Page 182 - Till the Last Breath . . .

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Dushyant Roy

Dushyant had not woken up for more than a few hours every day ever since

he bled out in Zarah’s car. He had been under constant observation and his
condition was deteriorating rapidly. His liver and kidneys were totally shot

and he was under a multitude of different medications. His days had
reduced to just lying in bed and writhing in pain. Even though he felt a lot

better today, he woke up with an intense pain in his abdomen. He tried to
call someone to give him something to get rid of the pain, but nothing more
than a little yelp escaped his lips.

‘Is there a problem?’ Pihu asked and looked up from the book she was
reading.

She waited for him to say something; instead, his face contorted in pain
and he held his stomach and rolled over.
‘Fine, I will call someone,’ she said and shouted for help.

Minutes later, a nurse came rushing in and checked Dushyant’s drip. She
asked a few questions, which Dushyant answered in inaudible mumbles.

She pushed an injection into his drip and assured him that it would take
away his pain. The nurse walked away from him even as he cringed and

clutched the bedsheet, as the pain reached his chest. It felt as if his insides
were exploding and turning into mush. He wondered if these were his last

moments. It certainly felt like it. His thoughts took him to the morgue
where they would cut him open and find nothing but a tangled mesh of
human intestines ravaged with tumours and other afflictions. He imagined

the morticians judging him even after death. Frankly, it made him a little
uncomfortable to imagine someone probing inside his naked body. The pain

was gone. And he was awake.