NEXT CHAPTER……………………………
(present)
(mayank n nups in their room , they r sitting on the bed besides a sleeping anshu)
(by mayank)
I kept looking at her…
The way she moved her hands through anshu's hair.. n the way she kept kissing him now n then..
The way anshu smiled everytime nupur's ,his mother's lips touched his cheeks……..
Finally at least one mystery of the day got solved…
I knew why anshu was so happy since the morning….
Somehow he knew that his mother was going to return today ….
A lone tear escaped her eyes … I didn't move to stop her from crying…
This was a moment which withheld to much pain, tendrness. Sepration n love….
Tears would have obviously been difficult to withheld…
Moreover I was still busy in adjusting to the information nupur has just provided…..
Just few moments ago she had told me that what had taken her so long ….
That how she n samrat died….
She has skipped my question about that bearded fellow…
She said me to reserve that question 4 some other time….
There were so many things happening all together..
Nupur was here in front of me, besides our son.. my torn family finally completed in this second..
Samrat my best friend was here too.. I know he must be with his chashmish…….
All of us has got back what we had lost a year ago….
N yet still outside the realms of my n gunjan's room .. no one would believe us//
This beautiful reality would just be considered trash …
How was I going to deal with it…
Then there was samrat's diary…. N dia n uday nnnn ya n benji…….
So much confusion so much pain n so much happiness…
I had no idea which emotion should I welcome first????????
N== mayank….
I felt a breeze touching my cheeks….my heart felt suddenly warm…
Hell why was I thinking of otheres,,,, this time was just 4 her…
I looked up at her again..
N== mayank i…..i ..
I don't know why but suddenly her eyes seemed terrified …..of what???
I felt afraid too. No nothing now I have had enough pls god nothing else…
I moved closer to her n braught her closer to me..
M== kya hua nupur tum aise kyun???
N=k..kuch nahi .. vo to bas aaj anshu se milke thodi emotional ho gayi..
She was sure hiding something from me… but what??? I opened my mouth to ask but something stopped me..
Now was not the time but why????????????
Instead of answering to my question my gut feeling forced me to change the topic…
M== nupur what was the worst moment 4 ur life?????
I had no idea why this stupid question spilled out of my mouth…..
I seriously had no idea… of course I knew her worst moment .. the day she died…
Hell mayank what were u thinking????????
I looked down at anshu…. May be I should avoid her gaze 4 a few seconds…I was about to mutter a quick sorry when I heard her……
N== it was our engagement day.
M== WHAT????????
She looked at me quizziczlly n I looked back at her quizzically
Our engagement.. hell why???????
N== kya hua tum mujhe ais kyun dekh rahe ho????
I had no idea how to answer her.. what was I too tell her???
Nupur looked at me again she still looked scared n yet her main focus now was my confused reactions..n then she laughed…..
A heavenly childlike my nupur like laugh….
M== kya hua??????
N== by god mayank apni shakal to dekho????? Seriously agar is waqt anshu apne papa ko aise dekhe to vo bhi has has k pagal ho jayega….
She continued laughing……
I looked at her angrily …….or at least I tried to look at her angrily……
She still continued to laugh..
M== dekho nupur tum kis baat pe has rahi ho.. mujhe laga tumahara sabse worst day tumhara death day……………
I stopped abruptly… not because of the sudden change in nupur's expression
Neither because my answer had cut of her laughter..
Just because the sudden spear of pain that pierced me at my own words was too much..
How could I voice it aloud???
Mayank how could u..
I had no idea that there were tears building in my eyes..
I was still busy cursing my self n looking at floor…
But she got to know about the tears… I felt her soft finger on my cheek wiping off the traitor tear…….
She made me look at her..
N then she said…
N== mayank vo meri zindagi ka nahin tumhari zindagi ka sabse bura din tha… hana???
