HERE WITHOUT YOU

She sat quietly in her place while people filed into the room. Most of them were acquaintances, some of them she could put in the category of 'friends' and one of them was among her best buddies. They greeted her cheerfully, called out to her, some even came up to her place to shake hands. She greeted everyone with a slight nod of the head and a smile, a smile which didn't quite reach her eyes. Some of her friends and her best friend crowded around her, making small talk, chattering endlessly. She nodded every now and then to make it seem as if she was listening to them. Meanwhile, her eyes wandered as she searched for an exit route from this melee. As the instructor entered, everyone took their seats, and the class started. Her performance was by far the best, but today, she was strangely detached from her surroundings and work. She felt nothing when the instructor looked at her incredulously, she felt nothing when he praised her and still nothing when he clapped. All she knew was that she had to get out of that class since she was feeling unusually claustrophobic.

She wanted to leave, even though she knew that when she finally stepped out of here, there wouldn't be any respite. There wasn't anywhere special to go, it was just going to be walking out of this claustrophobic room to some other place where she'd feel trapped again. The person who her eyes sought was far away from here, and without that one person, her complete being seemed incomplete…

"I'm here without you, baby", her entire existence called out, "And now, every action of mine will bring me closer… closer to you… "