under the orange sky

part 4

"Hey."

I say as I approached Kavya, who is sitting in her chair, playing on her mini iPad.

"Hello, Didi," she says.

"How are you?" I ask her

She was playing an odd bunny game on her iPad, tunnel town, or something.

"What happened to Kady Didi?" Kavya looks up at me with concerned eyes. Hoping I had the answer. I took a moment to consider what I should say to her. I mean what could I have even said to a 6-year-old.

I face her and hold her hands "When germs attack our bodies, our bodies have these special soldiers who fight and kill them."

"What do you mean, Didi?

"Sometimes the soldiers in our body make a mistake and start attacking our own body the cells that fight against the germs."

I stop for a moment, trying to think of a good way to explain this to her

"Kady is under the care of a specialist, an oncologist." I was at a loss for words and didn't know what to say.

"Didi? Is she going to die?"

"Of course not, Didi is going to live a long life, longer than even god"

"like an angel?"
"just like that" Kavya smiles at me and goes back to her game. I sigh in relief and start to pace around the hospital room and I see it's 10 PM.

I decide to call my mom.

"hey"
"hi sweetie"

"how'd it go"

I start to sniff on call "all fine"

"baby? Are you okay?"
"I don't know mom, I don't know"

"It's going to be fine, remember this isn't about you. It's for Kady, you need to be strong for her"

"thank you mom"
"I love you, baby. So much"
"I know, I love you too"
"bye sweetie" I wipe away my tears and cut the call.

I didn't know what to do, to be honest, I don't even know where to start.

Pria aunty walls towards me

"Sweetie, it's late you should go home"

"I'm not missing her birthday," I say firmly.

"She's not going to be up tonight," she tells me
hoping I would change my mind

"Pria aunty, I'm not leaving her or you alone. My family is coming with balloons and cake, and we're celebrating her birthday and 12 years of you being a mom"

She didn't say anything; all she did was cry as she pulled me into her arms.

I suppose there's nothing quite like a mother's pain, the fear of losing your child, and the worry of what you'd do if they passed.

Mothers are the one person that ends up playing one of the most importantroles in our lives. No one can take their place. No matter how hard someonewould try. I think being a mother is one of the best feelings. Their love for theirchild is beyond anyone's expectations and I suppose it's true that noone covers grief better than a mother attempting to be strong for her kid. A child with oxygen tubes in her nose and three separate salines in her body, laying in a hospital bed unconscious. I'm curious as to how it feels to battle for your child's life as well as for her own. I don't think of Malala, Rosa Parks, or Kamala Harris when I think of strong women; I think of mothers.

As she wiped her tears and kissed my cheek she walked away.

There I sat on the sofa beside the hospital bed.

Pria was right, she didn't wake up that night. I just sat beside her bed, hoping she would. We decorated the room with balloons and her favorite blue orchids, there was a triple-tier cake, blue white, and black just like she liked it. I sat there observing all the decorations before I pulled out the most important one.