Words Count- 1700
Attached Song - STAY
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[ Surfraaz Mehta]

  "Neha, are you ready yet?" I tapped my black shoe restlessly on the floor, as I checked my black suit with a white shirt underneath. A black tie with cut mirrors of small parallelograms fit on it. A metallic silver cloth along with a white rose perfectly plunged inside my breast pocket. 

I saw her coming down the stairs in a silver sequin ruffles lehenga, paired with a multi-coloured tahitian pearl and diamond necklace, a silver rose ring on her right hand forefinger and earrings of the same collection made her look pulchritude.

"You are looking out of the world." I exclaimed as she stood by my side.

"We are late. Come on. Step on it!" I rushed to hold her hand." As I held her finger, I stopped.

"You still have temperature?" I mumbled, that sounded more like a query. What's with this recurring fever?

"You sure, you are fine?" I asked again for the umpteenth time, from the last two days.

"I'm really fine. It's just that I am having heavy bleeding, so I had to take a bath and change again. It got me delayed." She answered, trying to sound energetic. Though, she was drastically failing at it.

"Is it normal?" I asked, startled.

"No, it isn't. Hormonal imbalance, maybe. Don't worry. I am alright. If I don't feel fine, we will go to a gynaecologist while coming back. Let's go." She nudged me.

"Neha, you don't look alright." I whispered as I cupped her heated up face. As my glance took in her petite figure, I realised how much weight she has lost in such a short duration. I have seen her clutching her throbbing head all over the day too, but I had no idea what was wrong with her.

But, something was definitely wrong with her.

We rode to the venue. I was gossiping with some of the guests, when Kshiraj and Priya entered. All this while, I could feel Priya's pointed stare directed towards Neha. Then, I saw her excusing herself to talk on a phone call. I followed her to ask about Neha when I heard her hushed speech. But, I only could make out the word 'ambulance' from all the conversations. What is she up to?

The dance had just started to vibe the ceremonious night, when Neha was going to give her gift to the new couple. But before she could climb the stairs to reach the stage, she fell. I hurried to her rescue, only to be halted by Priya.

I saw Neha, lying on the grass field thankfully, she wasn't physically injured, but unconscious. Everyone was flocked around her.

"Shay, what happened to her? She was telling me about abdominal cramps and vomiting her guts out, a moment ago." Saanvi inquired.

"When exactly that occurred?" I asked back.

"An hour ago." She mumbled, after thinking a little too much. Her parents were concerned and were getting worried.

But, now I was finally connecting the dots. It all started with those two females, Sunita and Monu. And, the whole hospital in their contacts was suffering.

In a fleeting minute, I saw an ambulance approaching. Priya knew all of it. I looked towards her direction, to see her comprehending something strongly.

Soon enough, I saw Dr. Vyom run out in his surgical gown, face shield and full gloves towards Neha. A group of senior doctors rushing out with him. Tension was what wrapped all of us. Though I felt bad for my sister's ruined reception, my heart was unstable seeing Neha in such a condition. One after other kits were being opened, tested and disposed of. I asked Neil's parents to call off the reception and they did so, understanding our situation.

"What do you diagnose of her condition?" I asked, seeing the  experienced doctors led by Dr.Vyom, performing Antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and IgM-capture ELISA to confirm the ailment.

"Shay, it's not that good. We consider her condition as MVD. Marburg Viral fever. She is critical. You too get tested, you might be infected too." She stated.

"That's rare. How are you so sure?"

"She is having a high fever, consistent headache, vomiting, nose and vaginal bleeding, noisy breathing, and not to forget, the rashes on her back which is a distinct feature in ebola and marburg fever only." She informed. How come I didn't notice them early?

"Don't blame yourself, Shay. You know, MVD's clinical diagnosis is really hard. I suspected it only because I've come through these types of cases during my internship in Germany among the children in the paediatric ward. We don't usually face these cases in India." She added, knowing my inner turmoil.

