The Last Letter || FICKLE EMOTIONS

The hospital was unusually quiet that bleak December evening, quiet and still, like the breeze before a storm. Pooja stood in the nurse's station on the seventh floor and glanced at the clock. It was 9 Pm.  

She threw a stethoscope around her neck and headed for room number 709, the room which had a new patient, Mr. Sharma. A man alone. A man strangely silent about his family.

As she entered the room, Mr. Sharma looked up eagerly, but dropped his eyes when he realized it was only his nurse. Pooja pressed the stethoscope over his chest and listened. Strong, slow and even beating. Just what she wanted to hear. There seemed little indication that he had suffered a mild heart attack a few hours earlier. 

Mr. Sharma looked up from his bed with the starched white sheets and said in a week voice "Nurse would you..?" He hesitated, tears filling his eyes. She touched his hand, waiting. 

"Would you call my daughter? Tell her that I've had a heart attack. A slight one. You see, I live alone and she is the only family that I have." he said while brushing away his tears. His respiration suddenly sped up. "Of course I will call her." she said.

He gripped the sheets and pulled towards himself, his face tense with urgency. "Will you call her right away?" he asked. He was breathing fast, very fast. "I'll call her right away. Don't worry" she said patting his shoulder.

Room number 709 was dark except for the faint night light under the sink. Reluctant to leave, Pooja moved through the shadowy silence and stood near the window. The panes were cold and a foggy mist curled through the hospital's parking lot. She shivered.

"Can you get me a Pencil and Paper?" asked Mr. Sharma. She dug a scrap of yellow paper and pen and placed it on the bedside table. " Thank you." he said. She smiled and left the room.

She walked back to the nurse's station and started searching for the daughter's number and dialed. "Reena? I am Pooja, a registered nurse at the hospital. I am calling you to update about your father. He was admitted today with a mild attack and.."

"What!!!He is not dying , Is he?" the daughter screamt on the other end. It was more of a painful plea than a question. "His condition is stable at the moment." said the nurse trying hard to convince.

"You must not let him die!!" Reena's voice trembling now. "Me and my father haven't spoken in almost 2 years now. We had a terrible argument and I left the house to never look back. All these years, I have wanted to go back to him for forgiveness. The last thing I said to him was I HATE YOU!" her voice cracked as she continued. There was a brief moment of silence followed by "I am reaching in 20 minutes." saying that Reena hung up the call.

Pooja tried to keep herself busy but couldn't concentrate. Room number 709, she had to get back to that room. She hurried down the hall, nearly running and opened the door. Mr. Sharma laid still, not moving. She tried to reach for his pulse. There was None!! Mr. Sharma had a Cardiac Arrest. She quickly leveled the bed, breathing air into his lungs. One, Two, Three...At the count of 15 she again breathed as heavily as possible into his mouth. "Oh God!! His daughter in on the way. He cannot die!" she said to herself while trying to revive him. 

The doctors and the other staff rushed into the room inserting tubes in his mouth and syringes being inserted in his veins. There was not a single beat on the Heart Monitor. The doctors and the nurses tried everything that they could in the next 15 minutes and suddenly "Stand back. He is no more!" moaned the doctor. There was silence in the room and one by one everyone started leaving the room, grim and silent.

"How could this happen? How?" Pooja said to herself standing besides the bed, stunned. The wind rattled the window. It was dark outside and everywhere. "How would I face his daughter?" she thought.

 And suddenly Reena entered into the room and looked straight at her father. There was a look of hurt on her face. Such wounded eyes. She knew that her father was gone.

"I never hated him, you know. I loved him!" Reena said with tears rolling down her eyes. "I want to see him, talk to him, apologize to him. Please !!" she pleaded looking straight at the nurse. Pooja went towards her and hugged her. She held her hand and took small steps towards the bed. Reena leaned over and hugged her father bursting into tears. The nurse tried not to look at their teary good byes and suddenly had her sight on the yellow paper on the bedside table. She handed over the same to Reena. 

Reena composed herself and read the written words - 

" My dearest Reena, I forgive you and I pray that you will forgive me too. I know that you love me. And I love you too.

 - Daddy"

She read it once, twice...thrice. Her wounded face grew radiant. Peace began to glisten in her eyes as she held the paper close to her heart.

"Thank you!" the nurse said while looking upto the skies!!

The blog series titled 'Fickle Emotions' continues.

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