Fates

Part 135- Corners Of Misery

Airplanes and shooting stars. One to make the way the other to wish upon, a wish unfulfilled. One would reach its destination before the other and that would make all the difference, between life and death. As they were fighting, three stretchers rushed through cold empty hallways, bright were the lights but darkness creeping up and taking over hearts. Hearts that beat for one another, now slowing together.

"Please- hold on- please." Rudra said not knowing if he was speaking, or if Maya could even hear him. But she didn't hold on, the stretcher going to the operation room, his hand letting go of hers when he promised he wouldn't. His hand is empty, shaking, covered in blood, her blood. He collapsed to the floor, numb inside.

He didn't know how long he sat there, or how much time had passed, but suddenly his dad was crouching in front of him, Akash was crying too, as he cupped Rudra's face, his mouth was moving fast as if he was saying something, but Rudra could hear nothing over the loud pounding of his own heart, that felt like it was going to explode.

"Rudra!!" He finally heard as his dad roughly shook him. "Ri- Riya wh- where is she?!" Akash yelled.

"Maya." Rudra choked out as he shakingly pointed somewhere, didn't really know where, everything was out of focus, blurring. Suddenly his mom was in front of him.

"Ru tell me clearly- w- who was in the c- car?" Rachna asked with tears streaming down her face, making him look at her.

"Maya." Rudra choked out again as if stuck saying her name. 

"No, no! Have you- gone crazy?!" Akash yelled in disbelief, shaking Rudra as if shake some sense into him, but he only sat motionless, head down, as silent tears streamed down his face, the image of Maya's limp arm sticking out of the upturned car door as blood trickled down it, replaying over and over again in his mind, his personal torture.

"Bhai, stop!" Rudra heard as his dad finally stopped shaking him, and this time his Booji sat in front of him, looking defeated, her eyes red as if she had been crying for centuries, she was still crying. "Rudra, Rudra beta- wh- where is Sun- Sunny?!!" Alia yelled as she cupped his face to get him to focus, which felt impossible to do.

'Sunny?' Rudra thought to himself confused. How would he know where Sunny was? Should he have known? He didn't know. No one knew that he was slowly going into shock, everything was spinning, and his heart was beating like a ticking bomb. But once again, Purab now sat in front of him.

"Son- wh- where is Rakshit?" Purab asked brokenly, tears streaming down his face, speaking gently because he could see Rudra's deteriorating condition,

'Maya.' Rudra's last thought before everything went dark. At least it didn't hurt anymore.

******

"How are they?! Please tell us!!" Purab yelled when a doctor came out of the operation room, hours had passed, and it felt like an eternity of agony.

"Why aren't you saying something? Say something. " Alia said desperately, the silence was so loud, it said so much without saying anything.

But it wasn't quiet. They were in a hospital. It was bustling with energy and in a good way. The air was heavy, it smelled like rubbing alcohol. Full of grief, and afraid of loss, they stood with breaths held waiting for an answer. It wasn't quiet, someone was yelling.

"What do you mean, you don't know where Riya is?!! Find her God dammit!!!" Akash yelled down the hallway into his phone, anger not pain. Only anger, because he wouldn't worry, not yet at least. She would be okay, so what if there had been gunfire outside the mall? She would be okay, she had to be.

One of them had to be because no one else was. Rakshit- Sunny as they had learned, Drishti- whose name Akash had only heard, never seen, now meeting like this, Maya- his daughter, his Rudra's life. Rudra- without his life, how could he live? Rudra who had single-handedly pulled everyone out of the wreckage of cars, not caring about the shards as they cut into his skin, was too shocked to feel the pain, he had passed out from exhaustion as the adrenaline wore down, and his body could no longer fight the battle. Nothing was okay. No one was. So, someone had to be okay.