Chapter 5: The Miracle of Love’s Lesson

It was already 4 pm and she knew she had to be back by 6. Sallie was very tense. Driving fast, she wanted to reach quickly. She did not want to delay the process any further.

While driving, she was reminiscing about the moments of intimacy she had with Mandy some years ago. The fulfilment of love and the sacredness of the touch and feel. The idea of loving and being loved with a pure heart and soul.

With a smile on her face, she started enjoying the rest of the car ride thinking of him. She reached the hospital and parked the car. When she reached the third floor outside Mandy’s room, she saw his mother still anxiously waiting beside Mandy. Sallie approached her with more confidence this time.

“Oh Sallie! How glad I am to see you back! You are looking much more relaxed than in the morning. You bring peace to my soul and a tiny flicker of hope burns inside me that you will bring my Mandy back to me. ”

Sallie smiled sadly, quietly hoping to create some magic with the aura of love that burned in her heart for Mandy.

Sallie turned slowly towards Mandy … maybe he was waiting for her … who knows … when she was interrupted by the gentleman she had met in the canteen earlier in the day. He peeped inside and entered with permission.

“Hi Dear!” He approached her and with a bright face beaming with a smile. He informed softly that Nancy was miraculously out of coma about an hour ago. He believed that it was his perseverance and touch that had created the magic.

“Wow, it’s such a lovely news,” Sallie was genuinely happy for him. Her faith in the power of love was doubly reinstated. After wishing the gentleman warm and happy days of togetherness, she waved him bye. She quickly went close to Mandy’ to do whatever she could for one last time.

When the touch of soul is mythical,

And the touch of hands is magical,

When the souls intertwine and creates a bond that is spiritual,

Such a touch is definitely potent and not merely physical.

The vibes produced through a loving touch are strong enough to reach the core and purify the flesh of its sorrows, miseries, illness and trauma.

Sallie had quietly locked the door from inside. There was no one in the room except the two of them. The dusk had set in, ushering the end of yet another day, but not any other day for Sallie and Mandy. It was a day when their love was being put to test. The sun was gradually settling beyond the realms of the horizon. Its angry yellow glow had mellowed to yellowish orange and was slowly turning to crimson hues closer to the fiery colours of the blood. Sallie sat gazing at the deepening sun through the window unmindfully.

Sitting beside Mandy,

With a sun setting outside,

I can’t recall a better time.

Mind mazes,

Day dazes,

Eyes hazes,

Strikes crazy.

Time is slowing down,

And life is coming to an end,

Please Mandy, get up from bed.

Let the misery of our lives end,

Like you are sleeping on the red roses,

Determined to fight the struggles that life poses,

Wake up!

Shake up!

Let’s make up!

Sallie goes close to him and whispers in his ears, ‘wake up, rise and shine. The world is waiting for you. I am waiting for you with open arms.”

Sallie gently kissed his forehead, his lips and rubbed her nose against his cheeks gently.

“Talk to me, Mandy, this is not the Mandy I love. My Mandy is full of sunshine, laughter and melody; he is vivacious, handsome, strong and energetic. He hates wasting time lying on bed,” she whispered a string of endearments and poured her love-filled words sweetly in his ear. She gently placed her hand on his hand that was painfully pinned down with the sharp needle of the cannula. She warmed his cold palms with her touch, careful not to tug at the cannula or displace it. Time and again she anxiously looked at his face, his closed eyes for any sign of life, for any flicker of movement, for any recognition of her closeness.

She gently placed her ears on his left chest where the heart beats, taking in the regular beat of his heart — that heart which she owned and where she resided like a queen not many years ago. She tried all ways to be close to him, to give him the feel of the warmth that she felt in her heart. The fire of passion, that engulfed them in the moments whenever they were close to each other

Mandy, “I love you,” please come back to me from whichever land you have gone visiting. Come back and relate your experiences and maybe someday we shall go there visiting together. How about that!”

