A High School Crush #5: Aftermath & Repurcussions

When I woke up fully, I was alone in the room. I had a thin blanket on me, and someone had changed my clothes to standard patient wear. There were a couple lights blinking beside my bed. Vitals monitors, I realised. I had no idea how long I was asleep, but the first thought that came to my mind was that I wanted to see my mom. I was awfully scared still, and like a terrified child, I desperately wanted to be held by my mother. The second thought that hit me was that I was thirsty. And the thirst brought back the memories of my dry throat on that awful night. And that awful night finally brought Aarush being there for me at a moment's notice.

I looked around the room. There were two more beds, but they were empty. There was one IV in my left elbow, and some weird contraption on my right hand index finger. I tried to turn, but my back felt stiff. I spotted the call button beside the bed and pressed it a couple times. A little while later, a nurse in dark blue scrubs came into the room.

"Good, you're awake." she said smiling, "I'll get the doctor."

"Water." I tried to speak, but my tongue felt like sandpaper.

"What was it darling?" She came close to the bed.

"Water." I repeated, putting a little more effort.

"Oh, sure, I'll get you water, you just stay absolutely still, okay!" She went around the bed and recovered a bottle of water and a plastic glass from the cabinet. She cranked a lever under my bed to set the top half upright. I am not laying flat now. Nice. "Small sips, okay?" She said, and held the glass close to my lips. I finished the water in five small sips and asked her for a little more.

Once I was done, she made sure I was not having any problem with the upright position, then went out. A few minutes later, she came back with a man wearing the traditional white lab coat of a doctor.

"Good morning Ruhi, I am doctor Darpan Sharma. It's good to see you awake." I smiled and nodded. He continued, "Your parents have already been informed that you're awake and they'll be here soon. But before that I want to go over some things with you. Is that okay?"

"Yes," I said, for some reason, I felt that speaking would be better than nodding.

"Good. You are at the Clearwater General Hospital. Do you know why you are here?"

"I was drugged." My voice was raspy. I needed more water. Maybe a little while later.

"That's right. And thanks to your good friend's quick actions, you were here with plenty of time for us to take proper actions." He said, reminding me once again of that night, and Aarush.

"How long...have I been here?"

"It's almost two in the afternoon, and it's Sunday. So I think just over forty hours," He looked over at the nurse for confirmation. Forty hours, and I was sleeping all that time.

"And I was sleeping all that time?"

"You woke up a couple times, but not for long." the nurse chimed in.

"Do you have any more questions?" Doctor Sharma asked.

"When can I go home?"

He smiled. "Soon. Now that you are awake and you're thinking clearly, we can discharge you by the end of the day. Although I would advise you to stay another night, just for us to monitor proper recovery. Of course, that is up to you. There's no danger for you to go home and stay with your family. I'll let you think about it."

"Thank you!"

"Alright then, I will let you rest until your parents get here." he then turned to the nurse, "Maaya, if you have no other calls right now, keep her company till then." She nodded as the doctor walked away.

I told her I wanted more water. She poured me another glass, but this time, she handed it to me, and took a chair. Once I was finished, she took the glass from me and put it on the table.

"I want to know something." I said.

"Okay, I'll try to tell you if I know it."

"How bad was it? Me, I mean."

"Hmm, I guessed you'd want to know that. Although I don't think you need to know that. You're fine now, all you have to do from now on is be careful with the people you meet and spend time with."

"I understand that fully. But I still want to know."

"Okay. See, I can tell you if you really want to know, but I cannot be sure what you will use this information for."

"Nothing, I promise. I just want to know what kind of a monster he was."

"Hmm, I understand. A monster sure he was." She nodded. "Do you know what MDMA is?" I shook my head. "What about the more common name, molly?"

"It's a drug, I know that. Lots of TV shows show it."

"Right. It's a psychoactive drug. It's easy to guess what their motivations were for mixing it in your food. But they gave you too much. If you had been another thirty minutes late to get here, it would have been much more difficult to treat you."