I simply nodded. What else was I going to say????? It was too much ..the pain of that day was too much………
N== us din ne tumhein jo dard diya mayank vo main bahut pehle mehsoos kar chuki thi…mein jaanti hun k vo darr kaisa hota hai jab aap kisi aise insaan ko khone ja rahe hote ho jiske bina ..jiske bina zindagi zindagi bilkul bhi……..
Her voice cracked.. she didn't answer anything else n I remembered our engagement I remembered the accident at the end of it…
Yes that was the time that I almost got killed…but somehow somehow I lived..
Samrat had told me afterwards about nupur's condition in those days…
I shuddered………….
I looked away from her….
N== mayank shayad tumne mujhse zyaada dard bardaash kiya hai…..
I didn't have any doubts about that..
N== I …..i have to go mayank ..ss something something changed…
A chill ran through me… it was much worse then earlier pain..
This time not one but hundred spears shredded me to pieces…
I looked at her..
I was sure my eyes were overflowing with silent tears …..
My vision was too blurred….
I couldn't see her anymore,….
More pain….
I wiped my eyes as fast as I can on the bed sheet I was sitting on …..
No she was not there .NOOOOOOOO…….
M== NUPUR NUP… NUPUR pls nahin plsssss pls pls …
Tears kept intruding my eyesight..as I stumbled across the room to find her
She can't go .. she promised me .. why nupur why ..pls noo plsss
I won't be able to live through it again plsssss nooooo pls….
N suddenly I remembered her gorgeous heavenly face again with those expressions of terror..
The time my gut feeling had stopped me from asking her the reason…
She was forced to go away from me why why why why?????
Nupur nupur pls,,,no
A loud bang on door..
Had someone heard my screams may be… benji …no I was in no mood to be consoled.. no one should see me this way no one..
N then I heard it I heard her screams…
Gunjan??????????
Gunjan why what the hell happened….
I opened the door n she hugged me tightly absolutely terrified n inconsolable…..
G== mayank mayank he went .. samrat chala gaya mayank … samrat mayank samrat..
She kept n saying his name the way I was screaming nupur's name just few seconds ago…..
I hugged her back tightly…
She was shaking madly… may be I was shaking tooo ..
Numbness engulfed me..
It was better then pain atleast….
I heard several things at the same time…..
Anshu started crying.. may be all these shrieks n screams woke him up..
N for the first time in life neither me nor gunjan made a move to make him quiet or to comfort…
We were too busy in re assuring each other…
Gunjan was still shaking .. she was hysterical.. I knew her pain..
It was just like mine just like mine….
The next second I heard uday n benji..
Benji was the one who picked up anshu may be… may be not…
Whatever I could hear him trying to console anshu..
Uday stood on the dorrway…
He was the one who screamed at us..
U== WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?????????
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Scene 2:-
FLASHBACK CONTINUED:-
(BY NUPUR)
Why was it freezing over??? Wasn't it all warm n cozy just few hours ago??
My hands felt so numb with cold…hell it was so freezed over here In this hospital..
Precisely at that moment someone's fingers entwined through mine…they were warmer then mine atleast…
Was it samrat??....again???
I didn't look up,, I knew it would be samrat trying to reassure me, just like he was reassuring shilpa aunty(my to be mom-in-law) few minutes ago….
Strange I had no idea why there was even a need of reassuring me…
Except this freezing cold everything was fine or it should have been fine…..
Today was my engagement the happiest day of my life….
Then what the hell was I doing here in this hospital??????
Suddenly terrified I checked my ring finger again….the sight made my insides cringe…my engagement ring was there all right but it was of red coloue…
How was that possible????
When mayank showed this ring to me a few days ago. It was all silver.. with a crisscross patchwork of small diamonds over a silver band…
So how could??.. how did it turn to re now??
I couldn't remember my head was still aching…
But why was it aching??
Whatever….
I looked at the ling closely n I realized that the red thing on it was dried , encrusted blood……
I hadn't been thorough in washing my hands…….
MEMORIES terrible, painful, frightening , memories flooded through me….
Suddenly the reason for my being in this hospital became clear n remembering it made my head to throb more painfully….
