Maa!
Blood, glass, screams, shattering, sirens, ambulance, running steps.
"Hurry up! We are losing her"
"We have lost a lot of blood"
"We need to make it to the hospital as soon as possible"
"Hang in there, Ma. Please. I am here"
"What did you do to her"
"I did not do anything. She did this to herself"
"And you were just watching, waiting for her to bleed to death"
"What? No!"
"Why didn't you call me then? why were you sitting there doing nothing?"
"I didn't have my phone!"
"Oh god, you could have taken her to the hospital. What if something happens to her?!"
"She broke my phone and bruised me. I wasn't able to do anything. Are you accusing me of something?"
"Am I? You clearly wanted this to happen, you wanted her to die. You are nothing but a pathetic excuse of a husband"
"Yellow"
"Don't call me that, Papa"
"Your mother is very dangerous for herself and others"
"Others?"
"She had slit my leg with broken glass. That's why I wasn't able to help her."
"You are lying!"
"She doesn't care about anybody else"
"Stop making up things"
"She is sternly suicidal"
"No!"
"She is clearly not sane"
"No!"
"Your mother needs to leave us"
"Stop!"
"You need to hear it Yellow, she is not mentally stable"
"Stop!"
"She will kill both of us-"
A cloud of darkness blanketed my sight and I crashed on the floor.
"How are you feeling now", I woke up on a desolate white bed. At first, I struggled to open my eyes because of the blinding lights. There was a poster on the front wall above the table. Something was written on that poster but my unstable vision made the words merge into each other. The only color popping in that all-white monotonous room was from the floral sheets which were covering the table where some silver equipment sat.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
"Yes?", I rubbed my forehead repeatedly for a few seconds.
"How are you feeling?", the lady in the mask asked again and started to wrap a green cloth around my arm which was connected to a small machine.
"Dizzy and nauseous"
"Okay, you will feel better in a few hours till then you need to rest." After a few beeps, she removed that cloth and packed the machine.
"But what about my mother? How is she?"
"She is recovering. But right now she needs rest", she continued.
"I hope you are not afraid of needles"
Before I could answer her, she put a sharp needle through my skin in a blink. And every ounce of strength that my body gathered to stay awake fell apart making me fall into the perpetual darkness.
Beep.
"What if I hadn't made it in time?"
Beep.
"What if I had gone out with Neil?"
Beep Beep.
"Did he want to kill Maa?"
Beep Beep.
"Why would Papa do that?"
Beep Beep Beep.
"What if it isn't him and she wanted to kill herself"
Beep Beep Beep
"Sara?" my eyes were wide open. I saw Neil sitting on a stool beside my bed. He held my hand which had a white tube inserted in it.
"Nei-", my lips quivered and streams of tears came out of my swollen red eyes. I was too weak to tell him everything that happened. He went on stroking my hair gently while I let my tears flow endlessly. The only sound which could be heard in that ghost silent room was my sniffs and the beeping of the machine.
After some time, I calmed down and lied back on my bed.
"You can leave this room in a few hours. I talked to your doctor and he said you are still weak but they have done all they can do for you. The rest is up to you now. You have to take care of your diet." Then he went on about how I should eat more fruits and how careless I am. I tuned him out so that I wouldn't snap at him.
After what felt like an eternity, a nurse softly knocked on the door and I had never been more grateful for an interruption.
"You get dressed and we will go to your mother's room after you are done.", he said before standing up.
I nodded and the nurse came to me for my last check-up. Neil mouthed 'love you' and left.
I washed my face and came out of that room. My pounding head was getting heavier and heavier with every step I took. Confused with the directions, I started turning my head from left to right like a child before crossing the busy road, when I saw Neil sitting beside my father.
I felt the rage coursing through my entire body from head to toe, leaving it cold. When he realized my presence, he stood up and his eyes dilated. It appeared as if some kind of relief washed over his face. He took a few steps towards me "yellow how are-"
"Don't" I shouted. I shouldn't have shouted at him in the hospital but I did. It was almost involuntary.
"Let's go Neil", A bleak whisper came out of my barely audible mouth.
Neil came by my side and held my shoulders to support me. He silently led me to her room.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw my father looking at us, frozen in the same place.
Several tubes were running in and out of her body. My chirpy mother's face was lifeless now. Her beautiful soft hands had turned into dried branches of a fallen tree. She was holding on to her life with an old feeble thread that could rip apart any moment.
She opened her eyes about just a very slim crack and flinched at the brightness of the room. When her lost eyes found me, a tiny ball of tear rolled out from the corner of her pale eyes.
"Thank god!", I hugged her, softly.