Chapter 4
Vile Parle, 2.15 PM
Staying just a few blocks away from his home, she didn't even realize she had started running from her house in her sweatshirt and pyjamas, oblivious to the countless eyes on the road staring at her, judging her.
The ear-splitting sound of the doorbell kept echoing around the house as she rang it continuously before the door was opened to reveal a later wobbly looking figure, his eyes heavy and puffy, clothes dishevelled and hair that defied all laws of gravity. Looking at him, it seemed he was recovering from a pretty bad hangover.
Tarika entered the house and cast a look around. Empty bottles of whiskey were sprawled on the couch, a couple on the floor; and she sighed, shaking her head disappointingly.
"What is it, Tarika? Can't you just leave me alone for a few days?!," complained Vivek, rubbing his eyes as he tried to maintain his balance, adjusting to the surroundings. He was obviously annoyed by the fact that the world of isolation which he had recently befriended for reasons he alone found rightful, had been trespassed quite unceremoniously.
Holding him firmly by the elbows, Tarika made him face her. "Tasha's regained consciousness, Vivek. She has waken up, finally!" She declared, tears streaming down from her eyes, and Vivek's reaction was instant. Since the past week, Tarika saw the gleam, the emotion return back to Vivek's eyes, replacing the desolation, the radiance showing on his sombre face once again; and somewhere in her heart, she felt a different kind of energy spring up, positive and exultant.
"Sh-she has?," asked Vivek, his eyes glistening and Tarika nodded vigorously before they pulled each other in a tight embrace – a happy one after a long time.
"H-how is sh-she? Has she t-talked to any-anyone yet?," Vivek enquired in the most earnest tone he could muster.
"I don't know! Abhijeet just called and told me she's conscious. They are yet to go see her!," replied Tarika, shaking with utter happiness.
She suddenly wiped her tear-stained face, sniffing as she faced Vivek with a rigid expression. "Now, you have to make a promise. You'll gather yourself up, no more drinking, no more going in hibernation and no more sulking! Promise me!," she commanded her best friend in a strict tone, mixed with a bit of concern.
"Do you know how worried Freddy sir and ACP sir are? You haven't reported to the bureau since a week. Not bothering to answer calls, refusing to talk to people when they visit you, drowning yourself in bottles of alcohol; what is all this, Vivek? Is this the strength of your love? Is this how you'll face Tasha? She will be needing you the most, Vivek. And for that, you have to be strong and support her!," she entreated in a voice that sounded perturbing and protesting at the same time.
Vivek hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Tarika! Since the last few days, I was just not myself. You-you know I can't live without her!," he explained and Tarika managed a faint smile.
He gathered himself the next second, wiping his face clean of the dried tears and faced his friend. "But that won't happen again. I'll bring that courage in me and stand by my Tasha whenever she needs me! Now I won't let her go away from me, at any cost!," he said, smiling positively and Tarika beamed with pride.
"Let me just go home and change. Then we'll go and see her!," said Tarika before adding in a stern tone, "But before that, I want you to shave properly, wear some neat clothes and make yourself presentable. I want Tasha to fall in love with you all over again, when she sees you!," she winked playfully, and Vivek blushed in spite of himself.
Little did they know their ordeal had just begun..
City Hospital, 2.30 PM
A new ray of hope arisen in their hearts, ACP Pradyuman and Abhijeet made their way to the ICU. However, their joy was short-lived; they were shocked to witness the scene in front of them. Broken spirit bottles and some syringes lay on the floor, things on the side table pushed over and disorganized.
However, what disturbed them more was the mannerisms of the girl, half-lying, half-seated on the bed; screaming at the top of her lungs, her wavy hair covering half her face. She tried pushing away the nurse who held a syringe in one hand, the other hand occupied to hold the girl in place.
The assistant commissioner and his second in command looked at each other with an expression that conveyed clear shock, feeling themselves being pulled into a cavern of darkness as they tried registering the turn of events before them.
Tasha, now seated upright on the bed, had pulled out the intravenous needle going into her nerve, and was yelling wildly, trying to shoo away the nurse coming near her. "D-don't come near me! DON'T COME NEAR MEEEE! I-I'm not-not taking that inj-injec-injection! I AM NOT TAKING IT!," she shouted in an agonized tone, pushing away the aforementioned injection and it crashed down to the floor.
