The headlights blinded the intruder and the car skewed to a stop. The next moment Raman had knocked him out. His job was done. His Ishita was safe
Half an hour later
Ishita opened her eyes as she felt drops of water being sprinkled on her face. She was lying on something hard she realised as recollection came flooding back. The intruder, And Raman. She tried to focus through the fuge in her dad "Raman" she whispered.
"Memsaab utho"
{Madam, get up}
It was the caretakers voice. As Ishita looked around she realised she was lying on the roadside, her head cradled by some mossy brambles. The caretaker was kneeling beside her, a bottle of water in his hand. There was a car skewed across the road, and she could make out the figure of a man slumped across the steering wheel. The intruder!! There was also a police inspector standing by and two constables attending to the man in the car. But where was Raman??
"Raman?" She whispered again, a question, as she struggled to sit up.
The Police Inspector had come over and had overheard her. "You're awake madam?" He said heartily. "Yeh sab kya hai?" {What is all this?}
Ishita gestured towards the car.
"Yeh admi mujhe kidnap karne ki koshish kar raha tha. Mere pati ne bachaya. Raman ne. Lekin Raman kahan hai?" {This man was trying to kidnap me. My husband saved me. Raman. Where is Raman?}
Shades of bewilderment and pity chased each other across the Inspectors face.
"Areh Madam, yehi toh hum aap ko bataane aaye theh. I'm sorry madam, lekin aap ki husband ek road accident mein involved theh. Kuch do ghante pehle. Bahut buri haalat thi unki, kuch der tak toh he had stopped breathing, lekin wahan ek doctor tha, jis ne aap ki husband ko revive kia. Hum usko hospital le kar gaye theh, toh wahan yeh caretaker mila, jis ne aap ki husband ko identify kiya, aur hum aap ko bataane aa gaye. Toh phir aap ke husband yahaan aap ki madat kaise kar rahe theh?" {Madam, that's what we came here to tell you. I'm sorry madam, but your husband was involved in a road accident. Some two hours ago. He was in a very bad state, he wasn't breathing for a while, but a doctor at the scene managed to revive him. We took him to hospital and we met your caretaker there. He identified your husband and so we came to inform you. How can your husband have been helping you here madam?}
Ishita looked at the Inspector in bewilderment. Was the man mad? Or drunk? Raman had been here. He had stopped the intruder from taking her away. He had held her, comforted her. She could still feel his lips on her forehead, his arms around her, she could still hear his voice calling her madrassan, smell his cologne.
"Are you mad?" She retorted to the Inspector. "Mere pati yahin theh." She glanced at her watch."Sirf adha ghanta hua hai. Toh phir woh do ghante pehle koi accident mein kaise theh? Aap mere saath aisa mazak kyun kar rahe hai?" {Are you mad? My husband was right here. It's only been half an hour. Then how was he involved in an accident two hours ago? Are you playing some kind of joke on me?}
The caretaker spoke up now.
"Inspector sahib such bol rahe hai memsaab. Mein hospital gaya tha, apne bhai se milne. Wahan mein ne dekha yeh log sahib ko laa rahe theh. Woh sahib hi theh memsaab. Toh mein ne Inspector sahib ko bataya aur hum aap ko itlah karne ke liye aa gaye. Jab hum yahan pahunch rahe theh, toh hum ne dekha yeh car badi fast gate se nikal rahi thi. Phir achanak se yeh ruki, aur jab tak hum yahan aaye, toh aap raaste par thi aur woh admi andar, jaise kisi ne uski pitayi ki ho. Lekin yahan aur koi nahi tha memsaab, Ram kasam." {The inspector is telling the truth madam. I went to the hospital to see my brother and I saw sahib being brought in. It was sahib madam, I am sure of that. I told the Inspector and we came here o tell you. As we neared we saw this car speeding out of the gates, but then it just stopped. When we reached the car, you were lying on the ground and this man was knocked out inside the car. But there was no one else here madam. No one at all.}
Ishita looked at him in dawning horror. What was he saying? Raman had really been in an accident? But then how had he been here with her...how? She hadn't dreamt thus whole thing. The intruder was proof of that. No, this wasn't possible, this wasn't true.
