THE GHOST'S WRITER

" Congratulations brother! I knew you will get the award all along. I am so proud of you. " Perry couldn't contain how proud he was of his younger brother Ricky. He hugged him tightly and warmly pats his back. " Thanks big bro. I think you had more faith in me than myself. " Ricky hugs his brother with an award still in his hands. The award had his name " Ricky Hughes " engraved on it in gold and above that was written in bold, capital letters, BEST AUTHOR IN A HORROR GENRE . Ricky was a famour name in the realm of horror content all over the world. Numerous of his stories were made into different forms of media consumption tools like films, tv shows, audio books , etc. His stories were famous because it transported the consumer to a place unknown where Ricky orchestrated their fears and materialized it right infront of their eyes. Many people who read his books or consumed his stories in any way always said one thing, " It's too real to be called a fiction. " 

It was a proud day for the Hughes family. Perry was in an ecstatic mood today. He was the torch bearer for Ricky's stories from the beginning of his writing days. He was one of the first person to push Ricky into writing full time and stood with him when even their family was against it. The brothers had a beautiful bond which cemented in time. Perry was so happy for his younger brother who was finally living his dream. He was the only person Ricky felt comfortable and confident enough to be his manager. So Perry, along with his own job, acted as a manager whenever his brother needed him. Right in the middle of the party, Perry gets a call. His face lit up like a 1000w bulb and piercing through the sea of unknown faces, he spotted his little brother. " Hey Ricky! The day gets better and better brother. I just got a call from the OTT platform  executives. This is crazy! They want to make a documentary on you! About how you spend your day and how you write your stories. It's finally time to take the centre stage brother. This is massive! " 

He hugged his brother , but this time Ricky's hands didn't hugged him back. He whispers in his ears, " Let me break the news in the party. People will get so amped up. " And as he tries to turn and break the hug, Ricky's hand grabs him tightly, not letting him turn. In a shivery voice, this time Ricky whispers, " Are they going to record me while I write my stories too? " The intensity of his voice clarified this much to Perry that something is wrong. He breaks the hug and looks at Ricky's eyes. He couldn't find the happiness of winning the award, he couldn't find the mellowness of the drinks he had. He even couldn't find the natural flare of his brother's eyes. All he found was fear. A fear whoch was so intense, his whole body was shivering. Perry was confused and terrified at the same time. " Ofcourse buddy. That's like the main plot of the documentry. To show how the great stories of your mind gets manufactured." He saw the fear intensifying to a dangerous level in Ricky's eyes with each word he took from his mouth. " N… No… No. Tell them No. I just won't. Tell them I am not comfortable with writing with other people in my room." Ricky started scratching his head in an uneady way. " Bro, when you work there won't be anyone. They will do the interviews before. When you write only cameras will be there. What's the harm in that?" Perry knew this was a good way to showcase his brother to the world. As a manager it was a beautiful opportunity. But Ricky was adamant. " Don't force it! I said NO! " Ricky screams right infront of his brother, still perplexed by his little brother's actions and storms out of the party hall with all the eyes on him.

The media who were at the party were ruthless. 'The Rift between the infamous brothers' was everywhere in the news the next day. The media started grilling Perry and showing him as the brother who leeches from his younger brother and forces him to do things against his will. Perry locked himself in his house as media reporters and paparazzi were hiding all around his house just to get the first scoop. His phone rang continuously so he shuts it off and keeps it aside. Suddenly the swarm of reports became active and Perry could listen the cameras clicking outside continuously. Following that he heard a knock on his door. " Open up bro. It's Ricky. Let me in. " Perry runs towards the door and slightly opens the door so Ricky can get in. " Look what you did! " Perry was angry and distraught by his younger brother's action. Ricky kneels down and holds his ears. " I am so sorry brother. It's just that I just can't show people or anyone how I write. It is something sacred to me. So please call the people and tell them I'll do the documentry but they just need to get out when I start writing. I'll do this for you. Otherwise these pesky reporters will keep on grilling you. " Looking at the honest in his younger brother's eyes Perry makes him stand. " I understand. You could've said that to me earlier. Will I ever do anything which is uncomfortable to you bro? "  They high five each other and he calls the OTT platform officials to explain there demands. Then they both come out of the house and announce the news to the media. Media calls the rift a publicity stunt and runs away. Ricky stays with his brother for a while then retorts to his humble abode. Perry takes his phone out. Calls someone, " Hi…  Yes i understand you need the footage of him writing to make the show. I'll bring that to you guys don't worry. He won't get angry after he sees how good of a plan this was for him. Mhmm… . Ok. You provide me with those cameras. I'll send the raw footage. Ok. Bye. "

