A continuation of my previous OS: BANG.
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#1
Asad stared.
The white walls were closing in on him, making his lungs
constrict and throat tighten. His eyes brimmed with tears, threatening to open
the flood gates.
His jaw was trembling incessantly, as he pulled Najma
closer to himself, afraid that she would disappear too.
His whole body shook with Najma, as she cried into his
shirt, not caring about her wails resounding in the deserted corridors of the
hospital.
He closed his eyes to see a Zoya falling back just as he
heard a gunshot in the garden of his house.
A scream rumbled out of his chest, as he skid to a stop
suddenly. A certain piece of him dying.
ZOYA!!
His eyes shot open the next instant, as he felt his insides
sink deeper into an abyss of mixed emotions.
He hadn't realised he had been holding his breath till he
felt himself gasping for air.
A hand on his shoulder, made him look up to see his loving
younger brother searching his face worriedly.
Ayaan looked into his elder brother's helpless eyes.
Helpless.
He had seen him anything but helpless. His throat tightened
and he tried to swallow it, but it was hard.
And before he knew it, he stumbled backwards with so much
force, he felt he would hit his head real bad.
But as soon as he felt a tight arm wind around his
shoulders, a sense of familiarity seeped into his skin, making him wind his
arms around his brother and sister.
Najma could feel everything, yet nothing. Or should I say,
she was numb.
Her dear mother dying right in front of her own eyes was...
Even a slight ache, even if she was good in concealing it, she knew that her
mother couldn't hide it from her own children, try as she may. The way her
mother had stared into her eyes while in her arms, with a pool of blood forming
all around her, had sucked out all her senses. To see, to hear, to breathe...
To Feel.
As another arm wrapped around her, the tears made a
reappearance and flowed unhindered.
And Zoya? Why Allah, Why? Why are you doing this to us?, Najma mentally cried out to the Almighty above.
Asad's insides tried to let it go, but he just couldn't do it.
No. Not when his sister needed him. Yet some tears betrayed him,
kissing his cheeks, as his chin dug deeper into Ayaan's shoulder.
Ayaan could hear his brother's reluctant sobs. Reluctant.
Because, he knew Bhaijaan wouldn't cry when Najma was in need of comfort.
Rubbing the back of
his sister, he kissed the top of her head and let his lips linger there.
Gasping for air, Asad let go of Ayaan from his death-like grip, before squeezing his little brother's shoulder, while looking away from his face, and walking away with long strides.
"Bhaijaan?," Asad heard Najma croak. He stopped right where he was, and waited for her to continue, without looking at her face. His tears just couldn't stop flowing. Why Ammi? Why Zoya? Why is it that you try to take away the ones that I care so much about?
He winced when Najma's hand wrapped around his arm. Balling his hand into a fist, he blinked back his tears furiously before wiping the trails out with his other hand and turning to face his sister.
Taking her hands in his, he squeezed them with all his might, as if trying to get her to be strong. He could feel himself break inside, as minutes passed, without any news of either of the two victims.
Najma crashed into her brother's chest, while still holding onto his hands. She just didn't want to leave them yet. She knew what her brother was doing. He was trying to pass on his strength to her.
Another hand came down on her hair in soft caresses and she realised it was Ayaan Bhaijaan. Freeing one hand from Asad's grasp, she let her fingers grasp Ayaan's and squeeze them with all her might, before opening her eyes to see Ayaan's reassuring eyes.
Ayaan saw her eyes holding a question in them. They said 'Will they be okay?'
For a milli-second, he wasn't sure, but he had full faith in Allah. Sending a mental prayer to the Almighty, he blinked reassuringly at his younger sister, who was just as lovable as his other two sisters. He just wished that he had more time to spend with her. He was very, very close to Asad Bhaijaan but never got the chance to really be close to Najma. In any case she still was his sister and he promised himself to at least give her a shoulder to cry on and be her rock, like his elder brother was for both of them.
It was hours when the doctors from the operation theatre came out. Grave expressions were clouding their faces. Asad slowly, robotically stood up, his face totally blank.
Najma jumped to her feet, while still holding Ayaan's hand, and so did Ayaan follow suit.
"Your mother's out of danger, Mr. Khan," Asad stared at the resident of the Hospital, as the words sunk in. A sigh of relief escaped his mouth, as Ayaan and Najma mirrored his actions.
Asad felt Najma squeeze his forearm, and he lifted it to pulled her into his side, hugging her in relief. His eyes met Ayaan's who smiled with tears in his eyes, and proceeded to lightly squeeze the shoulder farther to him.
"Mr. Khan?," the doctor's unsure voice hit Asad's now suddenly sensitive ears.
His eyes stared into the eyes of the source of the voice perplexed at the sudden grave atmosphere descending from the whole group of residents standing in front of them.
"We would like to speak to you for a moment. In private, please," the doctor said before nodding once at the patients' family and stepping aside for Mr. Khan to follow him.
Ayaan and Najma had caught onto the sudden heaviness in the atmosphere and had looked on at the retreating backs in confusion.
