SS: Verdict. IMP NOTE on Pg 9! Ch 4 updt! - Page 7

Chapter Three: Machination

- by Annie (me!)

Panic had stricken and was itching his nerves to their tips as he practically ran down the long blank corridor, gripping onto Khushi's hand tighter than ever, unknown to the fact that she was practically flying off the floor given his speed.

A hard push at the door, resulted it to bang on the wall beside it, while a pair of eyes could be seen looking up at the effect.

"DI?!"

Arnav stopped right there, when his eyes rested on a pair of familiar eyes that were once respected. Respect, my foot! What the Hell is he doing here?, he thought as he grit his teeth, while reaching out and grabbing the B******'s collar.

"What are you doing here? And who let you--"

"Arnavji!!"

Khushi's piercing squeal automatically unwound his grip on Shyam's shirt, as his eyes followed Khushi's movements.

Anjali's chest was rising and falling rapidly in order to suck in whatever oxygen was left. Her fists were grabbing and pulling the sheets higher and higher, as she struggled to breath.

Arnav's being shook hard at the sight, and the next moment he found himself grabbing hold of Di's hand and rubbing it incessantly to see some effect. Suddenly Anjali's movements turned to rough shaking, as if being mechanically shook. It reminded him of all of the same symptoms seen in a victim of poison consumption.

Nani practically shouted at the doctor, "What is happening to my daughter??"

Arnav exclaimed, "Di? Di?? Di?!", breathing raggedly, as he put pressure and rubbed her hand again and again. "Di, wake up!! Di, please??", he shouted again.

He turned to the doctor, "Doctor, what is happening to her? Why is she--?", indicating with his hands and eyes as he faced Anjali again and moved towards Anjali's upper body, in the process pushing Shyam away involuntarily.

"Mr. Raizada please! Excuse me but so many people aren't allowed in an ICU. It affects the patient's health. Please wait outside.", said the nurse as she tried to pull him away, from the bed, but failed as he stubbornly sat there ignoring her grip or pull.

The nurse turned to the doctor, helplessly, "Doctor?"

The doctor nodded in reassurance and came forward indicating the nurse to take charge of the instruments. "Mr. Raizada, please try and understand! Your sister is suffering from acute suffocation and it means that your actions will cause more harm. Mr. Raizada, please!"

Arnav could hear nothing, but when he heard the doctor say 'your actions will cause more harm", he immediately stopped and stared up at the Doctor, bewildered to the maximum.

Khushi saw Arnav leave Di's hands as if his touch would have had Anjali's skin scathed. She herself stood up immediately on hearing the Doctor's words. She looked down again at Anjali's once pinkish face, now turning bluer by the minute, so different from the colour-drained face, when she'd seen her from the outside, that had looked as pale as the sheet beneath her. It now looked contorted with pain as she struggled to breath. She felt herself being pulled away by two pairs of hands, one pair of fat, strong ones, while the other limp, soft ones. Everything was playing in slow motion. Her feet however stumbled over oneanother as she was pulled away and when she looked up she saw Arnav being pulled away by NK and Aakash in the same manner. He was exuding the bitterest pain she had ever seen, and she could feel it magnify as he went farther and farther away from his one and only sister. Her eyes brimmed with painful tears as they moved from Arnav to Anjali. She could feel it; the pain that seared his heart at the horrifying image of Anjali's body jerking uncontrollably, as if someone were running high volatage current through it.

Nani felt her world spinning as she saw her daughter struggling to breathe. Her chest constricted on feeling the pain stabbing at her own heart. Suddenly her mind felt heavy, and the corners of her eyes started to black out. Her knees wobbled as she stepped back.

Mami came to Nani's rescue the second she saw Nani stumbling backwards and about to hit her head on the adjacent wall. "Sasuma, pileej take care-wa of yourself! Come, here!", she said directing her outside the room to sit on the adjacent seats placed outside.

-----

The doctor moved immediately back to where Anjali was hyper-ventilating and rapidly turning blue due to the lack of Oxygen.

"Nurse!" he exclaimed as he checked her pulse and looked back at the monitor. "Get me that syringe now! I said NOW!"

The Nurse jumped a bit, but she replied and was soon at his side injecting the liquid into Anjali's right arm.

The Doctor went to the other side and checked the Oxygen cylinders, as he saw no response from the patient to the injected liquid.

