The soft music in his ear and the view in front created a serene ambiance. He started humming a tune, occasionally pausing and frowning, writing something on his phone and resuming again. After some time, he turned the headset off and started reading the music scores, snapping his fingers and tapping his feet to the beat.
"Dam* it!" He threw his head back in irrigation and sighed loudly.
"Try harder Bikram. Try harder. This is garbage; you need to come up with something presentable, not compostable."
He started humming again.
"Oofff! Not again! Why am I stuck in this loop? I only managed to compose the first four lines and that too in three dam* hours! What the heck!"
He was cursing at himself when suddenly, he stiffened. A soft melody was playing. But he remembered pausing the playlist. Puzzled, he checked his headset but it was on sleep mode. Taking it off, he listened attentively. The unknown music really was coming from elsewhere, not his headphones. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, he had not gone crazy from the stress and was not hallucinating or anything. But he became stiff again thinking about the time.
"Is it a ghost? No no. Since when do ghosts play flutes? Well, a ghost of a musician maybe?" He started arguing with himself to suppress the bubbling fear at the bottom of his heart.
Bikram had started searching for the source of the music when his gaze stopped on a lone figure.
"Guess I'm not the only weirdo sitting in a park in the dead of the night." He shrugged in amusement.
A girl sat under a tree, quite far away from him, playing a flute. Her loose white hair fluttered in the breeze, skin so pale white, as if devoid of blood. The white eyebrows, almost camouflaging, gave her face and eerie look. The silvery lashes bordering the closed eyelids did not move the slightest while she was immersed in her melody. The silver flute held between her long white fingers produced a hypnotising tune. The snow white shirt and trousers blended against her skin perfectly. Her bare feet tapped on the wet grass matching the beat.
From afar, she indeed felt like the literal definition of a ghost from the fables, a white entity against a dark tree trunk in the dead of the night. If not for the flute, Bikram would have jumped out of his skin upon sight, but the heavenly music had a greater effect on him than the shiver running down his spine. It pulled him closer like an invisible rope.
He trodded softly on the moist grass. Even the thought of causing this divine melody to end halfway filled him with dread. Carefully and quietly, he sat a few metres away from her, listening with undivided attention.
After some time the melody faded and finally stopped, but Bikram was not out of the reverie. The music seemed to have carried him to another world, one filled with peace and happiness, devoid of any complications of life.
The ghost girl slowly opened her eyes. Two grey orbs stared at him unblinking.
When Bikram's eyes connected with hers he flinched "Aaaaahh!"
'The ghost is staring at me? ...Oh ...no, huff that's just a human. She really looked scary for a moment there! Oh my goodness, staring at me like that! I was scared for nothing! That's just a girl with albinism.'
"Ahem, I'm sorry, I was really fascinated by your music and took the liberty of being an audience." He said, flustered by her sharp gaze.
The girl nodded.
'Glad she didn't mind.'
Bikram smiled from ear to ear, "It was very beautiful. Mesmerizing. I feel blessed to be able to hear such an amazing melody."
Usually, he would not smile like this before a stranger, but right then he could not help himself. His body was responding on its own. He had never reacted like this to someone's music other than his idol, Raaz. And that music felt almost as captivating as theirs.
The girl curled her lips and nodded.
'Is she thanking me? Is she also mute like Mrs Saha but can hear alright?' Bikram thought.
"I'm sorry for saying this but um..."
After some fidgeting, he said in a pleading tone, "Uh... you know, I'm part of a band... and we are supposed to release a music video in September. We need to finish our song before August. I am in charge of composing the music, but I'm having a musician's block. Our deadline is tomorrow. Your music can match our song perfectly after a few alterations. I promise I won't steal it and will give you the credit you deserve. Could you please sell it to me? It would be extremely helpful."
The girl stared at him for some time, then pointed at the phone in his hand.Confused by her actions, Bikram followed her gaze.
"Are you asking for my phone?" Bikram asked.
She nodded.
"Here take it." He extended it.
There was nothing personal or important in that phone, so Bikram patiently waited for the girl to finish. A while later, she returned the phone.
When Bikram saw what was written there, he was astonished.
"Wha... This... this is the score for the piece you were playing! I... I'm sorry, but I can't take it. I don't have any money with me right now, not even a one-rupee coin. And we also haven't discussed the terms and conditions you wish to set for selling this piece."
He showed her his empty pockets.
The girl raised her hand and shook her head. She pointed her chin at the phone.
"Are you trying to say you are lending it to me? And I can pay you back later?" He asked.
The girl shook her head and pointed at his phone, then at him.
"You're... giving it to me? For free?" After thinking for a while, he said, surprised.
The girl nodded. Bikram was stupefied. He stared at his phone, unable to believe that someone would give away such a precious thing for free. When his stupor broke, he tried to look for her to ask if she was serious, and if she was, why she would do that. But she was already gone, vanished into thin air.
Staring at the notes, he muttered, "Thank you."