“Hello, Raja, are you ok, can you hear me.” Preash enquired about Raja’s state amidst Sweety’s scream and GOD’s drivel.

The place became silent, symbolizing eagerness to know Raja’s state.

His cry was audible to everyone around, he was trembling out of pain.

They waited for his response.

“He will be ok,” said Elango.

“How do you know that?” Preash asked politely in a quavering voice.

“I know, I am telling you I know” Elango shouted.

As time was passing Preash was regaining his true nature slowly.

All of a sudden, when a person is put into a horrible situation, you can’t expect much from them. In that case, it’s all about why and what. Why I am here? Why me? What went wrong? Dominates the mind. It was the same for Preash too.

He accepted his present reality and tried his best to be calm. He knew it was out of his control. He was going through an emotional roller coaster yet, he tried again to know Raja’s state.

“Raja, Raja,” Preash called

“Yes,” Raja replied. It was his first response after the terrible pain he suffered.

“How do you feel Raja?” Sweety asked out of concern

“I don’t feel…I don’t feel my legs,” Raja replied

“What?”

“What?”

“How?”

“Why?”

So many shocking reactions and queries were thrown at Raja.

Raja replied with a mournful smile. “It’s better than feeling that terrible pain”

Everyone around Raja opted to be silent, they didn’t even try to comfort him. They were neither in a position nor in a mindset to do that.

“Both the legs or single” What did they cut off? Left or right. GOD asked and laughed.

“Shut up, you idiot.” The old man yelled at GOD

“I don’t feel both of my legs,” Raja said controlling his tears.

“We are tied up, aren’t we? It would be a result of lack of movement.” Preash said, he wasn’t sure but he felt something more horrible act has been carried out yet he tried to give some hope to Raja.

“The man injected something forcefully, I felt extreme pain at the beginning, but now I feel numb,” Raja said.

After a pause Raja began to speak again “A piece of advice from my side, please don’t shout and yell at them, I did the same mistake when I entered this space.”

“Did you?”

“Yes, I did, I tried, I thought my friends were playing with me. In the beginning, I thought it was a prank.” Raja said with great regret.

“That’s what I and Elango are saying from the beginning. You didn’t listen to us.” Arivuchelvi said.

“So Arivuchelvi, are we next” Preash asked

Original Copyright © Sukanya Pon