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101 Word Short Stories

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The Stranger in the Window

July 17, 2023 17 Comments

By Karishma Krishnan

Dappled sunlight falls across my lap through the tinted windows, illuminating wrinkled hands that are a horrifying caricature of my twenty-year-old ones. But they’re connected to my body; the fingers move when I will them. A withered lady with grey hair stares at me in the window’s reflection, her rheumy eyes scrutinizing my features.

“Time for medicines, Mom,” a woman says, walking towards me. The onslaught of memories is disorienting: little fingers, heart-warming coos, pitter-patter of tiny feet, schools, graduations, and a wedding. Then everything becomes murky, thoughts scurry away, and all that remains is the reflection of the silver-haired lady.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tim Goldstone says

    July 17, 2023 at 7:13 am

    Skilled writing.

    Reply
    • Karishma Krishnan says

      July 18, 2023 at 12:08 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  2. Lisa Wiley says

    July 17, 2023 at 11:49 am

    Gorgeous!

    Reply
    • Karishma Krishnan says

      July 18, 2023 at 12:08 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  3. Cathryn says

    July 17, 2023 at 3:47 pm

    Hello Karishma,
    Interesting story which reminds me of one I read years ago. Whenever the woman was looking through the window in the door to her room, her neighbor, an old, sad-eyed lady living in the next apartment was always smiling back at her. Sadly, the woman did not realize she was looking at her reflection in a mirror hung on the wall of her own room.

    Reply
    • Karishma Krishnan says

      July 18, 2023 at 12:11 am

      Oh, sounds interesting! Will look it up. Thank you.

      Reply
    • Chetana Vaishnavi says

      July 27, 2023 at 8:14 am

      This is a real story that happened in my house. A man was smiling at his own reflection in the mirror when it got dark and asking my father why he does not introduce that person to him. I have published this article more than 20 years ago in the newspaper and then in my book, “Laughing Stock”

      Reply
  4. Michael Talledes says

    July 17, 2023 at 6:40 pm

    Very well written.

    Reply
    • Karishma Krishnan says

      July 18, 2023 at 12:11 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  5. maria warner says

    July 17, 2023 at 9:01 pm

    You beautifully captured how our hands say so much about us.

    Reply
    • Karishma Krishnan says

      July 18, 2023 at 12:11 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  6. Bud says

    July 19, 2023 at 10:48 am

    Very poignant. Great story!

    Reply
    • Karishma Krishnan says

      July 20, 2023 at 3:45 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  7. Pamela Cartlidge says

    July 19, 2023 at 12:01 pm

    We live and we die. Poignant.

    Reply
    • Karishma Krishnan says

      July 20, 2023 at 3:46 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  8. Sandra L. Todd says

    July 19, 2023 at 7:23 pm

    Our story. Each one of us will see it one day. Thank you, well done.

    Reply
    • Karishma Krishnan says

      July 20, 2023 at 3:46 am

      Thank you!

      Reply

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