-----

Once outside, one look at the B****** made it all came back to Arnav, infused by a rising fury, that made the vein at his temple throb hard and bulge at the prospect of being pressurized, he wasted no time in waddling and made an instant grab of Shyam's collar and brought him close to his heat emanating face.

"What're you doing here?", his voice trembling with uncontrollable anger as he remembered the way he had held Di's hands in his when they had rushed in to see Anjali. "How dare you touch my sister with your disgusting, filthy hands?", jerking Shyam again that Shyam's head actually bobbed back and forth at the impact.

The tears that were streaming down those malicious eyes, did nothing to fool Arnav, who grit his teeth even more at this insect of a man, playing his cards even now at this hour.How deep could a man fall, even after all of this? Didn't this man have a conscience?!

"Saale Sahab, my Rani Sahiba.."

"Don't you DARE say her name from that mouth of yours, you...!!", Arnav cut in. He shook Shyam hard enough to let him know what he thought of him, without voicing it out. "Who allowed you in here?", his voice going higher and more rough, as he inched closer with wide fury filled eyes.

"Arnav!! Leave him! I said leave him! I called him here!", pulling at her grandson's stubborn arm that just refused to budge even a millimetre from crushing that throat of her grandson-in-law. Suddenly, Arnav's grip loosened, as he turned stunned at the revelation to look at Dadi, who was literally trying to keep her mouth from curving up to a smirk.

"Dadi..?!", Arnav said, his voice barely above a whisper, which was coated heavily with accusation and shock. But Arnav's face turned to an angry one. Of course! Who else could it be?, he thought before turning to see Shyam loosening his grip from his collar slowly.

"Saale Sahab, it is not your sister who is inside that blasted room, but.. my Wife!"

"She is NOT your Wife! You understand?", gripping Shyam's collar again curling it even more in an attempt to lift that bulky body off the ground. "You are no one to her, but just a part of her past.. unfortunately! You get THAT??", practically shouting in that lonesome corridor, that echoed every bit of his words.

"Saale Sahab, I know that you're angry at me--"

"Angry?", Arnav asked in mock surprise. "Let me correct you. It's disgusted.. D-I-S-G-U-S-T-E-D! And you dare call me by that name!", he threatened, as he tilted his head a bit to prove.

"Arnav!! This is not the way to spe--", intervened Dadi.

But Arnav cut in, "Please Dadi!", closing his eyes briefly to control his temper from lashing it out at Dadi. "I, for now don't need those etiquette lectures, please! And I've already told you once just not long ago that it'd be better if you don't say anything or the matter would unnecessarily turn worse, and you'd be subjected to it all, if not sharing it!", his fists balled so tightly that his knuckled were plain white, threatening to tear his flesh apart.

Dadi's gasp did nothing to divert his attention from Shyam, as he turned again to see him,

"Saale Sahab, please--", Shyam said as he raised his tear brimming eyes.

"I told you not to call me by that name! Now leave before I do anything worse than that is happening now!", he whispered dangerously, staring straight into those fake remorse filled eyes. Crocodile Tears!, he thought, with disgust, which showed on his face clearly. "I said Leave!"

"Arnav, please listen to me! Rani Sahiba needs m--"

"ARNAV!!"

Dadi ji's exclamation reverbertated the shock felt by each Raizada at seeing and hearing the punch which had stopped Shyam in mid speech. Shyam did not even realise what happened until, he felt his jaw crack under the pressure inflicted on it in jet speed.. It was only when his vision cleared and he made an effort to move his face, that he realised he was punched hard at his lower jaw by Arnav. His jaw throbbed in pain as he slowlylifted his head to see Arnav painfully.

Arnav felt a lot better as he saw Shyam stumbling back, while a feeling of relaxation surged through his tensed fist, as he tuned out the shriek and gasp of both Dadi and the whole family, including Khushi and Buaji, respectively.

But seeing Shyam's stubbornness remain his rage boiled over and he made a beeline to the doorway of the huge Hospital, grabbing hold of Shyam's collar as if it were a Death-line, and practically threw him out the doors, mercilessly, ignoring the protests and cries of both Dadi and Khushi, directed to the concerned people. Dadi for Shyam and Khushi for Arnav.