The shooting started within a week. The documentry directors followed the brother on their daily workarounds. Ricky explained how he started writing ghost stories and how his brother encouraged him to be a full time author. Perry tells the story of how, his brother, without any professional education about story writing, amazed his whole family with his talent. This went on for three whole days. The crew followed the brothers everyday and at night, as promised Ricky was left alone in his house to write. The crew became anxious day by day. They were not getting any footage of him writing. Perry installed the hidden cameras in Ricky's study room, but he was unable to retrieve them for 3 whole days. Ricky was quite sensitive for people to not enter that room. Only Perry was allowed that too only when Ricky was not working at day time. During this shoot, Ricky was extrea careful and locked the door even if he went out for washroom. So Perry and the production house decided to go themselves at night to get some visuals through the big window in that room. Perry was very much against the idea, but his promise to them and his failure to deliver at that promise made him an accomplice. He never wanted to hurt his brother. He justified himself in his mind by saying, " This will be the best thing that happens for my brother's career. "

Ricky always started writing at midnight. It was his golden hour to write. Perry along with a camera man enter the house from the backdoor. The house was dead silent but all the lights were on. Ricky was afraid of the dark ever since he was a little boy. The tip-toed their way through the hallway slowly approaching near the study room. As the got closer, something became very odd. The air around the room suddenly became chilly and thin. It was getting difficult to breathe. On top of that both Perry and the cameraman, who was recording everything, started hearing strange noises coming from inside the study room. " Is there anyone else who lives with him? " The cameraman asked Perry. " Not that I know of. " It was bewildering for Perry too. The get closer and closer to hear what was going on. What if Ricky was in danger! As they come closer, the conversation became audible, " Mhmm…  Ok. Then what happened? What?.... Y… you killed him? Ripped open his body. And what about the aunt? She knows you exist then? In a mental asylum…. I see. " No doubt it was Ricky's voice. " Is someone telling him the stories? Whats going on? " The cameraman becomes agitated whereas, Perry was shell shocked. Did someone told the stories, his brother wrote to him? That means he is just the writer. A scam! Now slowly it all came back to him. Why he didn't wanted to let people see how he writes. Because he never wrote his stories. He just copied it from someone who made the stories up. A flood of sorrow engulfed him. He felt like a fool when a hand grabbed him from the back and broke his sea of thoughts. " He is coming out to go to washroom. Hide! This will be our chance to rake the cameras out. " The cameraman suggested as they hid behind the sofa and watch Ricky going out of the room, not locking it this time as it was night and according to him, there was no one around. " Lets go! They enter the room and to their surprise, there was no one in the room. They surely heard Ricky talking. How can this room be empty? "He must be talking on the phone. Don't waste time Perry take the cameras and get out of the room!" Perry's hesitation took a back seat and he swiftly took the hidden cameras and both of them ran out of the room and the house. Mission was a success! But it was not the end. Because cameraman had a ground breaking scoop about the famous writer , being a total scam. And as for Perry, he was still confused about many things so they decided to take a peak through the big window from outside the house.

They reach the area around the house which had the window. The cameraman was busy checking if the hidden camera tapes had something in them or they didn't got anything. Not focussing on neither Perry nor the window, he shoved the tape into his camera and pushed the play button. As the video progressed, his skin started to become pale. His eyes widening after every frame. Sweat emerging on his forehead, on a chilly December night. His mind was screaming, wailing for help. But his mouth was closed shut. Like he had no power over his muscles. All he could do was watch in horror. As the tape ended, he finally regained his consciousness. Finally he could speak or turn or call someone. He turns towards Perry tucking his shirt from behind. " H… Hey hey.. Perry. Did you see this? What is this? Oh my g.." he stopped tucking at the lifeless body. Perry was just as petrified as he was while watching the tape. He follows his gaze and his heart bursts open with pain. Through the window, Ricky was sitting on his chair with his laptop. From behind, a dark, ghastly women was bending over his shoulder, as if she was whispering in his ears. Ricky's hands are shaking, trembling in fear, but he continues to write as the lady leans her head above his shoulder. The cameraman reflexively turns his camera on and started recording. They say when you see a ghost, you scream out loud. It's all a lie. When you see a ghost, your capability to make sound is lost. Your mind becomes stunned. Your body freezes. The shock slowly crawls up, from your legs to your spine and then to your head. Your heart is the only sensible organ left, as it beats hard and fast making the only sound your body can make. But unfortunately its way too faint for a human. That's not the case with ghosts tho. They hear this beating heart of yours. It's melody to their ears. Similarly, the lady leaning over Ricky's shoulder, turns towards the beating hearts. For the first time, the grotesque face of her is revealed to Perry and the cameraman. Her grin, streching from ear to ear, her eyes as dark as nothingness, the numerous cuts on her face, which are now black and greasy. She looks at both of them twisting and turning her head and body awkwardly. Perry, slightly turns his gaze from the horrific sight to watch his brother's eyes, wide open in shock to find him there. A tear drop slowly comes out of Ricky's white washed face as he knew somehow what was going to happen. From outside Perry reads his brother's lips as the tear bounces of his cheeks and falls down, " RUN "

