Chapter III: Broken
It was about to be dawn, when the door they were anticipating for opened. Each one of them was worn out. Their eyes were red and their limbs were tired, but they did not move away from that off-white stained hallway. The white doors slid away and a young surgeon appeared in front of them. The whole ETF team stood up and they surrounded the surgeon in blink of an eye. They could see the relief on the surgeon's face, but they could also see some wrinkles of worry on his forehead.
"How is she?" Rathod asked impatiently.
The young surgeon heaved a sigh and took a look at all of them.
"She is stable." As soon as those words left his mouth, they all sighed in relief. "But there are some serious complications."
"WHAT?" Arjun yelled. They all turned towards him.
"The bullet was really close to her spinal cord, but thank god it didn't touch it. Unfortunately, it still got affected so she can't move her lower body." The surgeon said with disappointment.
"But you just said she is stable?" Liza questioned the surgeon.
"I said that because it's not permanent. Her bones are in shock due to the force of the bullet. It has wounded her badly, I am still surprised that she survived." The young man informed them. "Her body is not damaged permanently... How do I say this... It's rather psychological than physical. Her lower body especially her legs are not responding. Her brain and lower body are not cooperating." They all were shocked with his words.
"There must be some treatment for this." Rathod asked him.
"We tried our best Mr. Rathod. It's all upon her now. Its more like if she wants to walk, only then can she walk. It is all up to how she responds to this incident. She has to try or else there is no way she will ever be on her feet again. It can take her days, weeks, months or maybe even years." The doctor put his hand on Rathod's shoulder and looked at him. "You all can see her after we clean up and shift her to the room." He patted Rathod's shoulder and left.
*****
He was standing there, He heard every word of it. It's all because of me. His knees almost gave up on him, he had to sit on the chair so he wouldn't fall. She should have let him get the damn shot he thought and just stared at the floor. How am I going to face her now. She was paralyzed because of him. He had never felt this helpless since the incident of Roshini.
Suddenly he was pulled up with a jolt. Someone was holding him from colar. He looked up and Rathod was glaring at him with anger. Arjun just looked away. He had hurt him yet again. He had let him down once again. Once again another life was in danger because of him.
"It's all because of you Arjun Rawte. All because of you." Rathod yelled at him.
Arjun didn't reply. He had no words. He was already dying over and over with every passing minute because of the guilt and Rathod was making it worse for him.
"How many more people are going to get hurt because of you?" Rathod shook him. "How many more?"
"I am sorry." Arjun said in cracked voice.
"Your sorry is not going to fix her." His voice was getting louder. "You better make her walk. I better see her on her feet again. If I don't see her walk again, just don't even bother to show your face in front of me."
"Guys stop it, it's a hospital." Aisha tried to pull them apart with the help of Chotu.
Liza and Shree were too scared and shocked to say anything. They had seen arguments happen between Arjun and Rathod, but they had never seen Rathod burst in anger like this. Rathod pushed Arjun and left. Arjun's back hit the wall and he just stayed like that.
"Are you alright Sir?" Aisha asked and Arjun barely nodded.
Rest of them sighed and waited until the nurses moved Sakshi from ER to another room. Aisha's eyes moved back and forth from ER to the hallway where Rathod went. It had been forty minutes and there was no sign of Rathod. She got up and excused herself. There was so much that one could handle. Arjun was already suffering and Rathod was not helping Arjun in anyway. She needed to have a talk with Sameer. She walked through the hallways, looking for him. He was nowhere. She became worried and irritated. They were supposed to worry and pray for Sakshi not play the game of blaming and who will suffer more here. She heard a low 'dammit' from the stairs and she backtracked. He was standing there yelling in low voice apparently at no one. If it wasn't a serious situation she probably would have laughed at him. She walked towards him and he didn't say anything.
"Are you okay?" She asked him the cliched question because she didn't know how to start the conversation she wanted to have.
"How can I be okay?" He yelled at her. "How can I be okay dammit?"
She stepped back in shock and just stared at him. I can't step down now. She took a step towards him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down please." She said softly.
"I can't" He just shrugged. "Why did he even join ETF?" He mumbled.
Okay now he was irritating her. She was fed up of him being unreasonable since yesterday.
"It's not his fault." She said those words and waited for him to blow up and he did.
"How can you say that? Are you blind? It's all because of him." He growled.
"No, You are blind." She didn't know where he got the courage from, but she had to do it for Arjun. Because she knew, how it felt when one falls in the abyss of pain and there is no one to lean on. "It is not his fault. He didn't ask her to take that bullet for him. She did it because she wanted to do it, didn't you hear her? For heaven's sake he didn't even know that was going to happen. He cares for her, haven't you witnessed it in past twelve hours."
"He doesn't care for anything but his revenge." Rathod shook his head. "I know him."
"Wrong, you don't know him." Aisha said with sad chuckle. Rathod looked at her. "If you knew him, you would be there for him instead of hurting him. He is broken, Sameer. He needs you."
*****
She felt as if her bones had been glued together. She wanted to move but she couldn't. She was frustrated. Even moving the eyelids felt like a struggle. The piercing rays were bothering her peaceful slumber though, so she had to open her eyes. She slowly opened her eyelids and the bright rays hit her, she wasn't able to adjust to light for quite a few minutes. She heard murmurs around her. She blinked quite a few times to see who it was. She was surrounded by her ETF members.
"Oh god you are alive." Shree said.
She
stared at him for a while and then chuckled. They all threw question
after question at her. She just stared at them amusingly as they
talked. Slowly the past event rolled through her mind and she looked
for that one person. She wanted to see him.
She
looked all around even though moving her head felt like hell, but he
was no where.
*****
❤️Thank You for all of your comments 😳 You guys are sweet🤗
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