Till death do us apart

Death of a loved one is a curious thing. It's ironical as one never thinks of it, even though it is the ultimate truth of life. It is like walking up the stairs in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Suman always feared of something happening to her loved ones, death snatched where it could, taking people away from her who were far too good. Now she found Shravan like she did now.

Shravan is bleeding a lot and Suman is all scared and helpless, completely lost. She knew he went on a difficult mission in a Naxalite-hit region, but never thought this would happen to him.

Captain Dr. Suman Tiwari and her team are immediately rushed to the blast site where Captain Shravan Malhotra is lying injured and tattered along with his patrolling team, all bleeding profusely. She rushes towards Shravan, while her team attends other injured soldiers.

Face crumpling, tears welling in her eyes, Suman cradles Shravan's head in her arms, latter withering in pain. This was not what she expected, not in her wildest of dreams; why's and how's gathering in her mind.

Suman kisses his forehead, tears dropping on his blood-stained cheeks. As she bandages his tattered arm, Shravan slowly raises his head a little, stretches his left arm caressing her tears laden cheek.

Suman snivels, immersing herself in his warm and gentle touch while Shravan gives her a feeble smile. His face looks at peace, his heart is at peace too.

"S-Suman!" he groans in pain.

"Y-Yes baby, I am here only."

"Do you r-remember that song we d-danced on at Major Sharma's party?"

Suman cries, sinking into the heavy feeling. She just sits there, cradling Shravan's head, tears pricking her eyes, hands trembling with fear and sadness. Innumerable memories gushes through her mind, they both were so happy that day, dancing happily to their favourite song where Shravan proposed her for marriage.

"Can you p-please sing that song with me, for one l-last time?"

Suman feels uneasy at the word last. She is afraid to even think about that possibility, possibility of losing Shravan forever, possibility of never hearing his voice again, possibility of never be able to feel his warmth, possibility of never be able to kiss those lips.

She caresses his face, closes her eyes, calms down her heavy breathing.

"P-Promise me this f-forever..." she chokes, unable to hold back her tears. "We'll a-always stay this way" Shravan completes, sucks in another breath.

"We can start at the e-end of t-time" She sobs, holding Shravan's body close to her.

"A-And do it all again"

"O-Oh my love, I'm all y-yours" Suman sniffs, eyes pleading Shravan to endure a little more.

"And there will never be a-another one" Shravan yelps, twisting his body a little to soothe out the pain he is enduring.

"Cause I'm e-eternally y-yours" Suman gives up, tears staining her cheeks completely, fear of losing Shravan weighing her down with passing of every second.

Suman can't help but to compare the night with her own state of mind. Just like the dark night and gathering of clouds, her inside were in a chaos too. A mess. Something is bothering her, something is hurting her, something feels so wrong, so invalid but she can't tell what. She tries to reason out her fears, her confusion but they are all dark, just like this night.

Shravan is in pain, so much of pain that his complexion is ashen. His natural dusky skin has sunken in a tone to something so lifeless it scares Suman to even look at him. His eyes are closed and he sucks himself into a deeper place to cope. All Suman can do is stroke his wavy hair and hold his hand. From time to time her eyes drops to the ground, but mostly they are fixed on his face in a soft stare so that whenever he opens his eyes, Suman is the first one he sees. She breaks down more and more to see him in this state.

Shravan again opens his eyes and smiles at her, "I-I am sorry for breaking m-my promise." he flinches in pain. "I wanted to give you the best marriage, wanted to see you as my bride b-but the only thing I can do now is to take a promise from y-you. Promise me Suman, you will live your life happily, move on and will fall in love again, with someone who fulfils his promise. N-No matter who it is, I wish it will be a good person. I liked y-you." Shravan again withers, blood oozing out of his wound, he tries hard to keep his eyes open and focuses on Suman's face so as to remember her face, for eternity.

"I l-liked the way every time you stood up for right, your p-perspective about world. Even though destiny was harsh on you, you were never in despair. Whether it's our chai date or watching you sleep, I will forever cherish the road that I walked with you. Even those seven year I waited for you; I like all of them like c-crazy. The road we walked together, now you will have to walk alone. I am s-sorry. Now you must l-let me go, Suman." Pain throbs in Shravan's gut, making his breath slow and heavy.

"No, I don't want Shravan, I don't want to walk that road without you. No" she bewails. "If it's not you, it's no one else"

"I l-love you Suman." With those last words, Shravan shuts his eyes, forever.

Blood slowly oozes out of numerous wounds in his face, arms and legs, a relentless flow of crimson but he felt no pain.

Suman sits there, staring and clutching Shravan's still body. Her face sunken and haunted, her mind cold and empty. Tears staining her cheeks, making her eyes glassy as she whispered her final goodbye to the love of her life, to her only one, to her Shravan, leaving a gentle kiss on his forehead.