By Twinkle Pandey
Staring at the ceiling,
Calculating what’s two plus two,
I was trying to figure out—
Someone is missing… but who?
And while combing my hair,
My eyes caught a glimpse in the mirror—
Or no, it wasn’t a mirror, but a painting,
A painting of a girl with eyes without shimmer.
I paused, and I wondered—
How could I even forget?
The one with whom I spent
Twenty-two years of my life—and yet,
Suddenly, she wasn’t there.
So I dashed, I ran
To the nearest headquarters.
But instead of taking my case,
They asked me, “Do you need water, ma’am?”
Still, I didn’t stop there—
I lodged my case,
Waiting in the lobby
As minutes became days.
I explained everything, word by word—
“She’s a year younger than me,
Same name, same eyes, same hair, same height—
But her eyes… just a bit too bright.”
“She’d get hit by rain,
Yet always hope for sunshine.
Aiming only for the bull’s eye—
You’d always find her at the front line.”
“She was always ready to try,
Never afraid to set her goals high.
She loved to fly—
And she never held back her cry.”
I sobbed, I screamed—
“No! It’s not a bad dream!”
But they laughed at me, as if I were a meme,
And asked me not to create a scene.
A lump rose in my throat—
So difficult to swallow.
The heart, once a space for love and affection,
How did it become completely hollow?
In desperate need of air,
I walked down the stairs,
And sat on a bench in the park behind—
Waiting for the night—so kind.
Kind enough to be a little dark,
To soothe and comfort me, no questions asked.
To bless me with silence, after the day’s bark,
And display the constellations’ art, unmasked.
The moon, the stars, the sky were near—
And I was filled with thoughts to share:
“You know, it’s common—but I thought it was rare—
A whole person lost, and no one seems to care.”