MANIK
Hospital. The name itself was scary and intimidating. The smell was making me nauseous. The white walls were screaming of the agony, pain and the endless treatments, a patient had to suffer before coming to cure. The walls were slightly chipping off and the hoarse voices of patients were echoing with clanging cacophony. I was terrified, to no extent. I felt my head spinning like a top, heart grinding against my rib cage and hands curling to pray for her safety.
From the door of the intensive care unit, I could see her body wrapped and enclosed with wires. Glucose bottle hung and her hands showed marks of the syringes, put through her little arms. She was silent. My Nandini was silent. I could feel my breath choking me, as the guilt overpowered my heart. Ten hours have passed. My friends and my parents came to visit me and had seen me in the vulnerable worst. Perceiving her, lifeless on the little bed, which was even creaking from one edge was my end. She was afraid of closed rooms, but ironically she was succumbed under four walls.
"Doctor... Doctor", I shouted at the top of my voice, with my larynx almost blasting. My throat was parched and it burned, as I hadn't drank a single drop of water after coming here.
My voice alerted everyone and soon he was there. The doctor walked in with a face like a brick. His movements were all sharp and with purpose, he analyzed the chart for a few seconds and looked up with a perfunctory smile flashed for just a moment.
"Mr Malhotra", his smile was faux and I could easily gauge that, "She's not fine"
My nerves went wrecking and heat coursed through my body. She couldn't be anything, than fine.
"What the f----", I immediately grabbed the collar of his white overcoat, to his horror. "I don't want to hear those words again. Not again". My eyes darkened and my hold on his collar tightened, when I saw Cabir and Samay trying to push me away. The doctor was almost choking, when they finally pulled me away.
"Mr Malhotra, Behave please", I didn't care what Samay said. He was here for Nandini, and I had no business with him.
He went ahead and talked with doctor, while I stood there flashing sadness through her glass pane.
I was helpless. Pain came like a death, which made my body numb and it wasn't just over. It again resurrected me, redirecting it all over again. I sat over the wooden bench, with my eyes dampened and hands continually joined, to pray. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have taken her to the auction.
I covered my face with my hand completely and realized how damped, it was with tears. My entire body was shaking incoherently with the amount of energy, I had lost over the considerable time. I leant back on the wall, with the support of the bench, and batted my lashes, which were heavy and enveloped with tears. I sighed and heaved, as the flashes of the auction went passed my eyes.
Flashback.
Talking with Nandini, lifted tons of burden from my heart. I felt such relief surging in every vein, making my heart pound at the heaving pace. She was looking straight at the podium, while I was busy admiring and gauging her expressions, which timely changed in percussion. There was so much about her, uninked and unexplored. Everytime, I took a step deeper into her heart, she used to open more of her valves for exploration. There was always something so surreal about that. I gawked her for a while, trying to instill every expression of hers in my heart, which were so sudden and flew away in a jiffy like a balloon flying high, without thread.
"Ladies and Gentlemen", there was a huge round of applause, that broke my chain of thoughts.
I buttoned my suit and carried an austere face, implying that I was there to win. From the corner of my eyes, I saw him at last and sue of animosity scurried all over my brain.