"Guards!!", Arnav shouted at the top his voice, and when two of them appeared, he continued, "I want this man out of this place right now! I don't want this man entering these premises ever! Not even within these iron gates of yours!! You understand?". Searching the two's faces and seeing them nod in assent, trying to mask their fear, he shouted at last, "EVER!!"

Dadi's lips trembled as she gazed wide-eyed at her grandson and her grandson-in-law, who was taken by the guards rather forcibly out of the gates. She just couldn't believe what had come onto Arnav that he had behaved in the worst manners that she could ever haveimagined. A pit of boiling anger rose steadily in her, as she fisted her hands and trembled at the intensity of her own anger that was directed towards the only other female standing beside her, and she looked at her with the highest contempt she could muster, scrapping out any Mercy that hung within her.

A passing glance was what he spared for Dadi as he turned to walk inside, his hands automatically reaching for Khushi's still hand.

His touch bought Khushi back to reality and she looked up to realise that one of her hands was on her mouth still clasping it on seeing Arnav throw Shyam out. But before she could think she found herself being pulled inside by his determined hand, and again she felt herself running a mile to keep up with his long strides that just never thought of stopping until he paused. She looked up confused, only to have it cleared by the presence of the doctor, looking straight at Arnav's face. Even her own voice died down on her lips, that was about to repeat the chant she was doing for the past half a minute.

A seed of suspicion was sowed right after she recognised the look in the doctor's eyes. She felt like she was being pulled back into a Black and White motion picture, that just replayed itself time and time again.

She felt like she was being pulled back into a Black and White motion picture, that just replayed itself time and time again.

She was 8 again, waking up groggily in the murky hospital waiting room, as Shashi carefully tried to move her out of his lap, not wanting to wake her. Rubbing her eyes she had looked at Shashi's back who was facing the doctor, while she saw a blank expression painted on the doctor's face, the same one she saw now in this doctor's face. Her heart sank for she knew too well that only bad news ever followed that expression.

'Mr Raizada, did you hear what I said?', the doctor asked, concern now rising inside him.

Arnav was numb. It was weird how your body, your brain protected you. That is it would go into complete shutdown, when the physical and mental trauma it received was too much. Khushi shook him, 'Arnav ji?!! Arnav ji?!! What is the doctor, saying, I don't understand! How can they just...Arnav ji?!!!' But he was unable to respond. He felt like a ghost, able to see, and hear everything around him but unable to touch or feel anything. He tried to reach out to say something, to respond to a frantic Khushi, but he couldn't, instead he slowly felt his bones turn to jello, as his body began to slide down the wall which it had been leaning on. The wall which he stumbled back into ever since the doctor's words had slammed into him like a truck moving on full velocity.

Seeing him unresponsive, Khushi moved away from him to NK, hoping he would be able to make her understand, what she refused to understand from the doctor's mouth. 'Nanhe ji, Nanhe ji why? Why is the doctor saying this, there must be some other way, how can they just...'

NK, who was also breaking bit by bit inside, tried to pull himself together long enough to make Khushi understand, 'Khushi ji, Di...Di is unresponsive, the lack of oxygen replaced by too much oxygen in a short amount of time put too much stress on her heart and she has gone into cardiac arrest. Although the doctors managed to resuscitate her, the shock of it all has been too much for her body, and it has shutdown, blocking out all the treatment that is being administered to her. They cannot do anything more, they have to take her off life-support otherwise the machines that are pumping meds and oxygen into her system will end up damaging her body even more.' NK concluded, repeating what the doctor had said word to word, it was amazing how each one his words had been imprinted onto his brain, that try as he may he would never forget these words, for they were associated with the greatest horror of his life. Anjali's imminent death.

'Nanhe ji, I heard what the doctor said, I want to know how you all will let this happen?!! Why aren't any of you stopping him?!! Why are you giving up?!! What is wrong with you all?!!! This is Di we are talking about?!!!' she literally screamed at the Raizada's who had all slumped in their various places, in the ICU corridor, Arnav on the floor, cradling his head in his hands, NK on the wall, pounding it with his fists, Aakash sitting on the bench's railing crying silently in Payal's embrace, who stood next to him, trying to console, whilst shaking herself. While Nani ji, who was sitting on the bench next to Manorama, looked like she would pass out on Manorama's shoulder, who while fanning Nani ji sobbed heavily herself. Dadi was not there, for she had left after the doctor's revelation of Anjali's situation, believing that it was not Arnav's authority or consent that the doctor needed but her grand-son-in-law's, and so she had left to find Shyam and bring him back, knowing that he would be still outside the hospital, sobbing away due to Arnav's behaviour. Bua ji, approached Khushi trying to calm her down and make her accept the situation, but Khushi pushed her away, not ready to give up. She stomped up to the doctor who still stood near Arnav, looking helplessly at the Raizada clan.

