My body stood up and moved toward the kitchen with a hollow, mechanical purpose.
It began to prepare dinner—a silent routine. Usually, I handled the evening meals, while Jennie's older sister took over the kitchen in the mornings. Jennie lived with her two sisters: Poonam, the eldest, and Minnie, the youngest among two.
Suddenly, the familiar clatter of the front door echoed through the hallway. It was them. It was Saturday, a day I remembered vividly because I had stayed home while the three of them spent the day out together.
"Are you eating dinner or not?"I was startled.
My body was finally speaking, though the words were clipped and cold.
"No, we already ate," one of them called back dismissively.
"We'll eat the leftovers tomorrow. Just eat by yourself tonight."
They disappeared into their rooms to change, their laughter fading behind closed doors.
My body had only addressed the sisters, pointedly ignoring Jennie. The realization stung. I felt a wave of shame wash over me, but I was powerless to intervene. I couldn't speak; I couldn't move. I was nothing more than a prisoner trapped inside the shell of my past self.That night was an endless, suffocating stretch of silence. I had no one to talk to—not even the man who had promised he would always be there for me.
Lies. All of it was a lie.
"Haaaaaaa! Haaaaaaa!"
I screamed and sobbed inside my mind, thrashing against the walls of my own skull, but my physical face remained a mask of indifference. There was no effect. No one heard me.
Finally, it was time for bed.Jennie was already there, still lost in a deep, hours-long sleep. I looked at her, my heart aching with words I couldn't say.
Are you okay? How was your day? I'm sorry.
Instead, my body simply lay down beside her, the familiar glow of the phone screen illuminating the dark. Even when we were at war, we always shared the same bed. That was our unspoken rule. After what felt like hours, my body's eyes finally drifted shut, and I felt myself slipping away into the darkness of sleep.
"You are back."
The voice echoed, vibrating through the void. I opened my eyes to find him standing right in front of me. We were in a vast, white, featureless room—a blank canvas of a dream.
"A dream inside a dream…" I whispered, my own voice finally returning to me.
"Am I finally free? Can I go back now?"