Pace My Heart (A sequel to *Happy To Meet You*)

Chapter-6

I could hear the gunshots. Although it was distant and muffled,gunshots were fired somewhere in the hills. I opened my eyes waking up from my sleep.Evelyn,my best friend who was sleeping beside me had also heard it. My phone was ringing. I quickly picked it up to hear Dad's worried voice.

"Ava,are you okay?"

"I am fine,dad. What happened?I am in the room with Evelyn."

I asked him sitting up straight on the bed. I was posted at a periphery medical centre as an intern,a rural area far from the main town.

"Ava,something bad happened. I heard there was a bomb explosion and a bus full of passengers was hit badly.They might be bringing in the injured at your med centre.The army has imposed an indefinite curfew in your area. Nobody can enter or leave the place.Your mom and both of us are really worried.Please be careful, Ava."

My fears were confirmed.Those gunshots meant something had happened.

"I am allright,dad. I will take care of myself and please ask mom not to worry."

I reassured him and hanged up the phone to find an alarmed Evelyn.

"Ava,we need to rush now. John called up."

On reaching the med centre which was just a few distance away from where we stayed,we were met with an appalling sight.The E.R was filled with the casualties and it was distressful watching the number of people injured.Cries of pain,suffering and fear filled the room.John was waiting for us and he looked like he was having a terrible time.

"This is insane.They have locked down the area.They are not even allowing any vehicles to leave. The ambulance with few injured people was able to make it outside but we really need to transport more patients."

He was right.The small medical centre was ill equipped to handle such mass casualties.They had to be transferred to a tertiary hospital.

This grim mayhem was as a result of a decade old ranging internal war between the insurgent groups and the state forces. A war where you just don't know whom to blame. But trapped were the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire and a land bearing the brunt,ravaged by hatred and blood.

"Oh God."

Evelyn muttered in her breath sharing my thoughts. We had to split up as we made through the crowd of bodies. A familiar voice called out my name.

"Ava, is that you?"

"Aunt Jenny, what are you doing here?!"

I asked startled to find her in the midst of all this. Aunt Jenny was a distant relative of mine and close to my family.

"Ava...Ben...Ben was in the bus."

Her voice choked with emotions trailed.

"What?"

I blurted shocked. Suddenly an intense fear gripped me. Ben,her son and my distant cousin was very close to me. I didn't have any sibling. He was the younger brother I never had and he also doted on me like an older sister.This can't be happening. All sorts of questions plagued my mind as I tried to grasp with the news.

"He was returning from the village."

Aunt Jenny was crying and holding my hand.

"He is here. Please do something, Ava. Save him."

He was lying on the bed as I rushed at his side.

"Ben..its me, Ava. Can you hear me?"

I called out touching his face.

"Sister.You are here."

He tried to smile weakly seeing my familiar face.

"Sister,I will never be able to play again"

His sudden words felt like stabs of pain hitting me hard. He had lost one of his lower limb,the wound covered in tight compression packing to stop the bleeding.The other leg was also badly injured.

He was looking so pale and fragile lying there.The blood to be transfused arrived and the nurse quickly connected it into his IV line.The small blood bank was having a hard time coping up with the sudden demands.

Ben was slipping in and out of consciousness. A tear trickled down his face.

"I want to die. I don't want to live anymore. Please let me die,sister."

In a matter of a day,his dream was shattered,snatched away abruptly. He was a budding hockey player and was enrolled in the state sports academy. He had a bright future and everyone was so proud of him.

"Please don't say that. Everything is going to be fine,okay?Just hang on."

I whispered,my voice cracking up watching him like that.

He was getting paler every second. He was loosing too much blood. He must be bleeding somewhere internally. He needed to be shifted to the O.R,I thought as I ran to the single O.R to find it occupied.

From that point, things just went downhill and everything happened so fast. By the time I came back,the nurse had already initiated CPR and I took over from her.

Pressing his chest with the heel of my hands,I started giving forceful thrusts.

"Don't do this to me.Don't give it up,Ben"

I was screaming in my head.John had rushed by my side as he started giving rescued breaths with the ambu bag in between the compression cycles.

"Load the Epinephrine."

He shouted to the nurse. Frantically,I checked his neck pulsation. Nothing.

I didn't stop. I couldn't stop as I continued in vain. I saw John placing the stethoscope on his chest and using the penlight to check his pupils. He was shaking his head looking at me,signalling that it was useless now.He was gone.We had lost him.

It was just the agonising shrieks of Aunt Jenny that filled the room. She was inconsolable because she had seen her young son die in front of her own eyes. I stood there watching as John closed shut his eyes finally. For few seconds,I held his lifeless cold hands and watched his innocent face.

Then I ran, ran till I reached the room,shutting myself inside and finally letting out the build up emotions that was killing me.I don't know for how long I cried inside the room locking myself up.

"Open the door, Ava. Please."

Evelyn was banging on the door. Even though I heard her, I couldn't move.

"Open the door, Ava.You need to sign the papers."

Papers?I finally realised what she was talking about.

Evelyn was standing outside the door,holding a sheet of paper in her hand. I took the paper and signed it,my hand shaking with the effort.

I just had signed Ben's death certificate with my own hands. Evelyn was hugging me as I again broke down crying.

"Its not your fault....its not your fault..."

She was repeating herself.

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A/N

Ava's past is finally revealed.

Although this story is fictional this chapter might have disturbed you.Sadly in certain parts of the world its a living day reality.

P.s I have to dedicate this chapter to the doctors, nurses and all other health professionals that have to work sometimes under harsh conditions and still keep faith in their line of work.

*I still have to upload one more chap tonight.Thank you for reading this....