The most freaky thing happened today. I’m still unable to believe it.

Actually, I should start with Saturday morning, but for that I’ll have to erase the previous line and I don’t like doing that.

So, I stayed up till Fajr prayers as I often do, took a bath and then was finally able to fall asleep while it felt like 100 degrees Celcius. I woke up abour six hours later (usual sleep duration) with very vivid memories of a dream. In the Monday meeting, a new manager was introduced (because that has happened three times already). That wasn’t the freaky part. The freaky part was that I’ve worked with this person before (I don’t have any good memories about that experience, obviously). The said person left the company in 2019 for higher ambitions that I could not even fathom, and… Let’s just say I haven’t stayed in touch.

So, when I got up, I had a bitter taste in my mouth. Not because of the dream, because that’s what usually happens. I went to see mum, said salaam and started the day (back of the mind, the dream kept freaking me out).

And then after a very looooong Saturday, came the night. The usual routine, y’know: Play a ton of YouTube videos, watching drama episodes, posting reviews, bathing in my own sweat…

And then began the “retrospective” time of the day (what else do you think keeps me up at night if now worries of future and over-analysis of past?). I thought about the dream, and seriously considered the possibility of this becoming a reality, because it is a possibility alright. People come back to our company all the time. Our company is known for that: taking back people even if they were “good riddance” when they left.

My creative mind came up with the worst possible scenario (what else do you think keeps me up at night if not being a pessimist?): The dream will come true. When I join back on Monday after Eid PTO, the said person will join the team, I’ll not see him until introduction because I keep the Teams video off, and I’ll say:

Hi “Person”, welcome to “Company”!

And then I played a hundred different versions of the same interaction with differing reactions from other team members (what else do you think keeps me up at night if not fictionalizing real life?)

Cut to Monday afternoon, the regular meeting. I have forgotten about the dream because I’ve thought of the worst possible scenario already. Meeting begins, yada yada yada… whining, complaining, the usual. And then suddenly, someone says,

“Shabana! Your friend has come back!”

I was so shocked, so stunned, that I didn’t even know how to react. At first, I thought I misheard it, so I unmuted myself and asked: Beg your pardon, was that for me?

Things were repeated; I’m still freaking out.

I checked the email, sure enough, Winback email is there. The said person has joined some other department. SOME.OTHER.DEPARTMENT. I’m out of the woods.

I’m still a bit freaked out but also a bit relieved.

1. The dream is only partly true. Imagine my plight if it was true cent-per-cent?
2. The dream also helped me prepare for the worst-case scenario.

But that’s freaky, right? No? Just me who thinks that way?

~~~ 

Until we meet again, check out my books on Amazon. You can subscribe for Kindle Unlimited for free for the first month, just saying 🙂

Shabana Mukhtar