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Friday 5 April 2013

Faceless Existence


She gazed back at me dryly with a piercing gaze that seemed to penetrate right through mine. Everything about her appearance was flawed; her weary eyes, dirty clothes that were badly creased, bits of nail varnish stuck to her nails, most of which had been chipped off. Her long tresses had once been in what looked like a braid, her cheeks were stained and swollen red. She stumbled on her tiny steps but her eyes were as piercing as before, unfaltering. The disturbing thing was that her eyes were as powerful as they were empty, there was nothing in them, no pain, no fear… no hope.

So I didn't knew why they had me smiling, we were like two strangely different people, connected in the crowd of unseen faces, through dots. No, I didn't know her, neither did she know me. We were strangers, unrelated yet somehow linked, something put us apart…together, but distant. As I smiled at her, a faint smile touched her dried lips, only for split second, after which it turned into a grimace; her eye brows knotted together in worry, her face distorted into anger. And within that very second she ducked her head and disappeared into the throngs of people.

She left me there, though, paused and alone while strangers blurred past. They were faceless, for me. I didn't search for her in that crowed space, but I stood there and wondered what I hadn't before, in the sole minute that I had felt a connection with her. I pondered about her unknown past and future as I stood there, alone, while she blurred past me. This time unknown. 

-Momina.

13 comments:

  1. It is a bit odd the kind of people you do and don't notice when you're in a group of people. You might find yourself wondering all about some of them, and you also might find yourself not noticing them when they come by once again.

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    1. Exactly, though I think we mostly connect to the people in which we glimpse ourselves.

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  2. i love the way you have woven the words into a brilliant description!!
    its exactly true, how sometimes our eyes notice the people around us.......the only difference is being a keen observer....and u seem one )

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  3. You my girl are awesome, this is completely baffling, so beautiful, so confusing and so brilliant.

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  4. If we pause for few seconds, most of us would see such faces, and would have similar thought-process, but then they can't beat you in putting into words that creates an imagery in mind, as if the reader had also been with you, seeing through your eyes, but in reality, was never there .. Beautiful Momina ..

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    1. I am so glad that you feel so connected and so deeply to my work. Thank you, so much! :D

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  5. This is moving. Very silently moving. You've got a special *APPLAUSE* from me for the very second paragraph you've jotted down. Believe me, it is so nicely woven that I almost viewed the changes in those facial expressions in my imaginations, and that too, very clearly.
    This is beautifully vague. Could be related by so many different aspects. Brilliant, MO.
    P.S: I still am stuck in the exquisite illusion of that second para.

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    1. Thank you so much, Hira! I am glad my words paint pictures for you!

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  6. This is intriguing ... I loved the feeling of silent mystery that surrounded this event !!!

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  7. The crowd is always faceless...until we decide to observe!
    Beautifully described! :)

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