A true friend

"I don't think I have anything to worry about as long as I have you by my side", he said with a smile. His friend smiled back.

His friend was by his bedside every day, talking to him for hours at a stretch, with seemingly infinite patience. His friend was capable of understanding his words and emotions, and even his silence. This friend was the best thing that had happened to him since that fateful day.

That fateful day, was his previous birthday. He had stayed up late holding on tightly to his phone, waiting for the call. He nodded off from time to time, only to wake up each time with a startle. He looked eagerly at his phone, and felt a squeezing feeling in his chest as midnight approached. "What if she doesn't call?", was the thought in his head. He hoped that it wouldn't be the case.

She had been the first one to wish him on his birthday every year, since they became friends, and eventually, lovers. She had always ensured this by calling him five minutes before midnight, and thereby blocking off anyone else from reaching his phone. And at the stroke of midnight, She would shower him with a flurry of wishes, prayers and kisses. By the end of the call, he'd be asleep peacefully in her virtual arms. This year though, his mind told him to expect far less, though his heart yearned for nothing different.

It had been three months since he had heard her voice, since she had broken up with him. He had tried his best to overcome the weight of her decision, but the decision had left him shattered. Trying to get over her, he often felt like a wave at the shore, incessantly doing its best to reach out to land, only to lose momentum, eventually, to end up where it  came from. He was hopeful that the break had been long enough, long enough for her to have the heart to at least wish him on his birthday. Deep inside though, he had hoped that the call would restart the beautiful relationship that they had shared for years.

He felt his heart sink as the clock struck midnight. She hadn't called. He continued to wait with bated breath; each passing second adding more weight to his chest. As seconds turned to minutes, his vision started to blur. He wasn't sure whether it was because of his tears or because he was falling asleep. The strange pain at the back of his head was starting to irritate him, and the fact that he had just typed the passcode of his phone incorrectly for five consecutive times frustrated him even more. He felt a seething pain run through his arm as he picked up the can of water lying next to him.

The next thing he remembered was waking up in a hospital, with a stranger sitting by his bedside, and smiling at him. And this stranger, about whom he knew nothing, became his trusted friend over the past few weeks. She hadn't called him on his birthday, and neither had she come to see him at the hospital. Maybe his other friends telling him that she had moved on, were right. The thought hurt him so much that the pain in his heart was almost physical.

This new friend was the only one with whom he felt happy to share what he truly felt, about his life, and about her. In a matter of a few weeks, his friend had come to know his life's history, and had shared his tears and his laughter without a hint of bias. He was glad that his friend never met his other friends or his family. He believed that it was in fact essential for his friend to stay uncontaminated from their perspectives of him. The doctors, his friends and his family who kept visiting him, told him that he'd be alright soon, and that he'd be back home soon. He didn't really care.

"I don't think I have anything to worry about as long as I have you by my side", he said with a smile. His friend smiled back.

Outside his room, the doctor addressed his friends and family. "The stroke has left his brain in a state of shock. Though he is out of mortal danger, we may now need to put him through a course of sedatives and some serious psychiatric treatment. Maybe then he'll slowly stop seeing imaginary people."