She was walking back home after a long, tedious day at work, lost in her thoughts about this melancholic life that she had made for herself. Wishful thinking had made way for wistful thinking. She saw the people around her, all lost in a bid to outdo the other. “To what avail?”, she thought. “Everyone keeps fighting for something or the other. The materialistic beings. Have we really lost the ability to have empathy?” This confused and sad state of mind made her go back into her own cocoon, away from the glaring eyes of the unforgiving world.

She saw the huge flight of stairs in front of her, leading up to the platform of the train she had to take to reach her home. Each day that she took that train, it made her realise that the most treacherous part of the journey was climbing those infinite number of stairs. It always started with a huge sigh of anguish. “Will this ever end?”, she thought to herself as she started her climb. One step, two steps, three steps. The agony decreased with each increasing step, as she approached the conclusion of her tiring quest. Once she reached the platform, a new wait began. This time it was the lingering minutes on the arrival time of the train. As she waited for it to arrive, she saw the Sun setting over the horizon. “Beautiful!”, she said to herself as she admired the orange hues in the skies, peeping at them from her own cocoon, around hundreds of others. The train came and she headed for her home, relaxed finally.

As she reached the final station, the announcement on the speaker system made her jump back to life from the reposed state she had put herself in when she boarded the train. She hurried home, happy at last. As she entered the doorway, she hung the cocoon outside her door. “I’ll see you again in the morning”, she said. At home, she was finally free. Beautiful in her full form now, she ran to her mom and hugged her, gave her a peck on the cheek, and ran to her room. “Don’t stay in there forever, get out of this cage of yours”, her mom called out from behind. Hearing those words, she paused, looked up in the mirror, and smiled.