I entered a contest with this story in 2020 when I first decided to try my hand at fiction writing. Reading it now reminds me of how far I've come as a writer!
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The intense fluorescent lights of the hospital appeared fuzzy. They hummed as Ravi made his way through the dingy hallways towards the on-call room. He had just completed a double shift and was struggling to keep his eyes open. Just one hour of sleep, and then I'll head home, Ravi decided.
Tomorrow was the day he anticipated since she had gone missing twenty-two months ago. In the initial days of her disappearance, Ravi walked these stale halls in a blur. With every hour that passed, it was another piece of him gone, more hope lost, more sleepless nights wondering where she was in that exact moment.
Pouring himself into his work is what kept him sane all those months. In saving others, his life was given meaning again. Although he thought of her every day since her sudden disappearance, he gradually accepted that she was gone.
Until the phone rang yesterday.
Being one of the top cardio surgeons in the Eastern United States, Ravi claimed he never had time for love. His hours were long and unpredictable. He found love in the delicate and vital work he performed, just like his parents.
The Mehta's came to America when Ravi was only two years old the same way most do, searching for a life better than the one they were living. The research they executed in India was unsupported and lacked funding. They were given hope by a friend who emigrated to the US when the demand for well-educated surgeons had arisen. Hope for a better opportunity for their research, as well as for Ravi's future, was something the Mehta's couldn't ignore. And it was true. Funding was abundant in the States, especially for those with credentials like his parents.
Ravi was a single child, his name meaning sun. Deciding they would only have one child, the Mehta's entire world was wrapped around Ravi —he was their sun, and their lives revolved around him. He was given everything he ever wanted as he grew up, but the expectations placed upon him were as heavy as the world. While he would have rather followed his passions - becoming an artist or a writer - the expectations upon him were always to be followed. Those expectations were to become a top surgeon.
It's hard to bear the expectations of one's parents. Even as a child, Ravi wanted to fit in with the American children. He wanted to participate in sports or play at the park after school with the other neighborhood kids. Instead, he dragged his feet as he came home from school each day to sit miserably at his desk with the tutor, repeating the same math and science questions he completed at school. And it wasn't that Ravi found these things hard to do, quite the opposite. All subjects came easily to Ravi, which is why he dreaded the daily ritual with the tutor. It was incredibly boring.
Still, the expectations were there, and Ravi met them just as his parents demanded. His grades were outstanding, which brought on more pressure to keep them up. Typically when you're at the top, there's nowhere to go but down. And while this didn't happen to Ravi in terms of his schooling, it did with his home life. At the end of his last year at school, a fire took his parents' lives.
Since that tragic year, Ravi considered himself somewhat cursed. With such a focus on his studies throughout his childhood, he never made friends that would support him through the tragic loss. There was no one to walk him through the grief. All he had left were his parents' heavy expectations. This was his curse. Ravi couldn't negotiate with his parents anymore. The expectations were forever set in stone, like their names inscribed on their gravestones. He was to follow their path as well-respected doctors. And he did.
Then there was her.
Entirely unexpectedly, she entered into his life. He wasn't looking to have his heart stolen away, but there she was. There was no denying that she was meant for him. The bond they shared together was unlike anything Ravi had experienced before. They were the best of friends and completely inseparable, which made her disappearance that much harder on Ravi. She had saved him during a time of hopelessness, and with her departure, the feeling rushed back.
As he laid on the soft, squeaky on-call bed, he stared at the gray ceiling, counting in his head the number of hours until they would be reunited. The stiff sheets made loud swishing sounds as he tossed and turned. Despite his exhaustion, adrenaline ran through Ravi's veins that kept him from falling asleep. Thirteen hours to go.
He recounted the many times they'd hiked through the mountains on his days off. The clear, crisp air filling his lungs instead of the dry, clinical air in the hospital. The forests were their favorite place together, and they would visit at least twice a week, as the drive was only a half-hour. She loved the windows down during their drive, feeling the wind in her face as she'd close her eyes to the brightness of the sun. That's how Ravi remembered her the most over these twenty-two months. He wondered how she remembered him. Or if she remembered him. And with that thought, he fell asleep.
At 4:00am, another doctor came into the on-call room for a nap. Ravi was woken with a start. There was still much to do, and he slept much longer than he anticipated. Tossing on his shoes and darting out of the hospital, Ravi made it home in time to take a shower and prepare for her arrival.
The call he received that week came out of nowhere. He had been paged at work with an emergency call. He expected it to be a patient who needed his assistance or a resident in need of a consultation. It wasn't.
She had been found in the same mountains they hiked so consistently. She was thin and frail, and they didn't know if she'd make it at first, but after a few days of recuperation, she gained her strength back. It was then that the family who found her decided it was time to find out who she was and where her family might be.
Ravi was to pick her up at 8:00am. His pure excitement since the call had morphed into anxiety. What if she didn't remember him? What if she turned her back on him, attached only to the family that had found her?
The drive through the mountains to this family's home brought a flood of memories. He hadn't been back to the mountains in almost two years because he knew it would be too hard to hike without her by his side.
As he pulled up the winding, dirt driveway, his heart began beating into his throat. This was the moment he envisioned when he would have his hands in someone's chest. The moment he begged the gods would one day come. As Ravi slowly stepped out of his car on wobbly legs, the farmhouse's front door swung open.
Out she ran on all fours. Her auburn fur dancing in the wind with the joy of seeing her human. She remembered!
Ravi got down on one knee in the dirt as she came close, tears forming in his eyes, calling out her name. She ran into him without slowing down, knocking him to the ground with her two giant front paws. He laughed out loud as she continued to lick his face and neck and hands - any skin that was showing was free territory for her soft tongue.
Ravi graciously thanked the family who found her, apparently shivering in a small cave. He brought them a basket of fruit, which now seemed so minuscule compared to the gift of bringing her back to him —the joy of his life.
As she and Ravi left back through the winding driveway, leaving a small cloud of dust in their wake, the windows were turned down as she felt the wind in her face and closed her eyes to the brightness of the sun.
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