CHAPTER NINE: AT THE CROSSROADS
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"Is there anything wrong?"

I was surprised by Jay's sudden question.

"No? Why do you ask?"

"You look quite absentminded".

"Nothing serious".

I avoided giving a direct answer to Jay. He was right, though. We were discussing the features of his new Royal Enfield Himalayan off roader bike, but my mind had been wandering off. It didn't escape Jay's observation.

I was seriously thinking if I should talk to Misha about staying together. I could afford a decent accommodation for the two of us. To say the truth it was becoming more and more difficult to stay away from her.

I turned my attention to Jay.

"Let's go and see how it runs?"

Jay agreed  to my suggestion at once. But the question was about where to go for a race. Then we remembered Skyway, the highest and the most difficult flyover in the city. The speed limit in it was higher than the other flyovers. So it was ideal for a bike race.

Of course, motorbike racing was prohibited on flyovers in the city. They were favourite spots for illegal drag races and quite often there were fatal accidents. The police cracked down upon them from time to time, but that wasn't enough to stop those bikers.

Both Jay and I were in full riding gears and rode within the speed limit, so no one blocked our way. We ascended the flyover and sped through it.

The evening was long gone. There were already less vehicles and less people on the streets. The flyover was almost empty except for one or two occasional cars. Heavy vehicles were not allowed on it. So in a way, it was safe for motorbike riders.

The RF Himalayan blazed through the night wind. From behind I couldn't help but appreciate how smoothly Jay manoeuvred it. This was a bike rather suitable for off-road hiking and not for short races, but in general it looked good.

While I was pondering all this, I saw a car in the rear view mirror, speeding up from behind.

'Where did I see it before? Oh, well, it was the one idling near the body shop where we were working on Jay's motorbike and talking,' I thought. I had remembered the black car because it belonged to a foreign car brand which was not common on the roads of our city.

Now it came from behind like a speeding panther and pressed me towards the left side of the road. I smelled danger. I had to veer towards the left to avoid a side-to-side collision, but then I was sure to collide against the low parapet and topple over it along with my ride.

Death loomed over me. My mind went numb, but my brain worked and my body reacted precisely. In the blink of an eye I revved up the engine and darted out from the narrow space created by the car and the parapet. Then I changed gears rapidly and tried to slow down the motorbike as quickly as possible. There was a sharp turn ahead and it was impossible to take it safely at such a speed.

Still, I couldn't reduce the speed enough in time and my bike tilted at the turn. It fell down and skidded a good distance, dragging me along with it before coming to a stop. Luckily, I had managed to escape from getting buried beneath it, but I didn't escape unhurt.

I tried to stand up, but failed. I couldn't yet realise where I was hurt, but my head reeled violently and my vision blurred. I lay there on the asphalt along with my bike, staring at the black demon thundering towards me. It had to slow down a bit to take the sharp turn, still it's front left tyre screeched in protest. Now it came towards me like a blind monster.

There was nothing I could do right then. So I only stared at it.

It was then that I heard another two-wheeler speeding in from the opposite direction. Jay who was way ahead of me, had seen everything in his RVM. He was coming to my rescue.

He took over me, stopped his ride and laid it on the road, guarding me. Then he rushed to help me.

I was not sure if his plan would be able to stop the monster, but it seemed to falter at the last moment and veered towards its right to avoid a head-on collision with the heavy motorbike that lay on the road. Then it sped away and vanished within a minute.

I tried to stand up with Jay's help, but failed. My whole body wrecked in pain.

Jay helped me to put off my helmet first. There was no bleeding wound on my face or head.

"Do you feel anything broken?"

"No, only my body hurts".

"Don't try to get up, then".

Jay stood up and started calling ambulances. Just then we heard the sound of hooter from a police patrol car. They had seen us and were rushing towards us.

It was then that everything started to get blurred in my vision. I must have been losing consciousness.

***************************

When my mind got out of the haze, I was already brought to the hospital. I saw people hurrying in the Emergency ward. Worried faces of friends and relatives of patients showed among doctors and nurses. The place was quite crowded already.

A junior nurse was making a chanel in my hand so that fluid and medicine could be pushed easily. She must have been an inexperienced one, because she couldn't make a chanel at the first attempt. Her hands shook and blood spilled from the broken skin. It trickled down my hand and big splotches of red appeared on the white sheet on which I lay. She mumbled an apology and tried again. This time she was successful in creating a chanel. Then a doctor came and injected some medicine into the chanel. It was some sort of painkiller which eased the pain a lot.

