She lay in her bed wide awake, the clock kept
on the side table showed the time as 3 a.m. She picked up her phone and checked
the message folder for any new messages. She kept glancing at her phone even
though it disappointed her every time. Her impatience was growing with each
passing second, and she didn’t know how much more she had to wait. She decided
to divert her mind; she plugged in her earphones and started her playlist. As
the first song rolled out, she smiled. It was the same song which HE had composed for
her 3 years back. She remembered the lyrics by heart and she knew he meant every single word he had sung. As one song after another kept playing, her
emotions kept changing. It was not the playlist of songs, but a playlist of her
most precious and cherished memories. She remembered every moment they had
spent together till now; the love, the fights, the leg pulling, the pranks, his
illness and his ongoing fight between life and death.
He had schizophrenia. She remembered how every
night she used to be awake for him, to help him get over the visions and
sounds, how she managed to stop him from harming himself, even though she was
miles away from him. Every night she used to wait for his goodnight message to
be sure that he had slept, and on nights when he was in I.C.U., surrounded by
doctors who desperately tried to revive him, she used to pray and wait for his
friend to update her regarding his condition.
Her whole world had turned upside down when she
got to know about him. She was scared; scared for him, scared for them, scared
thinking how he will get out of this, scared for his future; but she knew she
was his only support. She had to be strong for him. And that, she did. She
became strong for him; the strength she displayed was something which surprised her. Where did she get this strength from? She didn't know. May be this was
the strength of their love; the love she had for him and more than that, the
love he had for her. At times when he
had memory lapses due to the medication, he used to forget everything, but he
never forgot her, she was the first one, he would text in such situations and
he remembered the connection they shared, even if he forgot their relationship.
He still used to propose her every single time during that phase. That was the
depth of his love. She knew no one could ever love her more than him, she was
blessed and she knew it. She decided that no matter what happens, she would never
let schizophrenia snatch him away from her.
Her phone vibrated and with trembling fingers
and racing heartbeat she scanned through her inbox.
“He is fine now, his pulse rate is normal.
Would be discharged in few hours”
She sighed in relief as one more night gave way
to the morning light, and one more battle they had won over. But it was still a
long way to go; many more such battles had to be won over. She believed in
herself and more than that, she believed in him and the love they shared.
She was Shakti, the power which gave him
strength to win over his fears; the power which protected him from all the
harm; the power which guided him in his problems; the power which made him win from
death; the power which gave him back his life.
