Keira : The not-so-perfect girl (Part 2)

Read Part 1 here

This continued on until one day, Keira got so fed up with her life that she decided that she was not making any difference to her life or any others' and hence there was no real meaning for her life. The constant restlessness drove her crazy. In an impulse, she packed her bags and left the city without telling anyone.

She switched off her mobile and got into some random bus without even looking at where it was headed to and took a ticket for the last stop. After what seemed to be an hour of journey, the bus stopped abruptly. Her co-passengers got down to investigate and she followed them to find out it was a break-down. Even the bus she came in was not the perfect one. Frustrated, she started out on her own, with her little backpack, walking along the green lanes along the main road. After sometime, when she looked around, she could not recognize where she was. There were tall trees all around her. There was little light, though she was sure it was early evening judging by the time she got down from the bus and took off. Unsure of what to do, she trudged along the path until she came upon a cottage.

She knocked on the door and waited. The door was opened by a sweet old woman who welcomed her into the simple cottage. Keira asked the lady what the name of the place was. The lady shrugged and replied it was nowhere. Keira was confused. How could it be nowhere? She asked again and again but she got the same answer. The next shock was that the lady introduced herself as Keira. What kind of freaky coincidence is this? They shared the same name. There were too many questions running in Keira's mind but she was too exhausted to start with all of them. So she just requested the lady to let her stay in for the night to which the lady accepted gladly and offered her dinner and then a warm bed.

For the first time in several days, Keira had a peaceful sleep. The next day, Keira woke up to rays of sun shining upon her. Clearer than she was the previous night, she went straight to the other Keira and shot out all her questions like where they were, how did the lady end up living her alone, where were her family and so on. The lady smiled at her and asked her to take a seat. Then she started talking. Her voice echoed through the silence.

"I am not sure if I have all the answers to your question. But I will tell you whatever I know. I will tell you the story of my life as I remember it. I was a normal girl who lived her life to a humanely possible extent. I cannot say that I excelled in anything but I could  not say that I had a perfect life, being the best in anything. The life that I wanted to live. To be perfect in at least something. I did not have a lousy life, but this want to be perfect and outstanding in something nagged me from the inside. I felt that I was not fulfilling any of my beloved's expectations or even my own expectations, for that matter.

So, one day I decided that my life had no meaning and started off on my own until I came here. I did not recognize it and I did not know how to go back either. Then I found a shred of glass that was lying near that tree. As I looked into it, I could see every bit of the life I lived until then. But the difference was I did not see through my eyes. In that mirror, I saw my life through the eyes of every other person who had been with me until then. It was then I realized that what I had was an awesome life even if not a perfect one. It was then that I realized that not being perfect in anything or not achieving anything that the world would go "oooh!" and "Aaaaah!" over, is not the only thing that we were made for. It was then that I realized what a fool I had been, despising myself for not meeting some expectations. Life is not just about meeting expectations. It is much more than that. But by the time I realized it was too late and I did not know how to go back from here. How much ever I tried, I could not find a way and so I gave up and stayed on. And sadly, I have found another Keira who has done the same and ended up the same way I did."

The lady finished talking and looked at Keira who sat there shell-shocked that she could not even bat her eyelids....

To be continued..

Until later,

Keirthana :)