Before Time (The Time Trilogy Book 1) (24 page)

My mind spun with what he had said. There were so many things that I wanted to tell him, share with him, but it was over.
How can this be possible?
I was trying to change my habits for him, and he couldn’t even wait for me. My mind reeled at what he had just said. He should at least give me a chance to make things right. After all, humans make mistakes, and they can make them right but he didn’t realize that, I guess. He thought better to end it; how weird.
This can’t end like this
, I thought. If he was trying to end it, then why would he wait for me in the park when he came to Pakistan in March?
Well, he won’t even remember me in March.

ME:
And yes, one last thing, you would’ve forgotten by March. I don’t think you would wait for me there.

Impassioned:
Leave that to me, please.

ME:
Okay, this is the last thing I’m going to ask you. Why are you coming to Pakistan now that we are not going to meet?

Impassioned:
I had to go somewhere, right?

ME:
Yes, but you wanted to go to Australia. You should go there now.

Impassioned:
As I said, please don’t tell me how to do things. I know what I have to do. Did I ever say that I want you to be there in the park?

ME:
Now, that was really rude.

Impassioned:
I was simply being realistic.

ME:
No, it wasn’t.

Impassioned:
Did I ever ask you to be there in the park?

ME:
No.

Impassioned:
Then why do you bother?

ME:
Okay, sorry!

Impassioned:
:)

As I said, there are so many things I will never be able to ask you. It’s not ego or something, I just can’t ask. If you want to spend time with me, you will move towards me yourself. I believe that. If they don’t, I won’t blame you or criticize myself. I tried :)

ME:
Be realistic, sweets!

Impassioned:
I make millions of errors, I’m not perfect at all.

ME:
Nobody is perfect.

Impassioned:
I never pushed my luck for anything. I just tried, like I tried with you. The moment your heart will start saying to you that you belong to me now, that would be the ultimate success, even if I don’t get to know it. If I deserve something, it will come to me, even if I don’t ask for it. Now, can you leave me please?

I didn’t deign to reply. That was too much information for me, and I wanted time to absorb all that. I didn’t want to stay online, though, so I quit mIRC and shut down my laptop. Plugging my iPod in my ears, I picked up my novel from the table and started reading it.

Chapter 13

My stomach grumbled loudly, and a pain shot through my abdomen and back, making me whimper. I tensed and clutched my legs together to hold off the pain, but the intensity only increased. I tried to ascend the stairs to go to my sister, my breathing slow and hard. Mom was in the lounge, watching the television.

“Mom!” I breathed out as I reached the last few steps.

“Onaiza!” she screamed, running towards me. Helping me upstairs, she made me sit down on the couch.

“What happened?”

“It’s the cramps and contractions again, Mom. It’s hurting me a lot,” I gasped.

“Let me get you some painkillers,” she said. She went into the kitchen and returned with a mug of warm milk.

“Here, drink this. Milk helps to neutralize the pain.” I took a small sip from the mug. It was oily and gooey, like Mom had mixed some medicine in it.

“What did you mix, mom?”

“Just a medicine to ease your pain.” Ugh. I made a face. It looked suspiciously like oil; whether it was vegetable oil or oil of any other kind, I hated it.

I took another gulp and let the milk burn down my throat into my quivering stomach. I wanted to throw up, but tried to stop myself, because the medicine in the milk would help me. I replaced the mug on the table beside the sofa and stretched myself on the couch, closing my eyes. The pain that was like a blazing hot iron down my abdomen.

I woke up two hours later. Grimacing, I sat up and rubbed my eyes for a better vision. I was better relaxed, but the reason I had cramps hadn’t gone away. I supposed I had to visit the lavatory. Five minutes later, after an unsuccessful visit to the lavatory, I was on the couch when my mom walked in.

“How do you feel?” she asked, worry imminent in her eyes.

“Still the same. It hurts.”

“I’m going to take you to the hospital as soon as your father comes home from the office.”

I nodded because I couldn’t trust myself to speak, and secondly, I had my teeth clenched tightly to prevent myself from hurting. I turned my attention towards the television where
New Moon,
the second movie in the
Twilight saga
,
was being aired. I had read the books a hundred times, but every time I watched the movie, it made me believe in something wonderful fated for my future more and more. There would come a day when it will be my turn to step into the limelight and live the way I was supposed to live.

“Come, Onaiza, it’s time to go,” Mom called out, breaking my reverie.

I sighed and tried to sit up. Aliza came out of the room then and helped me stand up. Soon, we were on our way to the hospital.

The doctor in the emergency asked my symptoms as he wrote on the tablet in front of him.

“She can’t eat anything because of the pain,” Mom said. Darn, I was trying to hide my eating habits from Mom, but I hadn’t been that successful, I thought. I guess she knew that I wasn’t well; otherwise I would’ve received a long lecture from her.

“Well, if you won’t eat how will you gather your strength? You need to eat and especially balance your diet with carbohydrates, proteins and fats. I’m prescribing these medicines and drips which will help lessen the pain.”

“Drip? As in canola and oil?” I asked, unable to register the fact that they were going to poke around me with needles.

