Are you ready?

These words I heard made me realize that I had drifted away from the present and now lived in my mind.

Across was the slender light light-skinned yet well-defined lips lady who had been assigned to me as a counsellor (so they said) but in a real sense, she was a therapist for they thought I was losing my mind.

I had suddenly become mute, barely said a word to anyone, stared at my meals as though I could see through them and hidden in each grain of rice was poison in its terms; I guess they were worried about my well being although I always wondered why. I overheard the aunties around the corner of the house whisper to themselves “She sometimes laughs to herself, alone in the room, with no one with her or around her; she also places her hands in the air as though she is with a partner, dancing to the rhythm that only existed in her memory for there was no music playing in the background” they whispered and then looked over the demarcated walls staring as though they stared deep into my soul.

Can’t a lady find peace, solace and company in her shadows, intellect and moves?

Placing my feet on the soft ash cushion (it’s a three seater though) staring at the window and seeing the blue skies as they solely exist with an imagination of the white clouds as a friendly company, I heard again. Still, this time in a more fierce and intense tone “Go on, I am listening”, my attention is snatched back to the room but this time it had a gloomy feel, the air felt stiff and greasy. By the atmosphere, I looked at the dark blue rug in the room and I muttered under my breath to her “What do you live for, the force or the peaceful, the reality or the dream, the past or the future, your existence or a faded shadow”.