Simri had always hated silence.
Not because it was empty—but because it wasn’t.
Every night, when the world slowed down and the noise faded into nothing, she would hear it again… that soft, haunting whisper brushing against her ears like a ghost of a memory.
“Simri…”
At first, she used to sit up in bed, heart racing, eyes scanning the dark corners of her room. She checked under her bed, behind the curtains, even outside her window. But there was never anyone there.
Just silence.
And yet… not really silence.
Because the voice kept coming back.
As she grew older, she tried to convince herself it was just her imagination. A trick of her lonely, introverted mind. She didn’t have many friends, didn’t talk much, and spent most of her time buried in books or staring out the window. Maybe… just maybe, her mind had created someone to fill that emptiness.
But the voice didn’t feel imaginary.
It felt… real.
It felt like someone who knew her.
Someone who missed her.
—
One night, everything changed.
Simri fell asleep with tears in her eyes after a particularly exhausting day. College had been overwhelming, people were too loud, too complicated… and she felt like she didn’t belong anywhere.
That night, the whisper didn’t just call her name.
It answered her.
“Why are you crying…?”
Her eyes snapped open.
But she wasn’t in her room anymore.
She was standing in a field—soft golden grass swaying under a twilight sky painted in hues of purple and blue. The air felt warm, almost familiar.
And then she saw him.
A boy.
Tall, with dark hair that fell softly over his eyes. His gaze was deep… too deep, like it held years of emotions she couldn’t understand.
He looked at her like she was everything.
“Finally…” he whispered, a faint smile touching his lips. “You can see me.”
Simri’s breath caught in her throat. “Who… are you?”
He stepped closer, slowly, as if afraid she might disappear.
“My name is Kabir.”
The moment he said it, something inside her chest tightened. A strange ache. Like hearing a name she had forgotten but once loved.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said softly.
“Waiting…?” she echoed, confused. “I don’t even know you.”
Kabir’s smile faded, just a little. Pain flickered in his eyes.
“That’s okay,” he whispered. “You forgot… but I didn’t.”
—
From that night on, Simri’s world began to blur.
Every time she slept, she met Kabir.
Sometimes in that golden field, sometimes by a quiet river, sometimes under a sky full of stars that didn’t exist in her real world. And every time, Kabir would look at her like she was his entire universe.
He never crossed a line. Never touched her without hesitation. But his presence… it wrapped around her like something she had lost long ago.
“Why do you call my name?” she asked him one night.
Kabir looked at her, his voice almost breaking. “Because it’s the only thing I have left of you.”
—
But reality didn’t stop.
In her real life, Simri met someone.
Arjun.
He was warm, kind, annoyingly persistent in breaking through her walls. He made her laugh when she didn’t want to. Sat beside her in silence without making it awkward. Slowly, gently… he became part of her everyday life.
And for the first time, Simri felt something real.
Something tangible.
Something she could hold.
But every night… Kabir was still there.
Watching her.
Waiting.
Loving her.
—
“You’re falling for him, aren’t you?” Kabir asked one night, his voice quieter than usual.
Simri froze.
“I…” she hesitated.
Kabir smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s okay. He’s real. He can be with you… in ways I can’t.”
“Then why do you keep calling me?” she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. “Why won’t you let me go?”
Kabir stepped closer, his presence trembling.
“Because I tried,” he said, his voice breaking. “I tried to forget you. I tried to disappear. But every time I did… your name was the only thing that remained.”
He closed his eyes.
“You were my everything, Simri. In every lifetime… you were mine.”
—
That’s when the truth began to surface.
Fragments of memories.
A road.
Rain.
A car crash.
A hand slipping from hers.
And a voice—desperate, broken, calling her name for the last time.
“Simri… don’t forget me…”
—
She woke up screaming.
Tears streamed down her face as memories she didn’t know she had came crashing back.
Kabir.
Not a dream.
Not a hallucination.
He was real.
He was her past.
—
The next night, she ran to him.
“I remember,” she whispered, her voice shaking.
Kabir froze.
“I remember you.”
For a moment, everything stood still.
And then… Kabir smiled.
Not the soft, sad smile he always wore.
But a real one.
Full of life.
Full of love.
“You came back to me…” he whispered.
Simri stepped closer, tears falling freely. “I never meant to forget you.”
“You didn’t,” Kabir said gently. “You were just given another chance to live.”
“But you weren’t,” she replied, her voice breaking.
—
Now she stood at a crossroads.
Arjun… or Kabir.
A love she could touch.
Or a love that refused to die.
—
“I don’t want to lose you again,” Kabir whispered.
Simri looked at him, her heart splitting in two.
“Then don’t,” she said.
—
That night, something impossible happened.
The world around them shifted.
The dream didn’t fade.
The boundary between reality and illusion… broke.
And Kabir—slowly, painfully—became real.
Standing in front of her.
Breathing.
Alive.
—
Simri reached out with trembling hands… and this time—
She touched him.
Warm.
Real.
And finally…
He wasn’t just a whisper anymore.