Next early morning, the cameraman and Perry return to the main crew bus. Their faces pale and their clothes muddy. A lifeless expression on both of their faces. They hand over the tapes to head of the crew and without saying a word just leave. The crew understood they had a long night yesterday so they let them go without any questions. The bus started moving as the head starts inspecting the footage. First he plays the hidden camera videos. As expected, all the crew in the moving bus were petrified looking how in the three nights, a ghost, a poltergeist and finally a djinn came right beside the horror writer and whispered a story in a trembling Ricky's ear. Tears poured out of his eyes every night as these ghosts narrated their deeds into his ears, their extremely horrific and vicious deeds. The staff suddenly felt the air of the bus getting cold and thinning. The tape ended and head was thrilled, " Oh my god! This is sensational news! What was that? Imagine a horror writer documentry showing how he writes stories directly narrated by ghosts! Oh wow. This is jackpot guys! " It was only him who was ecstatic about this in the whole van. Others were still processing what they saw and what is real. Now they understood why they called his stories, " too real to be called fiction " because it was all real all along. The head doesn't waste time and plays the video of previous night. As the video progressed, everyone's soul left their bodies. The video recorded everything, the time they broke into the house, when they heard Ricky talking from outside the door, the women resting her face over Ricky's shoulder, Ricky's crying face telling them to run,her detecting both of them and her cynically laughing and brutally ripping them apart as they tried to run far away from the house at night. At Night! That's when it struck the head. " But they both came today in the morning? How… how .. whats goin… on? " And that's when his eyes slowly but instinctively moved towards the rear view mirror. His eyes glared in fear! Through the mirror were those black eyes they saw in the video." The th…  th… driver! " The whole staff turns towards the driver, as the head slowly turns , twisting and turning awkwardly, with a grinn that stretched ear to ear. A loud scream inside the bus was heard just before it jumped out from the cliff, crashing into the valley, engulfing in red hot flames as the injured crew inside the bus burned alive.

The funeral went smoothly. Ricky returned to his home. Everywhere there was news of how the crew bus along with Perry Hughes, lost control while going to Rick's place to shoot and fell into the valley. No survivors were found. Ricky sat in an empty room looking at the award. Reminiscing about the past. But his past was always tainted with ghosts. From the time he was a child, he saw them. He tried to tell his family, but they mistook them as stories. So, he started writing them as stories and the deeper he went, the more connected he became with them. When you try to understand their world, they listen to you, come to you and interact through you. Their realm is different than ours but very very close to us. They chose Ricky to tranport their stories into the human world. When Ricky wanted to get away, it was already too late. He sensed what they could do, they even told him themselves what they did. So, every night, as any trace of light disappear from the sky, they visited him. Tell him a story. And left. 

Ricky looks at the clock, it was 12 pm. His eyes were not even dry because of his beloved brother's funeral but he can't escape this. Death was just a word depecting their rebirth for the ghosts. Soo he sat down on his chair. The air became chilly. That was his cue as he opens up his laptop and closed his eyes. Soon, he feels a face slowly places itself over his shoulder. He could feel the cold breathe of the ghost all over his neck. " Miss me? " A familiar voice makes him open his eyes in an instant. He turns to look, " B… Brother! " The eyes were as dark as nothingness. The faces was scared with scratch marks, all turned black. The face was as white as snow. But there was no doubt in his mind, it was Perry. Tears started gushing out like a dam got broken. He could feel him, but he was unable to touch him. Only ghosts can touch us, but we can't. " I'll tell you a story about a writer who wrote stories narrated by ghosts. " The tears weren't stoping. Even his voice was enough to melt Ricky's heart. He kept crying as his brother narrated the story. Finally, when the story ends, Ricky asks, " what will be the title of the story? " Perry smiles as he finally starts fading into oblivion and graces his last words to his beloved brother, " THE GHOST'S WRITER "