She sat up in bed, with a sharp, loud intake of breath. Her forehead and nightclothes were drenched in sweat. Her mother rushed into her bedroom and sat beside her, arms comfortingly around her shoulders. Revathi held her nineteen-year-old daughter and asked, “Was it the same nightmare again?”She nodded weakly, resting her head on her mother’s shoulders. Revathi glanced helplessly at her husband, who stood mute in the doorway. Mohan wanted to comfort his daughter, but there was nothing he could say or do.
A few months ago, Nisha’s sinusitis had stopped responding to medication and she had developed a sinus polyps. Her doctors advised her to get it removed and after much consideration, Nisha decided to go ahead with the surgery.
As she waited in the pre-operative room, Dr. Prashant, her ENT specialist approached her bed with another doctor. Both wore scrubs and surgical masks. Dr. Prashant stood on her right, whereas the other doctor stood behind her bed.
“Hi Nisha. How are you feeling?” Dr. Prashant asked pleasantly.“Cold,” although frightened and anxious, Nisha only mentioned the temperature of the room.“I will tell someone to raise the temperature. This is my assistant. He will be with us in the theater during the surgery. There’s nothing to worry, beta,” Dr. Prashant said. Nisha could not see his smile, but his kind eyes crinkled and she could hear it in his words.
The assistant doctor’s face appeared above her from behind the bed. He pinched the tip of her nose and pulled it back. He let it go and nodded, then said, “Doctor, I think we should use one of those round, hollow ones.”Dr. Prashant nodded, but said, “We’ll discuss it.”
The statement terrified Nisha. A round, hollow, what? She imagined the worst – a surgical blade of some kind, cutting through her.
That’s when the nightmares started. She kept imagining the assistant removing his mask, revealing a sinister smile and stabbing her face with a round blade. She woke up screaming every time, and simply refused to step into a hospital again for the next few years.
-------I split this story into two parts as I felt it was too long to be posted in its entirety. What do you think is going to happen in the next part? Please let me know in the comments section!--------Copyright Petrichor and Clouds 2013 at petrichorandclouds.blogspot.com Please do not reproduce the material published here.
