Unwritten, off-the-record

There are some things meant to be off the record. There are some glitches that happen in your life that can shake your core to the effect of doubting your own sanity. I have read so many incidents of people undergoing such glitches which changes their world and the perception of their world. You suddenly realize that none of it was real. They call it a glitch in the matrix. Today I want to recount something that does not usually happen to me, and this was my first of such incidences. This is something I haven’t shared with anyone, but I think it is time to come out with it.

There was a man who recounted his experience in a reddit post. He says he has a wife who he loved with all his heart. He had a wonderful job and both of them had a daughter and a son. They were living a very comfortable and relaxed life. He doted on both his children, and always walked into their room before leaving for office everyday. He loved his life and family, and they loved him back. One day, he was sitting on his couch and looked at the lamp. It didn’t look right to him. The lamp was still in 3D but the perspective of the lamp was odd. He thought it was inverted in a strange way. He was transfixed on the lamp and lost control of his life. He stopped going to work, and would only leave the couch for using the restroom. But he stopped doing that as well later and would not eat or drink anything. His wife was very worried and tried to get him to talk to people and get help. Eventually he started breaking violently and his freaked out wife moved out with the children. It hit him then that all of this is not real – the lamp, his wife, his children, his family life of ten years. He started hearing strange sounds of unknown people. He heard people shouting, and slowly his vision became clearer. He saw unknown faces looking down at him, and the reality came back to him. As he became aware of the immense pain he was in, he realized he is lying injured on a sidewalk, while a police officer was trying to pick him up to take to the hospital. He eventually went through years of depression and trauma while dealing with the loss of his non-existent family.

Reading about this incident gave me doubts of how we perceive reality. The mind works in mysterious ways, but it loses perspective on what is real and what is not from time to time I suppose. After reading some of these stories on the internet, I felt a little tired. I realized that it was already past my sleeping time. So I set my alarm and went to bed as usual. I was woken up in the middle of the night by people talking loudly. I got up to inspect and saw lights in the hallway. My neighbor always has guests over frequently, so I didn’t think much of it and walked back to my bed. I sat on it and my hand hit something warm. I turned and saw someone on my bed. I was startled and I jumped back. I saw the sleeping figure on the bed for a minute or two, trying to make sense of the situation. The person seemed to be sleeping peacefully, although I couldn’t figure out who this person was, why and how is someone on my bed when I was sleeping on a moment back. I thought I may be dreaming. So I pinched myself, rubbed my eyes, patted my face, jumped a couple of times and even shook my face vigorously in hopes of waking myself up, but to no avail. I still saw the same figure on the bed. I turned on the light and went closer to inspect. I was scared, but curious as well, but mostly just confused. Was it one of those out of body experiences (OBE)?

I deliberated my next move, but then curiosity got the better of me. I placed my shaking hand on the person’s shoulder and shook it slightly. The figured stirred and I stepped back quickly. But it went back to sleep. I stepped forward again and shook it again, but this time slightly harder. The person awoke with a start and sat up. I froze on the spot with shock, confusion and horror. I was seeing myself.

I was paralyzed to my spot and couldn’t take my eyes off. The person on the bed, who looked like me, was squinting at me. I started seeing the details. I noted that everything on that person was exactly like me. All her features were identical as me. We stared at each other for a while. After what seemed like a few minutes, she sighed, rubbed her eyes and looked at me again. I noticed her eyes now. She also had dark brown eyes like me, but something about them was different. I kept staring at her and no words came out of my mouth. Her eyes seemed to be looking at me, but were still empty. There were no expressions in her eyes. But she kept staring. I mentally recollected myself and opened my mouth to ask questions. But before I could let out any sound, I saw her mouth changing into a smile. Her straight mouth was slowly turning into a smile, but her eyes remained expressionless. She started moving her hands in an attempt to get up. But I had had enough of it, and was horrified beyond explanation. I ran out of the building in my house slippers and night suit, and kept running until I reached the main bus stand at some distance from my house. I looked back and saw no one behind me. I looked around and the area was empty, which was expected as it was the middle of the night. I saw a handful of people roaming around at a distance, and the world seemed normal. I was scared and confused at the same time as I couldn’t comprehend the situation I was in at that moment.