She stood inches from his face, although only just managing to reach the doctor's shoulder in height, her determination made her stand tall in front of him. Her stance intimidated him, and as she shot her questions at him, he moved back to stable himself. 'How can you just come here and tell us you won't do anything?!! Why are you a doctor?! Do something?!! Tell us what we need to do to make Di better again?!! And if you are so incompetent at your job, then fine release Di and we will take her to a better hospital with competent doctors?!!!'

Her words stung him, as annoyance bubbled inside him at her questioning his ability to practice medicine, but he stifled it knowing only too well that grief was responsible for this behaviour from her, having been in this situation more times than he could have ever wanted, but then that was something that came with this profession and he just had to take it with a grain of salt. 'Mrs Raizada please try to understand, Ms Anjali is in a very delicate state. Unfortunately the circumstances she is in we have no other choice than to pull the plug. If there was any other way believe you me we would try it, and trust me I have tested every possible option that was appropriate to preserve her life, and when they did not show any effect that is when I approached you all with the final option.'

'This is no OPTION!! ITS A DEATH SENTENCE!!!' barked Khushi at the doctor.

'Mrs Raizada, we have to pull the plug, the machines are causing more damage. If we leave them on and they continue to pump oxygen and medication into Ms. Anjali, then in a matter of days if not hours you will see how the medicines numb her bones, which then will break due to her body's rhythmic movements the machine causes by pumping oxygen into it, making her body expand and retract with every breath the machine takes for her. And when that happens she will die anyway, as her spine and rib cage will break, or if she is unlucky, she will first become paralysed as her spine cracks and then once the rib cage cracks and punctures her lungs she will die, experiencing a more brutal and painful death than the one I am suggesting right now. So yes Mrs Raizada, this is an option that I am giving you, I agree it is not one you ever wanted to consider, but you all will have to now, because Ms Anjali will not survive, you can either give her a painful death or a calm one!'

Concluded the doctor, in more rude tone than he had intended, but he could not help it. The insinuation that he as a doctor had been disloyal to his oath, the oath that he and every doctor took at the start of their career of doing everything in their power to preserve a patient's life, had irked him and thereby gotten the better of him, making him end in his explanation on a higher note than intended.

Khushi stumbled back, grasping her sides, and choking back the vomit that had risen in her throat. The thought of putting Di under more duress, made her sick. Tears blurred her vision as she thought of losing Anjali, and her entire being began to shake under the new knowledge, that she had refused to understand or agree to moments before. But as the doctor's vivid description of what would happen to Anjali if they did not take her off life support, seeped through, she could no longer hold onto hope, which she had been desparately doing while shouting at the doctor, at NK, and at Arnav, unwilling to believe that this was the end for Anjali. Bua ji approached her and placed her hand lovingly on her neice's shoulder, Khushi needed no more invitation as she responded to the squeeze on the shoulder by turning around and letting her sorrows flow in the comfort and warmth of her Madhumathi's motherly cocoon.

Seeing Khushi so hurt the doctor regretted his tone, but gathered himself and turned to ask Arnav the question he came to ask, 'Mr Raizada do you give your assent to our suggestion?'.

Arnav was still numb from the pain, but manage to respond by just moving his eyes to face the doctor and blinking in a way of saying Affirmative. The doctor sighed in relief, that Arnav at least showed some comprehension of what was going on. But now he hesitated before his next question, he knew from experience and from his encounter with Arnav and the whole family in the last 5 hours, that this question would have reactions unimaginable from them, but he had to ask, it was his duty and their right to decide.

He took a deep breath, and asked in a soft but sturdy voice, 'Mr Raizada, I need to ask you one more thing...would,' he paused, loosing courage for a moment, but mustering it up again and resumed, 'would you like to be the one to pull the plug, or would you rather we did?'

