Dawn

Chapter 04 - Quagmire

Quagmire

[noun]

an awkward, complex situation

The CT scans confirmed Dr. Bose's initial assessment. There was bruising around the hippocampus but no bleeding. How long Imlie would feel the impact of this was still unknown, but Meethi had taken it upon herself to slowly help her daughter adjust to a new normal, lost memories and all.

She had told Imlie minimal things about the past year. 

Curious about what she didn't know, Imlie had had no dearth of questions to ask. 

Meethi knew that if she started lying, her nosy and brilliant daughter would catch her lies in no time, so she tried her best to stay as true to real events as possible.

"You live in Delhi full time," she revealed, fluffing the pillow behind Imlie, and helping her settle in.

"Since when? How?"

"You got a scholarship. You placed first in your board examinations."

"What am I studying?"

"Journalism."

"What? But I thought I wanted to be a Collector?" Imlie was a little shocked. For as long as she could remember, she had wanted to be a government official to help people like her Dadda fight injustice within the system.

Meethi turned her back to Imlie, pretending to be busy. She needed to choose her next words carefully.

"You...changed your mind when you helped journalists visiting our village. You said you wanted to be a voice for the people through your articles."

Imlie let that sink it. The idea felt foreign, but it felt right. The reasoning seemed sound, so she accepted it.

"Why do I have a boss if I'm a student?"

"You're studying but also doing a job with Aryan Babu. He runs the newspaper business you work for. Bhaskar Times"

"That doesn't explain why he is still here though?"

"Imlie, enough with the questions please. I know you want to know everything, but I promise you bitiya, everything will come back. Just give it time." she begged. "Now, can we please focus on you getting better and discharged soon?"

Contrite, Imlie nodded and held back the torrent of queries ready to burst forth. She wasn't the patient sort but her Amma was obviously tired. She'd wait, she sighed.

Meethi had a variety of reasons for not going into more details, the most pressing being not wanting to bring up Imlie's forced marriage with Aditya, and the eventual divorce. She glanced at her daughter who was blissfully happy, chattering with the nurse. Maybe this amnesia was a blessing in disguise.

She looked out to see Aryan sitting in his usual spot, busy with his computer. She walked over to him, asking to speak with him for a quick minute. He stood up, giving her his full attention.

"I'm going to take Imlie home with me when she gets discharged. I don't want to be away from her- I need to do what I can to help her get healthier." She wanted Imlie to recuperate in the village home rather than in Delhi where someone from the Tripathi family could meet her, inadvertently revealing something that could cause Imlie stress. God forbid Malini or her mother found Imlie and started spewing their poison again.

"I know she must have responsibilities at the paper but in her condition, I .."

"Please, don't worry about that. Whenever she feels ready to join us, Bhaskar Times will be happy to have her back." He reassured her.