"Please, please just stay quiet! This injection is for your own good, dear. Please!," the nurse pleaded, mustering all her strength to hold Tasha at her place and making her lie down. "Doctor! DOCTOR!," the nurse called out, when all her attempts of calming the hysteric patient went futile.
"Nurse, what's going on? What's wrong with Tasha?," ACP Pradyuman wanted to know, still unable to comprehend the violent behaviour of his subordinate, and found it extremely difficult to process the scene he had just witnessed.
"I have no idea! Since she is out of coma, she has been going violent, refusing to take her injections or any other medication! I think only the doctor can handle her now," said the nurse in a concerned tone, stepping aside to prepare another injection for the patient.
Tasha, appearing to have simmered down a bit now that the nurse had left her, glanced in the direction of the two men standing, her breaths still coming raspy and erratic. She kept staring at them for a long time, a questioning look on her bedraggled face.
The occasions were rare when the assistant commissioner hesitated when approaching someone, getting that absurd feeling of distress at the back of his mind. He was known for his rigidity, his aplomb even while dealing with a menacing criminal. He hated it himself, hated being helpless, even in front of his juniors. Especially in front of his juniors.
When he walked near her bed, she still had the same confused look. Abhijeet followed shortly behind.
"Tasha?," he addressed her in his typical fatherly tone, while his heart shattered into tiny pieces, the sound of which was heard only by him.
Face contorted in a frown, Tasha kept staring at the two men for a few seconds before blinking in confusion. "Who-who are you?," she asked warily, leaning slightly backward in what seemed like a frightened manner.
The two cops were decidedly shocked. Looking at each other, they expressed the sudden blow devoid of a single word, a varied range of emotions exhibited in their eyes. Though they had been prepared for an unpleasant outcome of the accident, something like this was certainly not envisaged.
Gathering himself albeit arduously, ACP Pradyuman tried explaining, his voice oddly quivering. "Tasha? I-I'm ACP Pradyuman. ACP sir. This is Abhijeet sir. You are inspector Tasha. We-we all work together, in the CID."
He tried caressing her hairs affectionately, but she scooted away, still looking at him and the man standing behind with caution, before scanning the whole room with the same cautious expression. ACP Pradyuman sighed, shaking his head dejectedly.
"C-CID? What's that?," asked Tasha, with the doubt resembling to that of a five-year-old kid.
Before they could react further, the doctor arrived and Tasha presumed her previous state of extreme delirium and the entire ICU room was taken down by her shrills as the doctor got hold of her hand in an attempt to inject her.
"Nooooo! Doctor, doctor, please! I don't want to take that injection, please! I-I-I pr-promise I'll behave like-like a good girl; I won't trouble anyone. I swear! Pl-please doctor!," Tasha's fits of frenzy increased by the second, and even for the doctor of that high a calibre, she became difficult to handle.
"This injection is for your fast recovery, dear! With this injection, you'll get well soon, and then you can go home early. And you'll be able to sleep well. It will just pain a little, nothing much! And you are such a brave little girl, aren't you?," the doctor smiled warmly, talking to his patient in the most convincing tone he could muster.
"NO! NOOO! NOOOOOO! I'm sc-scared, doctor! That injection looks so scary! I d-don't want to take it. I DON'T WANT TO TAKE IT!," Tasha screamed again, bursting into a loud and bitter sob.
All this while, Abhijeet watched her, trying to fathom the sudden drastic change in the behaviour of the girl he had always known so courageous, someone who wouldn't twitch a nerve even when taking a bullet to her chest. Seeing the same Tasha getting hysteric over a mere needle was something he had never imagined even in the wildest of his dreams.
He took his steps backward, away from her as his heart continued becoming heavy by every passing second, his own agony looking to consume him.
After a few minutes of attempting to calm a defiant Tasha down, the doctor finally succeeded in injecting her with the tranquilizer and she winced in pain before closing her eyes. The nurse made her lie on the bed properly.
The doctor looked at the two cops, figuring the numerous emotions they garnered, and gestured them to follow him to his cabin.
