She always thought of herself as a very strong person.
That day, when she stepped into Her room she knew she could not stay. She felt fear, felt her strength slipping. She glanced at Her and could only see Her eyes amidst the masks and the tubes. Those eyes which captivated everyone, those eyes that she feared as a child, the same eyes that spoke to her the past five days when there were no words.
She went out and said that she wouldn't stay the night. He was displeased though he took care to not say anything. She felt she was betraying Her but she could not help it. She could not watch Her go. And, she knew that it was time for Her to leave.
On the way back she was quiet. She was trying to dig images from the past and replace it with what she saw now. It was difficult. She could only see Her in that room now with the vacant, helpless look in Her eyes.
She was almost home when his phone rang and she knew. She didn't wait to hear the details, just quietly slipped to her room. She dug her hands in her pocket to fish out a cigarette when she remembered that this is his home and she cannot smoke here. She again tried to erase those images of Her. She needed them to go away. Those just could not be Her picture in her memories.
She heard screams. People had come and were crying and talking at the same time. She wanted to shut them out. After sometime she heard that they had brought Her home. How? She has left. People came to meet her. They asked her to cry. It helps, some said. She hugged someone and cried. But it didn't help. They now wanted her to go and see Her. She screamed and shouted that she didn't want to. They said she would regret it. She was sure she wouldn't. She didn't want to mar that picture in her memory any further. No one heard her pleas; they dragged her.
She barely glanced at Her and rushed to her room. She could hear them take Her away. She walked to that terrace from where She had waved her a bye a thousand times. This time it was her turn to wave, that too for the last time.
