Possession by Laila Ali (best authors to read txt) 📕

Her ears had stopped registering anything.

The atmosphere became more darker. Now the grey was gone and the dark has taken its place but still she didn't move from her place. She couldn't feel anyone behind her now.

There was no one.

Now it was just him and her.

She was lost in another world.

She didn't know why she asked him for once to wake up. But by saying that, would he wake up?

Her eyes suddenly moved towards another dead body which was placed beside him. She frowned, she didn't see when that corpse coming here. She couldn't see the face and curiosity peeked in her as she slowly got up and walked towards that corpse.

She bent down near that body. Her fingers moved on there own accord and she slowly removed the cloth from the face to have a look on it.

She removed it.

And her breath hitched.

She stood up and suddenly begin to run somewhere about which she herself had no idea. The horror of the moment made her legs move fast.

That face, she knew that face very well.

It was her.

Her own face.

It was her own corpse.

She was dead too.

...........................

She woke up with jolt and breathed heavily. Her whole body was drenched in sweat. She placed her hand on her chest and found her heart, beating rapidly like the wings of a caged bird.

The smell of hospital disinfectant invading her nostrils. The room was silent apart from her heavy breathing and beep beep sound which indicated that she was alive. She glanced around and took in the desolate blue and white colour schemed hospital bedroom, grayish linens and unnecessary art hanging around the room.

Zahra couldn't recall how she got there but the last few things that she remembered where the warehouse, gunshot and Irtaza's face.

"Irt.za" spoke Zahra in broken voice. She pulled on the IV line and felt a sharp pain. If anything that murky room was making her was even more nauseous. Irtaza's life mattered more than her health at that moment. She just needed someone to tell her that everything's alright or he is not in danger. Her limbs felt powerless and heavy. With great struggle she dragged herself out of the suffocating room.

"Zahra, you are awake!" said Dua making Zahra turn her head to left.

"How do you feel, wait, you need to sit. Don't exert yourself " Dua continued to speak, a frown etching on her face as she helped her to sit.

"Dua, what happened? Where is Irtaza?" she asked when she got her senses.

"You fainted when Shehryaar bhai brought you here"

"Where is Irtaza?" Zahra asked again, tense lines forming on her face. She dreaded the answer.

Dua looked down in dejection, swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head in denial.

"Bhai... he is in the ICU. They had to perform laparoscopic removal. He is responding to the treatment but his wound is severe."

Zahra closed her eyes and sucked in sharp breath. She was relieved and worried at the same time. His last words repeating in her head making a thick knot form in her throat. She was trying hard to control her tears. Her knuckles turned pallid due to the tightness she held the bench.

Just then two surgeons in their scrubs came out of the ICU and both Zahra and Dua got up, moving towards them.

"Miss Syed, the wound has caused retroperitoneal bleeding which has intoxicated the cavity near the cerebral nerve which can result in coma or if CN VI pathway remains unaffected the patient can wake up any time. So it's up to God now, we have tried our best. We know nothing can expiate the loss of love one. You have to be strong" one of them spoke addressing Dua.

The doctor's words pierced through Zahra's fragile and already broken heart. All her strength drained away. She sat down on a chair nearby. She didn't care about how she looked, where she stood but only him. He saved her but she didn't want to be, she wished she had died then and there as what she is going through now is more painful.

The dam of her tears broke and she wept silently looking in front of her while Dua called the nurse who took care of Zahra. When left alone, she glanced at the ICU door and contemplated whether to go in or not. Thinking this she neared it and peeped inside.

His body laid on the bed, monitors around and his eyes shut, making Zahra state weaker on her knees.

She didn't know why was he feeling sad on seeing him like that. She should not. It was the perfect moment to quench her revenge, at this very moment she could kill him easily. So easily that even no one would take her as a suspect. She could take revenge of all the atrocities he inflicted on her. His life was in her hands.

But here, she felt sad. She now owed her life to him. If it wasn't for him, she would have not been alive today.

She closed her eyes, her thick lashes drenched in tears as she sent a prayer to heaven for his better health.

Two days passed, the hospital staff would give her a terse description about his health and how it fluctuated from time to time. Zahra couldn't muster the courage to go inside but she didn't leave the hospital either. She was utterly restless. Her mother always coaxed her for meals but she had lost appetite long time ago. 

She never went inside his room or peeped inside after that night. Seeing him in such condition had disturbed her utterly. It was so depressing to see him like that. 

Two more days passed but she still didn't go inside nor did leave the hospital. But the bad news was that, his response was slowing down. She was so worried. 

On the fifth day, her strings of patience stretched, she was so done. She barged inside the empty room and stood near him. His unconscious proximity broke her shell. Her shoulders slumped down as she stood by him.

"Wake up please" she whispered with quivering breaths.