Regret

If was a hot day. My mother had been complaining about
her headache since the morning. Perhaps the headache was
due to the hot weather. I suggested consulting the doctor.
She appreciated my suggestion, but refused to go to hospital
alone. It was half past one. My mother and I stepped out of
the house in the scorching sun with an umbrella overhead,
both of us in the quest of hiding from the sun.
We went to regional hospital which was within the walking
distance fiom our house. We waited outside the doctor ’s
room, sitting on a bench which was kept in aisle. Two of
my neighbors were busy having a chat with each other,
which was heavily accompanied by frequent laughter. But
their laughter halted out of nowhere. At the other end of the
aisle, I could see some health assistants with a stretcher
trolley with a young girl lying unconsciously on it, who was
bleeding heavily. Her brother was also keeping his pace with
the trolley. “Hurry up and call the doctor ” one of the nurses
was shouting. The trolley passed swiftly by me, having a
drop of her blood trickled on my pants. She was taken to
the operation theater. Her brother was not allowed to go
inside the theater even though he wanted to. He approached
towards me, kicked the bench on which I was sitting, and
burst into tears. My mind fluctuated between the two: shall
I try to pacify him or shall I not? However, I did what a
human should have done then - I tried to pacify him and
persuaded him that the situation would get better. I could
hear somebody behind me whispering to the other guy that
she had had a gruesome accident.
After a while, her parents came running, tracing the path they
ran with their tears. Her father was in such an agony that he
had left his home, putting on two different slippers. I could
not help myself I also began to weep together with them-
They threw themselves at me and cried ‘Oh my daughter-
my Liza’. They wept ferociously. I tried to appease the
situation by coaxing them that their daughter would be fine
soon I could see her brother waiting impatiently’ moving to
 and fro outside the operation theater door My mother Came
out after the diagnosis. She was aghast by the melancholy
ambiance. She was unaware of what had happened. I told
her everything about that young girl. My words made her
cry. Suddenly, a nurse appeared from the operation theater
All of us stared at her with our curious eyes. “The patient
has lost too much blood. She is in dire need of the blood. Her
blood group is B negative which is rare. We have contacted
all the available blood banks but failed to find the blood of
the same blood group. Does anyone of you have the same
blood group? ” She was waiting for the answer. I looked at
my companions. Their pale faces grew paler. I didn't know
my blood group. I had no hopes that my blood group would
be B negative; after all it is so rare. The nurse returned
to the operation ward without a word. I had a disdain for
myself I knew that she was slipping away from our hands,
but there was nothing I could do. I was completely helpless.
I cried bitterly. When I closed my eyes, her bloodied face
haunted me. In the meantime the doctor came out with pale
face - a silence that made everybody silent. We could read
his face. “She is no more with us” his lips uttered in most
faint manner. Her parents and brother were out of bounds.
They cried bitterly. The agony was intense.
My mother and I hurried to console them. This went on for
hours. Finally her dead body was taken for funeral. My
mother and I returned home with heaps of emotions for the
unknown lady. I could not sleep well that night. The advent
of her helpless face in my mind made me incapacitated. I
fell sick for a couple of days. I went to the doctor in the
same hospital for the treatment. He said that my condition
was not so bad, but a blood test was preferred. ‘There is no
real need to panic ’, he said after having my blood examined-
‘And what about the blood group, doctor? ' I asked. Then
he replied ‘Your blood group is rarest of its kind.... It’s B
negative...- Safal Adhikari