will have to go through some punishments, which will decide your ability, and then Dr. Russell will meet you." She told me.

"What punishments? and Why?" I asked.

"Come with me." She took me to a room which looked not less than a laboratory. To my horror, people were actually working in there. People with gruesome faces, people missing some of their organs, people with their organs hanging out of their bodies, and other varieties of people also. I closed my eyes after not able to meet their gaze.

"What happened to them?" I questioned.

"They all are completing their punishments." She said.

"Here! Is this a private hell or something?" I asked to which she gave a death glare which was enough to wet my pants.

"Open the cage", she commanded one of the people, and a man with broken hand came running. His feet were backwards, just like me. He opened a big cage in which deadly insects were roaming freely. The whole cage was botanized and maintained the environment for the insects to grow and feast.

"You are supposed to go in that cage for 5 minutes, if you resist the punishment then I'll take you to Dr. Russell. If you fail then get ready to go to hell." She said in her scary voice and pushed me into that cage, closing the door behind me.

As soon as I entered the cage, all the insects present in there flew towards me in full speed, and straightaway attacked me. The insects were making this disgusting noise when they screamed. I closed my eyes and thought of Vikram and our happy memories together. All I could hear was the noise of their wings, which sounded like helicopters. They started to sting me, with their pointed fangs. It burned a lot, I cried out in pain, but my cries fell on deaf ears. I just kept absorbing their venomous stings, hoping them to stop.

After some minutes, the woman entered the cage with some other people besides her. She snapped her fingers and the insects were gone. The people helped me out to stand, my knees were wobbly as I lost all my energy and patience in between those insects. They carried me to another room, which was more hostile than the previous one. I felt the coldness surrounding me from all the sides.

I lay there on the floor, desperately in need of water. My whole body was cramping, resulting into tears forming in my eyes. Suddenly I felt a blanket on me, warmth enveloped me. I looked up to see who did that. A tall man with brown hair, wearing a doctor coat and spectacles on his eyes. He had sharp eyes and petrifying features. I clutched the blanket tightly as he offered to help me get up. I held his hand, which was cold as ice.

"What brings you here?" He spoke. I stayed quiet.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Dr. John Russell." He said.

"Oh hello. My name is Shreya." My voice cracked.

"Hello Shreya! Nice to meet you." He said.

"I am here because Lord Yamaraj sent me here, he also said that you can help me completing my unfinished business." I said.

"What business exactly?" He asked.

I told him everything about me, Vikram and also my previous birth. He listened to my story very patiently and then finally agreed to help me. A smile curved on my lips as Dr. Russell was the only hope by which I could meet Vikram and he agreed to help me.

"I am very impressed by your story Shreya, you came here all the way just for the sake of your lover. True love has become a rare instance now, and you are really a brave soul. I'll help you, but if you go like this in front of your lover, he may die of heart attack."

"What? Why?" I asked.

He showed me a mirror and I shivered at my own reflection. My face was totally crushed and my body had become fragile. I think, the accident was brutal, that resulted into my face being crushed. All this time, I forgot to take a look at myself rather than criticizing other people's appearances.

"Don't worry, I am not going to send you in this condition. You will have to undergo some bodily changes in my laboratory, which will enable you to do your work efficiently and without anyone knowing that you are not human. Come with me." He said. I followed him.

He took me to his huge laboratory, my jaw dropped at its size. It was bigger than a football ground. He said, "First, I'll have to change your blood, so that you can stay on Earth and adapt to the new changes."

I was then taken to experimentation room, where I saw many bottles and test tubes containing various coloured liquids. I was forced to lie on a bed and they tied my hands and legs to its end. Dr. Russell brought a huge syringe which was probably about 10 inches long. I tensed up immediately. He injected the syringe into my hand and pulled the handle outside, absorbing my whole blood with it. After 2-3 minutes, a woman bought a tray of several bottles in it.

"Are you going to inject me with these chemicals?"

"These are bloods not chemicals." He said.

I wondered at the wide range of colourful bloods placed one after another. Red, blue, green, yellow, black, grey and many other colours. He took some of blue blood and injected me with it. My whole body was repaired immediately, no cuts, no scratches, no burns, everything was clear. Next, he took a purple bottle and injected some of it inside me and my facial features began changing. Within seconds, I got a new face. I admired myself in front of a mirror, I looked beautiful as if I just had a plastic surgery. My beauty was enough to make a man chase after me like a mad dog.

Dr. Russell showed me a way outside which led to city and told me, "Go find him, and bring him here within 30 days, otherwise you will never get a chance to come to Earth and Lord Yamaraj will give you more strict punishment. All the best."

"Thanks." I said as I stepped forward, feeling rejuvenated and alive once again.

"Vikram I am coming." I said walking towards the city hoping to find him.