CHAPTER - 8 The Reaction Of Aftermath
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CHAPTER - 8
"It's been almost 3 days since that accident of the 'SUBLANE-1' happened, shocking the whole country. Family members of the victims are raising questions over the lack of—" Inside one of the rooms of the K.C. hospital, the television was displaying the news reports in a low voice.
Although Neil's operation went well, he was still unconscious for 2 days. It was in the morning of the third day that he gained a moment of consciousness, only to fall asleep again.
And now, in the evening, he had woken up, hearing the soft voice of the anchor from the television up front.
"Ugh—" A sharp pain ran through his abdomen and the back of his head as he tried to sit up. The machine beside his bed began to 'beep' fast, and nurses came running into his room.
"Please remain laid down and refrain from much movement for now," a blurry figure with a mix of white and brown said to Neil, pressing something beside him as the bed started to elevate.
"Where—where am I?" Neil said, looking at the blurry yet slowly becoming clear environment.
"You are in a hospital," the nurse in the white dress replied. Now, Neil could clearly see her brown hair and tall figure.
"A... hospital?" Neil said in a soft voice with a troubled expression, holding onto his head, recalling the accident from earlier.
"Ahhh..." Suddenly, a sharp pain ran through his head, making him scream in pain.
"Please relax, Mr. Neil. Don't overexert yourself," a doctor said as he entered the room.
Seeing Neil's condition, the doctor signaled the nurse, telling her to increase the dosage in his IV drip.
Soon, Neil felt relaxed. The pain slowly vanished, and a little while later, he fell asleep again.
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"Just what's happening to me?" Neil thought to himself.
Next day in the morning, the sun hadn't risen yet, and Neil had woken up again, this time a bit more calm and content.
"But still, thank God I survived..." There was a lot currently going on in his mind. Nothing was clear about what he was thinking—it was all mixed up.
The more he pondered, the more his head began to hurt. "Grrrr," a rumbling sound came from his stomach.
"What to do? There is nothing around I could eat. Should I call for the nurse? But won't it be embarrassing?" Embarrassed, he still decided to call for the nurse.
"Could you get me something to eat?" he asked.
"Of course, but you have to eat porridge or food with more water content for a few days, as prescribed by the doctor."
<"Grrr">
"Ha-ha, yes, just please, anything," he said, all flustered.
"Pfft—okay." The nurse smiled and got him some food.
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<"BURP"> "Now it's like I regained some life." "I hope it didn't astonish her," he thought after finishing two servings of the food.
It's pretty much understandable—Neil hadn't eaten for 4 days, and his body really needed some nutrition to recover.
"Anyway, who were those people?" he thought, recalling the individuals he saw when he took out the book from his bag inside the bus. "And they looked at me as if they knew something was going to happen."
"Wait! The book! Where is the book? Where is my bag?" Suddenly, he remembered his belongings. Urgently, he pressed the call button.
"Yes, sir?" the nurse asked anxiously. She was the same one from earlier.
"My—my backpack, where is it? It was with me during that time."
"Umm, let me get the doctor." Agitated, the nurse hurried back and called Neil's attending doctor.
"Hello, sir. Are you feeling anything bad?" The doctor came running, pulling out his stethoscope to check on Neil.
"Wait, I am alright. I just need my belongings—my backpack. I had it with me during the accident. Could you please get me that?" Neil said calmly.
"Sir, you didn't have any bag with you when you were transported here. Still, I'll check at the reception if the Emergency Rescue Department sent anything or not." Calmly, the doctor checked his blood pressure and gave him some tablets.
"Check at the reception whether they received anything from the ERD," the doctor said to the nurse bitterly.
"Yes, sir," she replied in a low voice. It was clear the doctor was angry with her.
Seeing the sullen face of the nurse, Neil said, "Oh, it's okay. Please don't be harsh on her—" But he was shut down by her vengeful stare, as if she was saying, "I will kill you if you speak another word."
"Of course, I will first do Mr. Neil's work. I'll later help in dressing the old grandma who got injured in this cold weather and the crying child. I'll later help him find his mom because I have to get Mr. Neil's backpack," she muttered under her breath. Still, Neil heard it.
"Looks like I messed up," he thought as the doctor and the nurse exited the room.
"Phew, still it's good to be alive." "What time is it, by the way?"
"It's 5:00—morning, by the way," the nurse said, mocking him as she handed him a torn and slightly burnt green backpack.
"Ohh, and the day?" Shamelessly, he asked.
"Ugh, you literally have no shame, right? I don't know."
"What? Shame? But what did I—" he tried to refute, but the nurse continued.
"Oh, please don't feign ignorance now. Do you even know how busy the staff is, and you still called and pressed that bell continuously? And for what? Some backpack!"
"Ahh—" It hit him hard. He didn't know much about others' situations, yet he had agitated and caused disturbance, even though it wasn't his intention.
"I—I am sorry," he said with a sullen face, looking down.
"...It's okay. Just press the bell one time next time or call for me if you need anything," she said, seeing his sad and innocently bulged thin cheeks.
"Thanks..." he said softly.
"Hmm," and she left the room.
"Ahh—how would I call for her? I didn't even ask her name."
Still, soon he opened the backpack. "Please, please, please don't let it be," he muttered. With trembling hands and a still-beating heart, he opened the backpack.
"Ohh, thank God." He took out the book but still didn't stop. Seemingly, the book wasn't the thing he was worried about. Still, seeing the book without any burns or tears, he felt relieved.
"Thank God. Thank you for being safe." He took out a small photo from the middle of the book and just hugged it near his chest. Tears of relief flowed from his eyes.
"Thank you. Thank you, Maa, for being safe." The photo was of his mother.
"Oh, the note—the 20 rupees note! Where is it?" He flipped to the first page, where the note was earlier, but it wasn't there. Sweeping his tears with one hand, he stroked the book and jerked it a little, yet nothing came out.
Anxiously, he searched the mattress he was on to see if the note had fallen from the book. Not finding it, he searched inside the backpack, and still, it wasn't there.
Agitated, he went to press the bell again but stopped. "No, it must have burnt during the accident." Thinking about it, his heart ached. But still, he controlled himself, not wanting to make a bigger mess than he already had and make it difficult for others.
"Thank you for the good luck charm, Maa," he said, still hugging the photo.
After carefully placing the photo between the pages of the book again, he pondered, "How does the book not have even a single scratch?"
But still, after long thinking, he couldn't come up with anything for this doubt of his. "Maybe it's some of its magical abilities," he said, and with a sigh, he let it go, turning back to the latest page on which the book was writing.
--"Neil thought, 'How is the book in such a good condition and without any scratch?'" Neil pondered. But as nothing more came to his bean-sized brain, he stopped thinking. The book wrote, and with a little stop, it continued again.--
--"ARE YOU OKAY?"-- A strange line—it wrote again. But this time, it was different.
Never before had the book asked such a question, although sometimes it writes his actions in a mocking tone, but never had it asked a question.
Hesitating a bit, Neil replied with an awkward face, "Yeah, I am mostly okay. Just a bit sore here and there and a little pain from the wounds."
But he jolted, realizing more clearly what the book had just done.
"Wait, what! You can talk?" he asked, with widened eyes as his jaw dropped open.
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