If I was alone, someone would come and stand very close to me. I can't see him. How I feel.

While trekking, Aditya slipped and fell from the hill in Bandarban and died. Upon receiving the news, I was stunned.

I have been feeling so creepy since Aditya died.

Apart from Aditya, the untimely death of a few close friends has made me stunned, speechless and mournful.

My life is filled with emptiness. My chest throbs all the time. I don't mind studying. I just feel empty.

I don't hang out with anyone like before. Walking down the street alone. I sit on the roof. Then he comes to me.

The one who comes to me is not Aditya. He is someone else.

I saw the one who came to me when I was alone six months ago on a rainy day on the streets of Savar.

How many memories of my dead friends come to my mind when I am alone.

After class we would go out together. Arman was car crazy. He had many cars.

For some reason, the 2008 gray Toyota Fortuna was his favorite. They used to import the car.

Arman had car showrooms in Dhaka and Chittagong. They had more business. Arman's home is in Chittagong.

There was a flat at Niketan in Dhaka. Arman lived in that flat. Arman's father is a member of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce.

He owns a lot of money. Armanas go to America frequently. The Armans have a home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Arman is in good health. Tall. Fair. Lately, eating yaba has become a fashion in private universities.

Arman also ate those red-blue pills. Arman's hand did not tremble while driving even though he was drunk.

I would cut the traffic jam at Jatrabari and take a left turn to reach the bank of Shitalaksha. Once Rajendrapur Rashida aunt's house.

Aunt Rashida is my mother's cousin. Widow. Childless. Live alone A twenty-six-twenty-seven-year-old girl named Rebu is cared for.

Home near Rajendrapur railway station. The house is secluded. Two storeys. The walls are lined with trees. Behind is a crystal clear pool of black water.

Then the walls. Then the railroad. My friends used to enjoy Rashida's aunt's house very much. He bathed in the pond.

Rebu's hand cooking is excellent. Besides, Rashida Khala used to cook when we went.

Among my friends, Aditya's hobby is to wander around. At this age, Bangladesh has grown.

Her father had a transfer job. This is also one of the reasons. He was preparing for trekking in Bandarban. Aditya took good photos.

Her Sundarbans series 'Face of an Old Mouyal' won third prize in an international competition held in Germany.

Jinnah was the quietest of us all. Jinnah had a small black structure that looked dry.

Jinnah's home was in Lakhai upazila of Habiganj. There is tension in that region in the conversation. Jinnah stammered a little while talking.

Jinnah was admitted to a private university in Dhaka and grew up in a mess near Jhikatala.

Arman almost forcibly took him to their flat in Niketan.

We went to Jinnah's house last January at the urging of Aditya, who is very travel crazy.

Lakhai place is very beautiful. The tin shed house surrounded by Jinnah trees is also beautiful.

At the back of the house is a large pond surrounded by bamboo bushes. We used to sit in the pond covered with sheets and hang out for many nights.

Jinnah's uncle Basir used to sing wonderful folk songs. Basir's uncle is about fifty years old.

Thin. Tall. Baldness on the head. Raw beard on face. Basir's uncle did not marry. The nature is kind of crazy.

He also used to come and sit with us at the pond. Kkari used to sing Amir Uddin's songs:

..Become a friend in Jainamaz

God will meditate

Hujuri Kalbe Kar Sajida ..

One night. I was sitting on the pond and chatting. I pressed my bathroom. I pointed to Jinnah. He stood up. Torch in hand.

On the way back from the bathroom, Jinnah whispered to me, "I often have strange dreams, Sajid."

What dream? I feel curious. What a mystic Jinnah seemed to me. His eyes were simple and innocent.

Jinnah said, "She wants to take me to the pond."

Who?

She.

I was surprised. Then I consoled Jinnah by saying 'Dream too'.

Jinnah said, I have been watching Awa A many times after dreaming.

I said, that's it. I said the name of an English movie.

Dreaming, I see you too. Jinnah said.

What! I stopped. Do you see me? Where?

H. At the bottom of the pond. You're on the mud.

Hearing Jinnah's words made my body shiver.