I hated needles; well, actually, I had a phobia. Any kind of needle going into me freaked me out.

“Yes, it’s for your relief,” the doctor said kindly, but I shook my head.

“I feel fine, really. I don’t need a drip.”

“Really, young lady, if you don’t get the drip then we will have to operate on you.” My eyes grew round as saucers at that, and I started shaking my head. My mom stood up from the chair in front of the doctor’s table and came around to my side.

“Thank you, doctor,” she said, helping me to stand up. Outside in the lobby, she walked to the counter and handed the doctor’s prescription to a nurse. She scanned the paper and led us to a cubicle, which was surrounded by curtains on three sides. A bed was placed against the wall, and a metallic table beside it.

“I won’t let him put that needle in me,” I said and tried to move away, but my mom stopped me. I looked at her with pleading eyes.

She turned to my brother, who was standing right beside her.

“Go, call Aliza. She will listen to her.”

He nodded and left the room.

“Okay, she is coming. Now, lie down so that they can set the equipment.” My mom said. My heart pounding in fear, I lay down and watched the ministration of the compounder. I closed my eyes as another spasm of pain racked my body, and then everything was a blur. I knew that someone had massaged my wrist and stuck a needle there, but I hardly felt the pain. Right now, the most important thought in my mind was to let me sleep. I closed my eyes.

When I woke up again, the drip hanging on the side was halfway gone, and my sister, Aliza and my mom were sitting there, watching me. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t because of the weakness. I wove in and out of wakefulness while the drip ended, and then my mom went in to inform the doctor. Soon after that, we were on our way home.

Chapter 14

I looked at my surroundings as I opened my eyes. The thick black curtains hung from the window to my left side. I sat up in bed, and it was then I realized that I was in my mom’s room. How had I ended up here? I tried to remember, and then it hit me. I wasn’t feeling well and had slept here. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. This small gesture caused pain in my pelvis. I stepped back, breathing deeply and waiting for it to pass.

After regaining my breath, I stepped out of the room and looked around for my mom or siblings, but nobody was there. I checked the adjacent room, and that was empty as well. Where had everyone gone? Coming back to Mom’s room, I switched on the light and curled up into a fetal position. With eyes closed, I tried to keep the pain that was wracking my body at bay, but it wasn’t possible. Intense tremors of pain were making it difficult for me to breathe. I tried to focus, but I couldn’t, and there was nobody around me. My arm flailed across the bed, searching for my cell phone. Breathing through my mouth, I dialed Aliza’s number and waited for her to attend, praying that she would. After the fifth ring, she picked up.

“Where are you?” I squeaked.

“We came to I-9 with Mom,” she told me. I knew what this meant. They were at her in-laws place.

“It’s hurting a lot.” Another spasm, more intense than the previous one racked through my body. I screamed.

“Onaiza, hold on tight! I’m getting mom on the phone.” I heard the shuffling of the footsteps from her end and then the soft, lilting of my mother.

“Mum! I…c…can’t…breathe! Please come...home!”

“Is the same issue?” she asked, worried.

“Yes!”

“I’m coming home.” The line went dead.

I pressed my legs closer to my chest, trying to reduce the shocking pain that was taking over my body. I felt pressure in my lower body, and try as I might, I couldn’t relax. It felt like my lower body had a mind of its own and I had no control over it. I just wanted to loosen up, but that seemed like an impossible task. I didn’t know how I slept in that fetal position, because the next thing I knew, Mom was home and she was shaking me. I moaned and opened my eyes.

“Onaiza! Wake up! I’m taking you to the doctor.”

I nodded and sat up in bed. Mom tied my messy hair into a ponytail and then handed me my stole. My slippers were lying beside the bed.

Five minutes later, we were entering the hospital. Mom helped me inside because my legs were too weak. I sat down on one of the plastic chairs, but the mere practice of sitting was bothering my backside. I tried to shift my weight on both sides so that mom could hurry and get the doctor’s appointment.

We had a long time to wait, and then we entered a pungent, steely room. I wrinkled my nose against the strong smells. I listened to Mom as she told the doctor about the chronic constipation and the incessant pain I had been suffering from two days now.

The doctor listened to her carefully and then laid out the options that would be better for me. The first one I had tried already, but it didn’t help me at all. We were left with the second option; a minor surgery. Mom was quite apprehensive about it, but the doctor reassured that the surgery would forever get rid of the issue, so my mom agreed.

Surgery. Needles. Scissors. My mind reeled with these as my mother brought me outside to sign some papers for admitting me to the hospital. I found myself unable to say anything to my mom. They were going to poke my body with needles and syringes, like I was a bloody mannequin.
I won’t allow them, no way…no!
That was my last thought before I fainted.

The room was unfamiliar and dark. I looked at the freakishly white walls and unfamiliar, pungent smells tickled my nose.

Hospital!

That was when I remembered that I was in the hospital because Mom had admitted me here. I turned towards the left side and then saw her, sitting in a chair beside my bed with a worried expression on her face.

“Mom!” I called to her.

She jerked up from her chair and came near me, taking my hard, cold hand into her soft, warm one.