Topic- Blame the Night
(PS- it's a sad one)
All she knew was that she had never been this excited in her life. For her it was nothing short of a dream coming true. I mean who gets the chance to meet her childhood crush six years after she had first set her eyes on him? She stood in the shower, unable to stay still. For a profound yet erotic moment she could feel his arms closing around her petite self. She could imagine him kissing her gently on her neck and then...
"Alya, will you be out already??"
"Yes Mom, YES."
As Alya changed her evening attire for about a millionth time she wondered what would it be like when she finally gets to meet Dhruv. Will she be able to speak anything? Was there any possibility that she could faint or worse still, throw up because of not eating anything out of sheer excitement? Without much ado, she looked into the mirror for the umpteenth time, and walked out of the room her feet still shaking out of nervousness. She wondered for the first time in her life of having known Dhruv;-" Is it Okay to build castles in the air? To fight for and have conviction in a person she has met only once and knows very, very little about??"
Dhruv is a wildlife photographer by profession. His work made him travel, a lot, but somewhere down the line, he lost himself. And meeting Alya was just like another futile attempt of getting back at life. It was but obvious that he did not like her even remotely enough to bump into her on a social networking site subtly demand an urgent meet up (it would not be apt to call it a "date"). In reality Dhruv had detested the sight of Alya from the moment he had first seen her. She seemed quiet yet oddly intimidating for some reason. She stared at him without a care in the world and that made him uncomfortable as ever. As a fourteen year old she tried to contact him numerous times, but he had never felt the same. Her untimely calls embarrassed seventeen year old Dhruv, especially when he was with his friends. She was not his "type" he claimed and promptly told her the same. Alya vowed never to fall in Love again, but when the same person decided to drop her a friend request, her old feelings came back to her and her happiness knew no bounds.
Alya arrived at the given location with her heart beating like a thousand times faster than usual. She felt scared, ecstatic, and nostalgic all at the same time. Dhruv was not there. She waited for what seemed liked eternity to find a bunch of hooligans getting down an auto and approaching her. She chanted in her mind, "God please let Dhruv not be one of them, Please, Please.."
"Alya are you?"- one of them asked her. The similarity he had with Dhruv wasridiculous.
"Let go"
"Oh. Hello I am Dhruv. You laaabhhh me... Don't you?"
It was like all her dreams for the day came crashing down and merged into oblivion. "No, NO, I must get out of here before something else happened."- Alya murmured to herself.
"Excuse me, I need to go."
"Itni jaldi kaha jaogi? Meri chhaammak challo." said Dhruv smacking his lips in a dirty fashion.
"Leave me alone...", around this time the other guys too had surrounded her.
"Suna nehi Munni ko jane do.."
" LEAVE ME ALONE." - Alya shouted.
"But you laaabbbhh me."
"Just let go. JUST LET GO."
This time surprisingly everyone had relented and Alya started walking towards the direction she had come from, with tears in her eyes. She has almost reached when she looked back and unable to contain herself any longer she did something she yelled-
"Yes I loved you. As if that is going to matter anyway. You don't like me, BIG DEAL. But you have absolutely no right to hurt someone for loving you without reason or expectation. As far as I am concerned, I am tired of putting my self-respect at stake time and again for an insensitive wretch like you. It will hard but yes Mr. Dhruv I AM DONE, I AM DONE being in love with you..."
What followed next was a distant wail and a screeching sound of a vehemently speeding vehicle. Dhruv looked back to find Alya lying in pool of blood, severely injured. Ignoring his friends advice of fleeing the place, he rushed towards her and helplessly called her name, as though it would help in anyway. "It is my fault. All my fault. MY DAMNED FAULT. Please Alya... wake up, I promise not to hurt anyone again... Please, Please." Within moments the wary Dhruv was transformed into someone his old self could never identify with. He stood in the middle of the road, shouting for a cab to take her to the Hospital. In the meantime, Alya was fast receding towards the other world, where she hoped life would be a little less painful...
