My head hurt. And I wanted to open my eyes, but I could not. I was lying on a bed. It was comfortable to lie there. I could just simply lie there and continue to sleep. That was a nice idea. But I felt like I had been asleep like this for hours, days even.

I did not want to open my eyes. I felt tried. And as I said, my head hurt. It was hurting really badly.

So maybe it was the fact that my head hurts that made me wanted to open my eyes. I needed to tell someone that my head hurts.

So I opened my eyes.

The light blinded me for a second. It was too bright. But after a second my eyes adjusted to the light. I breathed.

Somebody gasped and came closer to me. "You are awake." She said. With tears in her eyes. It was a middle-aged lady I did not know. But she was staring at me with happiness and love. That was kind of strange.

It took me a moment to find my voice. "My head hurts." I managed to say.

"Oh, does it sweetie?" the lady asked. "I will call the doctors at once. We have to tell them you woke up." But then instead of walking out of the room, she came closer and gave me a hug. "Thank you... Thank you for waking up, Rahul." She backed away and then went out of the room. I was in a hospital room.

I tried to remember what happened. The accident.

I remember the flash of headlights and the crash. I did not know how many days passed after that. While I was trying to get a clearer image of things, two doctors rushed into the room.

"How are you feeling?" One of them asked.

"My head hurts," I said.

"Yeah. You had a mild concussion." The doctor said. "It will get better. Can you move your hands and legs? Is there pain anywhere else? You have a fracture in your left hand. But you should be able to move it."

I tried moving my hands and legs. They were okay. Nothing hurt. I tried to sit up, the doctors helped me with it at once, and I could sit up. I looked at my hand in a sling. It did not hurt as my head hurt. My head still hurt.

"Do you remember what happened?" The doctor asked.

"Accident?" I said with doubt.

"And your name?" The doctor asked.

"Rahul," I said my name.

"Good." The doctor said.

I looked around the room. I could not see my parents. The lady who was there when I woke up was still there. I wanted to ask where my parents are. But before that, something felt odd and different. I felt strange. I felt strange since I woke up. Or even before that. I don't know. But it was like I was in someone else's body. Did the accident mangle my body so much that I was feeling like my body was not mine? It felt so unfamiliar.

When I looked down, my hands and legs were different. Different shape. Different length. My height seemed to have altered a bit as well. It did not make sense. Accidents do not alter people's height.

Then I saw my own reflection on the glass of specks the doctor wore.

And I freaked out. I did not look like me anymore.

Maybe this was a dream. A nightmare. Maybe even the accident was the part of the dream.

The doctors left me and asked me to take lots of rest. I was made to lie back down on the bed. I did not react or cry out loud on the realization that I did not look like myself. I was just confused. I was still thinking that maybe it is a dream.

The lady who was there when I woke up, sat on the chair beside my bed. Her hand gripped my hand and she was smiling at me all happy.

"Your dad wanted to come here at once when I told him that you woke up. But I told him he can come tomorrow morning. It's too late at night." She said. "But he is really happy. He was worried for you. Aarohi too."

A dream. I will go to sleep and this will end. And I will be in my bedroom. Sleeping.

"You can go back to sleep, dear." She said. "You are still recovering. You need rest."

I assumed that whoever this woman was, is supposed to be like a mother. My mother? But my other does not look like this. Still, the lady was looking at me with 'mother eyes'.

She combed my front hair with her fingers. "How worried I was..." She said, her eyes again filling with tears. But she did not shed them. "If something had happened to you..."

I felt kind of guilty. I need not. But I did. For causing her that sadness.

"I am sorry?" I said with doubt. Everything was in a state of doubt.

She looked at me. Still with tears, "No, no...don't worry. It's okay if you are safe. Everything is okay since you are safe." She said.

It felt weird that a stranger was crying over me. But this was a dream anyway. The best way to end the dream is to go to sleep again, perhaps.

"I think I should sleep," I said.

"Oh, okay dear." The lady said. I closed my eyes. The head still hurt. But I fell asleep again. Probably because of the medicines. Or because even that much exertion was kind of tiring.

I woke up because of something, I opened my eyes. A girl's face was really close to mine. She had brown eyes and long eyelashes. I noticed that at once. She had her hands on the pillow, I was sleeping.

She left the pillow and stood straight. "Your pillow was positioned weirdly." She said. She was about twenty or so of age. And she was wearing jeans and a brown check shirt. She was sort of pretty. "How do you feel?" She asked.

I wanted to ask who she is, but I said. "Okay."

"Good." She sat on the chair beside the bed grinning at me. "Coz for a second I thought I will never see you again. That you will die." She looked sad about that. But then she smiled and looked at me. "I might regret saying this but, glad to have you back, buddy. You should record this because I am never going to say things like this ever again."

I did not know what to say. So I kept silent. But that was a mistake, I guess. She came closer.

"Are you okay?" She asked in a worried voice.

"Yes," I said. My head hurt less than before at least.

"Why are you silent then?" She asked. "Do you feel okay?"

Well, not exactly. I still did not look like me. Or more like I felt like I am in someone else's body and I was surrounded by people I did not know. But they were talking to me like they know me. I did not know what to make out of this situation. And I was worried that if I tell someone that I was not myself, they will think that I am mad. That the accident damaged my brain or something.

"Rahul," the girl called in a worried voice.

But they are calling me my name.

"Rahul," someone else called. A man's voice. And a middle-aged man came into the room and came straight to me and hugged me. I was taken aback for a second... The man backed off. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

Why is everyone asking the same question? But then again, what else you ask a sick person in the hospital.

"Okay," I said. Even I sounded like a different person.

"Are you sure?" the girl asked. "Because...you are... you are not like yourself."

"Well, he just had an accident Aarohi," the lady, the mother figure in this story said. I noticed her only then. She had come in through the door. "He needs more rest. He will be back to normal in a few days. Won't you, my dear?" She looked at me with the same tender eyes.

I did not know what else to do, but I nodded.

In a few hours, I understood that this was no dream. Or at least this dream was not going to end any time soon. I was in someone else's body. And that someone else had the same name as me. Well, 'Rahul' is a pretty common name. And that lady, the man and the girl was this other Rahul's family.

There was no use in screaming or going mad or forcing myself to come out of the other body or the dream. Whatever it was...

I was just dazed in the confusion.

Why in the world was I in someone else's body?

How is that possible?

It doesn't even make sense.

I tried sleeping. Maybe when I wake up, I will be back in my own body. But that did not happen. I wondered about asking the doctors about it. But that will make me look like a crazy guy. Or have actually gone crazy? Was this some sort of mental problem that is making me think that I am someone else?

There was nothing I could do other than go to sleep, wake up and do things hoping that things will somehow go back to normal on their own.

If it does not, I am fucked.