"Maa.. Maa..", Sana called her mother who was standing in the kitchen, at a distance, cooking food for her. Sana was wearing a pink barbie pajamas, her long hair kissing her waist while she was hugging her favourite teddy bear.
"Thank God you decided to wake up. Now, could you please grace your presence in the bathroom and freshen up to go to school?", Priya asked.
"What are you making maa?", Sana asked filling in her nostrils with the aroma of the food.
"Your favourite, bottle gourd curry.", Priya replied with a smile.
"Wow!! I love you maa..", Sana squeaked in happiness..
"I love you maa..", Came another voice from behind as if it echoed her own.
"Huh?", Sana furrowed her brows in confusion and turned around to see a little girl dressed in a pink pajama, her hair was flowing till her waist and she hugged a.. teddy bear? Wasn't that her favourite teddy. How can it be? She has her teddy in her hand itself. She turned her head to look at her hand and was shocked to see that she was holding a spatula while it's other end was in a pan filled with bottle gourd curry.
"What? How? Maa?", She looked up perplexed to see how she was standing inside the kitchen and wasn't it her maa who was holding the spatula a few seconds ago. But her mother was no where near to her
"Maa.. I am hungry", Sana heard the little girl say from behind.
"Huh?", She turned yet again to look at the girl but there was no one.
"I hate bottle gourd, Sana", she heard a male voice to her right and turned her head to find her best friend, Sidharth standing beside her.
"You? When did you come? Where is Maa? And where is that little girl who was holding my teddy bear?", Sana asked confused.
"Don't you try to divert my attention. Why are you making bottle gourd curry? Hmm.. I know, because you hate me.", He said.
"Shut up. You know I love you.", She said nonchalantly. He pulled the spatula from her hand and turned her around to look into her eyes intensely.
"What?", She asked him naively while turning around to look for her mother and the little girl.
"Prove it..", he said walking behind her. His hand brushing over her hand, passing through arms and landing on the shoulders as he kissed her earlobes softly which made her eyes close automatically. It was an alien feeling but she liked it until his hands landed on her twin mounds and squeezed it.
"What are you doing Si..", her eyes sprang open and she paused abruptly.. why was it all dark. Was there a power cut? She looked around and found darkness surrounding her for all the sides except that she was clearly visible as if a spotlight shone onto her and when she looked down she saw her belly buldged out.
"Huh? What?", She touched the bump to understand what it was.
"Whose dirt is it?", Sana was startled to hear her mother's voice which echoed but there was no one nearby. She starts crying in fear and anxiety.
"Tell me Sana, who is it? I will kill that bastard.", Sana heard her father's voice but surprisingly even he wasn't around. Soon everything went numb and dark while she heard her own sulks buried in darkness.
Sana stirred returning to consciousness. Her face was sweating profusely as she feared to open her eyes due to the nightmare she had. After feeling stretched and heavy for months, did her stomach feel hollow? With her eyes still closed, she slowly moved her hand towards her belly which now felt flat. Was it all her dream? Was the pain and agony she went through for months all just a nightmare? Was everything the same as it was.
Her eyes sprang open at once on the realisation - her baby? She sat up at once which made her feel a flush of warm liquid pouring out of her, between her legs.
"Aaahh", Her private part below the waist stung while her head spun due to her sudden moment. She took time to regain the stability by closing her eyes. When she opened her eyelids, she found herself in an unfamiliar place from the one she was in before she had fainted. She was surrounded by blue curtains on two sides while the other two was wall. There were so many switchboards and cables hanging on the wall behind with a few medical equipment hanging around and a television above her head.
"Where am I?"
"Where is Sidharth?"
"Where is my.. baby?"
She mumbled the questions touching her belly. Lifting the sheets over her lower waist, she tried getting up. Something tugged and she felt a little sting. That's when she noticed a long pipe which travelled from between the legs and ended into a packet which had yellowish liquid. It took her few seconds to decipher that it was her urine that was collected in the bag.
How would I move with this? She picked up the bag in her hand planning to go out. Peeking outside from the curtain, she felt embarrassing to go out holding the urine bag. She quickly moved to her bed when she saw a nurse coming in her direction.
"Hi, how are you feeling?", the nurse asked.
"I am fine..", Sana answered.
"That's nice. I came here to check your vitals. Can you tell me your name and date of birth.", the nurse asked to confirm before she started to take her virals.
"Sana Kapoor and my date of birth is..", Sana answered.
"Good.. now may I hold your wrist to check your pulse?" The nurse asked and Sana obliged. Sana anxiously waited to ask questions while the nurse checked her pulse.
"Good, now your arm.", the nurse said and pulling the green strap used to monitor blood pressure.
"Alright, perfect. Let me quickly take your temperature before I allow you to rest.", Said the nurse. Sana nodded her head and cooperated.
"Hmm.. your temperature is slight above normal but nothing to worry. It should come down eventually. If you need any assistance then press the green button on the remote.", The nurse said.
"Aaa.. ummm.. my bab..", Sana was interrupted by a voice.
"Sanaaa..."
Sana's eyes went wide open and her heart skipped a beat.
"Maaaa?", Sana cried instantly, her eyes tearing up.
