Awaken
4th March 2031
23:25
Combined Military Hospital(CMH),Dhaka
Sohel could only hear the monotonous beeping of an ECG machine. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a hospital bed. The first thing he saw was the blinding white light of the ceiling. He turned right and saw Jacob sleeping in another bed. He felt relieved. Then he looked right. He saw the night sky through the cabin window. He asked himself what time it was. What day is today? He felt something was missing. He looked down at his body and let out a big scream as he found his left arm missing.
A few seconds later as he calmed down Mitali and Naomi entered the cabin. Naomi ran to Sohel's bed and hugged him. Mitali remained at the door crying but with a smile on her face. Naomi let go of Sohel as Mitali came closer and asked him how he was feeling. Sohel looked at their faces 2-3 times and yelled, "Who the fuck stole my arm?" as he laughed. Mitali was left out of words as he saw Sohel laughing even though he lost his arm. Naomi was laughing too. He saw Mitali's expression and said, "He knew something like this might happen." Sohel added, "Yeah. I was just a little unprepared. Sorry, I might've woken up other patients." These words didn't solve Mitali's confusion. She was even confused. She asked, "How are you two so calm? He lost a whole arm. '' Sohel and Naomi looked in the eyes of Mitali looking serious for a second then started to laugh again. Noimi said to Mitali, "You'll see when we reach there."She looks at Sohel and says, "Looks like Sohel is alright now. You go and pack your stuff. We are to report for our graduation ceremony at HQ tomorrow at 1800." Sohel asks Naomi, "What day is it today?"
Naomi replies, "4th of March."
Sohel freaks out, "I WAS OUT FOR 4 FREAKIN' DAYS!!"
Mitali scolds Sohel, "You should be grateful that you even survived that crash. I don't know how lucky you had to be that the helicopter was already flying low and you were thrown out of the plane before it crashed and caught on fire."
Sohel suddenly recalls the incident. He asks them about Naser. Mitali replied that they found Naser's burnt body inside the plane. They found Sohel lying 10-12 feet off the crashed chopper minus an arm. Sohel gives a fake smile and says, "All's well that ends well.....I guess." Naomi urges Mitali to go and get some sleep as she hasn't sleep much the last 4 days. Sohel looks at Mitali and apologizes. Mitali looks back at Sohel and gives a smile. She says, "Don't. Now that you look alright I'm gonna take a long nap. I'm going home for the night." As Mitali was leaving the room Naomi called her and said, "Remember a helicopter will come and pick us up tomorrow at 1000 sharp from here.'' Mitali replies that she'll be here by 0900 and leaves. Sohel's face hardens again as she leaves the room. Naomi notices that and comes to sit next to Sohel's right hand. She asks Sohel, "What happened?"
"How many people did we kill that day?"
"They were terrorists, Sohel. Do you feel bad?"
"Of course I do. I know every person we kill has or will do something bad. But still, I can't help but feel guilty every time I do so."
"I've told you it's only natural to feel guilty about killing someone. Remember what the general told us before we left for the mission? "It's scary to take someone's life but it's more scary to get used to it." Everyone in the SNA feels like that."
Sohel calms down, "Yeah. I think I need to organize my thoughts."
"Damn yeah, you do." Jacob's voice startles both of them. They look at Jacob and see him half lying on the bed. Naomi asks him, "How long have you been awake?"
"Quite a while...."
Sohel asks him, "How is your wound?"
"Pretty good. It was nothing compared to your wounds."
"I don't think I can disagree with that."
Naomi stands up and pushes Sohel back to the laying position, "Ok boys enough talk. Sohel needs to rest."
Jacob retaliates, "Come on. I just got to talk to him."
"You can talk to him tomorrow. But now he needs rest."
Sohel also tries to say something but seeing Naomi's mood he decides to abide by her.