I sat down and recollected myself. Then I realized that I didn’t have my phone, wallet or keys with me. The clock tower said the time was 2.15 AM. I sat there for fifteen minutes, and a night bus approached the bus stand. I considered asking for help but I couldn’t piece together an explanation of what I was seeing. I could not put together words to form a logical sentence to explain my situation. The driver started to drive away while I was still in thought. I wanted to shout out to him to stop for which I opened my mouth. But no sound came out. I was opening and shutting my mouth like a duck but no sound came out of it. The bus went away and I was alone on the bus stand, still trying to speak. I was aghast and bewildered. My mid was chaotic and my thoughts were disoriented. I wanted to reach out for help but didn’t have my phone with me, and neither I could talk. Then I remembered that the police station was nearby. I ran towards it and came to the main door. I pushed it but it wouldn’t open. So I tried pulling it, but it still wouldn’t open. I kept working at it, but nothing happened. I felt the presence of someone behind me and I turned. It was police officer walking towards me. I was so happy that I saw someone I could approach for help. I ran to him and started talking. To my surprise, I could now talk. I started telling him about seeing myself on my bed. But he didn’t seem to listen or look at me and kept walking towards the police station as if I did not exist. I was running along while telling him everything. He just walked into the police station, slamming the door shut behind him. This muddled my reasoning of reality even more and I started doubting my sanity. It occurred to me that all of this could just be an elaborate dream. I tried all methods of waking myself up. I ran, jumped, pinched myself, slapped myself, even banged my head on the wall nearby. I was still there on the road, acting like a lunatic. I felt like I was drowning with no opening to stick my head out to breathe.

My mind was running in all directions with no clear end to any thought. I thought about my family and friends, my life, my job. I wanted to reach out to my father at that moment. I did not know what was happening. However, then it occurred to me that although I did not know what was happening, I still knew who I am. I was well aware of my identity. I decided to work with that. I recollected my life and placed out the events of my life till then. Then I placed the events of the day before through the night. I now know everything that happened, but couldn’t explain why all this is happening. I decided to look for answers and the only person I could approach was the girl on my bed who looked like me. I started walking back home with some confidence.

I reached my building and cautiously approached the stairs. At that very moment, that face flashed in front of me, having my facial features, but blank eyes and horrifying smile. But I labored on and reached my floor. I started walking towards my room. I could see some light from my room, so the door was open, just as I had left it while running out earlier. I tip-toed and reached it finally. After a moment of hesitation, I braced myself for the confrontation. I turned and went in, expecting to see someone there. But the room was empty. I looked in every corner but everything was normal. There was no one there and nothing was amiss. I was boggled even more. I checked my phone. Everything seemed normal with the passage of time as well. I locked my door, had some water and ate a little. I relaxed a bit more and wanted to talk to my father. But it was the middle of the night, and I did not want to scare him since everything was back to normal again.

I was far from sleep from all this adventure. So I sat on my bed with all the lights on until morning. I wrote all my experiences of the night, which have left me feeling at sea about my whole consciousness and state of mind. Then I closed my laptop, and made myself a cup of hot chocolate. I will now call my father and ask him to review this wonderful horror story I wrote.

If you really thought this was true, then c’mon!

All visions are a state of mind, and as I have said before, once you know the reality, you will not see the illusion again.

Take your head out of the world of illusions and start reading the reality. Your world is how you make it, not how it shows itself to you. Now that I come to think of it, if such an incident occurred for real, I don’t think I will be the one running away.

Keep your mind open. Be inspired! Be mystified! Be Priya-fied!