365 DAYS 365 TALES

My Accidental Friend

My head hurts. Am I actually feeling light? Except for the head, ofcourse... What's going on? What are these noises? I groan, as I open my eyes gently. The blinding light from above me, makes it impossible to open it, yet I do it by repeatedly fluttering my eyelids. Soon, the brightness in the surrounding is replaced by the smooth lights, bearable to my delicate eyes.

I take in my surroundings, trying to comprehend where I am and what is happening. The long green screen that hangs around me, on all sides, indicates it's a hospital. Several wires and tubes are mated onto my body. The equipments to which the wires are attached, beep like crazy, deafening me. Closing my ears protectively, I try to move away from the place and even succeed in getting out of the room.

The next thing I notice is my best friend Harry's wife, Sandra, crying in the corridor, muffling her sounds by covering her mouth with her scarf. I want to go to her and be a shoulder to her misery, but before that I need to know what has happened to Harry.

I slip into the room again. It is a large room and the beds are separated with the hanging screens. I look at every bed, one after other, until I find Harry who is hooked onto several wires and tubes, similar to me. Unlike the beeping back in my compartment, the beep in the equipments are slow and steady, not ear piercing.

I stride near him quickly. He is unconscious, sleeping like nothing is wrong. Has he gone into coma? Is that why Sandra is crying? I ask myself to no avail. I touch his forehead. It's so hot but he isn't flinching like I expected. He lie there like a piece of wood, a hot wood.

I sit beside him, my hand on my cheek, watching him intently. His posture gives me creeps and it stirs my heart. I can't see him like this but I have to be here, beside him till God knows what will happen.

Suddenly memories fill my mind, the thirty seven years of good memories with him, as a friend, a partner in crime, a shoulder to grief, a hand to pat, sharing happiness, sorrow and every emotions. I look back into the day when we first met, thirty seven years ago, in an accident.

⭐⭐⭐

It was a winter evening when I was driving my bike towards the city from my town. The road was devoid of any commotions when I found a car bumped into a tree, a few yards away. I rushed to the spot.

Only when I strode near, did I come to know it was a massive hit. The front part of the car was totally smashed against the tree, its parts dispersed on the ground around. I wondered about the speed he must have hit the tree to have spewn the parts out in such condition.

The driver and the passenger seats were a total mess, like a crushed coke can, but empty. Whoever driving the car must have sensed it before, and made the run for it, I told myself and scanned the area for the driver.

A few yards away, I found a boy, not more than my age, lying unconscious on the side of the road. I ran to him, taking long steps each time. He was quick in anticipating the accident beforehand, unfortunately, he'd hit his head on a rock when he thrusted himself out of his car door.

Bad luck! I thought. Not happy in wasting a single moment, I ushered him up. The blood from his open wound spewed on the dirt and smeared his blue shirt. Quickly, removing my t-shirt, I pressed it against his cut, attempting to stop the crimson fluid. He winced.

I couldn't waste the spilling seconds. Each seconds count. As I didn't find any soul for all the three minutes, I spent around the accident spot, I didn't wait for help.

Removing my trousers, I clasped it around us, binding him to my back. With that I struggled hard to make him sit at the back seat of my bike. Once done, I made a U-turn and drove towards the town, at the speed I'd never sped before.

The only rattle in my mind was to save a life, his life. I strode straight to the hospital. They'd attended on him, the moment I stopped my bike in front of the hospital building.

Blood loss is heavy. Call the blood bank or volunteers, the doctor said.

I volunteered, even after informing the blood bank. Since mine was a universal donor, I had developed the habit of donating blood in past two years. Fortunately, it had been three months since I had last donated and there was no issues in taking mine.

Two days later, he was conscious and well when I visited him. He smiled, welcoming me warmly. I didn't help him with an expectation but I knew what would be the first reaction everyone would display, gratitude.

But to my surprise, he extended his hands with a smile playing on his lips, "Friends?," he asked.

I took his hands, "With pleasure," I beamed.

I'm Harry...

⭐⭐⭐

As I'm sitting by his side, jumbling through the memories, he stirs in the bed, his face crumbling at the slightest of the movement. It has been thirty seven years since I had seen him in the same position. I haven't felt anything then, but now it is totally different.

This is yet another accident which put us both in bed, hooking to the nasty beeping machine.

We were riding my bike, I was the one who drove it, like olden days and he sat behind me, as always. It was a truck, that lost control and came on us. Before I could claim the control, everything was over.

Harry stirs, shoving the machines into crazy beep mode that shouts frantically. Dammit! I huffed, covering my ears.

A nurse storms in, withdrawing the screen. I move aside, providing her some space to check on him.

When her hands touches his bare chest, his eyes jolts open. He gasps for a moment, before babbling something to the nurse.

Sandra walks in, still crying like hell. I start to move towards her but I'm stopped by Harry's question.

"Where is Richard? Where is he?," he asks.

"You shouldn't get emotional, sir. Please be calm," the nurse warns. But he keeps on asking the same question.

I take a few steps towards him and in an attempt to calm him down, I say, "I'm here, Harry."

My words go unnoticed, as Sandra weeps even harder. What's wrong? I ask myself, scrunching my nose.

That's when Sandra's answer hit me, like a thousand bolts of thunder.

I gasp but make my way to the place I was in, a little while ago. My heart beat rises frantically, as I run. I enter the drapes and there I am, lying like a cold stone on the bed. The nurse has taken out the wires and tubes from my body. The machine is no longer beeping. It's calm around but the waves hit repeatedly, inside my mind. Is that it?

Sandra's answer to Harry's question rings in my ears, "He is gone, once and for all."

⭐⭐⭐

Akiprabagar (06/04)