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Doctor Mehta's Office, Hospital
"Please take a seat, Mr. Khan," Doctor Mehta said, before taking his seat behind the wide expanse of a desk, that sat in front of the wall opposite to the door of the room.
Asad politely accepted and sat down opposite the doctor, silently chiding the doctor to continue.
"I am not sure of how you will be able to take this news, but I pray that you be able to handle it. Out of the three of the family of the two patients we have now in our operation theatre, you are the eldest and a sensible one."
Asad stared at the doctor confused. He definitely was beating around the bush!
Doctor Mehta smiled knowingly at Asad, recognising the way too familiar expression on his face, and said, " I know that you will be thinking that am beating around the bush, but it is quite a necessity for me to check if the family or guardians of a patient is able to handle the situation well enough or not."
Asad nodded in understanding and let him continue.
"Your mother, Mrs. Khan is out of danger. Her shoulder has stopped bleeding and is on the road to recovery already. The only problem was the lack of blood but since she has an A positive blood group, it could be transfused immediately. The gash made by the bullet did look like it would knock her arm out of the socket, but it missed it by inches. The bullet scraped her collar bone. We may have to keep her under observation, to detect any hairline fracture and do some scans," Dr. Mehta said, and waited for Asad to absorb it all.
Asad nodded at the Doctor, as he understood what all Ammi had to actually go through. His mind was doing a lot of calculations here and there all related to his mother and sister. Not the figures of his business or finance, but what was happening in his family.
"May I continue?," Dr. Mehta asked slowly.
"Yes please," Asad kept his expression blank and nodded again.
Dr. Mehta looked on at Asad, choosing the right words before saying anything. Taking a deep breath, he spoke, "And now over to the other patient."
Asad's eyes widened, as he realised that someone else was there too in the operation theatre. What a fool he was to think that everything was going to be okay!
"Zoya," he whispered, staring at the paper weight on the desk that lay beside the doctor's elbow.
"Yes, Mr.Khan. Can I ask you something?"
On seeing Asad not responding, Dr. Mehta craned his neck forward and addressed him louder than usual. "Mr. Khan?"
"Huh?," Asad was shaken out of his reverie, and he shook his head lightly before muttering an apology and telling him to continue.
"I don't mean to peep into your personal life, but this is necessary for us to know. Details that'll be helpful for the future. Is she related to you in any case? Is she your wife, or someone close?"
Asad's head snapped up to see the doctor still waiting for his reply. "She is my.. She is our.. She is family," he said, blinking back the tears that suddenly sprang up in his eyes.
Dr. Mehta simply nodded before taking a deep breath and speaking. "Mr. Khan, Ms. Zoya here is.. She is.. I am sorry, Mr. Khan, but--"
"What the hell happened to her, Doctor??," Asad said breathlessly, his voice coming out strained, as he just couldn't take the stalling of the topic that was related to Zoya.
"Mr. Khan this is a police case, and hence am taking all precautions and trying to break it down to you as easily as possible. I recommend you to inform the police about the whole case right away, before the accused is out of reach."
Dr. Mehta looked on at the man for one long minute before saying, "We succeeded in taking out the bullet. It was very tough though, since it was embedded very deep into her chest."
Asad's being winced as he heard the doctor say how deep the bullet really went into her chest. He knows it, because he saw it! God damn it! He ******* saw it, and couldn't do a ******* thing about!
"****!"
"Am sorry?," Asad looked up startled to see the doctor's face contort in confusion. Realising that he had swore in front of him, he looked away, shaking his head in negative to say 'Nothing'.
"So, Mr. Khan, as I was saying that the bullet was way too deep inside her, it took us a very long time to take it out. When we located the bullet, it was found lodged right into her left lung, and right above her heart," Dr. Mehta said. He saw Mr. Khan's face suddenly changing into something he could place as horror.
Placing a reassuring hand on his forearm, he willed the man to be strong, because what he was gonna say next, would really knock his lungs out.
"Mr. Khan? Are you okay?"
Asad nodded numbly as he wanted, no, needed to know what had happened to her. His chest just couldn't stop constricting more and more as his mind just couldn't stop whirling out images of the worst that could happen.
"We pulled out the bullet, only to find that her aorta was damaged. Actually fully pierced in the centre, of its pipe-like appearance. We managed to stitch up her left lung as fast as we could, without causing damage to her respiration, but.. Her heart.."
Asad's breathing turned into shorter breaths, as he listened to every single word that the doctor uttered. The words 'but' and 'her heart' just struck a high chord in him, making him fist his hands and curl his toes in his shoes, as he waited with bated breath for the verdict, that could either make or break him fully.
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I really need to know if I should continue this and if I have kept up to what you were expecting of me!
I mean... Oh god! Just comment and let me know, peoples!
Ananya😕
Edited by PhoenixRadar - 11 years ago
DO NOT COPY THIS POST AS THIS IS EXCLUSIVE TO INDIA FORUMS
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