Shivaay felt good. He was sitting with Annika on the edge of an ice-clad cliff. Her slender fingers drew patterns on the back of his palm and he relished the cold mountain air ruffle his hair. There was some peace. Finally.
If he was being very honest, Shivaay was exhausted. Right from the time he remembered, he was fighting. There was just no respite. He had enough. But not anymore. He was going to spend all his time with Annika and live his life on his terms.
"When you wake up, I am going to kiss you senseless..." whispered Annika. "Wait and watch."
At first, Shivaay's lips curled up. But then he knitted his brows. "Are you stupid? I am awake. You can kiss me right now."
But Annika didn't retaliate. Instead, she just leaned in and kissed his forehead. "I love you so much, Shivaay. Please don't test my patience. Get well soon..."
"I am fine!" Shivaay shouted at her. "What's wrong with you?"
That woman was completely bonkers. Only God knew what new game she was playing to irritate him now. But Annika never replied. She just kept her hand on his hand and stayed in the same position no matter how much he tried to push her away. Shivaay couldn't help but wonder, when and how did she get so strong?
Just when he was thinking of how weird Annika was behaving and how to stop her, a sudden burst of light was shone in his eyes. Grunting, he tried to turn his face away but he couldn't. He tried to will his hands to move, to push the offending light away but he couldn't. Then just as quickly as the light had come, it vanished. When Shivaay adjusted his eyes to his surroundings again, it was the same. The same nice day, the same snow. Then he saw a black silhouette of a man stand by his side. To make matters worse, the silhouette bent down and picked up some snow from the ground. Then, he dumped all the snow on Shivaay.
"Annika!" Shivaay screamed again as he suddenly found himself covered in neck-deep snow. "Do something and stop this man! He is throwing snow on me!"
Annika didn't move. Her grip on Shivaay's hand remained the same, but she did nothing else. Before Shivaay could even react, the man dumped more snow on him. He was completely submerged in the snow now. He couldn't move his arms or his legs. Neither could he speak. All he felt was Annika's hand in his and then there was the blessed darkness.
***********
"When are we taking him out from the coma?" asked Annika the Doctor.
The Doctor smiled at her. He lifted Shivaay's hand and placed an ice pack in his underarm. "It has been just two days, Annika. We have a long way to go. For now, we have to get his fever done."
Annika sighed and held Shivaay's limp hand harder. It was burning. "I read on the internet that an induced coma is not good for the heart. Can we risk his heart like this?"
A quick flash of the flatline from the first day crossed her mind and the fear rushed back in. She bit back a scream. Clutching Shivaay's hand for dear life, she croaked, "Please listen to me. There must be another way."
"Annika," the Doctor sighed. "We are constantly monitoring Shivaay. I am personally looking after him. I assure you that we won't let his blood pressure go down. We are pressed because his brain really, really, really needs to rest. Didn't you see him that day? He had eight seizures in total. It's not normal. This was needed."
This was needed. Annika repeated it in her head. Yes. It was needed. But it did nothing to soothe her pain. How was she ever going to erase the images of Shivaay lying in the hospital bed like that?
"Aren't two weeks too much?" Annika probed. "I have also read that the more time someone spends in an induced coma, the chances of recovery are lower."
"Where did you read that?" the Doctor chuckled as began to study Shivaay's brain activity. "Medical University of Google?"
"Please Doctor!" Annika whined. "And why does he have a fever now?"
Shaking his head, the Doctor looked at the stubborn girl he had come to like so much in the past few days. She had seen a lot of patients and a lot of family members in his work lifetime, but Annika was different. She hadn't shed a single tear throughout the whole ordeal. She just sat there, unwaveringly with her sick husband, relentlessly asking the whole staff questions. It had tired most of his colleagues out, but not him. He enjoyed the interrogation. It was almost like she was Shivaay's guard.
"It is normal..." the Doctor assured. "Fever means Shivaay's body knows that something is wrong with it and is trying to cope. Don't worry about it. I would have worried if he didn't have a fever."
Annika didn't know what to do with those words. She didn't know how to process anything anymore. She just wanted Shivaay to wake up and be well.
"He will be okay when he wakes up, right? I have read that most people..."
"Annika!" the Doctor chided her softly. "I am going to ask Om to confiscate your phone. You really need to stop reading all these doom scenarios. When Shivaay wakes up, he will need you more than ever. You will play the key role in his recovery. And if you continue to have such an attitude, it will not do any good to you or him."
He moved near her and urged, "You both have to fight this poison together."
************
Thoughts, please?
