Filter Coffee

Chapter 6

“What?? What did you just say?” Anu couldn't even feel her own heart that was beating at an abnormal pace.

“Please be calm Anu.” Nanditha knew it was going to be in vain. Calming down her best friend was never easy.

“You're asking me to be calm when s-” Anu said.

“I know its hard. But wait till you see him. He's going to be alright I promise.” Nanditha lied.

It took every ounce of strength for Anu to keep herself at the bay of sanity, instead of going mad. She never understood why, only at  these kind of times not a single good or optimistic thought occured to her. Her mind was going through every worst case scenario and projected images in her head that she never wanted to see in a billion years.

No. Its too soon. Its too soon. She kept telling herself that repeatedly. As a kid, she used to conjure up dreadful imaginations on a 'what if?' basis, but now, she didn't even want there to be an 'if' situation.

The van stopped at the entrance of a beseemingly high-end hospital. But they only went to the other one which was two blocks away from their home in case of an emergency. This striked Anu immediately, but she prevented her mind from digging deep.

“Can you park inside? Its a long way from here to the morgue.” Nanditha said and in a split second realised her terrible mistake. She looked over at Anu hoping she wouldn't have heard it, but there she stood - Pupils dilated, mouth parted, eyes wide and horror struck. She stood there, replaying Nanditha's words over and over again in her head.

“I.. I didn't.. uhhh.. the ummm.. the ICU is errr.. near the morgue build- Oh Anu wait!!!” Nanditha screamed her throat out after the back of her best friend who was running madly on the streets of the hospital now, faster than the winds of winter.

“Anu! Anu I'm so sorry..  Please.. Wait..” Nanditha ran after her poor friend.

Anu heard her. There was still a part inside her trying to argue that the ICU block was near the morgue building, but the fears were too uncopable and lively that she couldn't stop running until she knew anything surely. For a split second, she wanted to keep running faster and farther, never stopping for a second, never wanting to know the inevitable. But then, that was life. Running to the rhythms of the universe and never stopping till stopped.

There, at the far end of the hospital road, she saw the outline of her mother. She could tell very well from a fifty feet that something had gone terribly wrong. She could feel her woe affecting her already. She ran, her calves aching terribly and her heart threating to fall out of her throat anytime.

“Ma!!!” She shouted , her voice hoarse and wheezy from all the running. Tears were dripping down her cheeks, leaving her a bitter mess of tragedy. Her mom turned and looked at her with all the empathy in the world. She was crying as well, but a resigned cry. The one that comes after all the fear, shock and hopes had drained and all that was left was acceptance of the reality. Anu deciphered this instantly. It was full-fledged mourning from now on.

Grief, pain, agony, fear and anger struck her from every direction. She hugged her mom tight and she hugged her back tighter. This reminded Anu of the one time when she got herself lost at the beach while chasing a horse and finally they found her crying alone near an icecream van.

“He's gone..” Mrs.Malathi said, in a quivering tone. “He left us.. How can he do this? He promised he'd- ” She began crying like an uncontrollable child.

They stayed embraced to not only comfort each other but also themselves. It was horrible. It was utterly completely horrible. It was unfair. Why her? Why should the travesty hit her? What gave god the idea that she would be strong enough to handle this? Why now? Why so soon?  Several thoughts rushed inside her head, each looming out unanswered, and accompanied by several more.