Attempt II

The lamp cast a deathly glow over the quilt. Shadows trembled in the stillness. Cold air slithered in. Sujata put an arm around the pillow and felt its cold softness against her warm, flushed cheek. Breath held so long, it escaped her in tortured wrenching of the gut. The clock was ticking interminably.

1:45 a.m.

***

“na chinta, na fikar, na hai darr” continued Sonu Nigam after another Hindi song. Air whizzed in his ears, rushed in his helmet and buzzed before his eyes. The loud engine echoed in the bare silence of the open road. It was getting foggy already. He blinked at the sudden blinding light.

A shrill horn eclipsed the loud engine echo. Tires screeched on the road.

“What the…!”

Echoes shattered in a second of noise so loud, he felt like Godzilla had finally come alive.

A metallic organism had smashed into the roundabout. Stones, torn apart from their hinges, dug into the front of the car. The man inside was still, bent over unnaturally.

***

Her eyes did not waver from the second’s hand. She could hear the dripping of a tap. Drip, tick, drip. Her heart beat throbbed louder in her ears. Thud, drip, thud. The bed had become warm and the snuggled pillow burned with the heat of her torso resting at an angle.

Thud, tick, drip, tick, drip, thud, tick, thud, drip, thud, thud, thud

1:50 a.m.

Abruptly, she threw the quilt off her and flung the pillow away.

***

They had reached the hospital.

“Sister! There’s this man! He had an accident” he panted. The woman dressed in neat white got up from her chair, her eyes unusually dull “His car, an accident…” He gulped air raggedly “…outside! Stretcher…he’s outside!” His face flushed with warm blood, his body throbbing with adrenaline, his legs hot with running. Before he had finished, from the corner of his eye he saw specks of white moving about with increased urgency.

Within seconds two attendants were wheeling the man into the building. His face was pale and ghostly, an arm hanging down. A crimson liquid dripped from loose hanging fingers.

As soon as he saw them enter the building, they disappeared into the interior. Doors within doors banged somewhere. He could hear his heart thudding so loudly he wondered if he would hear anything else for the rest of his life.

“Please have a seat, Sir. No use pacing the floor” The voice of the dull eyes said quite laconically, as if it meant nothing. As if the man on the stretcher was dead already. He turned around and looked at her. His jaw half open, his legs still trembling.

***

“Sujata?” his voice wavered.

Her eyes watered and she closed them in relief.

“Sue…?”

She took a deep breath and sighed. “Where have you been? What happened? What number is this?”

Oh if only he had her around. “Accident…”

“Where are you!” her sharp voice sent a quiver of relief all over his body. He slumped back, closed his eyes, heard the faint click of heels at the far end of the corridor. Everything faded into the background, the voices, clinking of glass vials, hurried movement.

“At the hospital…. RML. Emergency Unit.”

“What happened!” She was already up. Moving quickly about the room she switched on the light, opened her cupboard, and threw on something warm, all the while dangling the phone dangerously in one hand.

“Relax… its ok….” He leaned his head against the wall, relief washing in waves over his frame. “oh just speak to me a little, will you?”

You would have seen the outline of a man in silhouette, cradling the phone to his ear, with the Adam’s apple bobbing as he seemed to swallow something.

“What number is this? What has happened?! I almost died waiting for you!!” She took a deep breath, the hammering of her heart too loud to continue. Blinking back her worry, she said quietly, “I’m coming there.”

Tick, drip, thud, thud, thud

2:00 a.m

***