I too got tested and was waiting for both of our results.

At the length, her reports came positive, while mine were negative. She was isolated in the ICU, with an Intravenous fluids - (IV) injected into her system for rehydration.

"She fainted from extreme blood loss. Keep the blood of her blood group ready all the time. Blood loss is common in MVD, and please take care of her fluid intake. The fatal ratio is high, so be careful." Dr. Vyom spoke.

"What's her survival ratio?"

"Less than 30%" He replied, asking me to isolate too as tests often come negative till the onset of symptoms of the MVD. In the meantime, I received a call from Dr. Asmita in Neha's phone.

"Hello." I mindlessly spoke.

"Is it Dr. Surfraaz?" She asked, astonished.

"Yes, Asmita. Dr. Neha is admitted in the ICU." My heart clenched as I said those words. Her lifeless body, lying limp on the bed flashing in my eyes. But, her next words robbed me of my breaths.

"Sir, please tell her that Dr. Parul is no more." Her breath hitched at the end, as frequent sobs erupted from her mouth from the opposite line.

"I will inform her. Stay strong, Asmita. Try to isolate the infected ones as soon as possible."

Fear was settling a disturbing feeling in my heart. I would toss the world upright and left, but won't let anything take her away. Not even this fatal disease.

Four days later, I was also tested positive. So, I moved in with Neha and we were currently isolating together. My plight wasn't as terrible as hers, maybe because of the variant strain. I was grateful that none of our family members were infected. As per what I have heard, our hospital was sanitised neatly, and almost 9 were found to be tested positive. Out of which, we have already lost two.

After the involvement of police and investigations of medical staff about the zero patient or host, it was found that Monu's husband was a bondage labour in the mines of Uganda, Africa. He had died a month ago, leaving behind his infected family of two. All and all, Mona's pericarditis was a symptom of MVD, led to a severe cardiomyopathy, that scarily snatched her life away along with two of our own. Dr. Parul and Meena Ji, the head nurse.

I saw Neha drowning in her dreamland as blood drip by drip launched into her body. I knew, there was no treatment of this disease, but If a damaged valve can be repaired, why can't we hope for the best.

Hence, we were ready to hold onto this excruciating pain, until it ends one day.

"Are you feeling alright?" I caressed her hair as she gave away a lethargic yawn. A weak smile bloomed in her pale face.

"Good. And you?" She questioned, delighted.

"Best as ever." I haughtily showed off, as a loud laugh spluttered out of her. I missed her laughs and our silly fights. I saw traces of blood in the corner of her mouth.

"My gum is bleeding again." She pouted cutely and I couldn't resist myself from hugging her closer after I witnessed her paining fragile heart behind this facade of courage.

I have heard her cry every night in agony holding her abdomen. I have seen her zoning out once in a while, since the day she got to know about her colleague's death and apparently, I knew why she was behaving the way she does.

Because, every night her gloves clad hands held onto mine tightly as she sleeps. That tightness of her grip told me her fears everyday without any words and those tears of agony narrated to me how much she wanted to fight this in a bolster way to live her life longer. But, she was unable to because yet again, the one who dealt with blood all day long was shit-scared of seeing her own blood, that screamed in her ears of her upcoming fatality.

Though being doctors, we handle and accept deaths daily as a truth of life. But, that certainly doesn't make death any less of a terror for us. It still pounds on us and claws our heart, killing it brutally inch by inch.

She was strong enough to act like she wasn't afraid. But, I wasn't as bold as a grain of sand in front of her courage and patience.

Feeding her supper, we both retired to bed to fight a new battle the next day. This battle, unlike other times, wasn't between us, but, us against this deadly disease.

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Hey peeps,
     Hope you are doing good.

So, here comes the next update. Tell me, how is it?

I didn't want to keep you all waiting at this stage, so, wrapped this part of the story up a lil fast. A short yet intense update.

Thank you for reading the chapter.

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Take care and spread smiles. 🤩🤩

Love,
B❤️