The Blazing Heiress

19|| A White Maleficent

"When I see you, I believe in magic."

***

Soon after Sammy vamoosed for Paris, I enlisted in one of the Business Colleges in Mumbai. Scared to leave my parents and siblings, I settled on staying back in the city, unlike my friends who chose to flee to other parts of the country. The shot of ache of separation from loved ones yet again seemed unbearable when I was still trying to fill in the void, the emptiness in my heart inflated by Sammy's departure and Rudra's perfidy.

The three years appeared almost perfect until Kabir found Mom fainted in the kitchen. The poor boy was so scared that he didn't utter a single word that day. When rushed to the hospital, we discovered her sugar level had risen, and she suffered a mild cardiac arrest, probably due to excessive stress.

Mom was a diabetic patient. Her diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes shocked us all. It didn't make any sense for a while. Mom was fit and healthy even in her late thirties without any ailment record in the past. Neither we had any family history. It was devasting to watch her body slowly begin caving to this illness.

After the cardiac arrest, doctors kept her under observation for the next three days. The night before discharge, I sat beside her bed, assuring her that we would take her back home only on the condition that she would rest sufficiently and not wield any stress. She threw me a half-hearted glare before finally agreeing and listening to one of the incidents that conspired in my college. Kabir sat by my side, gazing at her pale face in quietness, presumably wondering how many more moments more when she would finally come back home. His behavior baffled me, but my mind didn't dwell on it when my father entered the hospital room.

Dad's gaze remained transfixed on Mom before they flickered toward me, urging me to take Kabir home and that he would look after mom that night. I offered him a smile and asked Kabir to pack his bag. I leaned down, pressing a small kiss on Mom's forehead and whispering, 'I love you. I'll see you again in the morning.' She took her time to stare at my face and then Kabir's. I smiled when I heard a small sigh parting her lips and a faint I-love-you too.

I backed away, exiting the room with Kabir as Dad sat beside Mom's figure, and after that, everything was a flurry of actions. I remember arriving home, tucking Kabir into his bed after giving him choco chip cookies with his milk, then waking up amid the night when the shrill ringtone of the phone resonated in my room. I remember driving straight to the hospital dressed in a night suit and a pair of soggy socks. I remember various emotions tightening my throat, witnessing my father combing my mother's hair with his fingers, gently pleating one strand behind her ear. His face was as white as a sheet as he picked up her lifeless hand and drew it to his face, kissing her knuckles.

I took a deep breath, steeling my back as I walked toward them. My face blanched with dread as I felt Mom's other hand. A cold shiver rushed down my spine when I picked her hand, clutching it as if my life hung on it, whispering to her to wake up. I kept chanting those repetitive words until Dad pulled me away and doctors scurried in.

We held each other when the doctor muttered something about her suffering from another cardiac arrest-and-the body was too weak to handle it-

We absentmindedly watched as nurses came forward, covering her lifeless body with a plain sheet before carrying it out. It was then that the reality slowly seeped into our minds, bead by bead, hitting us with force. She was gone. She was really gone.

Our bodies lost all their strength as we leaned against the wall. The cool breeze of air streamed through the window, enveloping us in coldness. The room smelled of sickness. I gave up. The tiles felt cold and hoar against my skin as I sank to the ground slowly, sobbing. Dad didn't comfort me. He got down on the floor next to me, joining me. And we both wept together.