My initial scare soon vanished. During my law enforcement career, I have had many super natural experiences. It all began, when I was stationed at a far flung border post in the Thar Desert. I was on patrol duty, when I saw a group of people who were migrating with all of their baggage. Their women were fully covered from head to toe. All of them were carrying big pile of garments on their heads and most of them carried a child in their arms too. Few adult males were walking in front. They were followed by older men. Young children with couple of adult males were at the tale. The first strange thing that I noticed about them was the absence of animals. The group did not have any camels or goats etc. I passed by them dozing on my camel. It was only after they went into the nearby clump that I noticed the second strange thing. There were no foot prints of the group which just went past me. I stopped my camel and turned around. I saw them entering the clump from where I had started moving after resting for a while. As I was looking at them, I saw the last person in the group stopping and turning back towards me. He stared for a while and then, went inside the clump. It was very hot. My whole body was covered in sweat and yet, I felt a chilly wave flashing down my spine. I was however, more curious than afraid. I started going back towards the clump. In the meanwhile, I looked down at my camel handler. He was terrified. He had also noticed the same odd things. He begged me to stop following them, but I had decided to meet the group and ask them a few questions. En route, I found foot prints of my camel but there was absolutely no sign of any group of people who had just passed from there. When I entered the clump, there was nobody. It was completely empty. There was not even a single living being there except, for a few birds chirping on the tree branches. Only a few minutes had passed and a group of about 50 people including men, women and children disappeared into thin air. I looked around the entire clump of trees but found no trace of anyone. If I had been alone then, I may have considered it as my hallucination but my camel handler had seen them too. It was my first of many encounters with them. They also used me as their record keeper and courier. They still visit me, whenever they need something which is out of their reach. Stories to this effect will come later.

Talking to Maria was another kind of experience. She was a human soul trapped in this world. She needed my help. I was not a soul helper, but I have had my share of dealing with the supernatural. She continued her story, as we journeyed towards Abbottabad, “I was born in a small maternity home in East London where my parents lived. I will not go into the details of the financial hardships my parents faced but the biggest shock of my life came when one day, I returned from school and found my father at home. It was not usual. He told me that my mom had gone to see her sick mother in Dublin and that she will be back soon. She never returned. I was only ten years of age and unable to understand, as to how a mother can abandon her only child. As far as I knew, she loved me so much and I was a good daughter to her. My father explained me later that she was not happy here. She had come to London in search of a better life but got stuck with us. Anyway, after many years my father decided to visit Pakistan. He brought me along. We stayed at a guesthouse in Abbottabad. Almost three decades passed since my father had left this country. Both my grandparents were no more alive and my only uncle, Bashir Khan Jadoon was not very happy to see us. He was my father’s only brother. We stayed for two weeks in Abbottabad and often visited our ancestral home. Many a times, I heard my father indulging in heated discussions with my uncle about the property matters. I was however, welcomed by my cousins. Shazia, Kainat and Tanvir were grownups now and were all well educated. They made me feel like home. I started liking them as well.”

After taking a small pause, she continued. “Two weeks passed in a jiffy. On our way back, my father told me that he wants me to marry Tanvir. I was initially annoyed to hear that but Tanvir was a handsome man and I had started liking him too. My father also disclosed that his brother did not want to distribute the property. It seemed to them as an amicable solution to marry me to Tanvir and hence, there will be no need to divide the inheritance. I accepted the proposal but kept showing my displeasure to my father as he made such a huge decision of my life even without consulting me. I had spent my whole life in London but had quite a conservative environment at home. In absence of my mother, my father controlled all the affairs.”

I had not interrupted her a bit. We were now near Abbottabad and I was thinking of not driving through the city lights with a snow white sitting with me on the front seat. Abbottabad is a small city and as in any other small city and town, people often come across their known ones at busy junctures. I was also unsure whether other people can see her or not. I was already driving at a very slow speed. Even one mule cart crossed me at one place. It was now time to give this conversation a break. As she paused again, I said it out instantly, ‘City is about to start. I don’t want you to be seen with me sitting in this car. Can we resume this session on next Friday?’ She simply said, ‘OKAY’ and disappeared.

