Ghar Mushkil (Difficult things)

Kevin came out of surgery 3 hours later and the doctors would only say that he was in critical condition and that we would have to watch the next 24 hours. If he came though them, then he would be fine.


This coupled with the fact that Kevin was still in a coma, made me want to start bawling and it felt like there was a fist squeezing my heart tighter and tighter until it felt like it was going to explode. Slowly everyone started heading home to change and to get some rest until it was just me, Will, Mr. & Mrs. Robins and Mr. & Mrs. Knells left.

They all kept telling me to go home and get some rest but I felt like I couldn’t leave because if something happened to Kevin and I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. Finally Mrs. Robins came over to me and said “you need to go home and get some sleep. You need to show your parents that you are okay and assure them that everything is going to be okay”

I opened my mouth to say something but she interrupted me “I promise to call you the second anything changes”

I looked at her and finally nodded. I looked around and saw Will standing beside me with my purse already in his hands. He helped me into my jacket and we left. Will dropped me off outside my house and as I was walking up the front steps, the door opened and my mom practically ran outside.

“Tu theek ya na? Teenu kuch me hoya” (trans: You are okay right? You didn’t get hurt) she said as she hugged me.

“I’m fine mom” I said. I turned around to wave to Will and he waved back and then drove off

“Eh Kaun se?” (Trans: who was that) my mom asked as we walked inside

“Mere ik dost se. Ohne me hospital tu ride dete” (trans: A friend. He gave me a ride home from the hospital) I said.

When I walked inside, I found my dad and Jack waiting for me. My dad came over and gave me quick hug and then Jack came over and just looked at me and I nearly lost it right there.

He pulled me into a hug and just held and I felt hot tears prickling behind my eyes and start to seep though. I didn’t see but heard my parents quietly slip out of the room, leaving Jack and I alone. I don’t know how long we just stood there like that but it seemed like hours before I finally wiped my eyes and face and stepped away.

“How are Kevin and Kayla” Jack asked

I told him all that had happened since we all split up and he just listened and let me talk. When I was done, he grabbed my hand and led me up the stairs and to my room. While I sat on the bed, he grabbed my pj’s out of the closet and put them in the bathroom and pushed me in there. “Take a shower and then go to bed” he said and he closed the door behind himself and I locked it.

After barely making it through the shower, I stumbled into my bed and was out before my head hit the pillow. Hours later, I woke up to the smell of gajerella (it’s made out of carrots, cream, sugar and nuts), my favorite Indian desert. I slowly got out of bed and realized that it was 2 in the afternoon. I headed downstairs and found my parents and Jack sitting there watching TV.

“Hi” I said as I walked in the room.

They all looked up and Jack immediately got up and pulled me aside “your phone rang about 20 minutes ago” he said “and when I answered it was Merry. She said to tell you that Kevin was out of the coma and that Kayla was being discharged tomorrow”

I immediately felt relief rush through my body and nearly started crying again. I went over the babaji (in Sikhism, God is called “babaji”) room and did a prayer of thanks and then while running upstairs to change, told my parents that I was going to the hospital. When I got downstairs, I found Jack standing there with the car keys saying “I’m going with you”

When we finally got the hospital, I checked my text messages to see what room Kevin had been transferred and we hurried though the hospital trying to find it. When we walked in, I was floored. I knew that it was bad and that Kevin was in bad shape but suddenly seeing him looking like that shook me.

Kevin lay there surrounded by his parents, Merry, Will and a couple other people. The first thing I noticed was that he was awake and talking to someone. The second was that there were bandages, tubes and machines everywhere.

I started to step in the room and Kevin turned to look at me. I….