"Sana..", the blue curtains slid open and Sana got a glimpse of anxious Priya.
"Maaa...", Sana weeped and soon found herself in her mother's embrace. The nurse left allowing them privacy.
"Maaaa... where were you Maa? Why did you leave me?", Sana spoke in between painful sobs still in her mother's embrace while she clenched her mother's blouse firmly for the fear of losing her again. Priya sulked unable to speak.
"How are you feeling my child?", Priya asked cupping her face. Sana's face was wet and red due to extreme crying. Her sobs were not stopping.
"I am not fine maa. Why did you go?", Sana burst remembering all the agony she went through alone.
The blue curtains slid again and there stood Rajiv. His face was hanging down in guilt.
"Papa..?", Sana spoke in fearful tone. Her father had thrown out her mother from his house after a huge arguement. Sana was apprehensive that they might start quarreling yet again.
Priya looked at Rajiv from the corner of her eyes, silently. While Sana observed and studied her parents reactions in fear. Priya looked at Sana's face and understood her concerns.
"Don't be scared. We came here together.", Priya said which stunned Sana.
"H..h..how did you kn..kn..know that I w..was here?", Sana stuttered thinking that only her and Sidharth were aware of her being here. Does that mean Sidharth informed them about her whereabouts?
"Do you remember that you received blank calls everyday on the landline?", Priya asked.
"Huh?", Sana looked at her mother in confusion. How did she know that she received blank calls?
"I gave you blank calls everyday to check if you were okay. When I didn't get response today after ringing you several times, I feared something was wrong. I called up Rajiv and we searched for you. You didn't know many places here. When we rang the hospital, we learnt that you were here.", Priya said.
"I.. I.. had got pain..", Sana spoke in a scared tone.
"I didn't expect you to go into labour this early.", Priya said feeling mortified for not being there with her daughter when she needed her.
"Why didn't you call me, Sana?", Rajiv asked. Sana stared at her father on that question.
Flashback:
A night before yesterday, her father had returned home heavily intoxicated. It was the same day when he had slapped her for spending money on shopping for baby. He felt guilty for slapping her in fit of anger hence to forget it, he had drowned himself with drinks.
Sana looked at her father's bloodshot eyes from far and was petrified to go near him. Soon, she realised that he was finding it difficult to even stand on his feet, so she went close to him.
"Priyaaa..", her father grinned from ear to ear.
Sana looked at him perplexed and then realised why did he call her Priya. Due to her growing bump, her clothes didn't fit her. Hence, she had worn her mother's dress. Moreover, she resembled her mother in looks.
"Papa.. it's me Sana.", she said but Rajiv couldn't understand. He made her sit on the bed and plopped on the ground beside her and blabbered.
"I am sorry, Priya. I slapped our daughter today.", he said looking at his palm which moistened Sana's eyes. He slapped himself on his face startling Sana, who quickly held his hand from slapping himself anymore.
"Priya, I hate myself for what I have become. I didn't want to admit that I was wrong for hitting you. I thought I could do everything by myself after you left but I couldn't. I can't. I need you. I know we've been fucked up a big time and we can't have a normal life if this continues. It's all happening because of her pregnancy. So I've decided, that we will discard that dirt once it's born.", Rajiv said shocking Sana.
"Papa..", Sana uttered faintly.
"I promise. Will get our daughter back. Her life will be normal and we will stay together again like a happy family.", he said smiling.
"I promise. I will take care of everything. Please comeback. Please.", he pleaded with his hands folded before passing out.
Sana yearned for a happy family as well. She looked down at bump. But what was her baby's fault? She knows how difficult it was to be abandoned by her parents. Would she allow her unborn baby to go through those hardships? No!!
But her father was right that their life can't be normal. He needed his wife. It wasn't his fault that she got pregnant neither was her mother's. Why are they being punished for no mistake for theirs? It was her mistake because she didn't listen to her mother when she had asked her to stay away from boys. So she must be punished and must raise the child.
But what would she do alone? Moreover, it wasn't only her mistake but Sidharth was equally involved. In fact, he was the one who was more responsible for all this. He said, he will take responsibility. Would he?
She asked this question to him when she met him in the park the next evening just before her water broke and only then did she ask him to take her and baby away with him after delivery.
Flashback ends
It's clear from her mother's words that he didn't inform her parents about her whereabouts. Then, where is he now? And where is her baby? Did he took away her baby?
"Baby?", Sana uttered loudly.
She looked at her parent's face who looked at her curiously.
"Maa, where is my baby?", Sana asked.
It stung the heart of young girl's parents. She called it 'my baby'. Wasn't she a baby herself? When did she even grow up so big all of sudden.
"Where is my baby?", she asked yet again and searched for the assistance remote because her words fell on her parent's deaf ear. Probably they didn't know about it.
"It was born dead, Sana.", Rajiv said.
"Huh? No!", Sana felt heart ache. She couldn't believe her ears.
"It was a preterm baby. The lungs hadn't even properly developed hence it was still born.", Rajiv said.
"No.. My baby..", Sana cried bitterly hiding her face into her palms.
Priya and Rajiv sulked along with their daughter. She had cried for her lost and broken toys until now, and now she was crying for baby. How time changes.
________
To be continued.. ❤️❤️