Abhimanyu the Great

Long way home

"I am still alive mother. It is just that the pain reduces when I close my eyes."

"Abhimanyu, will you keep your eyes open until we heal you? Because son you have lost a lot of blood and you might die if you close your eyes. "

"Alright mother. I will keep them open."

"Good son." In a short while, we reached the camp and my father came to pick me up since I couldn't move. He pressed my back by accident and I groaned.

"Sorry son."

"That's ok father. It just hurt a little." He picked me up and carried me to my tent and laid me down on the bed, back down. I turned my head to see my mother and Utara run inside in front of my brothers. My mother stopped at the door with Utara who burst into tears. My brothers ran to me and dropped to their knees.

"Are you in tremendous pain Abhimanyu?" My oldest brother Prativindhya asked me.

"No brother." I grunted. "It is manageable. The only part of my body that is in tremendous pain is my back."

"Why is that?"

"Because after I was taken to the Kaurav tent, thausri dhuryodan fractured my spine. He then used me as a foot rest until father and oldest mother came and got me out of his clutches while thausri and kakasri distracted thausri dhuryodan." They all gasped and started crying again.

"Nakul, Sahadev can you heal Abhimanyu now?" My father called.

"Yes brother Arjun. We have gotten the medicine." As they came in I closed my eyes. All I felt was a hot liquid on my body while I was listening to the mantras they were chanting.

"Brother Arjun will you please turn Abhimanyu so he is lying on his stomach?"
My father turned me around with thausri Bheem's help. I was lying with my hands by my face. As the liquid hit my back, I scrunched my face. It hurt a lot since my spine was fractured and I had been stabbed twice. I balled my hands and I instantly felt my fathers hands on my head patting it. I instantly relaxed and in a couple of minutes, I was almost completely healed.

"His spine will take a couple days to heal if we put the medicine everyday. But other than that he is completely healed." Kakasri Sahadev said.

"Thank you kakasri Nakul and kakasri Sahadev. I feel so much better with your medicine."

"Your welcome son." Kakasri Nakul said as he and kakasri Sahadev left. My father took this opportunity to sit me up.

"Abhimanyu, I have big news!" My mother told me. "You are going to be a father!"

"Utara is pregnant? I am going to be a father?" I asked dumbstruck to shocked to say anything. I grunted as the pain came back. When both my kakasris healed me all the pain went away but it had already been 5 min since they had put medicine on me so the pain from my fractured spine came back. I scrunched my face and closed my eyes trying to hide the pain from my family members as best as I could without screaming. My mothers, father, Utara, brothers and thausris were instantly at my side. My father was patting my head like before. Utara had her head on my lap crying. I guess she still hadn't gotten over the shock of me almost dying. My dhoti was getting wet from her crying but I didn't mind. After all she was my wife. When I opened my eyes, I tried to lift my hand and use it to comfort Utara till I realized that I couldn't. My spine was still fractured and I couldn't move any part of my body.

"Utara its ok. Do not worry about me. I'm fine, its just a little pain and like Kakasri Sahadev said I'll be fine in a couple of days." As long as I don't get kidnapped by thausri dhuryodan again, I thought. But it was true. If I got kidnapped again, they would probably torture me again then kill me and deliver my dead body to my family. But this time the torture would be worse because I got away the first time. For the first time in my life, I was afraid. In the past, my Mamasri had been my savior for everything. Both my Mamasris, but since only my Mamasri Krishna was here, I wanted to see him. "Father? Where is Mamasri Krishna?"

"He is outside the tent. Would you like me to call him for you?"

"Yes father." I told my father as he left to call my Mamasri.

"Abhimanyu you are comfortable right?" Older mother asked me.

"Yes older mother. I am as comfortable as I can be at this moment."

"Abhimanyu?" My Mamasri Krishna called as he came inside. "Look at you! Such a brave warrior, fighting against 6 high end soldiers at the same time. I bet you didn't even get scared did you?"

"No Mamasri. I didn't get scared at all!" I told him smiling. But as he sat down next to me, I noticed that his eyelashes were wet which meant that he had been crying. "Mamasri have you been crying?"

"Yes Abhimanyu. I have been crying because when you were getting hurt in the battle field, I felt your pain. I literally felt every arrow going through your skin. I felt every stab you felt in your back. Especially the one where your ribs broke. I felt it when Dhuryodan stepped on your face, when you were getting hit with the gadhas and when Dhuryodan fractured your spine and used you as a foot rest. I felt it all, but Abhimanyu, you didn't cry once did you? You were so strong."

"No Mamasri I didn't cry but that was because I didn't want to give thausri Dhuryodan the pleasure of hurting me. Thausri Dhuryodan also told the other soldiers to hurt me so bad that my mothers would hear my screams and start crying from the safe tent. But I didn't scream once!" I told him with pride.

"Like I said Abhimanyu, you are very strong. You should rest now." Mamasri told me while he gave me a hug. He was so gentle that even the pain that was there left. I wanted him to keep hugging me because I felt so calm and not in pain. I loved this feeling but he let go and the pain came back. I closed my eyes again and like before, my father was patting my head but this time he was hugging me as well. It was not the soft cool hands like my Mamasri, but it was nice. I mean the pain didn't go or subside but it was nice that my father was hugging me. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the only people in the room was Utara (who was still crying on my lap) and my father (who was still hugging me) and of course me.