Her pale body was wrapped in a beautiful soft white and blue blanket. His mommy's favorite colors. The last year and a half had been torture if anything; witnessing the gradual descend of how the light in her eyes left her body in an agonizingly painful pace. Why had fate been so cruel? He brushed his teeth twice everyday, always ate food at the dining table, and barely gave trouble to his hard-working father when he changed his pyjamas. Then why was the light of his life nothing but a fading shadow now? He craved his mother's screaming and her incessant need to flatten his jet black hair. Her lemon verbena scent was everywhere in the house and he simply could not understand why she couldn't come home already. Wasn't a game of cards awaiting them in their living room at home?
Julian saw his 6 year old son having a mental debate in his own mind. The kid was so strong. Seeing Kiara everyday like this killed Julian a little by little everyday. She got more pale and frail as the days passed. Her breathing was low and the brown locks that once adorned her head were gone. She cried so much that day. The day the last lock fell, her tears knew no bound. She cried and cried till exhaustion took over, and when her eyes opened they had a new-found hollowness which let reality set in hard and rough. He saw what cancer did to her, how her hands were no thicker than breadsticks and how her once voluptuous figure metamorphed into brittle bones and sunken cheeks. What did they ever do wrong? Kiara was always the highlight of every night, the light of their lives, and now all he saw was a woman in defeat. He knew cancer sucked the soul from her. He couldn't do anything to help her from falling and failing, and that killed him the most. He vowed to protect and cherish her but today she was fighting a battle by herself. A battle she was predicted to lose.
The everyday commute to and fro from work, home and the hospital had not been easy. Kiara was an all-rounder. Waking up early to pack their tiffins and picking up Rehaan from school everyday. Julian was all over the place. Doing tasks half-heartedly and almost hastily to accomplish what Kiara did so effortlessly everyday. Rehaan saw that. He saw how the busy schedule and the sadness took a toll on his daddy. How his hero was struggling to make ends meet. His mommy did it so perfectly that he never really noticed how much work it takes to cook early morning breakfasts and fill in signatures in the journals. He wanted to help daddy. But daddy was so lost? Where was daddy? Was he ever listening? Where was the color in his cheeks and the energy that danced in his eyes?
She was ready to give in. She was fighting too hard for something that was already gone. But her two beautiful boys reminded her everyday of what she thrived for. Rehaan clung to mommy like she was life. She knew that Rehaan was the best thing Julian ever gave her and even imagining her baby boy somewhere a few metres away from her killed her. How can she just.. go? She knew that Julian couldn't find his blue tie for the sake of his life and Rehaan hated cheese like it had cooties. How would her two boys manage? She couldn't go there. Rehaan looked at her everyday with hope glimmering his eyes, waiting to take his beloved mommy so she can caress his messy mop of curls at night. And Julian? He always thought he is all composed and Iron-Man-y but the darkness that lay under his eyes and the puffiness that resided in his cheeks said otherwise. Her heart broke for him. He was trying to be so strong and supportive and she wanted nothing more to just get up and dance with the two of them like hooligans, but her bed was her coccoon and she wasn't allowed anywhere without it just yet. She will fight this war with the parasite that is cancer and she will win it. Fate could go to hell for all she cared because she will sucker-punch it when in few days from now she will be playing Lego with Julian and Rehaan.
Team Kiara-1
Team Cancer-0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything was happening too fast and too slow. One moment Kiara was smiling through her fragile lips and the next, there was a horrendous beep that echoed in the white chipped walls of the hospital. What was happening? Was it Julian screaming for the nurses or was it Rehaan? Who was crying? Doctors barged in, pumping the lifeless heart of the only woman these two big boys ever loved.
"Daddy please stop that sound! Why are they doing that to mommy?! Mommy wake up you haven't had your soup yet!"
Julian looked at his 6 year old through eyes that wouldn't stop weeping, looking at his strong boy crumble like powder, much like his own strength. This wasn't supposed to happen! They had to go to Italy yet and Kiara never completed task no. 9 of her bucket list! And she had 4 more months they said! This had to be a mistake!