Next morning turned out to be quite an amusing one. I woke up on the noise of my wife who was trying to open a trolley bag. I jumped up from my bed as soon as I recognised the bag. It was Maria’s. She had left the bag on the back seat of my car. She probably forgot to take it along while disappearing from the front seat. I also had not seen the bag till my wife found it, when she went out in the morning to feed our dog.

‘What are you doing?’ I almost shouted at her. She instead looked at me with her burning red eyes and asked me in a ferocious voice, ‘Whose bag is this?’ By then, I had already made up a story, ‘It belongs to Bhatti.’ I took my friend’s name and continued, ‘I picked him up from Mansehra yesterday. He must have forgotten to take it when I dropped him at his home last night.’ My wife looked straight into my eyes and roared, ‘There is a name tag on the bag and it does not spell Bhatti.’ I still sounded very confident, ‘You can call Bhatti right now and why the hell would I keep someone else’s bag in my car?’ She was still struggling to open it and trying different combinations. I snatched the bag from her and took it back to the car showing my utmost annoyance. She did not say anything further and headed towards the kitchen. My wife was aware of my adventures with the supernatural. But she was a typical house wife after all. She would always inquire me about the gender of my supernatural clients. If I had told her about Maria then, I was pretty much sure that she would accompany me for the next meeting to wherever I go. I will eventually tell her about Maria’s soul but not at the moment.

I reached office at about 10 am and carried the bag to my office. It was not heavy. I had put it safely in the cupboard and tended it to be my office stuff. I had to remain out from office on Friday and so, at first I dealt with all the pending matters. After taking care of everything, I told the peon to lock the door of my office from outside. He did not get suspicious as I often would do it, whenever I am in a meeting with my clients or trying to take a nap. The time to lock the door was however unusual, as I never had any special visitors in the morning at 11 and more so, it was not my nap time either. Anyhow, it did not bother me much as to what the peon would be thinking. After hearing the click of padlock from outside, I took out the bag and started inserting various combinations to the three digit number latch on Maria’s bag. I also thought of leaving it alone as she may not like it after finding out that I checked her bag but curiosity is a much more powerful emotion than fear. I could have easily tempered with the lock and opened it with a screw driver but then, it might not close again. So, I was being a little careful with trying to open a bag which belonged to a soul. Anyway, after fiddling with the combinations for over an hour, I heard the click sound. It had opened. A smile appeared on my face and my heart missed a beat.

The inside of the bag contained a few female clothing items along with a file tucked in a plastic cover. I also checked for any hidden compartments in the bag but failing to find any, I shifted my attention to the file. It only had three things in it; a British passport in the name of Maria Khan, a marriage contract between Maria Khan and Tanvir Khan Jadoon and a stamp paper reflecting the transfer of a huge property to Maria Khan. The story was now getting clearer in my head. Probably, Iftikhar Khan got her daughter married to his nephew to reclaim his property. So, if everything went as planned then, what went wrong? Why is she dead? And more importantly, why this news did not get any media attention?

The answers to all my questions were to be given to me on coming Friday by Maria. I waited anxiously for the next few days. On Friday afternoon, I finished my work in Mansehra office much before the time and reached at the spot about an hour before the sunset. I waited till 9 pm but she did not turn up. Waiting for four hours at a narrow passage on the Silk Route was so exhausting. So many reasons of her absence crossed my mind. I then, went straight to my office, securely placed her bag in the cupboard and headed home. Same thing happened on every Friday for the next two months. I was now desperate to find out more about her story. My curiosity was killing me internally. I had also lost focus on my work and I was frustrated at home as well. It was high time for me to stop waiting now.

I had checked the arrival dates of Maria on her passport. Her first entry date in Pakistan was in March 2018 and she went back in the same month after staying here for two weeks. She herself narrated the story to me about this visit. Her second entry here in Pakistan was in August 2018 with no exit marked. This implied that she was still in Pakistan, alive or most probably dead. What happened to her and her father was worth investigating. I had also thought of getting some help from my special clients but her aura around me was keeping them away.