The rain pouring from the roof of Preeti's room and her eyes are vacant without dreams, the life she thought before the marriage was opposite from reality. She live with her husband and two children who love her but the financial instability is the only problem with her, Preeti tries to look happy in front of everyone but deep down she is shattered.
One day when she is returning to home from her job, heavy rain started falling and there was no place to hide, however she saw old secluded house where she takes the shelter. It looks like a forgotten era, the air inside the surrounding is thick and a scent of damp and decay but something is encouraging her to come inside. She entered, cobwebs are draped around the furniture like ghostly shrouds and the silence is profound, as she explored she stumbled upon a book which looks interesting and classic to her.
Book was all empty only the first page include some words. "You seek something mortal?"
she couldn't acknowledge anything, but while holding the book she murmured. "What is this?"
To her surprize a sentence engraved on the next page. "I am the keeper of the book. I grant wishes."
"Wishes?" Preeti scoffed, but a flicker of hope ignited within her, "What's the catch?"
The book replied- "A small price." For every wish, a life linked to yours will slowly fade."
Preeti hesitated. "I wish for wealth", a cold gust of wind swept through the room, she felt a strange lightness.
The next morning Preeti woke up with a phone call. Her sister's husband Jai had been in coma from the last night where he gets a stroke due to fraud done by his business partner and from that he almost lost majority of wealth.
She became distress, but she remembered about the last evening and her wish. Her bank account had inexplicably swelled with a generous sum, she felt guilty but the amount was enough to erase her debt and live comfortably. She justified it as coincidence, a cruel twist of fate.
She enjoys her wealth for days but it wasn't enough. The old wounds of a life lived in scarcity bites her back, she wanted more. She wanted the respect she felt she deserved, the social standards that was excluded from her, thus without hesitation she again returned to the place without having knowledge of entangling in a vicious cycle.
Holding the book she uttered. "I wish for recognition, for power." And she felt another shift, within days Preeti found herself the center of attention. A chance encounter with a wealthy socialite led to invitation to exclusive parties, a life of champange and glittering jewels. She is finally living the life she had always craved.
But the price was more steep, this time her husband, a healthy man suddenly fell ill. He suffered from a wasting disease of cancer, doctors called it no cure, this time the guilt is suffocating her and for two weeks she is devastated from the news.
Nevertheless the allure of newfound status was too strong greed, a dark, insidious force, had taken the root in her soul, she wanted more but this time she wanted love, the passionate all consuming love which she has only seen in movies.
"I wish for love that last forever," she whispered to the book , her voice trembling with a desperation, and Preeti feels a coldness creep into her heart.
She met Anish, a charming, wealthy man who swept off her feet. He is everything she dreamt of attentive, passionate, and utterly devoted. But this time the price is so big which is non-bearable, her second child only person who had ever truly loved her unconditionally began to fade, his mind clouded, his body weakened and life force is slowly draining away. Preeti watching his child and now this time the guilt is crushing weight on her soul.
Every materialistic things she owns is now suffocating her, Anish possessiveness and obsession is also turning into madness. The house once a source of hope had become prison, that book is no longer a benevolent grantor of wishes, but a cruel mocking presence.
Now she realized the true nature of wish, her wealth had brought her isolation, her power had made her feared, her love had become a suffocating cage. Last time she grabbed the book and raged on it. "You tricked me! You turned my wishes into curses!" The book pages inked with the words. "You asked for these things, mortal. You craved them. I merely gave you what you desired."
"But at what cost?" Preeti cried, tears streaming down her face. "I've lost everything I ever cared about!"
"Everything but yourself , the book replied, its voice laced with a cruel satisfaction. "And that book, is the greatest curse of all."
She, broken and alone understood the truth. Greed had consumed her, turning her into hollow shell of a person incapable of love, empathy, or remorse. She was trapped in a gilded cage of her own making, surrounded by the ghosts of her past, the victims of her insatiable desires.
Last time to the book, her eyes filled with resignation. "I wish....I wish to undo it all. I wish to get all back". The room again felt a chilling sensation.
Preeti woke up in hospital with everyone around her including her husband, children and sister with her husband. Everyone is perfectly alright except Preeti this time. Preeti's husband recited her that one month back she met with an deadly accident and now first time from then she opened her eyes, Preeti and all around her are very happy, she thanked to the God for everything.
But the price for her last wish is still to come, two doctors entered the room and started talking to her husband. After that all of their faces turns pale, now Preeti understood the curse followed her wish, she demanded her husband to tell the truth. Husband with pain tells her that "the accident caused her Alzheimer's disease and from now upto three month she will forget everything".
Preeti smiled away, knowing that the wish this time didn't cursed anyone related but punished the real culprit. Her ghost of greed will now fade away from her mind.