"Raman...I don't understand ...how is Raman" she was on her feet now, and grasped the Inspectors sleeve in desperation.
"Madam, he was in bad state. I'm sorry"
"No" Ishita whispered as her head stated to spin again. "No. Mujhe Raman ke paas le kar chalo. Please." {Take me to Raman, please}
Three days later
Ishita sat by Ramans bed in the intensive care ward of the City Hospital in Delhi, one of his hands grasped firmly in hers. He was hooked up to various equipment but he was off the ventilator. It had been touch and go for a while and the extent of his injuries was still not known. "He was not breathing for a while, he may have brain damage, but we won't know the extent until he wakes up" The Doctors words still reverberated in her mind.
She had reached him with the caretaker and the Inspector that horrifying night three days ago, and had immediately recognised him underneath his bruises and bandages. She had accompanied him when they transported him via ambulance to Delhi. She had stayed at the hospital since. No one had been able to get her to leave. Not mummyji, papaji, mama or appa, or any of her siblings or in laws. Ishita did not understand what had happened in the Farmhouse. All that she knew was that if she had been saved it was because of Raman. It may have been impossible, but it was true. Raman had been there, he had saved her. And as long as she was here for him, as long as she needed him, he would not leave her. He would stay with her. And so she had refused to leave him.
She would have thought she was going mad, that she had gone mad, if the intruder had not confirmed her story from the jail cell where he was incarcerated. He had identified Raman from a photo as the man who had knocked him out.
She snapped out of her musings as she felt Ramans hand move in hers. "Raman" she whispered, tears flooding into her swollen eyes.
"Ish..." It was the first sound she had heard from him in days. It was hoarse, his voice cracked, but it was the most beautiful sound in the world. The next moment Ishita found herself being moved aside as the nurses and doctors descended on Raman's bed. Ishita stood aside, tears cascading down her face. It would be okay. He would be okay.
One hour later
"It's a miracle Dr Bhalla. There doesn't appear to be any brain damage at all. He is badly concussed, one hand is broken, his ribs are fractured, but his mind is as sharp as ever. He is a very lucky man Dr Bhalla, very lucky."
Ishita grasped the doctors hand in gratitude, tears streaming down her face. Her relief was reflected in the faces of her family, huddled around her.
"Thank you" she whispered. "Thank you so much. Can I go back to him now"
"Yes, of course" the doctor smiled. "He has been asking for you. But just one visitor at a time please."
"Tu ja puttar" Mummyji said with a loving glance at Ishita. "Usse teri zaroorat hai" {you go child, he needs you}
Inside Ramans room
Ishita sat at her husband's bedside, his hand firmly grasped within hers again. He had been drifting in and out of sleep, while she just gazed on his battered face, grateful beyond reasoning for the miracle that had brought him back to her.
His eyes opened slowly. "It seemed so real...the dream" His voice was soft and muted, unlike his usual boisterous tones.
Ishita blinked back her tears as she touched his forehead tenderly. "What dream baba?" she asked him softly.
"Everything is so confused in my mind... I felt that you were in danger, that someone was trying to hurt you. I had to get to you, to help you. Then the car crash... But I remember hitting him. And I remember you there... It all seems so real. But it must have been a dream"
"Did you rescue me, in your dream" she could not help the tears from spilling down her cheeks.
"Of course yaar." A faint smile tugged at his lips. "After all I am your hero hmm?"
"Yes" she whispered, bending down and pressing her lips gently, fleetingly, to his. "My hero"
Sometimes love transcends what is possible. Not every lover is a Romeo or a Juliet. Not every love story is a fairytale. But true love has the power to move mountains and part oceans. True love moves beyond life and death. He loved her. She loved him. No other explanations were needed.
There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophy - William Shakespeare {Hamlet}
Aru, Anuhyaa - sorry for doing this to the story, but I was in a wierd mood and we had been discussing ghost stories, so... This is inspired by Saaya, where John Abraham kept seeing his dead wife trying to warn him or something. Anyhoo, please do tell me what you all think. Chappals accepted.
And sorry I've gone way over the word limit.
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