A Peek Into Afterlife

I entered the house in full josh. A dozen or so familiar faces were sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room stringing jasmine flowers. They were all chatting loudly and laughing to a comment made by someone. Among the crowd sat a very pretty young girl. She looked much more familiar than others and somehow looking at her warmed my heart. While I was standing at the entrance with all these thoughts going on in my mind, these people completely ignored me. Nobody even turned to say “Hi”. I was fuming up already. What were they thinking?! Hanh?!

Suddenly , I had this intense urge to pee. Since these people were ignoring me, I decided to ignore them too. I walked through the hall, straight into the house and began to search for the bathroom. There were several rooms but I couldn’t find the bathroom. From one room came a delicate fragrance of incense sticks burning. It must have been the pooja room. I called out to the others to help me find the bathroom. Again, they ignored me. I was totally pissed now! Finally, at the end of a corridor, I found a bathroom. I entered it but couldn’t close the door. It was stuck. Since everyone was outside in the hall and I couldn’t hold it in any longer I finished my ritual just like that.

Before going back to the hall, the room with the incense sticks burning again attracted me. I went in. It was not a pooja room. The incense were burning in front of a photo of a woman and was decorated with a flower mala. As I turned to go, I did a double take at the portrait. IT WAS MINE!!!!

I gagged for a minute, felt faint but kept myself from falling. Suddenly everything came to me in a flash. Why no one seemed to notice me…….Why they couldn’t hear me calling……..Why I was not able to close the bathroom door…..!!!They couldn’t see me!! I was dead and gone to them!! I couldn’t bring myself believe ……How can this be?!!

I ran back to the hall. They were all still at their work. Again no one noticed me. And that pretty girl……that beautiful young girl was my daughter. It was the occasion of her marriage…and…and……I was no longer there???!!!

I woke up with a start! What a nightmare! I pinched myself to make sure I was real and checked to see my daughter sleeping next to me. My hubby seemed to be sleeping peacefully too.  I hugged my daughter tightly and lay down beside her before I slowly drifted to sleep…….without any nightmares this time.