Legend – OS 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5v_kiEWwjk
[Note: You know this scene. I just redid it with my own small modifications]
She watched the old man's hand shake, although she couldn't tell if it was from fear or old age... or both...
She clutched the boy close to her as she watched with a sense of foreboding as the old man turned in her direction, his entire being shaking now.
She was afraid to look in the direction of the cot where His massive form lay still...
She felt the boy stiffen next to her and squeezed his shoulder with a reassurance that she herself didn't feel.
"You have to do it." The old man told her, extending the knife in her direction.
She felt the boy flinch as her arm tightened involuntarily on his small shoulder.
She pulled her hand back immediately, but couldn't form a word of apology to the boy as she stared at the knife the old man was pointing in her direction.
She shook her head no as she felt herself back away.
"My hands are not steady. You have to do it." The man said now, fear and urgency making his voice harsh.
She shook her head again and this time found enough voice to whisper hoarsely, "I don't know how to. I don't know how to do all this."
"The bullet is not in too deep. You can take it out." He told her as if that explained it all as he held the edge of the knife over the small fire burning next to them until he was satisfied that it was sterile enough.
"We don't have much time Madhu. Please." The man said again as he stretched the knife towards her once more.
Her gaze accidentally swept over the still form on the bed, something that she had been trying to avoid doing thus far. The old man had removed His shirt to expose the wound fully. She didn't know how a wound that was not deep like the old man said could cause so much blood loss. But then again, she had not seen that many gunshot wounds.
Or men like Sultan...
Awake and in his full form, he was larger than life... an entity that you took in in parts rather than whole. For all that she had taken him to task for treating his son like a little adult, it was only concern for the boy that made her forget that the father was a sight like no other human being that she had ever beheld.
And now... seeing his inert form... it made her realize that the man's power was not merely imagined in his posture or his voice or his eerie eyes...
It was something more... infinitely more...
She felt as if she was approaching a sleeping lion's side as she took the offered blade and crept closer to the cot.
His breathing was deep and even, his wide chest rising up and down, a great deal of it covered in the sticky crimson that kept oozing from his shoulder.
She fought a wave of nausea and paused.
There was a sniffle from behind her suddenly.
Aaryan...
The poor boy... not allowed to show an iota of weakness... bred to put on so much bravado that she had almost forgotten that he was standing there, exposed to the same sight that was making her stomach roil and her head spin.
"Kaka, take Aaryan to the back." She said with an authority borne solely out of whatever maternal instinct she assumed all women possessed to some degree.
"I will stay with you. Aaryan will be okay." The old man said. He was much more understanding of a young boy's mind, but even the old man thought the boy could handle more than he really could... or any boy of eight should...
"Please Kaka. Take him to the back. I don't want him to see." She repeated and looked back at the boy, making sure that his father's bloody body was shielded from his young eyes.
"Madhu..." the boy called, looking up at her. She nodded her head once.
"Your father promised you that he would be alright. Don't you trust him?" she asked with the faulty logic that appealed to the blind trust that only children seemed to possess.
With a father like Sultan, blind trust, it seemed, was vital for survival.
To most children, fathers appeared larger than life... until they grew up one day and realized that their superhero was a mere mortal. She wondered how old Aaryan would have to get to ever realize that about Sultan...
Likely never... Even unmoving, he seemed to have the power of ten men...
"I do." Aaryan replied.
"Then go to the back and pray for him. He will be awake in a bit." She told the boy with a promise that she hoped she could keep.
She turned around to face the fire and waited until she heard footsteps. Aaryan's gait was dragging more than usual. The leg affected by polio was giving him more than enough grief today. The old man's shuffling gait followed.
When she was assured that they were gone, she stuck the knife into the fire once again.
When the blade was red hot, she approached the bed and stood at its side looking down at the man lying there.
She paused for just a moment before she sat down next to him.
She couldn't be sure if there was more heat coming from the fire or his body...
She grabbed the edge of her dupatta and held it to her face, letting it absorb the moisture that she knew was collecting there.
She closed her eyes as she thought of how she was going to do this.
Now!
Her mind screamed and her eyes snapped open.
His breath hitched then, almost in a sort of silent apprehension, as if sensing the impending carnage at her hands. Before he released it, she stuck the knife into his wound.
There was an immediate answering growl from his throat and she felt him grab at her right hand in a vise grip that made her think that he would snap if off at the wrist. She cried out in pain before clamping her teeth down over her lower lip so as to not alarm Aaryan.
Her eyes watered and she held still until she felt his grip loosen slowly.
When he was quiet once again, she restarted, digging in slowly this time.
She was ready for it when his hand came up to hers again and rather than allowing him to grab around her wrist, she put her palm into his until his fingers crisscrossed with hers. It was likely not the smartest idea as he was just as likely to break her knuckles as he was her wrist, but for some reason, the hold of their hands against each other made him less violent in his agony.
She took a deep breath before she dug in a little deeper with the knife and felt it hit the edge of something hard and metallic.
His entire back rose up off the bed even as his hand in hers retained the same pressure, no longer hurting her.
She kept her focus on the piece of metal that she was trying to draw out even as blood and sweat poured off his body.
"Hold on... hold on..." she heard her voice whispering to him.
She glanced up to his face just then and saw his eyes snap open, pain and fury combined there in a terrifying mix that should have made her drop the knife.
Instead, she heard herself say once again, "Hold on... Hold onto me..."
His eyes held her for a moment more before she looked down and tilted the edge of the knife, making the bullet pop out.
The air whooshed out of her lungs in relief, releasing the breath that she had not realized that she had been holding in...
A small smile widened her lips as she looked up at his face again.
His eyes were still trained on hers, their expression now inscrutable.
She swallowed hard as she felt it again... what she had felt that first time when she had felt his eyes on hers... and every time since then...
Her smile disappeared slowly as she felt her heart speed up again, this time not from fear...
She felt a second wave of relief then when his hand fell from hers as he lost consciousness.
****
CID
Bigg Boss 19