I looked around in search of any familiar face and saw Bill standing at a distance. He was not looking my way. His eyes were fixed at something at the other end of the large room.

"Can you please call my friend? He's standing by the door." I asked the junior nurse who was hovering by my side.

"Who?"

"The one standing by the door, the tall one in a dark suit."

"Of course."

She went by his side and called him. I saw Bill turning his gaze towards me. Then he crossed the room and came by my side.

"Bill, is everything all right? Did the police take my motorbike into custody?"

"No, I was able to convince them. They registered a case and released the bike. It's been sent to the body shop."

"Was it badly damaged?"

I saw Bill frawn.

"Won't it be better if you think about the damage you could've suffered?"

He paused, then added, "Since when did you start making enemies who would want to kill you?"

So Jay had told him everything!

"Honestly Bill, I've no idea. I'd like to believe that the driver of the car was in a drunken spree."

"Jay doesn't think so," he said.

Just then, the phone inside his pocket started to ring.

Muttering under his breath, Bill pulled out my cell phone from his pocket, muted it and held it to me.

I saw Misha's name flashing across the screen.

I pressed the Accept button.

"Nell?" Her voice seemed shaky. "I'm waiting outside Emergency. Can I come in, please?"

What! Misha was here? How could she even know what had happened to me?

"C-come, please."

The phone went silent. The next second, I saw her entering through the sliding door. At first she looked bewildered and her eyes darted about the room. Then she saw my bed and came straight towards me.

I glanced at Bill. He stood still by the side of my bed, his eyes fixed on Misha. He must have felt my eyes on him, so he looked away and said, "So this is your friend?"

"Y-yes."

"Alright, I'm going to look for the senior doctor."

Bill walked away from my side and went outside my view.

I didn't get a chance to call him back. Misha was already there in front of me. She stared at my face for a long time and tears welled up in her large eyes. They rolled down her cheeks, but she seemed to be unaware of them.

She held out her hand and touched my cheek. I caught her hand in mine.

"Don't worry…"

Her eyes fell upon my left hand where the chanel was made. There were still marks of blood on my hand. Then she looked at the bloodstained  bedsheet. I saw her eyes flashing and I knew that she was mad.

The junior nurse who had made the chanel was still there. Misha stood in front of her and attracted her attention towards the condition of my hand and bed sheet. I was stunned by her stern look and the unmistakable tone of authority in her voice. Why did she seem to be so different from the one I had known?

I saw the nurse mumbling an apology. She hurried by my side with a tray of cotton and cleansing lotion and quickly removed the bloodstains from my hand. Then she called another person and with her help changed the bed sheet, too.

All this time, Misha had been standing by the bed. Now she came forward and laid her fingers on my now-clean hand. She didn't say a word, just stood there silently, while tears kept falling from her eyes.

I felt an almost irresistible urge to hold her close to me.

"Misha...I'm alright. Don't cry, please!"

But she didn't look up.

Two ward boys arrived with a trolley bed.

"We need to take him for X-ray and CT scan," they said to Misha.

"Don't go away." I pleaded to her. "It must be quite late now. I'll ask Bill to drop you at your place."

She only nodded once.

Before I was wheeled away from the Emergency, she came in front of me once again. Her fingers lightly brushed my cheek. "I'm so sorry…," she whispered almost inaudibly. 

An unknown sense of premonition gripped my heart, but before I could say anything, she turned and walked towards the door.

************************

I didn't go back to the Emergency. The doctors decided to put me under observation for twenty four hours, though all I had actually suffered, were bruises and scratches all over my body. My riding gear had miraculously saved me from any heavy injuries.

I was shifted to a cabin. Bill had been waiting there for me, but I couldn't find Misha. She was gone already. I asked Bill if he had seen her, but he shook his head. I requested him to leave my cell phone with me. He was reluctant at first, but then he had to give in.

"You are just too stubborn!" He muttered as he handed the phone to me. "Do whatever you want, just make it sure that you get enough rest."

There was enough dose of sleep inducing drugs in my medicine and soon I was lulled into sleep. I hoped that Misha would be coming to see me the next morning, but she didn't come. I tried to call her number again and again, but it was switched off. She didn't come again. She didn't call back.

Just like that, she was gone.

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