Every Inch

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“The affected area has been cut out of the organ, we can expect an elongated lifetime than proposed earlier” Stated the surgeon.

.

.

“Dad why’s the medicine bottle not over yet” Asked the son

“Well, times up I guess” His Dad responded to his son’s remark with a smile.

“Dad, you would have sucked as a stand-up comic”

“At I would laugh the situation out unlike now, Son”

The strong medicines were slowly taking the life out of him, he would now count the seconds and would get lost in his own thoughts,

And whenever I interrupted he would start blabbering random things, he swept himself into his past,

No longer was he in the present, he was lost somewhere in his mid-forties, still trying to figure out that the company had given him medical leaves,

He used to get up every morning detaching the drips, he would wear his formals, the pant first, followed by blazer, and then he would lay down when his body would give up while getting himself ready for the office,

It was the same routine every day for him at the hospital, Nurses used to watch him follow the same routine with surprise, a person diagnosed with stage IV didn’t give up yet? or was he Lost?

I had the answers sewn deep down into my heart, but couldn’t vomit it out,

I was scared,

How could I face a person whom I feared all my life with a bold expression now,

I collapsed, my soul, wrenched out of my body,

I couldn’t face myself in the mirror anymore, I suffered alone, Locking myself in the car,

And crying my Heart out,

I wonder how he felt the day before he went into coma,

He had many things going on his brain, His body stopped responding to the chemicals,

He was just a stone now, Barely used to speak, and we failed to interpret the feeble voice of his,

I could no longer feel the growl from his stomach when he was hungry,

The medicines had killed his appetite, He failed to identify the taste of things,

His favourite North Indian dish from a five-star restaurant doesn’t even entertain him anymore,

It wasn’t easy for both of us, For me, it was quite tough to see his body give up each day,

And for him, to see his son who had to write board exams but took a long vacation from school just to stay beside him,

The bond was quite unique between us, we never spoke with each other much,

Neither did we that day, He just held my hand with his firm grip,

And slept, just to see him in Coma when I woke up the next morning,

And ERA had come to an END,

And here I was, Unable to cry, Unable to show emotions,

My face muscles forgot to show pain, My heart would just throb,

Heartbeats were just present to make me realize the count of the number of seconds passing by,

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