Maple ran through the crowd and shouted as entered Elford's room. He was drinking some coffee while looking into his computer.
"Ember just passed out!" He panicked.
"Alright, I'll be right there," Elford kept the cup aside and looked into the computer.
"He is bleeding, you dick! COME NOW!" He yelled at him.
"What?!" Elford grabbed the stethoscope and his white coat and ran towards Ember's room. He reached his room and found three nurses, Neel and Rhea standing at the door.
"Get away!" Everyone moved aside.
He ran inside. Ember was just lying on the bed covered with white sheets. Loraine stood beside him. "Elford!"
"Close the door," Elford wore his coat. He did as told to send Rhea to the door.
"Where is he bleeding?" Elford asked while putting on his gloves.
"I don't know. I just covered him with a white cloth when he fainted and it just turned red," Elford uncovered Ember's body. He didn't want to touch such a dirty body, it was covered with blood. Elford was breathing heavily. Loraine noticed and asked if he should get him some water. Elford shook his head and closed his eyes.
'Blood,'
He covered his mouth with a mask, "Get me a wet towel," Elford whispered. Loraine picked up the towel from the small tub and gave it to Elford. Elford reluctantly took the towel that might be full of germs. He wiped off the blood from Ember's back and searched for any possible injury.
"Did he fell somewhere?"
"No, I don't think so. He just suddenly started shouting and then fainted. Don't tell me it's a vein burst,"
"No, that wouldn't cause external bleeding" Elford looked all over his lower half for any wound. He couldn't find any injury in the end. Where did all the blood come from? Nobody knew. Elford put him on the IV and walked back to his room. He walked into the bathroom and removed his blood-covered coat. He threw it into the dustbin, followed by his gloves and mask. He stood under the shower and took a hot water shower, with some ethyl alcohol, "What a gross feeling. That's why I hate dealing with patients with external symptoms,"
He threw his jeans into the dustbin too, "I am disgusted,"
That evening, Loraine came to meet him at his office, "What now?" He asked. Elford was dressed informally into a sweatshirt and sweatpants, with soft slippers on his feet, he looked at the reports of some other patients, "Let's wait for him to regain consciousness. I've prescribed some new medicines till then,"
"Where did he bleed?"
"I have yet to find out, I have some suspicions, but I won't reveal them unless I'm completely sure. I don't want to make a fool out of myself," Elford took a deep breath, "He somehow lost a tremendous amount of blood, causing a huge fall in his blood pressure and so he fainted,"
After transfusing 4 units of blood, Ember regained consciousness two days later. Upon hearing this news, Elford ran down to Ember's room and saw him sitting on the bed in the golden dusk sunlight. He looked paler and more tired. He turned towards Elford, "Oh well, guess I'm still alive,"
"Ember-"
"Elford, I wanted to tell you something but I didn't get a chance to. On Monday, I had a bowel movement. It was severe diarrhoea. I was bleeding and I was in pain. I thought I'd tell you when you'd come for the checkup but you never came so I wasn't able to tell,"
"Hold on, you had a bowel movement, after-"
"3 weeks. If you think about it, it's quite creepy," Ember said.
'How is that possible? Are your intestines still functional? But if that was the case, it won't happen just one time. Is his body trying to tell me something which I'm not able to interpret? Maybe the ulcers in his intestines ruptured and caused the excessive bleeding. Then again, why would they rupture when he doesn't even eat anything and is a patient of SMA' Elford thought.
"Does it still hurt?" He asked.
"No, not at all. Not for now at least,"
"I'll be conducting a few more tests,"
'This is why I like this case. It's just so medically superior and mysterious. A new symptom is added every day! I want to solve this,'
He left the room and walked into the hallways. And just as he left, Rhea and Neel came to visit him again. Rhea wanted to be alone with him but Ember was always surrounded by people now. She didn't feel needed. He wasn't even paying attention to what she was saying anymore.
"So, when is the competition's second round? It's January already, right?" Ember asked with a smile.
"This Saturday. Why do you still care? I'm thinking of dropping out of it,"
"No! No, Rhea, you must win it, okay? Win it for the both of us," Ember held Rhea's hand.
There was a certain threshold that Ember had managed to cross. She couldn't hold back anymore.
"I'm afraid," Rhea said. Neel and Loraine looked at her.
"Of what?" Ember asked.
"Of you,"
"Me? But why?"
"Because you're attaching so many hopes with me and I'm so scared of disappointing you," She began crying. Neel and Loraine looked at Ember who looked expressionless.
"Could you guys give us some space, if you don't mind?" Ember asked them and Loraine and Neel moved out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"Have a seat," He smiled. Rhea sat on a chair right in front of his bed. He looked at her "I want you to close your eyes,"
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Why do you paint Rhea? To impress me or impress others? If that's the reason why you paint, then you shouldn't paint. And I advise you to give up on painting altogether.
The happiness of your life depends on the wholesomeness of your thoughts. If you keep trying to impress others, you'll lose yourself. I know it's hard but you haven't failed yet. Don't think about giving up every time you fall-Failure does not mean you are a failure. It just means that you haven't succeeded yet.
You don't have to jump for your success, you can take one step at a time and you'll move forward. You need to stop depending on me for everything, I was a stick to guide you in your direction-Not for you to hold on and move. I might not always be around. Maybe we fight, and I go away and we never talk again, will you give up on it again?
You need to attempt the impossible if you want to throw away your fears, Rhea. And you have to do without me. Not saying that these fears and these storms will end one day-They can never, but you need to learn how to tame them before they start taming you. You ride a bicycle every day, right? Life is like riding a bicycle too. You don't fall off unless you stop paddling.
You are forgetting how far you have come. Don't act like you don't know what to do... Open your eyes,"
Rhea slowly opened her eyes "You know what to do," Ember looked straight into her eyes,
"Find yourself, then come find me,"
"It'll be too late," She shook her head.
"I'll wait till the end. You need to be strong to wait till the end too. I'm giving it my all, you should too. Make it so that you never need me again,"
Rhea walked out of his room. She didn't know what just happened. Ember was so different but just as inspiring. She was wrong. He wasn't weak-Not at all. He was trying in his own way and so would she.
The next day, Rhea went to the competition with a beautiful idea in her mind. She sat down and painted. It was just like before. She struggled at first but later the fears were gone as she painted and divided into a world she could call her own. It was always the beginning that was challenging, never the end. That day, she didn't see Ember's hallucination in the crowd.
She had truly won.
-To be continued
Can't I Touch Your Heart?
Teach Me The Art of Living