Dhruv sat on a chair outside the emergency ward, fiddling with just about anything within his reach. He glimpsed through magazines, tried solving the crossword, ran his hands through his unkempt hair and tapped his feet till the nurse finally told him to shut up. He walked up and down the staircase, left to right of the corridor but every inch of movement, reminded him of last night. Of the fact that, an innocent girl was out there fighting for her life ONLY because his supremely callous and vile self. Only because of his self imposed authority over an individual whose lone fault was to like him. Only because he never really intended to reciprocate her feelings, or anyone else's for that matter.
The doctor came out of the room, looking exhausted. Dhruv rushed towards him, teary eyed.
" Doctor ho-w how how is she now? How is she?"
" I am sorry." the doctor replied in a matter of fact way.
" What? No. Please. No."
" We saved her."
"Good lord! You nearly killed me there..."
"But.."
"BUT?"
"Her legs... Both... had to be amputated. I am sorry."
"Whaa.."- Dhruv gasped.
He fell back on the chair disconcerted, vehemently shaking his head.
"This...this... can't happen..."
"Aaahhh..." An excruciating pain caught him off guard and made him shiver in fear and anguish.
Alya lay on the bed, tossing from one side to another. She was coming back to senses finally, after been kept under sedatives for four day. Her body was weak, the pain was unbearable. She opened her eyes to be greeted with a fractured limb. She tried moving her legs. After several attempts she realized she could not feel them. She moved her good arm over her posterior self. Her eyes widened with disbelief."
A nurse came in.
"Good you are back to your senses. There is a visitor for you."
"Nurse, where, where are my legs?" - croaked Alya.
" Oh, they didn't tell you...did they?"
"Tell me what??"
"Your legs had to be amputated."
"Huh? WHAT? No... Please No... It was my mistake. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have gone. I can't, I can't lose my legs. No..No..No.. Please."
"Stay calm. You have a visitor."
" I lost my...I" - Alya voice croaked. She realized she could speak no more. Her parents. What would she tell them?
The door opened with a screeching sound. Alya lay on the bed without any movement.
"Alya..."
The voice. That voice. It was him. "Him". What would, what could she possibly tell someone who has literally crippled her for the rest of her life?"
"Alya, I am sorry. If there is anything..."
Dhruv could see Alya's face clearly in the dimly lit room. He could see the utter despair with which she tried to hide her tears. He could feel the presence of her amputated legs lost under the white sheets trying to find their way. A way to not depend on another mortal for the rest of their lives. The room was uncannily silent. No one said a word.
Dhruv did not try to hold her hand. That was a right he could never earn in this lifetime, at least. He could hear Alya's muffled sobs, sitting on a couch about a meter away.
"If there is anything..." - he started off from where he left.
"Leave."
"What?"
"I said, Leave! L-E-A-V-E! Leave! Please Leave!"
"I.."
Alya turned her head, a stream of tears ticked down her cheeks as she realized that a juvenile crush had almost cost her life. She could never risk falling in love again. She has to make the best of whatever she has left now. Life doesn't give much of a choice to a seventeen year old, Does it?
Dhruv stood outside the Emergency ward looking at the frail silhouette trying to adjust itself on the hospital bed. Sleep wouldn't come easy, neither for her, nor for him. Because for the first in his life he wasn't condescending to the opposite sex. For the first time in his life, he was ready to risk everything, his job, his career, his weekend booze parties at the cost of staying in a Government hospital to see Alya recover fast and get discharged as soon as possible. It wasn't pity and he knew that. It was something else. Her memories will continue to haunt her and forgiveness will never come easy. But for the first time, he wanted to try even at the cost of appearing stupid and insensitive. May be someday, she will truly forgive him. And to wake up to that day would be Dhruv's dream in life. Not to buy a Porsche, a Ferrari or own a pent house. Forgiveness was all he wanted.
Cricket
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