His question was greeted with an eerily silence, the sobbing, the pounding, the heaving all stilled, as they all stared at him in shock. Only managing to move their eyes every now and then to Arnav on the floor, who sat glued to the floor, unmoving. The doctor shifted his feet nervously, and loosened his tie, that suddenly seemed to constrict his neck, under their stare. But it was Arnav's deathly voice that made his spine tremble.

The doctor's word stirred something inside Arnav, and once he managed to gain control over the rage that pulsated through his veins at the doctor's inane question, jerking each cell, each nerve, each fibre, that had gone numb after hearing of Anjali's nearing death. He looked up at him menacingly and replied in a sinister voice, 'Are you seriously asking me whether I would like to suck the life out of the one person whose preservation of life has been my life's goal?!!!!!'

The doctor trembled under his stare, and not looking at him replied in a squeaky voice, 'I'm sorry but I was required to ask you.'

'Well did you get your answer, or do you require me to spell it out for you?!!' Arnav spat out at him.

The doctor moved his feet nervously, and replied more to his chin than Arnav, 'No sir, I heard you loud and clear, me and my team will go prepare for the procedure and then slowly take Ms. Anjali off each medication, machine and finally the oxygen.'

With that he turned on his heels and skidded away, sighing in relief when he was back inside the safety of the ICU room, away from all the grieving Raizada's, and their deadly stares. He hated this part of his job that required him to interact and keep asking insensitive, but important questions to the dying patient's family. Sighing, and gathering his jumping nerves, the result of the menacing stare of Mr. Raizada, the doctor called the nurse and the resident doctor to come and monitor the machines as he slowly turned them all off, thereby taking away the strain each machine put on his patient.

After the doctor's speedy departure, the Raizada's went back into their grieving positions. Each replaying their own beautiful memories shared with their sweet, beloved Anjali, and causing fresh tears to flow. Only Khushi changed her position. She moved out of Bua ji's embrace, and went down to sit next to Arnav, not knowing what to do or even say to him, at a time like this. She herself did not know how to hold herself. She sat down beside him and took hold of his hands, trying to soothe his bleeding heart. But one look at him, and her heart gave way and she burst into tears. She found him comforting her rather than the other way round. She lay in his arms, weeping on his chest, as he patted her back, whilst shedding tears of his own into her hair.

Arnav's moves were half mechanical, half emotional, given that half of his brain stayed the way it is, blank, while the other half played every single memory like a blasted movie premiering universally. The hand that was clasped by Khushi's, just lay there not even trying to grip her hand, while the arm that lay around Khushi's shoulders emanated a sense of comfort that in subconsciousness surprised him.

After a while she felt Arnav stiffen, she looked up to see his face. Pain was etching its way on his face, as he tried to wipe it away. He met her eyes and then gave way to the thoughts that occupied his mind. 'Khushi...' he said, 'Khushi I can't...I can't just sit here, while they pull the plug, I have to see her, I have to see her one last time before...before she's gone, taken away from me forever...Khushi I...I...will yo-' he was having trouble completing his request, unsure whether she would want to, whether she could.

But Khushi didn't require him to complete his sentence, she knew what he wanted to ask her, and she complied, by standing up and taking his hand, 'You don't need to ask Arnav ji, of course I will go with you to Di. Come.' A small smile spread on his face, as he took her extended hand, and nodded for her to lead the way, which his legs were too weak to walk on. She was about to push open the ICU door, when Arnav stopped her, knowing that he would be unable to control himself inside the room, and so they stood outside, staring in from the small window on the door as the doctor, turned each machine off. They found themselves being joined by the rest of the family, who also could not stay away from Anjali as she took her last breaths.

And so they all stood, holding each other's hand, crying silently as Anjali's face slowly turned from red to pink. Her expressions, which showed pain due to the forced breathing and hard medicines being pushed into her through the various tubes, relaxed and slowly turned peaceful. The tubes were removed and everything was turned off, except for one machine, the EKG machine, which was monitoring Anjali's heart, or more like counting down her last beats until she flat-lined, to let the doctor's know that she was no more. If someone saw her right now, it would look as if she were sleeping peacefully, as if nothing harmful existed in the world let alone in her life. (When she had had the day from hell itself and unfortunately not survived it.)

