You're okay!

PART IV - C

This is the last part.

I have nothing to say except that this story is probably the best one I've ever written.

This would always be close to my heart and I will always come back.

Please comment and react.

PART IV - C

Parth sat on a chair near Michelle's bed.

He wanted to stroke her hair or her cheeks, just to touch her, to feel her beneath his hands, but it didn't look like there wasn't an inch of her that was uninjured.

They had moved her to a private room an hour ago and Parth and Hemant had refused to leave her side since then. She would wake up any moment now, they had said.

Parth had been discharged in the morning and Ma had tried to make him go home to take a shower. He had glared at her until she sighed and relented, giving him his clothes so he could shower from the hospital bathroom.

Hemant had stayed awake the whole night outside Michelle's room and was now sleeping in the extra bed in the room. Parth had succumbed and had slept the night, still exhausted by his injuries, but he was wide awake now. And there was no way that he would go to sleep before Michelle woke up.

Michelle was okay. There were machines still connected to her to keep her alive, but she was recovering. Parth was right next to her and he could touch her if he wanted. It was good. But, it not good enough. He wanted to see her eyes again, listen to her laughter. And he couldn't bear to sleep before he could do that.

Parth listened to the now familiar beeping of the machines around him. He looked over at Hemant and saw that he one of his legs had fallen of the bed and he was drooling. Parth smiled tiredly. If the circumstances weren't so dire, he would have taken a picture. This was prime blackmail material.

He looked back to Michelle and did a double take when he saw her staring back at him.

She was awake and Parth wanted to sob in relief.

"Hey."

His let out a laugh that sounded a lot like a sob, his voice was broken and his eyes were filled with tears.

Michelle's face was blank. She stared at him for a few seconds before trying to take in the room they were in. She still had a neck brace, so she couldn't turn her head, but her eyes darted everywhere, her expression almost looking amused when she saw Hemant drooling in the side bed, before they came back to rest on his face.

She opened her mouth, and then just breathed and Parth leaned in.

"What is it? What is it Mish? Do you need something? What do you want?"

"How is it-" her voice sounded hoarse and she had to take a breath before continuing. "-that I'm the one who's barely alive-" she took another breath. "-yet you look more pathetic?"

Her lips were trembling and her eyes were half-lidded with exhaustion, but there was a hint of amusement in them now and Parth blinked once, and then twice.

Then, he was laughing and laughing, but his eyes were spilling with tears. His nose had started to run and he tried to aggressively wipe it and he didn't know if he was sobbing or laughing.

Michelle stared at him with a soft smile.

"I'm okay doofus."

Sometimes, when everything gets tough, when my mother doesn't answer my calls and my father posts Instagram photos of his new family with a cheesy caption, when I feel that I'm all alone and that no-one would miss me if I die and my hands itch for a blade, some pills, I think of that one day, that one moment. I think of that one moment and suddenly, I have the will to live again. I think to myself, you made Parth smile for the first time in months, what else do you need really?