I wondered when they might have put it in my food or drink. Must have been when I left for the restroom after the food arrived. Was that why they were laughing when I returned? They must be thinking how easy it was.

"You mean I could have died?"

"I do not want you thinking about that." Her voice rose an octave. "Like the doctor said, you were brought in with plenty of time. And from what I have heard from your friend, you share a lot of credit for all of it. You picked up the symptoms pretty early on. Great job, girl!!" That made me smile for sure.

After that she simply denied talking about any more of it, and I didn't push. We talked about other random stuff. I asked her about how it was to be a nurse. She asked me what I wanted to do about this guy. I was pretty satisfied to know that I was alive and I was also sure that I never wanted to see that devil's face ever again. I told her I would see if I can press charges against him.

We had been talking for about fifteen minutes when a radio sound came from her pocket. She pulled out the intercom radio and spoke into it some nurse jargon that I didn't understand at all.

"I'll have to go now. Are you going to be alright?"

"Yes, but can you unhook me from this IV?"

"If you promise not to get off the bed, I will."

"What's the point then? Let it be." We both laughed. I felt good to be able to laugh.

Ten minutes later my parents came into the room. My mom came straight to my bed and hugged me while my dad walked in slowly and stood by the bed.

"How are you feeling baby?" my mom asked, releasing me from the hug, but still holding me in the arms, as if checking a vase carefully for any cracks.

"A little tired, but fine mostly."

"Good. You look pale though."

"She always looks pale to you, I'm sure she's perfectly fine. Who wouldn't be after forty hours of lights out." my dad said with his trademark sarcasm from behind her. I chuckled. "Are you feeling ready to go home? The doctor said they want to keep you another day."

"I think I'll go home. I don't want to sleep here with these beeping machines." It seemed my mom did not want to let me go from her embrace. She had her arm around me all the time.

"Okay then. I'll talk to the doctor when he comes back." He said.

"Mom!" I turned to her.

"Yes honey, what do you need?"

"Where's Aarush?"

"We talked to him, he said he'll come to meet you where we're staying."

"Where are you staying?"

"We got a hotel close to your hostel for a couple days. We'll take you back home, and then you can come back to join college once you're perfectly fine." Dad said.

"Dad, I can't go home now, we have exams in two weeks."

"Are you saying you can't get perfectly well in less than two weeks?" He raised an eyebrow.

Here's the thing about my dad. He won't ever counter you in an argument. But he would twist your statement with such sarcasm, that you'll simply not have the heart to pursue it anymore. And I was certainly tired enough.

"Are you hungry honey? I bought some fruits for you. The doctor told us that you should take care of your diet for at least a week. And coming here, I didn't want to buy anything processed."

My dad went out, probably in search of the doctor.

"Sure, what have you brought?" That was a wrong question to ask. My mother produced a bag full of a variety of fruits. She smiled broadly when I picked the orange first. "You're not expecting me to finish all of that, are you?"

My mom laughed but it faded just as quickly, "no no, I'm just happy to see you're alright. When that call came they said they're calling from the hospital and I was...we were so not ready for anything like that. We're never going to be ready for anything like that." I hugged her as tight as I could once more.

"Mom, please can I not go home?"

"We'll talk about it later, okay. You focus on that orange."

While I peeled the orange, I asked mom to tell me what all happened in the last two days. What did Aarush say and everything in between. At first she didn't want to talk about it much, but she started talking once I insisted.

Aarush had called the club reception before he reached there. A person calling from outside telling them that a girl from inside warned him about having been drugged quickly put them into action. Apparently a waitress had come to check in the restroom before Ishita, the receptionist, who I didn't notice at all. She had recognized me and the table I was seated in. The bouncers had quickly grabbed them for obvious reasons. Once Aarush reached and they verified he was the one on the call, Ishita had come to the restroom to get me. Apparently Aarush had made the club staff call the police too. Since we had not ordered drinks and I had fallen suddenly ill, Tanay and Piyush were taken into custody out of suspicion of foul play.