As Anjali lay there, peacefully, breathing out her last breaths, beating her last beats, the doctors waiting next to her bed, and the family holding their breath outside for the dreaded time when it all became real and certain, agitation started spreading through Khushi. She couldn't just stand there, outside, a few feet away from Anjali and not do anything. Not try anything to help Anjali, to save her. She had been too young, too small, too unaware of what was happening and why she was at the hospital at the time of her parents death to have been able to do anything, but today she couldn't just stand there outside the ICU and watch Anjali die. As restlessness bubbled its way up to the top she broke away from the circle, pushed open the door and crossed the threshold into the land of nod. The Raizada's gasped behind her but followed suit, each aching to be next to Anjali, also hoping for a miracle that she survive.

As Khushi entered, a mundane tone hit her ears, but she blocked it out, as she made her way to Anjali's side. 'Di? Di?!! Please, please wake up!! Fight this Di, you're a fighter are you not, always winning out against all the odds, so fight today Di!! Fight for your life. For your Chotey's life, you won't leave him alone would you, he is your Chotey, YOUR CHOTEY!! He won't survive without you, you know that, so how can you leave him. Di wake up!! Wake up for your child!! Who is fighting for his life downstairs, for you and only you. Please Di...please wake up. We are nothing without you. Di...' Khushi broke into a sob next to her.

'It's been over a minute doctor, call it.' Said the nurse.

The doctor who had been distracted by Khushi entering, now pulled himself together, choked back the tears, that threatened to flow after hearing Khushi's despair, and said in a flat tone,' Erhm...Time of death, 2:47 am.'

As the words left the doctor's lips, and the nurse finally turned off the EKG machine, there was pure silence for a brief moment, as everyone in the room took in the doctor's words and stared at him.

Khushi's breath caught up in her throat just as the doctor's words sank in. Her movements stilled, as her lungs constricted, screaming out to her let it breath. She noticed the mundane ringing noise had stopped too, when she turned to look she realised what it had been, she had entered the room just as Anjali had flat-lined, and the noise had been the EKG machine notifying the doctors that the heart-beats had died away and that Anjali was no more. Khushi stood up horrified next to Anjali, realising that although the body was still warm, her Di was no longer in there. Her ragged breaths heaving her chest yet weren't disturbed when her ear drums vibrated in response to a piercing cry. Because what she heard felt like a distant voice from nowhere.

It was Nani's piercing cry of 'ANJALI!!' which began the tumult of sobs that had stopped after the doctor's declaration. Nani, Mami, Aakash, NK, Bua ji and Payal all encircled Anjali's bed, whilst Khushi stood rooted to the spot holding onto Anjali's hand. The only person who moved away from Anjali was Arnav, he staggered back towards the wall next to the door in horror.

The doctor wiped a lone tear away from his eye, 5 hours with Anjali and the Raizada's had brought about a weird attachment to them, one he had not had before with any of his patient's or their families, but it was something about them, about their unity that touched his heart, and seeing them lose Anjali, caused him to throw off his stone-faced mask for the briefest moment to shed a tear with them, but once he wiped it away, he returned his mask and motioned for the nurse to leave the room and let the family grieve. He stopped only for mere second before he left, to lay a hand on Arnav's shoulder to let him know he really was sorry.

After a while the ward boys arrived to take Anjali to the morgue, where they would preserve her body so that it did not decay before the cremation. They approached the grieving family and in a soft tone said, 'Please Sir's,' directing at Aakash and NK, 'can you please take the ladies out, we need to move the deceased to the morgue now.'

'She has a name!! Its' ANJALI!!! MY BITYA'S NAME IS ANJALI!!!' screeched Manorama at the ward boy, infuriated at them for referring to Anjali as the deceased.

The ward boy who had spoken was taken aback, embarrassed, he uttered in a low whisper, 'Sorry I didn't mean to offend you, it is just that we need to take the bod-, Ms Anjali' correcting himself, before causing Manorama to burst again, 'to the morgue now, she cannot be in here anymore, and you all need to leave too.'

NK put a hand on the ward boy, and signalled to him that he understood, also silently letting him know not to mind Mami ji for her outburst, as she was grieving. He and Aakash slowly made the whole family leave Anjali and the room.

After they had left the ward boy shrouded Anjali and placed her on the stretcher to reel her out. While this went on, no one, not the Raizada's as they left, or the ward boys inside the room, noticed the ghost of a man who stood paralysed in the corner of the room.

Arnav.

Where there was Anjali, you would always find Arnav just inches behind.

And so today too, her shadow followed Anjali to the morgue.