Short Story – The Calendar on the Wall
Photo credit: faustfoundation from morguefile.com
She opened her eyes to a red haze. Someone was screaming, a child wailing nearby, and a thousand people seemed to be moving in a thousand different directions at once. None of it made any sense, and the fact that her head felt as if it was splitting into two confused her even more. The pain that she was in sent shock waves through her entire body, and this pain was the only thing that reminded her that she was still alive.
“No, don’t you come, love”, she had told him, but he refused to leave her side. The man she had married two years ago, whose child she was nursing in her belly now refused to listen to all her pleas and held her hand as the bus started its journey. She had to go to her mother’s home for a Puja, and Rohan, in spite of having an important meeting insisted on accompanying her. He believed it was not good making such a long journey alone when she was eight months pregnant.
There were sirens blaring now, threatening to burst her eardrums with all the din. It was the police, or perhaps the Ambulance? It hurt to even think clearly. Oh, how she would have loved to rest for a while. But a sudden thought made her reach instinctively to her belly. She could not feel any movement from her yet unborn child, and this struck her as odd, as her baby had been very active of late. But even trying to open her eyes hurt so much that she let go of that instinct. She wondered where Rohan was. Perhaps he would be returning from work very soon, and they could all have a nice dinner together.
The scenery outside was very pleasant. What made her smile even more was that Rohan was sleeping on her shoulder, snoring softly. She sighed and thought of all their happy moments together. She stroked his cheek, and this made him reach out for her belly. He opened his eyes and said, “I love you so much, darling. I really can’t tell you how lucky I am to have you in my life.”
She twisted his left ear and said, “So this is your way of making up for forgetting our anniversary yesterday?”
His expression changed to a thoroughly embarrassed one. “Why do you think like that? You know na, it was a very important day for me too, but..”
She put a finger to his lips, and completed the sentence for him, “No don’t say a word. I know how hard your boss is making you work. After all we really need that promotion before our child is born.”
He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. She smiled, “You really needn’t have come to drop me. You know I can take care of myself.”
“No, I would never leave you alone, whatever it costs me. And besides, how long has it been since we have taken a bus ride together? I am really enjoying this moment with you, and no work tension to worry about.”
She remembered wishing that moment would last forever. But just then, there was a terrible crash. They were just in front of the last row of the bus, so she could barely make out what was happening. An enormous force hurled her out of the window. The last thing she saw was Rohan yelling, trying to shield her from the debris flying around. The last thing she knew was that she fell on the ground, and the pain knocked her out.
The stench of burnt flesh was making her nostrils flare, and a terrible gut feeling told her it was her own. She tried to open her eyes, but here was darkness all around. Suddenly she was scared, and looked for Rohan. But every movement was an enormous effort. She struggled hard to clear her head, and finally managed to open her eyes.
It was utter chaos. She saw at least three ambulances stationed there, doctors and nurses running around checking patients, putting bodies on stretchers. She looked frantically for her husband, but to no avail. All she could see was a severed foot lying nearby, and with a sinking feeling she hoped it did not belong to her Rohan. She crawled her way on, amidst the sea of fallen baggage and severed body parts, amidst the wails and groans of people still alive. She tried to move on, trying to find her Rohan. And there in the distance, she saw a body – no, she saw her Rohan! The broken second half of the bus – or what remained of it – had fallen on his lower body. His face was turned away from her, but there was no movement in his body. No gradual to and fro motion of his back that indicated that he was breathing, that he was alive. The pool of blood that he was lying in had spread so much that she almost screamed.
And then without thinking, she stood up, but the effort was too much for her, and she fell back on the cold, hard ground. A paramedic noticed her finally, and gestured to two others, who came running towards her with a stretcher. She tried to fight. She had to go and meet her husband, to see if he was alright. She had to know if her baby was fine. They injected her with something, but she didn’t want any painkillers. She had to stay awake, to fight the drugs slowly starting to make their effect, she wanted nothing more than to lose herself in Rohan’s arms, for him to caress her and say everything was going to be alright. Oh, Rohan had a beautiful smile. She hadn’t ever told him that, had she? Everything was muddled up so bad in her mind, and slowly, blissfully she fell into nothingness.
* * *
She could feel her mother caressing her forehead when she came to her senses. Her surroundings were pure white, sterile, as if in a hospital. A voice in the back of her told her that probably it was indeed a hospital, and suddenly, instinctively her eyes sprang open. Her mother smiled, and she could see her sisters exulting behind. A doctor appeared out of nowhere, examined her pulse, and mumbled something to her mother, but it made no sense to her. The calendar on the adjacent wall said the date was the 5th of May. She remembered thinking some while ago that April 30 was a really important day, but she could not remember why. Also, she yearned deeply for something, but she could not make out what it was.
“I am fine Ma. Tell me what happened. Where am I?”, she managed to answer when her mother enquired about her health.
Her mother sighed and said, “Beta, the bus you and Rohan were travelling in was hit by an over speeding and overloaded truck. There was a terrible crash, and so many people lost their lives. But we are all very lucky that you are safe.”
And then the terrible memory came back to her! The bodies lying all around her, the mad rush for the stretchers, Rohan, lying in a pool of blood with the bus on him….Rohan! “Ma, where is Rohan?!”
And just then a man entered the room, wheeling his way in on a wheelchair. His face lit up when he spotted her, and the smile that sprang to his lips was instantaneous – a beautiful smile. And without thinking, she whispered, “Rohan”.
“Baby I am so glad you finally woke up. You have been in coma so long that the doctors were beginning to lose hope, but I knew you would never leave me alone, ever!”
He wheeled closer, and she fell into his open arms, sobbing. Everything had come back to her now, every terrible memory of all the pain they had been through together. No one had mentioned to her yet, but she remembered why April 30 was so important. And a gut instinct told her that probably she would never be able to conceive again. All the beautiful things she and Rohan had dreamt together would be nothing now, but the mere shadows of their previous selves. Then it hit her that Rohan was in a wheelchair, and she suddenly looked down.
“Baby, don’t cry. Nothing can ever go wrong as long as we have each other, right? I can’t walk as yet, but the doctors said I would be up and about in another month.”, Rohan said as he hugged her tighter.
Her chest felt heavy, and all the drugs were making her groggy again. But through her tears she saw the smiling face of her husband, and her mother and sisters in the background. At least she still had a family, people who genuinely cared about her. The calendar on the wall bothered her a lot reminding her that she had to live with an empty lap for the rest of her life, but whatever happened, it lessened her pain a great deal to know that she would never have to live with an empty heart.
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