Aarush had signed the hospital paperwork as a friend on behalf of my parents after explaining that they lived in another state. Once my lab reports were ready, Aarush had taken a copy of them to the police station and lodged an official report. With such strong medical evidence, they were officially under arrest. After that apparently, he had come back to the hospital and waited till morning until my parents arrived.

My dad had driven all the way from home to get here. And while I slept all Saturday, slowly recovering from a possible overdose of MDMA, my father had gone to the college and spoken to the dean about the incident. Apparently the decision to expel Tanay from the institution was quite swift.

But I didn't care about any of that. I wanted to see Aarush again, and quickly. I needed to talk to him. And I needed to convince dad to let me stay in this city. I did not want to go home because of this. I didn't want to appear weak by disappearing for a week just after my ex-boyfriend was expelled from the college. I was sure that the management would make it an example, and that they would be discreet about the exact reason for expelling a student so abruptly. But if I went home, I would be associated with that reason, no matter how discreet they kept it. So, yeah, I will have to stay here. For me, facing my classmates and acting like I had no idea might be easier than returning after a week and facing a singular question of 'what happened between you two?' That was the most logical thing I could think about at that time.

Having spent more than forty hours on a bed, my knees were extremely wobbly when I stepped on the floor. The nurse from earlier helped me into a wheelchair. My father pushed the wheeled contraption while my mom followed close behind. At the entrance, my dad lifted me out of the wheelchair and put me in the backseat. Talk about being treated like a baby.

While he drove, I munched on another apple. I tried to remember how many I had so far, but I'm sure they weren't too many. Mom sat with me, and lectured me on how bad the world out there could be and how she was really sorry that I had to learn it the hard way. My dad more or less expressed the same, albeit in a rather aggressive tone. Of course, both of them made it plenty clear that it wasn't at all my fault, and neither did I consider it as such. Tanay and I had dated for just over a year. Never once did I get any glimpse of this side of him.

I spent the remaining afternoon trying to convince my father to not take me home. I explained to him what I had come up with before leaving the hospital. My mom saw my point of view rather quickly, and she put it in words that my father could grasp. Maybe that's what lies at the heart of a good marriage, knowing how to talk to someone on their terms and knowing how to explain, communicate ideas without any kind of confusion. And it seemed to work like a charm. Although with terms and conditions.

"You will call us every day from now on. No twice a week ring. I want to know everything that's going on with you. You talk either to your mother or me. But at least one call everyday is a must. Or I'm coming to pick you up the next day." My father said sternly. "And I need to talk to Aarush too. At least he seems like someone you can trust to make the right decisions."

"Alright," I said.

"Come here," he said, spreading his arms from the couch. I walked over to him, and he held me in his signature bear hug. "We love you baby, don't ever forget that. And I just want you to think that you can talk to us about anything." I nodded. Mom came over and turned it into a rather suffocating group hug. I wasn't in the least bit bothered. I could have stayed like that for hours, knowing I'm in the safest place on the planet. Only the phone on the side-table had to ring with this awful tone.

Mom went over to pick the receiver. It was a call from the reception of the hotel. Aarush had arrived. I have no idea who informed him about my discharge. At least I didn't see mom or dad call him. Maybe he had called the hospital himself.

When he came in, I was still sitting beside dad on the couch. He came over and shook my hand, my father extended his hand too. He told Aarush to take a seat.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Much better."

"It's good to see you back here."

"It's good to be back." We smiled at each other.

He turned to my father. "Do you all have plans for dinner?" Mom stepped into the room at that time.

"Actually no," she began, "we were going to ask you to be honest. The doctor said Ruhi needs healthy food. I don't know what you college going kids normally eat, but I'm pretty sure it's not what the doctor meant by healthy food."

I rolled my eyes, and Aarush smiled. "Well, there are some good places, but you'll have to go downtown. I think Ruhi can guide you there pretty well." He looked at me then. "The Deccan Lounge."

I nodded.

"Oh you're coming with us too." Mom said flatly.

"I..." Aarush began, but was cut short pretty quickly.

