It felt like I was sleeping, and then I realized, I couldn't breathe. Voices were calling my name but I couldn't move either. Something punched me in the chest, swift and hard, and something else, some foreign body was trying to stop any air from reaching my lungs. My brain immediately screamed, BREATHE! I couldn't wake up but my body convulsed against the liquid in my lungs, struggling for just one wisp of air. More voices, and something turning my head to the side as whatever it was, burned like acid coming up.
My heart hammering inside my chest, my eyes started to open, one after the other. Rolling around as much as I tried to control them, but at least allowing me to feel the rest of my somehow, very cold body as well.
"Divya?" The voice was soft and reassuring, everything opposite to what I was feeling. "Divya, can you hear me?" The voice cooed again and my head turned towards it. Why couldn't I wake up from this?
"Oh my God, she's not dead is she?" A girl yelled from farther away. Indi maybe?
"Betee, (daughter) Divya?" That was definitely Papa.262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkg2x8PxirW
Something warm was draped over me and a warm hand rubbing my cheek brought me back to reality as my eyes became fully aware and focused for only a second on the man leaning over me, with one hand on my cheek and one behind my head on the brick.
"Welcome back," Sunil smiled, his cropped, black hair dripping down on me, his face decadent and gleaming in the afternoon sun. The overwhelming burning in my chest only caused me to cough and hack at him but he simply leaned my body over on to my side again, allowing what I now realized was water, to escape my lungs without as much of the burning sensation. My eyes closed again at the sudden heaviness in my head and I could hear Indi and Papa yelling at me in the background to wake up.
"Divya," this time, his lulling voice sounded as if it was in my head, it was so close. "Divya, I need you to wake up." My hand reached up, reaching out for that calmness his voice held, but barely making it off the ground. My head was spinning so fast all I wanted was to have that voice wrap itself around me. Wait, was I dying? Was this what it was like? My mother's face flashed behind my eyes and I started to panic.
"Papa..." Was it him or was it Sunil? I managed to get my eyes to open once more and there he was again, smiling down on me like some angel of rescue. I couldn't be dying, he's still here.
"Let's get her inside!" Papa shouted and I was being lifted into the air effortlessly, tawny arms clutching me close just as I'd imagined. His body and clothes were wet, freezing against my already cold body. "Sunil," I clumsily lifted my arm and wrapped it around his neck for more support and to feel the warmth of his skin there. I brushed at his cheek, trying to feel my fingers against his tough whiskers, but the tingling and tthe cold overwhelmed all other feelings. I think he smiled at my finger in his face, but I couldn't tell from all the swirling colours around. It didn't help my focus that my chest and throat still burned so badly I could still barely breathe, panting as he set me down on my bed in the pool house.
"I'll call the doctor!" Papa shouted and ran from the room. I could feel Sunil's warm hand slipping away from my now shivering body and I immediately stopped him, clutching it close to me, my eyes closed and my entire body painfully tight and tense as I lay on my side. This position seemed to hurt the least.
"Didi?" I could hear her come closer, but couldn't bring myself to open my eyes. I didn't want to let go of the warmth I'd leeched on to, what felt like the only thing keeping me from losing my insides and suffocating from all the shivering. My body shuddered, feeling like it would implode.
"Indi..."
Suddenly, there was another hand, on my cheek, soft and rugged, gently brushing heat back into my skin.
"Divya," he knelt down beside me, squeezing the hand that wouldn't let him go. "You're okay now, you're safe." He stroked my wet hair again. "Inderjit is here for you. You've given her a pretty good scare."
"Didi, are you okay? Can you hear me?" She came up to the other side of the bed to put a hand on my back. "I'm sorry Didi, I should have been here." I could hear the anxiety in her voice as she also tried to make me feel better. I could only squeeze his arm tighter, not letting go. If he left, my chest might actually cave in. The sensation it held was almost overwhelming. All I could do was moan at the residual burning in my throat and lungs, coughing as I exhaled.
"Divya, I need you to be okay," Sunil whispered again, so quietly I barely caught it. His voice fading in and out as he spoke. "I need you to come back. Who will... for your father? ... won't be able to come back. I'm counting on your help. Divya, please give me a ... are going to be different. For both of you. You just need to... and I'll... He needs you," he paused for a long moment. "I need you."
"Sunil?" Indi gasped at something I couldn't see.
"Sunil..." I shifted so my head so it rested against his forearm, somehow the tightness in my chest causing my head to feel like it was in a vice. What was he saying? Something about my father?
"Divya," he was so close now, I could feel his hand in my tangled hair, his breath on my cheek. "Please come back to me..."
"Honey!" As soon as I heard Papa's voice, Sunil stood up, ripping his hand away from me, leaving a cold spot and causing the shivering to return. "Honey, I have the doctor!"
That was quick. The thought flashed through my mind as Sunil backed away and Papa and the doctor moved in. It was like the further he got, the colder I became, my body on the verge on convulsions.
"Divya? Didi?!" Indi was so worried and all I wanted to do was stop shivering and sit up, to tell her that I was pretty much okay. But there was no fighting what my body was going through, and I knew I would have to ride it out, however long that would be.
"Divya?" The doctor took up Sunil's place, his hand not as gentle as it brushed my forehead.
"How is she? Is she going to be okay?" I could hear that same fear in my father's worried voice.
"Divya, can you hear me?" The doctor asked again. I recognized the voice of Dr. Shamsheer Bishay anywhere. He'd been our family doctor since I could remember and was always on call for the Sankars.
Struggling, I opened one eye, just half way, only enough to catch Sunil as he stood vigilantly at the bedroom door. My chest relaxed a bit seeing him there, but only tightened again as he nodded in my direction, turned and left.
"No..." The word came out as a barely a whisper. He was all the sanity I had left in that moment, I didn't know what was happening or what to do. I couldn't even control my own body, but he seemed to be the calm in all of this.
"Here, I'll give her something for the shivering and ..." I felt a prick on my shoulder and for the second time, everything went black.262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5IqOboYMR
