Page 12 of Mrs. Pandey
"Ira, watch out!" Aryan's scream was a distant echo, a frantic warning that came too late.
The car's brakes shrieked, a desperate protest against the inevitable. The driver swerved, but it was useless. I turned at thelast second, my eyes widening in terror as I saw it, monstrous and unforgiving, bearing down on me.
My scream tore through the air, raw and terrified as the vehicle slammed into me.
The impact was a brutal, bone-jarring force. My body was flung upward, hitting the windshield, then tumbling across the hood before landing on the unforgiving pavement with a sickening thud. Pain exploded through me, a thousand white-hot needles, and I saw my limbs bent at unnatural angles. Blood, dark and viscous, bloomed on the asphalt around me.
Then, silence and time stopped.
Aryan was there, suddenly, dropping to his knees beside my crumpled form. His hands, shaking, reached for me. My blood seeped through his fingers, warm against his skin.
"Ira..." he choked out my name, his voice thick with unshed tears. He brushed my hair away from my face. My lips were parted, my breath shallow and ragged.
Sirens wailed in the distance, a rising crescendo of urgency, but the world around me had gone mute. All I could feel was his hand, cold and limp in mine, and hear his desperate prayer.
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I tore my eyes open, staring blankly at the white ceiling, cringing at the sharp sting of disinfectant in the air. The moment I tried to move, a groan escaped my lips as did my arms, legs, neck, even my mouth. Everything hurt like someone had given me aproper beating. I could feel my bones screaming, as if each one had cracked open just to remind me I was still alive.
God, you saved me? I smiled bitterly at the irony. Even that small tug at my lips burned my skin.
"Ira!" Aryan shot up from his chair the second he saw my eyes open. "Thank God," he breathed, offering a broken smile. "You're okay."
"I'm not okay, Aryan," I hissed, my voice low but sharp, and turned my face away from him. His presence only deepened the suffocation I already felt crawling over my chest.
"Ira..." he whispered, reaching for my hand.
I flinched and pulled it away. "I just need to be alone, Aryan. Please... just go."
For a second, there was only silence. Then I heard his hesitant footsteps retreating from the room.
I turned my head toward the couch and found my mother sitting there, eyes red and puffy. Without a word, she rushed to my bedside and wrapped her arms gently around my fragile body, sobbing into my chest like she was the one who had barely survived. I didn't cry. I couldn't. I had no tears left in my body.
"You scared me, Ira," she choked, crying harder.
I rolled my eyes. Did I have to get into an accident for her to finally feel my pain? Where was this concern when Mr. Patel tried to take advantage of me? Where was her protection then? Ihad wanted her to fight for me. To hold me and believe me and scream for me but she hadn't.
"It's alright, Mom. I'm alive," I said, forcing a small smile. "Now please stop crying... it's honestly very annoying."
She nodded, wiping her tears, even though they kept flowing. I wanted to comfort her, to say something better. But all I could focus on was the dull throb in my limbs. I kept wondering how long it would take to recover physically, at least.
The rest of me? I wasn't so sure.
"Where's my phone?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
"In your purse," she replied cautiously. "Why?"
"Can you please bring it to me?"
"Maybe... after a few days," she said. "Right now, you need to rest as much as possible."
I sighed heavily, pressing my head deeper into the pillow, jaw clenched. I was feeling powerless, trapped and broken.
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Chapter 6
IRA
