1 The Doors To the Hell...

The thoughts of my first day into that horrendous hall flashing through my memory made me break into cold sweats without my consent. When i first entered the hall with my professor 6 years back , the cots arranged in the hall glimmered like headstones under moonlight. The whispers of people lying in the cot pulled me towards them like an invisible string chilling my spine. The one whisper that turned to a strong voice was that of a little girl of age 6 lying with a blue gown on her begging me to save her. She was just a little kid who did not even get a chance to hold her parents hands and bid a bye before getting on a school bus. I walked slowly towards her and took the medical chart that was hanging from the cot. My heart sunk and it struggled to get out from the quick sand baeting thick and heavy. My heart skipped a beat or two just by looking the cause of pain of this lad who had been through the hell her entire life. Who to be blamed when a little girl who had never touched cigarette suffered from stage IV pulmonary cancer. When Lord Yama was knocking her doors she was still hoping to escape the house from Him to live a life the she did not even knew how it'll look like. The head of mine that bent before her in shame was never lifted even after her passing away.

Just because the word "died" be replaced by the term "passed away" to be euphemistical, never in this era or next will man consider it to be a good word. From great heroes to roadside pauper has the 2 in common; birth followed by death. The life in between them is supposed to be there but for that kid, it was shorter than expected.

Though I was thinking about the cold memories the elevator paused in my destined floor with a beep opening its door which I see as the doors of hell. As soon as I entered I was greeted by the languid smell charecteristic to the hospital. I entered the ICU ward first to check on my patients present condition and administered required supplementary drugs and pain killers to them. When I was instructing the nurse regarding the medication to the patient in front of me Riya ran towards me with her trademark costume consisting of a pair of torn jeans and a T shirt with her lab coat on. She was holoding a sandwich wrapped in white paper and wearing a mask while entering the ICU. She walked towards me and handed the food to me " Claire, I know you would not have had your breakfast as usual. Grab this sandwich and boos your strength before meeting him today. I think he is not in a good day today".

I grabbed the food from her " I really wonder if you really are a doctor when you even bring food inside the ICU while wearing a mask for not contaminating". Riya humorously replied " I wore the mask so that I don't eat it before giving to you". She stepped out and the doors closed behind leaving myself and the nurse with a man in his 30 lying in coma.

After seeing all the patients I left the ward and went to the staff room in one end of the corner. The room as usual welcomed me with a great mess of eaten pizza covers and cola bottles and unfolded blankets lying in the camp cot. As I entered the room, I cleaned the mess slowly and reached my desk. I sat for a while thinking about what to do next and how to face the fire dragon in the room situated in the other ennd of the floor. I could feel his frightening auro even here that could numb my limbs.

I have been working as his assistant for past six years in his research to cure those hundreds of people lying in the ward. Though we were not able to fugure the exact cause and cure we always felt like entering a black hole filled with ,mysteries that no one can realise....