"I understand quite well you must be having a lot of questions at this most, and all this must be difficult for you to digest. But officers, I'm afraid I don't have much of a good news for you!," the doctor sighed, explaining the reasons for Tasha's erratic behaviour to the two officers.
"What's wrong with Tasha, doctor? Why is she behaving so weird? Please, please tell us everything!," begged Abhijeet.
"Look inspector, like I said earlier, the accident has proved nearly fatal for Tasha. It's indeed a miracle – and your good wishes – that she has survived. But-," the doctor took a pause, taking a deep breath before he ploughed on.
"But what, doctor?," ACP Pradyuman asked.
"- but officers, the accident has caused severe damage to her brain, in turn affecting her memory. She is, I'm sorry to say, suffering from retrograde amnesia. She remembers nothing of her past life, who she is, her identity as a CID officer, nothing!," the doctor provided in a sympathetic tone.
ACP Pradyuman and Abhijeet looked at each other with expressions that conveyed plain worry and fear.
"Sh-she won't r-remember anything? Nothing?," Abhijeet enquired, his throat turning dry and tears starting to prick his eyes. All his memories with Tasha came crashing down upon him in that one moment.
"It's not like she won't remember. She will remember, but in bits and pieces. She may get bouts of hysteria and complete memory-loss irregularly. Sometimes, she will remember herself, even her people, her work, everything like a normal person. But that phase will keep appearing and vanish as it comes. Right now, she has become extremely vulnerable and scared of everything around her. This will continue, I'm afraid! And I don't know how long will it take for her to heal. It may take months, years or she may even remain like this forever!," the doctor finished.
Abhijeet closed his eyes at the last statement of the doctor, shaking his head vehemently to stop the tears from falling down. ACP Pradyuman had the same despondent features and he felt a lump in his throat as he asked, "What can we do, doctor, for Tasha to be normal again?"
The doctor smiled in his typical genuine demeanor. "All I can say, ACP sir, is that right now, the girl needs extreme care and affection. With this condition, she will hardly trust anyone and hence, it is important for her to have people around, to have someone who can trust, who will devote themselves to take care of her, to love her without any grudges. It is crucial for her at this stage, and officers, you have to see to it that she is not left ignored!"
"We'll take care of that, doctor. Thank you so much!," Abhijeet said in despair.
With heavy steps, they exited the doctor's cabin, and ACP Pradyuman crashed down on the chair nearby, finally letting go of the tears that had accumulated all the while. Abhijeet had just started consoling his senior when he saw three faces appearing through the hallway, all of them portraying expressions of hope and relief as they walked toward him, oblivious to the recent calamity that was to be bestowed upon them.
The girl among the three looked at him, a tired yet happy look on her face, apparently with the news of her childhood best friend having woken up from coma after a week. He averted his eyes, gathering the courage he would need to face her, to tell her the ultimate truth.
His gaze traversed to the boy beside her, and then to the middle-aged man, both looking relatively happy, after being burdened with thunderous clouds of trauma and agitation since the past few days. Once again, Abhijeet felt himself breaking from within.
Amidst the tragedy that had fallen upon them, he wondered how he would bring himself to reveal the truth to them. He was afraid, indeed. He was sure it would be a tremendous blow for them – much harder than even he himself or ACP Pradyuman had perceived. They had been, after all, much closer to Tasha than anyone else. He knew it would shatter them, completely, catastrophically.
He had the vision of Tarika slumping down on the floor upon learning her best friend of twenty-seven years could no longer remember her; all her memories about their bond having been wiped out clean from her best friend's mind. He shook his head to clear his head of the vision.
However, he knew the truth must come out, sooner or later. It couldn't remain a secret no matter how hard he tried. And it made sense if it was disclosed the sooner the better. Unnecessary delay had no place, in these circumstances.
Abhijeet released a deep breath, summoning himself as he faced Tarika, Vivek and Freddy, their smiling faces crumbling his soul deep inside.
A/N: Phew! This one was difficult, I must say. Sincere apologies if there are any mistakes. Abhijeet and Tasha's bonding shall be more prominently seen in the next chapter onward.