Awakening

She opened her eyes slowly, trying not to put much pressure on her eyes. She had no idea for how long she had been lying unconscious. She looked around the room she had occupied for long. It seems a lot of changes had been made in the room since she since had lost conscience. Even the bed on which she found herself lying felt different. Still she felt good to be back. Perhaps she had been unconscious for long.

Just then someone entered into the room and sat on the bed on which she was lying. In fact the person was sitting on her, yet she did not feel any weight on her body. It was not one of her family members. She shouted for the person to get up, but the person did not seem to hear anything. Perhaps she was someone deaf.

She tried to get out of bed, remembering how such effort used to cause pain to her. Still she was keen to shake off stranger. To her utter surprise she was able to get up from the bed, although the person had not budged from the place where she was sitting. She knew that she had problems in moving, even getting up from the bed, yet she was able to move freely. She had a spring in her step, which had not existed for a very long time. She went around other rooms of the flat. It appeared that the whole flat had been refurnished. She could not see any of the belongings of her family.

She walked into the living room. The entire family was sitting there. Certainly none of them belonged to her family. She tried to talk to them asking them who they were and what were they doing in her flat. When they did not respond, she shouted, “Who are you? Where is my family?”

Nobody even looked in her direction. Her family members should have been there. Yet she could not see any of her family members.

She sat on one of the arms of sofa and tried to key into the conversation being carried out. It took a long time before she realised that her family members had sold this flat and moved elsewhere.

Slowly the realisation dawned upon her. She had not been asleep or lying unconscious, she was dead. It took her some time to realise it as her repeated efforts to engage in conversation with the people in living room drew no response. None had even acknowledged her presence.

The only positive outcome of this was that all her infirmities had disappeared altogether. She could move, glide over or fly to any place or in any direction. The only problem was that the house was occupied by a stranger family.

….

She had spent all her life in this house and now the house did not belong to her or her family. Of course, nothing belonged to her now, even her own body had long back abandoned her. She could see herself clearly as a transparent outline. The feeling of touch was, however, missing. She was invisible to others but not to herself.

….

Where should she go now? There was no point in staying in this house. she did not even have the satisfaction of seeing someone known here.  Finally she decided to venture out, but did not want to go far, lest she forget the way back. This became her routine for the next few days. She would go out and be back in the house after some time. Nobody tried to stop her as she had become an invisible being.

One day when she was on the way out, a surprise awaited her. Her son was sitting in the living room, talking to the new owner of the house. They were talking about the money, perhaps about the remaining sum to be paid for the house. She stayed rooted to the place. She was afraid if she went out, her son will leave and she will miss the chance to see her family’s new house.

It was only after more than an hour that her son made a move. He got into the car and put the key in ignition. She knocked at the window requesting him to let her in. He did not seem to hear anything. She realised that he might not even be aware of her. She tried to force her way through the window.

She was inside, without breaking the window. In  fact not even a minor scratch was there on the window pane. There was no doubt now about her being invisible and her ability to walk through the solid surfaces. Oblivious of her, her son continued to drive. Soon they were at a new house, presumably her family’s new house. In the meantime, she had made all kinds of movements to draw her son’s attention, but nothing seemed to work.

She walked into the house along with her son. She was greatly relieved to find all her family members there. Although slightly away from city centre, it was a much bigger house.

….

The time was spent watching the family members enjoying the comforts of much bigger house. They must have used the sale proceeds of earlier house and the money left behind by her for acquiring this place. She had left a lot of money for the family. In any case the money was useless for her. Let her family enjoy it.

Her only regret was that she could not interact with her family. For them she had ceased to exist. Many a time she felt like leaving the house and going elsewhere but did not know where to go. The love for her family had shackled her to the house.

….

It took a lot of time for realisation to dawn upon her. It was not her family anymore. Watching over them did not give her any comfort. Much as she would have liked to talk to family members, she could not perform a simple function of uttering a few words. She no more belonged to this family.

Perhaps it was time to move on. She had no idea where she would go, but this place was certainly nor for her.

Soon she was out of the house. She did not look back even once. As accident of birth had brought her into this world, this action of hers may take her to some other place. She might find some people with whom she could converse.

It was going to be new beginning for her.