real life ghosts
In real life you meet a lot of people. Usually it starts with a simple hi, and in a few seconds that stranger becomes a known face, maybe even an acquaintance. If you talk for a week or so, they might become a friend. But most of the time, those strangers circle back into strangers again. And even when we end up ghosting each other either intentionally or unintentionally, we can’t erase the words or stories they left behind.
One such person, let’s call him a ghost. I met him accidentally. I’m not charismatic about which people wanna know about talkative.So I just ask them about their life. And eventually I run out of things to say. But when someone talks to me, I listen with full interest. Somehow, out of nowhere, he started telling me about his insecurities. And one of them stuck with me.
He said whenever he takes a taxi, the driver talks to him, as most taxi drivers do, and it makes him uncomfortable. If the driver speaks a different language, has a different skin tone, a different ethnicity, the discomfort sharpens into anxiety. He didn’t unpack the whole suitcase of childhood trauma or parental shadows, but you could sense there was more beneath the surface.
Think of it like snakes: not all are venomous, but who wants to risk a bite when you don’t know which ones are safe? Comparing humans to snakes isn’t fair, just because they’re different. But that was his perspective. Maybe he lost someone to a snake bite, I don’t know. You get the idea.
I was getting comfortable with him. He used to greet everyday , and I come from a family where “good day” and “good evening” are foreign phrases. He shared more personal things. He seemed wealthy, at least from glimpses of his lifestyle, but underneath he was just another human with insecurities stitched into his seams.
And then one day he stopped talking to me. Maybe because of something I said. Maybe he didn’t want to stay in touch. Maybe he thought it was only him talking. Maybe it was my dark humor. Maybe he has problems. Maybe I was rude. Maybe it’s his hobby, telling people his insecurities and then cutting them off. Maybe it’s his coping mechanism. May be I failed as a friend. I don't know. May be he was indeed a ghost









