He ran downstairs as fast as his legs could take him. His mind seemed to have making sense of his surroundings. His mouth had gone dry. He wasn't even in his senses to cry. The only name his mouth chanted was Prachi. Her slowly breaking body, as she fell down from the terrace haunted him. How could this happen? She was standing right there, wasn't she? She had lectured him a while ago, had bickered with him. How could she lie on the ground lifelessly moments after that? And he had almost saved her, hadn't he? Then how did she fall down again? And the worst part, she couldn't be d- ... No!!! Even the thought was unbearable for him for unknown reasons. With numerous questions mingling inside his head and a dangerous fear killing him from the inside, he kept on running towards her.
He reached the spot where she would've fallen from the terrace. Her sighed horrified him.
There she laid, lifelessly. He approached the laying figure with heavy steps and a heavy heart. But he stopped suddenly as he felt something slippery underneath his shoes. He bent down to inspect what it was and was highly horrified as he realised that it was nothing other than her blood. He couldn't control himself anymore and let out a heart-wrenching sob. It was her blood that was lying on the ground. He moved his gaze towards her slowly and closed his eyes tightly as fat tears rolled down his cheeks when he saw her lying in a pool of blood.
Not caring that his dress was soaking wet in her blood, he ran towards her and took her her head in his lap. However, her condition killed him from the inside. Her lips had cracked due to the wind. Her face was all red and dry. Her eyes were bloodshot and displayed an uncertain fear. But wait her eyes? Why were her eyes open? Her eyes should be shut, shouldn't they? Only then would he say that she was still alive, though unconscious. Then did that mean that she was de-? 'No!', his heart let out a silent scream.
And maybe even God did not want to shatter his hopes so soon. He noticed that she was breathing bleakly. Her oxygen supply had been stopped when her back had hit the ground dangerously. She was trying to inhale oxygen while staring at the skies. He heaved a small sigh of relief as he noticed that she was still alive. He took her hand in his his and started rubbing it softly so as to console her. "Prachi? Prachi?", was the only thing he could speak.
She slowly started coming back to her senses. Her whole body ached like hell. She couldn't make sense of anything. "Maa!", she whispered softly as she felt a sudden strong pain in her head. "M-maa!", she whispered more slowly than the last time. Ranbir immediately realised that she was lacking oxygen.
At that precise moment, all the people came down from the terrace. They were shocked to the core when they saw her condition. "Aargh!", a small girl screamed. The Kohlis were too shocked to react when they saw her first glimpse. Ranbir shouted unexpectedly, "Shahana? Mummy? Dida? Meera Aunty? Koi hain plz? Plz yahan aao!" Coming out of their trance, they quickly reached there. "Sh-shahana? Prachi ko oxy-oxygen ki j-jaroorat hain. Du-dupatta ... nikalo.", Ranbir stuttered. "H-haan.", Shahana agreed at once. Slowly, she pulled out the dupatta from her neck. As soon as the dupatta was pulled off her neck, Prachi inhaled exuberantly.
"Main doctor ko phone karta hoon.", Aryan said wisely. "Haan haan beta kar le.", Vikram patted his back as he went away. "Aur main Abhi aur Anuradhaji ko lekar aata hoon.", he added.
The ladies and Ranbir were perched around her sides and were sobbing silently. But something was happening to Prachi. Prachi was staring at the skies wordlessly. She raised her hand absently and waved it in the air as though trying to find something. "Maa?", she muttered softly. Shahana caressed her cheek and whispered, "Vo aa rahi hain." Prachi held her hand in hers and kept muttering, "Shahana? Shahana?" Shahana couldn't control herself anymore. She broke down in Meera's arms chanting, "Ye kya ho gaya?", who caressed her silently, while her own eyes were moist.
