OS
Time had run out, before Gopi could spot an escape route, the scaffolding upon which the roof had been supported by had been shook; letting the load of cemented roof slabs come tumbling down above her. For a few moments she was alert and outsmarted the domino effect, until his voice called out to her. No matter what it was, she had to stop and look back at Ahem Ji - just to see if he was alright.
"Gopi!" his worried voice called out to her, it held the fear of something happening to her.
Through the debris she could make out his silhouette that shadowed her own trail, he was still running after her. She continued on her quest, until she finally tripped up, and was buried beneath a burden of rubble, during her fall she saw Ahem had reached her, his voice had grown dimmer then it had sounded a few moments ago.
Her body was paralysed in an instant, her eyes had given into the soaring pain, a gush of liquid warmed one side of her face with her blood, while her hand had been locked under something heavy. She attempted force her senses to give some kind of acknowledgement to Ahem that she was still in there somewhere, but her view had become restricted, and it seemed like Ahem was consistently shouting something, but his voice failed to reach her ears. Her eyelids felt like heavy shutters, blocking out everything with each time they opened and closed.
"Gopi!" Ahem shouted over and over again, but nothing, she was as still as a dead corpse. Within those few minutes everything was over, she lay there in his arms limp and unresponsive to his every cry. He shook her, he tapped her cheeks, he wiped the blood from her face with his sleeve in vain, as if none of it would have occurred from his doing so.
When she didn't respond, his first reaction was of sudden shock, his mind had abandoned all forms of practicality, not knowing how to respond to the situation. His mind filled with rage, and he watched her in despair, his fear grew wild of losing connection with Gopi, "wake up Gopi, I beg you wake up!"
She didn't reply, it was like she was drifting away into a totally different world far from where he was, where she couldn't hear a single word he was shouting to her. She attempted to look to him a few times, but was drawn back every time she did so. After that she never moved, she was out, just like that. Her blood filled face lay there unconscious and oblivious to everything else that went on around her.
"I don't know'" Ahem's voice trailed off meekly, "I was right behind her, and she just' I, I don't know, Jigar. The concrete slabs fell all over her" he said hopelessly, "she's not moving Jigar" he trembled along with these words. These words tasted bitter, he hated the sound of them, and more then that he hated the fact that he was the single reason she lay there in this hideous state.
Jigar could see his brother was not in a state of working out the logics of the situation, "Bhai the Police have taken the goons into custody, and the Ambulance are at the scene, we need to get Bhabhi to the hospital as soon as possible."
This news struck Ahem with surprise from the fact that he was unable to decipher such an important move concerning Gopi, knowing that the first thing she would need was medical help.
Refusing to seek help from anyone while carrying Gopi, he held her in his arms like he would elope with her limp body alone somewhere far away from the lurking eyes of the world.
Jigar and Rashi stayed close, concerning his behaviour the whole time. They had to bring to his attention that he'd left the emergency service vehicle far behind.
As baffled as Ahem was, he was alert with Gopi the whole time, he couldn't allow his eyes to so much as look away from her for even half a second, Jigar asked him to lay Gopi onto the stretcher, but he rejected his plea downright, and poor Jigar could only watch, his heart ached to see his brother in such a state. "Jigar Ji, I too will stay by Gopi" Rashi cleared for not going with Jigar - her guilt had finally begun to weigh down whence she'd seen the situation Gopi faced as a result in saving her.
Ahem's efforts continued to bring Gopi back to her senses.
Her view came back for a split second, as she tried look to see where she was, but this time everything had become a blur, nothing was clear, the sounds from all directions were muffled and then silenced in turn, until all before her eyes turned into nothing, and darkness spread its course in her direction.
"Please stay with me Gopi, it's just a little longer" he pacified to her almost lifeless body, noticing the hospital wasn't too far now. In his mind he was begging on his knees for her life, watching her every moment like this was killing him a hundred times with each passing second.
"Doctor! Doctor! Please my wife needs help'" he charged at the the first uniformed person he'd come across.
A group of professionals had overtaken the scene and immediately rushed Gopi into the operation theatre. Ahem was asked to confirm his status as Gopi's husband, and carry out a few formalities before they could proceed.
He waited for some news to come back to him, standing outside the door the whole time, not allowing his body a moment's rest.
The Modi's had by now arrived at the hospital with panic assured over their faces, which had literally developed into horror when they'd seen the amount of blood over Ahem's kurta - it was still damp due to the excessive amount it had soaked.
Jigar had taken the courtesy to inform everyone of what had happened, and how Gopi came to be hospitalised.
"Mr Modi?" The Doctor's voice demanded.
Ahem stepped forward immediately, "Yes Doctor - how is Gopi?" he pleaded to be informed.
The Doctor nodded with understanding, "son your wife is safe - for now, but she is deteriorating fast, her head has severe injuries and is suffering internal bleeding too, and if we don't operate on her fast enough, chances are she may not survive."
Ahem's heart sank, this was not the answer he'd hoped to hear!
How could he let this happen, it was his fault the whole thing, if only he had stopped Gopi from going there in the first place, she would have been fine! His thoughts were disrupted by the Doctor, who hadn't quite finished with what he'd come to say.
"Mr Modi?" He said to gain Ahem's attention once again.
"Ji Doctor."
"Mrs Modi has lost a lot of blood, and for now we are able to keep her condition stable, but we're in need of O Negative blood, if any members of your family's blood belongs to this group then please ask them to donate their blood to your wife Mr Modi without further delay, as our hospital currently have access to a limited amount of this blood type."
