Life in a Limbo

Ephiphany

He woke up before the alarm went off. That was how he usually got up until yesterday. But he woke up earlier than his clock, or did he sleep at all? Adrishya had constantly woken up the night before, finding himself staring into the void. For some reason, the walls and ceiling trapped all the air of his neighborhood, he felt. So much so that he felt tense and squeezed inside his room. He opened his bedroom window to let the air in, but still, he felt a heaviness in the air. He somehow felt the air was heavier than his body, and he couldn't breathe it in.

That morning, the window had let in more sunlight than it had let in air the night before. Adrishya still had a few hours before he had to leave the building for his office. He made himself a cup of coffee, which he found bland, and grabbed a bite of a sandwich he had made hurriedly. He found it tasteless. "These have gone bad," he said to himself, throwing it in the trash. The waste bin was filled to the brim, so he put it in a bag. He picked up the trash bag and went out. When he came out of his room, he gave a curious look and paused to listen to the room next door. He heard nothing. As he walked down the stairs, he felt uneasy in his legs. His right leg had more pain and felt wobbly, as if it had been broken and healed just a short while back. He also noticed that his infected toe was healed; it looked normal as if there had never been an infection to begin with. The first few steps felt painful, and the rest he did not even remember.

It was not warm, even though the sun was high. He rubbed his arms but did not feel warm. He quickly scanned his neighborhood and left the trash bag by the garbage bin. While doing that, he saw a man lingering around the junction where he spotted something dark and damp. He thought that stranger found it interesting too. Before he could contemplate whether he should go and talk to that stranger about what had happened there, the stranger was joined by another man who was dressed formally and, even from a distance, was carrying a camera.

He returned to his room and started dressing for work. While he did that, he heard someone knocking. He listened carefully. Someone was knocking on his neighbor's door. He was curious, so he quietly went close to his door while buttoning his shirt. He thought there was no one a while back, but when someone answered the door, he was shocked. A woman's voice answered. He wished he could open the door and see who they were and what they were talking about. He figured the man who knocked was asking his neighbor something, and she was repeating that they had asked the wrong person, as they did not know anything.

"I have no clue. We are hardly at home, and we have never talked or even met. You are wasting your time here. I wish I could help you, but sorry. God bless the family."

"But, ma'am, a man living..." Before the man's voice finished his sentence, there was a loud thud on the door, and it was shut.

Adrishya listened intently as the man slowly walked right outside his door. He heard his footsteps linger around his door. He quickly put on his pants and was ready to open his door, but by then, the man had already left the building. He couldn't help but think about what he had just heard. Why was the man at his neighbor's door, asking questions to which they had no answers? And why had he not knocked on his door after coming so close? He would have lingered if he had more time, but now he knew he had to move, or else he would have to rush to his office like the day before.

To keep the bugs and dust out, he decided to shut the window he had opened during the night. From his window, right across the road, he saw those two strangers from earlier looking at his apartment building and towards his window. One was pointing at his window, and the other was nodding in agreement. "HEY! What are you looking at?" he shouted at them, but they seemed to take no notice. They ignored him completely and continued as if they were inspecting something or looking for someone.