But sadly, there was still no sign of hope in Mandy’s listless body. His hands looked frail and pale as Sallie gently placed them back on the bed. Sallie could feel a warm burst of tears creeping up her eyes and eager to rush out and overflow her flushed cheeks.

She seemed to be at her patience’s end. She had hoped for a miracle when she overcame her hesitation and touched Mandy intimately within the confines of the hospital room like she used to when they were together in the olden days.

She stared at Mandy, got agitated, felt helpless, paced up and down the small room all the time her eyes on Mandy, keen to detect some feeble sign of recovering. But each moment passed bringing in fresh heartbreak.

She decided in a burst that she could not take in any more. The wretched feeling in her heart was eroding her senses. She suddenly decided to leave.

Rushing out of the room, she looked at Mandy’s mom’s face and at Chan’s face which were still full of hope, murmured a low apology and left abruptly to everyone’s surprise. It was 5.45 by her watch.

Sallie started the car and left the hospital. About a kilometre from the hospital, on her way back home, she received a call from Chan. She clutched her phone close to her ears and heard those much awaited, prized words, “Sallie, Sallie, Mandy woke up.”

Sallie slowly took her car to a quiet bend and stopped and collapsed on the wheels and broke down, crying pitifully. These were the tears of joy, relief and agony of love. She took a U-turn, and headed for the hospital again, “I won’t repeat the same mistake, Mandy. I won’t leave you again this time. We are once more alive in love. Destiny separated us but no more. Love shall triumph this time. She was filled with a strange joy of union with her first love.”

She wanted to change her fate, her destiny, the lines of her palm.

She knew that they had headed in different ways and wanted to be away from each other, but all the while their souls were deeply connected. “I want to live a soulful life. Oh God, please give me strength to make the correct decision!”

At around 6 pm, Sallie reached the hospital, parked the car, with a smile and spring in her gait, she rushed eagerly to see Mandy, talking and smiling.

She saw the joyful faces of Chan and Mandy’s mother, sitting beside him. With a bolder attitude and more carefree spirit, Sallie went close to Mandy and took his hand in hers. Mandy’s eyes opened, and he gave her a bright smile.

The moment overwhelmed Sallie and even before Mandy could make a feeble attempt to murmur something, Sallie gushed out, “I Love you Mandy. I want to be with you.”

There was silence in the room. And time stood still. Sallie was in a newly discovered world thinking about how fate had always been unfair with both of them. Just then her phone shattered the silence and this time she had forgotten to put it on silent mode. It was Peter. And he was asking anxiously where she was. Sallie looked at her watch. It was already 6.30 pm. She was jolted out of her make-believe fairy tale world into the harsh reality. Peter and Bianca’s faces surfaced in her mind. A preoccupied Sallie received the call and replied in a calm voice that she was on her way back home.

Mandy’s eyes lost their sheen upon hearing ‘her way back home’. Mandy just gestured Sallie to leave with a feeble wave of his hands and as he closed his eyes a drop of tear trickled down his face. Mandy’s mother tried to stop her but Mandy gestured not to do that. She sank back in her seat. They both realised that Sallie had people waiting for her, that she belonged to a different world now and it was not possible for her to sever her connections with the other world howsoever they both wanted.

With a heavy sigh Sallie dragged herself out of the room. There was a lot of pain in her heart as if she was leaving a part of her with Mandy. Stepping out, she encountered a dead body taken out from the adjacent room. She rushed inside where she found the gentleman sitting there torn and shattered, deeply grieving the passing away of his beloved.

Sallie made an attempt to be stronger and tried to console him but in vain. They both held hands as if to offer strength to each other as they trudged slowly along with the stretcher carrying the body.

Some love stories never get completed. They understood each other’s agony. Two strangers felt connected by a common pain. The pain of unfulfilled love and sadness of living a life without the loved one beside them united their hearts.

The dusk gave way to night, a night of broken dreams, broken promises and broken souls … but a sparkle of love spread a mellowed light, the light of beauty of hearts strung together in a pure feeling of cherished moments and lived and unlived dreams.