“Mother, there they are again. I hear them laugh and whisper in the shadows. Is it because of them that we never go out there?” Meera asked her mother as she followed the direction of the shadows along the invisible line.
Lela had had enough of Meera’s unending questions and quest for knowledge. ”Meera, let’s go now. We’ve picked enough corn for dinner. It is getting late.” Lela picked up her basket and evaded her daughter's questions.
“Those lights Mother! And the sounds. They aren’t waves. They are moving cars at night.” Meera peeked through the corn plants trying hard to catch a glimpse of what was beyond the cornfield and forest.
“Are you having vivid dreams that I do not know about Meera?” Lela raised an eyebrow as she probed her daughter. Her suspicious eyes ran all over Meera.
Meera bit her lower lips realizing that she had let on more than she ought to have. She had been savoring her dreams like a tasty meal. Meera never had memories of her childhood or any past events beyond the age of fourteen. Her mother would not tell her anything about her past and she always convinced her that none of her dreams were worth anything.
Ever since she started having vivid dreams a couple of weeks back, she began to feel more alive than she had ever been. She felt like a whole new, yet familiar world had been opened up to her. Her dreams always felt so real and near like a life once lived. In Meera's dreams, she could put a face to all the sounds she heard beyond the invisible line. In her dreams, she had friends and an actual life. She had everything that was missing in her little secluded life of a few locals within a small community.
Their settlement seemed dull-lifeless and without spirit. They barely spoke to one another, and rarely smiled or laughed. Meera felt as though they were just existing in a place that time had forgotten. Meera concluded in her heart that they were living a life at the back of beyond. She felt like the real world with all the life, technology, and innovation only existed beyond the invisible line.
“I'm talking to you, Meera. Have you been dreaming lately?” Lela grabbed Meera’s arm and held on tightly.
“Yes, I have. What is wrong with a dream mother? What is wrong with wanting more? I want to see what's out there. I want to dream.” Meera yanked her arm off her mother’s grip and ran inside their little cottage.
Lela took a deep breath and exhaled. She followed Meera into the cottage and set her basket of corn on the table.
“Listen Meera. You cannot have those dreams. They do not belong to you anymore. That life does not belong to you. You do not know what you are. We must stay hidden and wait for your father. You are right. This is not our home.” Lela paused. “I know you have many questions but you will come to know in due time.
“They do not know of your existence and it needs to stay that way. Do you understand me, Meera? That invisible line is what protects us from them. They are not like us.” Lela cupped Meera’s face in her palms.
Meera gently nodded her head while looking away from her mother. That night, she went to bed hungry. Not just hungry for food but also hungry for the truth. Meera knew that there was more to what her mother had told her. “What made them different from the others and why did they have to wait for her father? Where was home?” These questions kept Meera awake in the middle of the night.
She looked through her window and she could see the corn plants swaying in the direction of the wind. There was always the stillness in the air and the sky was always grey, day and night. Meera looked beyond the field to the invisible line and like a pull, she felt the urge to defy her mother. Meera quickly snuck out of the cottage.
She had tiptoed across the dry cornfield hoping not to make a sound. She had now found herself standing in front of the invisible line. The line was just a demarcation Lela made Meera swear never to cross.
Meera looked back at their cottage. Then she took a deep breath and slowly crossed the path. Meera felt as though something light passed through her. She had taken three more steps before she realized that her feet weren't exactly touching the earth. She was stunned but she went further.
Meera began drifting through the woods until she came to a highway. For the first time, other than her dreams, she saw cars, light poles, houses, and people other than her kind. They looked happy and full of soul. A group of teenagers chit-chatting merrily walked by her. Meera smiled but they spared her no glance. It was as though she wasn't even there. Meera swallowed her excitement. She then wandered around until she came to a street full of houses.
“Mother was wrong. There is nothing to be afraid of.” Aside from the fact that no one she passed seemed bothered by her presence, Meera was starting to like this new world she was experiencing. She then came to a house on the left of the street. It was a brown duplex. Suddenly, Meera began to have a series of flashes. She had seen that house before in her dreams. She felt drawn to it. With a strong impulse, Meera entered the house without any caution.
Inside was dark, cold, and very quiet. It had the same air of eeriness as their cottage home. Meera was surprised to see a family portrait of herself, Lela, and a man on the wall. Meera began to hear Muffled cries. Sitting on the couch in the living room was the man in the portrait sobbing. She recognized him very well from her dreams. She began to have more flashes of herself holding hands with him at a park.
“Dad!” she yelled. She ran to hold him in an embrace but what happened next horrified Meera. Like a strong mass of current, Meera was frightened to see herself waft through him like wind. Now standing behind him, she began to breathe heavily. The man only slightly moved as though he heard something. He then turned back and continued sobbing. In his hand was a picture of Meera and Lela.
Meera opened her mouth but she couldn't scream. She started to weep when it all started to come together. Her little strange community of people, her mother's warnings of the invisible line, the people she came across. Everything was clear now. Meera bolted out of the house crying profusely. She'd drifted back to the forest without knowing it. She met her mother standing worried in front of the demarcation. Meera fell into her arms. “Why didn't you tell me that we are dead Mother?”
“I was going to tell you Meera but I didn't know how. Listen, Meera. This isn't the end. Right here is only a limbo for those who chose to wait. We will wait here as long as it takes for your father. Together as a family, we will transcend to the afterlife. A whole new life awaits us there. It is like nothing you've ever seen.” Lela held Meera tight. She lifted Meera’s head to look into her eyes. “We didn't choose to die but we will choose to live again.
Meera stared deeply into her mother's eyes and nodded. She sniffed and wiped her eyes. This time, she had taken her mother's words for the truth and she made peace with that. Someday, she would have a chance at another life and she would do it as a family.