Arya was sitting down clutching herself. It had been a while she had gone out of the home.

Ever since she had moved to the new city, her will to move around had given way to a general reluctance.

Not that she had not tried. Soon after landing in the new place, she had gone out every evening, trying to meet people in the neighbourhood. She didn’t have any friends here and wanted to make a few.

However, owing to the gloomy and cold weather outside, most folks were staying inside those days. Even those who were found moving around, were preoccupied or rushing to get back into the comfort of their homes.

It seemed almost disrespectful to Arya to stop someone for small talk and intros then. So, she had kept exploring the surroundings. They weren’t promising either.

The area she had shifted to was slightly outside the city, in an upcoming suburb. The bustling shops that the city was known for hadn’t found a reason to set up in this corner.

Day after day, Arya kept going out for her evening walks. And coming back home chilled to the bone, without meeting anyone. It had been a month by then.

As if God was trying to test her further, the weather worsened the next few weeks. Only those who had to go for an important errand dared to venture out. Ordering stuff online and being in the comfort of one’s home was far more soothing.

Arya gave up. Although a part of her wanted to go out, the stronger part of her brain convinced her to stay indoors. Work had also started to pile up and she started spending countless hours in front of her laptop.

She had never been like this. In the previous city, she had lots of friends and a few cousins. So, her weekends were always busy. After all, that was the only time she got away from work.

She didn’t realize the slow creep until that Friday evening. She had just finished work and when she got up to have dinner, it stuck her that she hadn’t been out of the house for almost two months! And had nothing to look forward to over the weekend.

It got to her. Slowly at first but then rapidly overwhelming her and within a matter of minutes, she was sitting down on the floor, sobbing and clutching herself.

She remained in that state for almost an hour and the weariness of the effort got to her. Her body gave up, she lay down, cuddling on the floor, and went to sleep.

That evening, she had a strange dream. She was in the middle of a party, standing alone and watching everyone. It seemed all those strangers were enjoying the party and calling her to join. But she was frozen to her place. Then, someone came and touched her and those shackles broke. She spent the evening partying on her own with that crowd, in which she knew no one.

Arya woke up. It must have been an hour that she was lying like that but it seemed as if an era had passed.

She went to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face to get off the fatigue. As she looked into the mirror, she saw not her current self but the happy version she had been in her dream.

Startled, she looked closely at her reflection. It was the same Arya. But without a worry about whether she knew anyone or not, only focused on herself and her happiness.

The next few minutes were a blur. She changed, got her phone and wallet, and booked herself a taxi. In a jiffy, she was standing outside her house.

The taxi arrived. She sat down and just told the driver to take her around town over the next 3-4 hours. She didn’t know if she wanted to stop anywhere. If nothing appealed to her she would come back home.

Then, as the taxi started moving, she pulled down the window. The wind was strong but not very cold. As it hit her face, Arya smiled.

She had been missing the wind…