The beep was gone, a tormenting silence settling amongst all the people in that room. Julian won't open his eyes, he didn't want to. He was reliving the moment they saw the sunset between the mountains. The moment Kiara said she had pictured all her life. An enchanting memory. A spellbinding picture. Rehaan won't stop crying but that moment was so precious, too precious to be shattered. His tears spilled into the gap between their bodies and in his now empty soul, a gut-wrenching absence that destroyed his heart. Rehaan wouldn't stop promising petty things that he thought would bring Mommy back. But Mommy was gone. She was so far away.
"I'm sorry."
The wind was knocked out of their bodies. Two words. Amidst those two words realisation had seeped in somewhere like poison spreading in the body. The two words that unleashed a series of gurgling screams from a very grown-up man. People say families of cancer victims are prepared for "these kind of things", but no number of lifetimes would ever prepare two freshly lonely boys to hear these two words. Everything was gone because she was gone.
Rehaan felt it. He felt the room go awfully cold and the warmth in his heart dying down like a dull campfire. The light in his life was suddenly gone. Why was everything black and white? Why was her body so blue? Mommy didn't even have her favorite soup yet! Who will tie my shoelaces? He ran to his mommy, shaking her hand to convince the doctors that she is in a mere slumber. Mommy didn't wake up! And why wouldn't daddy stop crying?! He never cried! Is Mommy gone? Oh the rash possibility! No mommy can't go! He made a deal with his "Big Friend" at the temple that he would keep her if Rehaan drank his milk everyday! And he did! Was his "Big Friend" a cheat? Why wouldn't daddy just get up and wake mommy up?
Julian saw his young one struggling to wake his mommy up. A ghost of a smile fell on his lips. Kiara always said Rehaan was like a koala clutching to her side. And now this koala was as lonely as him. Julian picked up Rehaan and hushed him, the duo's shadow falling on a lifeless body of the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. It was deadly silent. When had the doctors and nurses gone? His teary eyes glistened in the sparks of the dusk. That beautiful sunset reappearing again and shining light on the darkness that was suffocating the both of them. He could hear the air leave her lips and feel the wind frolicking her hair everywhere. It was a feeling he already missed. The emptiness was clear as day, eating away at two souls that may never seem complete.
Team Kiara-1
Team Cancer-10
And as the two favorite boys of Mrs. Kiara Penty stood, overlooking her defunct body, it was tough not to heckle at the irony. Although Kiara was gone that day, it was Julian and Rehaan that died even when they lived.
Author's note: This doesn't justify the pain of what people feel at all. It is so much worse. And it won't be okay for a long long time. But I hope someday,to whomsoever that lost the light of their life, you find it again.
Julian saw his 6 year old son having a mental debate in his own mind. The kid was so strong. Seeing Kiara everyday like this killed Julian a little by little everyday. She got more pale and frail as the days passed. Her breathing was low and the brown locks that once adorned her head were gone. She cried so much that day. The day the last lock fell, her tears knew no bound. She cried and cried till exhaustion took over, and when her eyes opened they had a new-found hollowness which let reality set in hard and rough. He saw what cancer did to her, how her hands were no thicker than breadsticks and how her once voluptuous figure metamorphed into brittle bones and sunken cheeks. What did they ever do wrong? Kiara was always the highlight of every night, the light of their lives, and now all he saw was a woman in defeat. He knew cancer sucked the soul from her. He couldn't do anything to help her from falling and failing, and that killed him the most. He vowed to protect and cherish her but today she was fighting a battle by herself. A battle she was predicted to lose.
The everyday commute to and fro from work, home and the hospital had not been easy. Kiara was an all-rounder. Waking up early to pack their tiffins and picking up Rehaan from school everyday. Julian was all over the place. Doing tasks half-heartedly and almost hastily to accomplish what Kiara did so effortlessly everyday. Rehaan saw that. He saw how the busy schedule and the sadness took a toll on his daddy. How his hero was struggling to make ends meet. His mommy did it so perfectly that he never really noticed how much work it takes to cook early morning breakfasts and fill in signatures in the journals. He wanted to help daddy. But daddy was so lost? Where was daddy? Was he ever listening? Where was the color in his cheeks and the energy that danced in his eyes?
