Page 110 - Till the Last Breath . . .
P. 110

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                                                  Dushyant Roy









                The needles tugged at his skin as he rolled over and tried to get some sleep.

                He knew he wouldn’t get any that night. The pain had slowly become
                permanent. Painkillers were less effective now and the pain was now a part

                of him. He tossed and turned, thinking about Kajal and the argument from
                moments earlier. He wondered why she had bothered after all these years.

                Was it because she still loved him? Did she still think of him when in bed
                with Varun? Maybe it was because she felt guilty about what she had done.
                   It was ten. The curtain was still drawn between them. The girl on the

                other bed had been a constant source of irritation. His skin crawled every
                time he looked at her. Even on the verge of death, he wasn’t at peace. The

                last thing he wanted was to have the image of a chattering young girl
                gnawing at his eyes in his last moments. Instead, he needed a smoke.
                   There were still twenty rolled joints safely tucked into one of the books a

                friend of his had dropped at the hospital. He took three of them out and
                stuffed them into his robe. Slowly, he unscrewed the drips on his hand and

                pulled them off. He walked out gingerly, trying not to attract attention to his
                tottering self. He had taken just five steps away from the room when

                someone called out his name. He turned around to see Zarah leaning against
                the wall, her eyebrows knitted and her lips curved into a sinister smirk.

                   ‘Going for a smoke again?’ Her voice a measured mix of sternness and
                playful exuberance. He nodded. ‘What did I tell you about not vanishing
                again?’ she asked.

                   ‘Come along? I have enough for both of us,’ he responded. Usually
                unmoved when challenged, his eyes were like a cowering dog who had

                pooped in the hallway.
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