“I Know What You Are Going Through."

I don't know for how long we stood there like this, but a cry brought me back to my reality; it was my mother.

"Where is she, what has happened to her?" She was crying and shouting at the receptionist.

"Sorry ma'am, but who are you looking for?" asked a nurse who came in running.

"Amrita…Amrita…my daughter. They brought her here last night…where is she? What happened to her?" My mom cried and shrieked.

I wanted to hug her, console her, and comfort her by telling I am standing right next to her, but nothing happened. However hard I tried, I just couldn't touch her. The hopelessness I felt at that moment threatened to crush me.

The nurse, who immediately understood whom she was referring to, took her to the I.C.C.U. We followed them as I called out to her all the way but all in vain…

The moment she entered and saw me lying like a lump, she went dead quiet. Her expression went blank and not a single tear moistened her cheek. If I had not known her all my life, I would have voted her the most cold-hearted mother on Earth, but I exactly knew what was happening.

For the world, she was extra-strong, completely independent and a self-sufficient woman, but when it came to me, she had a weak spot the size of a crater. She couldn't even stand to see me get a minor scar, and today I was lying there almost dead…

I was still planning how to comfort my mother but the nurse started to speak, "They brought her here last night around 8; she had had a road accident, and they said she was hit by a car while crossing the road."

"What the hell are you doing?" I shouted at the nurse, "Are you trying to kill her? Can't you see she is in shock?"

"She has no fractures, just some major bruises but evidently she hit her head on the road which induced a coma."

"Mom, mom… I am fine. Please say something, Mom…" I tried to touch her, comfort her but she didn't hear or move. She stood rooted to the spot, staring at my lifeless body.

Armaan tried comforting me, but I was oblivious.

"Look at her, Armaan, look at her. I think she is going to pass out. Please, Armaan, help her, please. Please, Armaan, please." I cried in his arms.

"I can't, I am sorry." He held on tightly. "She'll be fine, it will be okay."

I knew I can't do anything, so I prayed.

After a long time, maybe after the millionth prayer, God finally heard me and my best friend Zara entered the room, bringing my mother back to her senses.

The moment her eyes fell on her, all hell broke loose and she cried like a storm.

"What… happened… to my baby…"

Despite a violent struggle, Armaan dragged me out of the room to the farthest corner where her sobs were not audible.

"She is fine," he replied.

"She isn't, Armaan; didn't you see her?" I replied, almost shouting.

"I know what you are going through. I have been there too," he reminds me.

"My mother still visits me every day and cries over my body pleading me to wake up."

I realized his pain was much greater than mine, but still couldn't help the tears. Crying we took a long walk…