The Sin

 

“Give way! Give way!” shouted the driver as a patient on the stretcher was pulled from the ambulance by few sturdy men, and was rushed to the Emergency Unit at the Mongar Referral Hospital.

Everyone in the hospital watched with open mouth as they saw the patient in a horrible state. They saw her eyes and body twitch in uncontrollable convulsion as if possessed like the village shamans. She was in dead pain and foams dripped from the corner of her dark purple lips. Nobody moved a muscle. The hospital unusually became silent for a moment except the screeching of the roller of the stretcher being pushed over the cemented floor inside the EU.

After few agonizing hours, the Doctor came outside the EU and told those sturdy men that the patient was put out of danger. The men were glad to hear the news, but were taken aback as they were told that their patient was pregnant.

“She is 5 months 3 weeks pregnant,” declared the Doctor.

“Pregnant?” the men raised their brows and looked at each other.

“Who among you is her husband?” inquired the Doctor as he removed his mask and gloves.

“Hu-s-ba-nd?” stammered the men and looked at each other quizzically. Not even one among those four men nodded in agreement. They all shook their heads and told the Doctor they just found her while picnicking by a farm.

“So none of you are her husband…” the Doctor removed his glass and wiped it clean. He put back his glass and adjusted on his hawk like nose and said,

“It was kind of you men that she was brought here in the hospital on time. Had it been late, she might have died for she had consumed rat poison, most probably to kill herself. The baby inside her womb is unaffected. Thanks gentlemen.”

The men bowed back humbly with a smile across their face and left the ward. As the men walked out of the ward, they twisted their head and looked over their shoulder to have a glance.

She was pretty well now, lying flat on the hospital bed. She wasn’t moving a muscle. She might be around 24, the men thought. She looked healthy, strong with shoulder length brownish hair with curls at its end and was of medium height, attractive and beautiful. She was staring blank at the rotating fan above her head and wasn’t even looking as they left.

For four days, she laid on the hospital bed. Her eyes were rolling in quick succession as if to signal something but she didn’t speak. She kept on biting her lips. The Nurses and Doctors on duty could get nothing out of her. She simply kept quiet and not even bothered to look at them when questioned. No family, friends and relatives came to visit her and check on her, except the hospital staff on duty. She sat alone on the metal bed, lost in her own thoughts. Warm salty tears rolled down her cheeks. She mumbled from time to time but no one was there to listen to her mumblings.

As days turned into weeks and weeks into months, still there showed no sign of any soul visiting her. She ate and drank at times but never spoke. She lost her luster almost looking pale, her eyes sunken into the sockets and her lips cracked, for it lacked care.

She had lost her mother 3 years ago and her father had long abandoned her mother when she was in infancy. She had heard of her father through friends, living a comfortable life with another woman in the western part of the country. Ever since, she had lived hard with her mother seeing her through her graduation to her present employment in BPCL, as an Administrative officer. After her mother’s demise, it was hard for her to live a single life, but she managed through all trivial to have her own little life of wonders and happiness. Actually, she enjoyed living the way she was living, for she had a good job, good house and a carefree world. And then she met him.

“I love you and will love you with all my heart…” echoed in her ears. She remembered how she met and fell for her man. It was at her friend’s marriage party, she bumped into him. Crowds thronged to congratulate the bride and the groom. After the ceremonial tying of the knot, people gathered around to sing and dance in circular motion. She was there standing in the corner sipping wine from a well shaped glass, holding it gently trying to feel its smoothness between her cupped hands, her eyes scanning every corner of the room.

Then she noticed someone she never had before, dancing along with others. He was tall, taller than most men in the dancing crowd, with thick hair a bit brighter, and piercing brown eyes in a sculpted face. She hadn’t seen him around before, maybe he new to the place came here to attend the marriage ceremony she thought, but as soon as she saw him her heart skipped a beat. She stared at him as he danced, and she too noticed him glancing at her once or twice. Till the end, her eyes never left him.

“Tap…tap…tap” the rattling sound on her bed jerked her back to reality. The Nurse on duty was standing beside her, holding the bowl containing doses of medicines and injections.

“It’s time to take your iron tablet and Amoxycillin. Here is the water.” The Nurse handed her the dose of medicine and a glass of water. She gulped all at one go, feeling the bitter taste of the small red medicine down her parched throat. The Nurse left without a word pulling the door behind.

She got out of bed and walked around, arching her body, feeling little movement inside her womb. As she watched outside through the glass window, she could see people coming in and moving out, some with babies wrapped in beautiful blankets, some with toddlers, father running behind to grab if they ever fall. Her eyes swelled with tears as she moved her hand round her womb, thoughts of her past haunting her like a piercing dagger.

“He is Seldrup, my husband’s best friend,” said her bride friend, nudging her with her elbow to introduce her to him. Before she could open her mouth, her friend blurted, “She is my friend Peday and works in BPCL as an Administrative Officer,” and then her friend disappeared in the crowd. There she stood in front of him, frozen, though the room seemed unbearably sweaty for the room was packed, with people drinking, gossiping and dancing.

“It’s getting hot in here, would you like to go outside for some fresh air?” said he with a grin and took hold of her hand and led her through the crowd, out to the open balcony. She couldn’t still believe. A moment ago they were staring at each other as strangers and now, as if known for ages, were together sitting on the balcony sharing thoughts and dreams, all out of the blue. Her heart raced and all she could do was stammer whenever he threw glances at her. By dawn, both of them were together in her little cozy home.

Thus, began her love life with Seldrup, never wanting to be away from him. Seldrup too promised that he would be back to get her once he informed his parents about her. True to his words, Seldrup came back to her to take her away to Paro, to finally tie the knot. His parents had also come with him to warmly accept their son’s bride to be.

“Screech…screech”, a car stopped abruptly nearly hitting a child, who was trying to cross the road. “Oh my god!” she screamed inside, her heart pounding loudly, as a child nearly got hit by a car, far below her. A tingling sense passed through her veins.

“Whose child is it? Better take care of your child. Don’t let them stray from you” shouted the driver angrily and drove out through the hospital gate. She turned around and slowly paced back to her bed, her dented bed, creaking as she mounted on it.

“Why? Why? Why it has happened to me?” she cursed herself and pulled her hair hard, giving sharp pain on her scalp and threw strands of her hair everywhere on the bed and on the floor.

There are some things in life that are not planned. They just happen. What had happened to her, happened before she could realize. It was not meant to be. But the fate had such twist that the man she fell for, gave for and couldn’t live without was her brother. Step brother, from her father’s second wife. She was introduced to Seldrup’s parents when they had come to take her away to where her heart rested. In the midst of introducing each other she saw the whole story of his father unveiling. “No! That can’t be” she grumbled to herself. How could she accept the fact that her going to be father-in-law was her own father? When the truth dawned on her, she ran away from them never to be back and without giving a second thought she took to rat poison.

The unkempt hair makes her look weird in the hospital. She now loiters around the hospital building like a daylight ghost, talking to herself most of the time. She can be seen basking in the sun without feeling the warmth. She is 8 month 3 weeks pregnant now. She waits to be deported to a mental hospital once she delivers the baby.

“For I have sinned, I am ready!” is what has been scribbled on the wall above her.