Anish sped his bike across the lanes that housed the armyquarters which looked so in contrast to the high rises and the bungalows thatdotted the city landscape. He had been in this section after a while and ittook a moment for him to recollect Suman’s door number, but he was able to soon spot it. He hurriedly knocked at the door or rather banged on the door. Suman was quite surprised as it was her weekly day off and it was just dawn break,and somebody was banging on her door as if his or her life depended on it. She pulled her cloak over her silk night suit and opened the door and was left very surprised when he saw Anish at the door. It had been at least 6 months of more since he had visited her, owing to a newborn at his place. Taking care of a little one for parents can be quite challenging and Suman knew that so it was very unlikely that he would have left his little one in the wee hours of the morning and come here unless and until he was the harbinger of some bad news.Bad news!! She could feel her feet turning cold as Anish looked at her sleep laden eyes, a slight realization of probably why he was here. It was quite difficult to break the news to his best friend and Suman looked at him expectantly as he shuffled his feet. Finally, unable to bear the silence she charged at him holding his shirt collar begging him to spill the beans when he had blurted “It’s about Shravan”. The name had made Suman feel dizzy and as she swayed on her feet and Anish caught her and said “Not now Suman, you need to be strong, you need to be near him. There was ambush on his fleet and there are quite a few army personnel dead and Shravan has been heavily injured and in the ICU. I have come here to take you to him”.
Suman was no more listening, as she was on her way to her room to change. Anish had to wait less than five minutes before Suman barged out and both set out on his bike. Suman had always enjoyed the view that the campus had in offering with tall gulmohar trees in full bloom splaying the path in patterns of red, green and orange with bogonvillas lining up the streets were always a sight to behold. Today everything was different as she cursed the time if took for them to traverse this path to the hospital as the colors were now just a splash of black and white for her. She did not know how she held onto the seat of the bike as her nerves seemed to give away and a feeling of continuous giddiness engulfed her. She hated hospitals as a young child, the pungent odour of medicines mixed with iodine and the various mix match of colourful liquids that lay decorated on the shelves of the pharmacy. With time she had gotten used to these lacklustre cold walls of the hospital and the awful odour that it emanates as she had to come here often whenever anybody they had known would turnup here. Some of them would be lucky enough and some of them would not be so lucky. Today she was having similar feelings of nausea attack her as she took slow steps behind Anish as they headed towards the ICU. Second floor, to the right and the first room ICU2 was what the reception had informed them as they climbed the stairs. Climbing the stairs had never been so difficult before as each feet seemed laden with iron as she tried catching her breath with every step. Anish ran back to hold her when it seemed to him that she was about to passout. They were finally able to peek from the small glass pane of the window to have a look at Shravan with multiple pipes going to in and out of his body. His entire body seemed covered in a white sheet even his head feet and hands. The only solace was the beeps on the monitor signalling that he was still breathing. They had to step away from the window to allow the doctors and nurses as they buzzed in and out carrying various boxed in their hand.
Suman could not stand anymore as she sank into a chair nearby burying her head in her hands as the past flashed in front of her eyes.Their fights, their love, their moments, their careers, their egos, their hurt,their longing. She had loved him like there was no tomorrow and he had probably done the same and she had hated him with vengeance and she hoped Shravan did the same yet he had come to her and she had turned her back before he left for the patrol as if he had known this could perhaps be his last chance to turn the clock towards their love. How would she now tell him that in togetherness or apart, in fire or in snow, in life or in death she could never stop loving him and probably the same was for him. She had seen it in his eyes the longing, the love the earning for her when he had come to meet her two days back throwing his ego out of the window looking broken and vulnerable but she had held on to her ego and turned her back. She so wished she could turn the clock and run into the confines of his arm seeping in the warmth of his embrace. Now she was left cold and bereft in one corner of the hospital corridors on a cold iron chair.Anish walked up to the doctor and he informed him that Shravan had a lot of blood loss and multiple fractures so its going to be extremely critical for the next 48hours before he could say anything. His pulse rate was better, but his breathing is till feeble. He walked back towards Suman but she was nowhere to be seen.
Suman had felt claustrophobic as she sat in the hospital corridors and it had been apparent when she looked at the doctor’s grim face talking to Anish that things were not looking good. She had run away from there scared that her throat would clog up, not trusting her lungs to take in air anymore.She kept running till she reached the outer fringes of the hospital and walked to the tree where Shravan had kissed her the first time. She could hold it no more and let her emotions free as her body racked up in sobs as she embraced the tree with both hands desperately to feel any remnants of Shravan that it might have stored within itself. She held the bark tightly as the tears flowed uninhibited drenching her shirt as she clung tighter to the bark rubbing her face and head on it. She did not know how long she had been there crying her heart out when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Anish looking at her worried and she flung herself on him crying again as she said in between her sobs andhiccups “He had come Anish, he had come to me and I had turned my back…tell me how will I turn the clock” . Her nails dug into Anish’s back as he realized what she was going through. Although in the armed forces they were taught to be brave but at the end of the day they were all human and losing somebody dear was not easy. For Suman , Shravan was her life and Anish knew that that was an irrevocable truth admits their fights and misunderstandings. He patted Suman’s head and back and shushed her and whispered slowly “He is a fighter , don’t worry he will be fine”. He did not know whether it was to himself or to Suman but he also wished that he could turn the clock and make both his friends feel a little better. He looked up towards the skies and prayed which he rarely did ,for these kind souls to give them one, just one more chance to mend everything,to turn the clock just once.
Note: It was just one my musing in the mornings before I get started at my work so excuse the edits and mistakes please
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