She was ready to give in. She was fighting too hard for something that was already gone. But her two beautiful boys reminded her everyday of what she thrived for. Rehaan clung to mommy like she was life. She knew that Rehaan was the best thing Julian ever gave her and even imagining her baby boy somewhere a few metres away from her killed her. How can she just.. go? She knew that Julian couldn't find his blue tie for the sake of his life and Rehaan hated cheese like it had cooties. How would her two boys manage? She couldn't go there. Rehaan looked at her everyday with hope glimmering his eyes, waiting to take his beloved mommy so she can caress his messy mop of curls at night. And Julian? He always thought he is all composed and Iron-Man-y but the darkness that lay under his eyes and the puffiness that resided in his cheeks said otherwise. Her heart broke for him. He was trying to be so strong and supportive and she wanted nothing more to just get up and dance with the two of them like hooligans, but her bed was her coccoon and she wasn't allowed anywhere without it just yet. She will fight this war with the parasite that is cancer and she will win it. Fate could go to hell for all she cared because she will sucker-punch it when in few days from now she will be playing Lego with Julian and Rehaan.
Team Kiara-1
Team Cancer-0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything was happening too fast and too slow. One moment Kiara was smiling through her fragile lips and the next, there was a horrendous beep that echoed in the white chipped walls of the hospital. What was happening? Was it Julian screaming for the nurses or was it Rehaan? Who was crying? Doctors barged in, pumping the lifeless heart of the only woman these two big boys ever loved.
"Daddy please stop that sound! Why are they doing that to mommy?! Mommy wake up you haven't had your soup yet!"
Julian looked at his 6 year old through eyes that wouldn't stop weeping, looking at his strong boy crumble like powder, much like his own strength. This wasn't supposed to happen! They had to go to Italy yet and Kiara never completed task no. 9 of her bucket list! And she had 4 more months they said! This had to be a mistake!
The beep was gone, a tormenting silence settling amongst all the people in that room. Julian won't open his eyes, he didn't want to. He was reliving the moment they saw the sunset between the mountains. The moment Kiara said she had pictured all her life. An enchanting memory. A spellbinding picture. Rehaan won't stop crying but that moment was so precious, too precious to be shattered. His tears spilled into the gap between their bodies and in his now empty soul, a gut-wrenching absence that destroyed his heart. Rehaan wouldn't stop promising petty things that he thought would bring Mommy back. But Mommy was gone. She was so far away.
"I'm sorry."
The wind was knocked out of their bodies. Two words. Amidst those two words realisation had seeped in somewhere like poison spreading in the body. The two words that unleashed a series of gurgling screams from a very grown-up man. People say families of cancer victims are prepared for "these kind of things", but no number of lifetimes would ever prepare two freshly lonely boys to hear these two words. Everything was gone because she was gone.
Rehaan felt it. He felt the room go awfully cold and the warmth in his heart dying down like a dull campfire. The light in his life was suddenly gone. Why was everything black and white? Why was her body so blue? Mommy didn't even have her favorite soup yet! Who will tie my shoelaces? He ran to his mommy, shaking her hand to convince the doctors that she is in a mere slumber. Mommy didn't wake up! And why wouldn't daddy stop crying?! He never cried! Is Mommy gone? Oh the rash possibility! No mommy can't go! He made a deal with his "Big Friend" at the temple that he would keep her if Rehaan drank his milk everyday! And he did! Was his "Big Friend" a cheat? Why wouldn't daddy just get up and wake mommy up?
Julian saw his young one struggling to wake his mommy up. A ghost of a smile fell on his lips. Kiara always said Rehaan was like a koala clutching to her side. And now this koala was as lonely as him. Julian picked up Rehaan and hushed him, the duo's shadow falling on a lifeless body of the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. It was deadly silent. When had the doctors and nurses gone? His teary eyes glistened in the sparks of the dusk. That beautiful sunset reappearing again and shining light on the darkness that was suffocating the both of them. He could hear the air leave her lips and feel the wind frolicking her hair everywhere. It was a feeling he already missed. The emptiness was clear as day, eating away at two souls that may never seem complete.
Team Kiara-1
Team Cancer-10
And as the two favorite boys of Mrs. Kiara Penty stood, overlooking her defunct body, it was tough not to heckle at the irony. Although Kiara was gone that day, it was Julian and Rehaan that died even when they lived.
Author's note: This doesn't justify the pain of what people feel at all. It is so much worse. And it won't be okay for a long long time. But I hope someday,to whomsoever that lost the light of their life, you find it again.