My heart beated hard across my chest…. My chest felt as if it would explode….
It was as if I was suffering from the worst cold ever…
The only difference being that the pain wasn't physical ,,, n this just made bearing it all the more difficult….
I remembered now…
My mayank was hurt ..terribly terribly terribly hurt ……
He was hurt because of me…mayak mayank mayank…..
It was too much I couldn't take it…the numbness the cold was so much better then this..
The warm fingers entwined through mine pulled back..n I could hear sudden screeching sounds in the corridor….
I kept renting his name in my brain…
Mayank mayank mayank…..
S:- nupur nupur pls… its alright…its going to be alright….
Who the hell was he convincing me or himself??????
Samrat hugged me then n I hugged him back…. The pain was pulling me down , drowning
Me n samrat was the only support I could hold on too….
The screeching sounds increased….
S:- pls nupur pls don't….
That's when I realized that the strange n horrible screeching sounds were my sobs..
I closed my eyes n tried shutting my mouth up..
It wasn't doing any good the sobs didn't stop…
Another hand just as cold as mine rubbed my head…
It wasn't samrat abt that I was sure…
Because firstly.. samrat's hands weren't freezing like this n secondly because his hands were busy in hugging me .. reassuring me n wiping of my unstoppable tears…..
All this while I kept my eyes shut…
IMAGES…….Terrible, painful Gruesome images filled my mind..
Mayank pushing me out of the dangers way……the chandelier coming down with a mighty crash…….blood n glass….. there was blood n glass everywhere…….
And then the worst image came in front of my eyes…
Mayank he was lying there on the glass strewn floor……he was still so still…..n covered in blood……a long n deep gash over his forehead was oozing blood…… terrible it was simply terrible………
Instantly I blinked my eyes open….may be just may be opening my eyes would help in stopping these images…..it didn't the images continued flooding me… ripping me apart.
Mayanks' wound was terrible n he wasn't moving….I ran upto him… I was shrieking …….. I knew I was shrieking……and I knew that it wasn't going to help him….there were chaos all around….. so much that my screams got lost in them n so did i…….
N:- samrat stop it….. just stop it pls…..
May be …just may be speaking out aloud n calling for help will stop these unendurable flashbacks……….it didn't…
S:-WHAT????......What should I stop??????
Samrat sounded terrified n confused at the same time…. The cold hand on my head moved down to my cheeks ……..the hand wiped away my fresh tears …..
S:- nupur … hell speak … what should I stop????
N:- stop mayank…. He can't go.. he can't leave me….. he . he ..his eyes are closing.. samrat stop him pls…..
Hell the images weren't stopping……
Mayank was in my arms……his eyes half closed n half crazed……. I was using my wrap to clean up his face……blood.. there was soo much blood…….mayank blinked…. It was as if he wanted to say something to me……he opened his mouth feebly….but no sound came out…….he blinked eyes again……. His eyes started rolling upto his head……. He was loosing consciousness……..miserable I felt sooo miserable… what could I do????
S:-nupur…. Chup … bilkul chup… mayank is not going anywhere.. he is here with us.. he is just… just hurt a little that's it…..
D:- I am sorry kids …but mayank may not make it…
The new voice sounded so harsh n sympathetic at the same time….it was of the doctor..
The little hope that was kindled in my heart at samrat's words got washed off quickly….
The terrible gruesome images of the accident reached its finale….
The final image was of mayank closing his eyes…
:MAYANKKKKK….."
I Knew I was screaming his name………I could see myself screaming his name…… yet still the whole focus of this final image was on mayank closing his eyes……..
The last image was so sharp…. So sharp that it was as if it was burned down on my brains…..
"mayank may not make it….." the doctor was sorry……
He was sorry…
Mayank was not going to make it…
My headache increased many fold….
"mayank ….. mayank may not make it…. He is going to go away from me….."
To much pain … no more…. I can't take it anymore…. The reality slipped through my hands as I got lost in the blackness…
As I fainted….
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Udne Ki Aasha
Cricket
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