"How much blood has my wife lost Doctor?!" Ahem gasped, "and I thought you said that she'"
The Doctor pat his shoulder in comfort, "we're trying our best here, and we'll appreciate if you could do the same. And Mr Modi, let me inform you that if Gopi loses too much blood at one point before the operation, and if she survives, she may slip into coma, so whatever we are to do, we must hurry" he warned.
"Bhai don't worry!" Jigar tried to comfort rushing over to Ahem after the Doctor's leave, "look at me Bhai I'm telling you not to worry, I'll find someone with O Negative blood; I promise! You just stay here and lookout for Bhabhi okay" he said reassuringly.
Ahem's mind was strained with tension, he fell back in defeat onto the uncomfortable plastic chairs kept in the hospital hallway. His pain was visible, but unbearable. This was all his fault and he knew that!
Hours had passed the night into the morning, at times Gopi was stable, and at times her condition had worsened. She was under constant observation of nurses and doctors, many had rushed in and back out again, but no one had stopped to tell the status of Gopi's progress or if there had even been any at all.
While Gopi fought the battle of life and death behind those doors, all Ahem could remember was all the times he'd considered Gopi as the curse in his life, and even today it was all the same; just opposite.
Instead he'd come to terms that it was not she the curse in his life, but much rather the other way round, he had proved as the curse upon her life. All he ever dreamt of was her being out of his life, but today when this so-called dream of his was near enough true, he'd realised that his life had breathed itself through her, and today while she was put upon a life support machine for survival, it was Ahem that had been suffocated from his life, he realised that her life under threat had meant that he too was dying with her.
When had he become so dependant on her, when was it that he let her become a part of him so easily and moreover when was it that he became a part of her. The whole year had gone astray in their life, but a single moment for him defined that living without Gopi was beyond impossible, and now that he knew, when would he tell her - would he even get a chance to tell her that he truly loved her!
Now Gopi was facing the claws of death all alone, and all he could do was sit outside and wait.
The fear of losing her had suddenly become his worst nightmare, as her condition turned more critical, so did Ahem's. The world's fear had been placed in him alone, he was able to witness hell on earth in these few hours, which was more then a lifetime of miseries put together.
"What kind of a pathetic hospital is this!" Ahem insulted without further ado.
"Mr Modi, please, we are fully aware of the situation, but let us do our best with what we have."
"But what about Gopi, will she'"
"Mr Modi, I can't say anything just yet, anything can happen-"
"What liability can you possibly provide in such conditions Doctor! My wife's condition is worsening and you dare to stand there and tell me anything can happen!" he protested in frustration, it hadn't taken long for him to turn aggressive, "if anything happens to my wife Doctor, I'll sue this goddamn hospital, do you hear ME!"
"Mr Modi, please" differed the Doctor, "nurse take this gentleman outside-oh no!" His tone had changed midway, something was wrong and Ahem's voice choked without having said anything.
Their conversation was interrupted by the bleeping sound of a dead heartbeat, and all attention was deterred at once.
"Wha'what happened?" he asked frightful of knowing the answer.
Ahem wasn't of any concern no longer, his presence was now being treated as absence, "what's happening?" he asked again, while a team of nurses rushed into the theatre, and ignoring the medics who had tried to haul him out of there without any luck. The light had shot back, but it went without notice by many including Ahem.
"Check the readings again" shouted a male voice.
"That's not possible!" replied a female nurse.
"Okay check the heart rate again! Nurse - Defibrillator's - charge by two hundred joules! Gel pads - position'" ordered the Doctor
"One, Two, Three, Four' wait for it. Come on Gopi."
Gopi's body jolted up with force, she'd opened her eyes for a split second, exhaled a deep breath and released "Ahem Ji'" that trailed off weakly, and was gone again.
"Jump it up! Recharge! Let's go again - one, two, three, and four'" shouted the medics behind the green masks.
"Clear! Okay let's go again, one, two, three, four'" they hit again. Her body jolted up almost five times now, but no response came from Gopi, the Doctors' soon dropped their eyes in disappointment.
"Time of death: 08:46am. Name of deceased: Gopi Modi" said a male voice.
"Gopi you can't leave, not like this, I thought you loved me!" He said while pressing on her heart in pathetic attempt to save her. "I love you Gopi, I love you, I've finally realised that you're my life, and today you're the one to take my life away from me!" He shouted, "isn't my life worthy of your love anymore?!" He said pressing harder, "Wake UP god dammit!"
Just then the monitor began bleeping faster, with sudden pattern taking place again.
"Ahem Ji'" was all that could be heard in the subtle voice that came back to life.
That's all guys, I know I don't do One Shots, but the current track on telly reminded me so much of a few scenes I'd written in a previous ff, that I edited certain parts of that and filled it in with Gohem. š³
When I wrote this for my first ff, it was different in respect of it having a little perspective of Naku/Gopi of her experience while she was out, but seeing as this was a OS I didn't add that part, and only focused on what Ahem was going through, but for me the in-between experience of my character being stuck between life and death was the best part, but the truth is I didn't know how to include that into Gopi's perspective, as for my other ff it related with something that I had planned for the story as it unfolded.
So enough of my experiences, I hope you enjoy this OS (let me remind that this is my first), and for those of you asking me to update my actual ff, I assure you I will do it soon, but right now I've got a lot on, and no I didn't write this from scratch, I simply edited it, but at least it's something. So I can only hope that you will like it.
I do hope you guys enjoy it, and most of all thank you so much for reading! š
Do leave you comments for my first attempt, and press like, many thanks. š
Tinkš
xxx
Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
