The last Gift
The clock strikes midnight, and that means it's now officially the day after the funeral…. That means it's now also officially 90 hours since it happened. 90 hours and I still can't believe it…
In these 90 hours I ask so many times to him…... Why he did that but….. He never got to answer…..
The doctors said it was instant – that he felt no pain….. a wound on his left side of chest succeeds to take his sole out from his body….
From last 90 hours I haven't seen his eyes….. I can't do anything without seeing those eyes…. They was my inspiration my strength to live my life…. The only relation I was having was taken leave from this world…..
I hear it happening again and I spin around, wondering where I'll see his body this time…...
I saw him near Kitchen slab eating his favorite cookies hiding from me… no I just saw him near to my cupboard ohhh no he is stolen my credit card again….. I move forward to snatch it from his hand…. But I hear his voice from his room….. I moved there and found him in his room – just slumped in the chair with his favorite novel…...
I'm getting too old for this… Too tired…. I can't do this one more time….
I hear it again….. Louder…... And realize that it's at my door…..
Somehow I make my way up the door and look through the hole in the door…. It's Vivek…...
I open the door…
"Vivek tum yaha" My voice is so quiet I'm surprised he even hears it….
"Sir, yeh kuch chije hai, aap ko deni ko kaha tha ACP sir ne…"
This conversation isn't making any sense to me…. I stair him blankly…
"What?" sound comes out from my lips…
Vivek hands me a carton…... "won naya officer join ho raha hai toh desk clean karna….. "
I still don't know what he's talking; my mind is not processing words….. but I take the carton and utter "Thank you."
He nods and simply says, "bye sir take care," before loping down the walkway… I stair his back for some time…..
He doesn't know what really happened.… No-one does….
The public knows a CID officer was killed in the line of duty…. A handful of the people in our office know that the Officer was killed by an extremist trying to kill me…. They don't know that he saw the gun and jumped in front of me to take the shot….
And I'll never tell them… why because it's a return birthday gift given to me by my best friend on his birthday….. and I don't want to share it with any one…
A gunshot voice followed with big ahhhh came out from his mouth… those visual once again come in-front of my eyes…. And carton fall down from his hand… a photo frame pops out from the carton…. And I saw those eyes those smiley eyes….
"boss kaha ho tum…. Jaldi karo hume late ho raha hai…."
Ohhh he is calling me… I am late…. He must be hungry… I started taking steps ahead…..
"boss jaldi karo na…. please"
I move ahead and found same smiley face in front of me…. Extending his hand towards me…. "boss bohot bore ho raha hue yaar…. Please aajao na…."
I smile back and extend my hand and take steps towards him….. behind me I heard the sound of thud sound…
I saw my body rolling down from stairs… it stopped just a step away from me….. I turn my face and found he is smiling… He extends his hand…
I found myself smiling with tears… yes in last 90 hours first time my tears are rolling down on my cheek…. And my lips are smiling….
I move ahead and my hands meet with his hand…..
ohhh yes finally I meet to my Daya….. and our journey started together again…
Note: this story ends here…. Please don't tell me to continue it further…