From Lakhai we set off for Laua Chhara Reserve Forest. I did not enjoy the journey very much.

Jinnah's dream was repeatedly attacked. I couldn't blow anything out of my head. Arman drove all the way.

He spoke to Faria on his mobile while driving. Faria Arman's girlfriend. Studying in America.

Despite Yaba's intoxication, Arman never shook his hand. But what happened on the road in Savar on a rainy day?

One Thursday afternoon I returned home from university.

How worried the mother was. I asked what happened. Mom said, Rebu called.

Your aunt Rashida is very ill. I need to go to Sreepur once today.

I got on the bus with my mother.

Aunt Rashida has been suffering from neurological disease for a long time. Sometimes the disease becomes severe.

Then he shouted loudly. He only got a little better when he saw his mother. The matter is not clear to me.

My mother has repeatedly asked Rashida Khala to sell her house in Sreepur and come to Dhaka with us.

Aunt Rashida did not agree for any reason.

Seeing her mother, Rashida's aunt seemed normal.

After eating at night, I came to the two-storey verandah and grabbed a cigarette. Tonight is a full moon. Pond. Trees. All the lights are on.

The surroundings are deserted. Winter is almost over. However, there is an intensity of winter in the air.

I stood on the verandah for a long time.

Didn't sleep. Nowadays my nights are sleepless. I think of that day. Then I was stunned.

আর Arman was driving that day too. It was raining heavily. We left for Savar that day after class.

Ashulia leaves the market further north.

This place is called Ganak Bari. Aditya said.

Ganak Bari, Ganak Bari. Arman laughed in a fierce manner. Then he increased the speed of the car.

Jinnah shouted, "This is Arman!" Slow down!

Arman laughs at Jinnah's words. Then the speed increases further. There was a concussion. Day by day his yaba intake was increasing.

Although sitting in the driving seat, his hand does not tremble.

I'm holding a cigarette. Suddenly there was a loud noise. Oh my god! Aditya screamed. Jinnah shouted.

Arman brakes.

As soon as I turned my face and looked back, my body froze একটা a fourteen- to fifteen-year-old boy was lying on the side of the road.

He was hit by a car. It was not understood whether he was alive or not. The boy was wearing an empty lungi.

Jinnah said tremblingly, he needs to be taken to the hospital.

Arman started the car instead.

Then he never looked back.

The news of the accident was printed in a daily newspaper. The body of an unidentified teenager on Ganak Bari Road in Savar.

Seven days later, Arman moved with his family to Minnesota, USA. They grew up in a house in Minneapolis.

Faria studied at St. Catherine's University in St. Paul's. Arman was on his way to St. Paul from Minneapolis.

Alone. Was driving himself. Nah, Arman didn't meet Faria.

Arman's convertible was twisted when it collided with a giant lorry.

Jinnah went home. He died drowning in a pond. Ever since then I have been terrified all the time.

Jinnah said, I see you are lying on the mud at the bottom of the pond.

And Aditya… later the people of Marma village rescued his body. Her camera was not found.

I threw away my cigarette. Something seemed to be going on today. Jinnah's face came to mind.

Someone dragged him to the pond. My body shivered at the thought of Jinnah.

Just then I felt as if someone had come very close to me. He is neither Aditya nor Arman nor Jinnah. Someone else.

The inside of my head froze. What a gray fog spreads inside the head.

Suddenly I felt like I needed to go downstairs right away. You need to sit in the pond in the moonlight.

I went downstairs.

As soon as I got down, a train passed by the side of the wall. Then all around sank into deep solitude.

Tuptap sound of dew falling only on the leaves of the tree can be heard.

The pond ghat is paved with cement. I sat on the stairs. The air is quite cold. I did not feel such intensity.

The shadow of the moon in the pond. There was a sound in the pond. I looked back in shock. Round waves spread in the silver water of the pond.

The shadow of the moon is trembling in the waves. I know he will come out of the pond now.

Before he touches me, his wet footprints will fall on the cement floor.

I sighed.

I look forward to it.

Finished