4 months in a coma. That’s a lot of time she had lost. But still, stepping outside the white, air-conditioned building, she didn’t feel like she had lost the time. It was like every other day. Just as if she was always here, even yesterday.
Clutching her bag close to her side, she walks out into the street. Her parents were against the idea of her stepping out of the house so soon, but she couldn’t wait. She couldn’t wait to go to her old apartment and see for herself. She doesn’t exactly know what she’s looking for, she doesn’t even remember the person’s face, but there’s something that is calling her there and she has to know.
Walking up the stairs felt like walking into a new life altogether. She remembers this place. She used to live here before her accident and the whole coma thing. She remembers Mrs Verma downstairs with her two dogs, Mr and Mrs Ahuja of the second floor and their kid, Rahul. Mr Sargaokar across her apartment.
3rd floor apartment no. 303 A. This. This belonged to her. Her little haven. Taking a deep breath she presses the doorbell and waits. Moments pass as she checks her watch. It’s 11 a.m. Whoever lives here … probably is still in bed. She sighs and turns to leave, hoping to come back again later, when the door knob turns and it opens.
Her eyes travel to the man who stands in front of her. Hair in a mess, a wrinkled shirt on, half closed eyes, definitely he was still sleeping and a groggy voice when he asks, “Yes?”
She observes the man cautiously trying to see if she remembers him. He was still rubbing his eyes trying to wake up from his slumber.
“Umm…hi. I..uh…I used to live here. I was the tenant before you. I just came by to see if..”
She was cut short in her sentence when the man snapped his head up at her, eyes wide, his slouching shoulders straightening at once as he stares at her as if he had just seen a ghost. Seconds pass and she starts considering running away when the man whispers, “Kalpana!”