"Oh stop. You are coming with us."

As mom and dad were changing in the other room, I took the chance to speak to Aarush alone.

"How many people know?"

"In our class, nobody knows anything so far. The weekend isn't technically over yet, so the news won't be travelling too far. But if your parents take you home like they said they would..."

"I'm not going home. I talked to them, and told them the exact same thing. They agreed."

"It's good then." His face lit up.

"Aarush, thank you for everything. I cannot imagine..."

"Hey, stop. Nothing bad happened. And you were too smart for them anyway. You didn't wait even a minute. I'd say that's everything." I nodded. He laughed once then said, "you remember I said you were more than capable enough to kick their butts on your own."

I couldn't help but laugh along, "Yeah, but I do need a good backup."

Over dinner my parents talked a great deal. The mood was rather light, nobody mentioned the events of the last couple days. It was more homely than I could have imagined. I still felt slightly weak in my legs, but it was nothing that a good night's sleep couldn't fix. Tomorrow will be a long day. I thought. But for once I knew that I had a friend with me who would be there. My parents decided to stay for a couple more days in the city, just in case. I didn't object. After all, spending all day with my classmates and hostel mates wasn't something I was looking forward to for a few days anyway.

The first thing that happened in the college the next day was absolutely nothing. The classes began as they usually did. Practically nobody mentioned anything that would indicate that they knew what went on with me over the weeked. Nobody seemed to care that Tanay was missing from the class.

It wasn't until the lecture just before the lunch hour that something related to the incident happened. A person from the staff came to the classroom and handed the professor a paper that seemed like a notice. He read it carefully, then handed it back.

"Alright, it seems like there's an announcement for you all." He addressed all of us. I glanced at Aarush, and found him looking at me with a soft, reassuring smile. I couldn't bring myself to return it.

The staff member who had brought in the notice stood at the centre in front of us. "This notice is to inform you all that Mr. Tanay Shekhar of the Electronics Core department has been expelled from the institute following certain registered criminal charges against him. The case is undergoing further investigation. The institute is in no way concerned with or monitoring the students' life outside of the college grounds. However, any case involving criminal charges will not be tolerated during your complete course duration. If anyone has any questions or any further information that you might think can be valuable to the authorities, you may ask me, or get in touch with the humanities and the management board."

I looked at the people around me in order to mimic the expressions on their faces. Surprise and confusion, that's all I found mostly. Most of them looked at me, and I just hoped my face didn't divulge what I so desperately wanted to hide.

Once the announcement was over and the professor took over, I could practically feel the stares of everyone around me. I continued to try and keep the surprise on my face, as if I had no idea about any of it. Sneaking my hand onto my backpack, I took out my phone and sent Aarush a message. 'Walk with me to the cafeteria after the lecture ends.'. I looked at him. I could see his arm moving in the general direction of his pocket. He read the text and looked at me once. My phone vibrated with his reply. 'Sure.'

I dashed out as quickly as I could from the class once the bell rang. A few of my friends obviously flocked me like paparazzi. But you see, women are all born with a special, independent organ that allows them to lie. They lie about unimportant things, true, but they also don't hesitate to lie about the most important things. And when they do, most women's expressions and voices don't change at all, since it's not them lying, but this independent organ they're equipped with that's acting on its own. And sometimes the organ is so autonomous that their fellow women can't detect it either. So it was rather easy to mislead those friends of mine to believe that I had no idea about any of it.

Yes, that is how I decided I was going to recuperate from it, I have no shame in admitting it. But once I was in the cafeteria, at a corner table, out of the view of most people around me, with Aarush, I told him exactly how I felt. And this wasn't the only time I talked like that with him either. During the whole of next year, many evenings I sat with him at the park, or at a bench under the bridge, and cried my heart out. Not because I felt any guilt or regret or any other negative emotion from that traumatic experience. It was just an overwhelming sensation I sometimes found myself trapped in. And Aarush, bless his soul, always sat there beside me, as quiet as a sea-shore during low tide, washing away whatever garbage I threw at him.