Chapter 5 – A Mountain of Pain
Rajni's friend wrapped her arms tightly around her.
Rajni's entire body was trembling, like the last leaf of autumn shaking helplessly in a violent wind. Her fingers were ice cold, and her breathing had become uneven and shallow.
Tears streamed down her face, but strangely, no sound came out of her throat.
It felt as if a terrible scream was trapped inside her chest.
Her lips trembled repeatedly.
"Ma… Papa…"
Those two words kept forming silently.
But her voice refused to come out.
Her friend held her hand tightly.
"Rajni… come on," she said softly. "We need to go to the hospital."
"You're not alone. I'm with you."
The moment they stepped outside the college gate, Rajni's legs nearly gave out.
It felt as if all strength had drained from her body.
Her friend quickly caught her before she collapsed. A nearby student rushed forward and helped support her from the other side.
They quickly stopped an auto-rickshaw.
"District hospital. Fast!" the boy told the driver.
The auto jerked forward and merged into the traffic.
Throughout the ride, Rajni stared out of the window.
But her eyes saw nothing.
The streets.
The people.
The shops.
Everything blurred together into meaningless shapes.
It was as if she had fallen into a hollow void.
Inside her head, only one voice kept echoing again and again.
Her father's voice.
"Take care of yourself… keep your heart strong…"
Then her mother's laughter followed.
Her warm smile.
Her worried voice.
The way she always reminded Rajni to eat properly before leaving home.
All those memories shattered inside her mind like fragments of glass.
---
When they reached the district hospital, the emergency ward was already crowded.
The air smelled strongly of antiseptic and medicines.
People moved hurriedly through the corridors.
Patients groaned.
Doctors shouted instructions.
Rajni's friend looked around nervously, searching for the man who had called them earlier.
Then she spotted him.
The same construction worker sat on a wooden bench, his head buried in his hands. His eyes were red from crying.
Her friend pointed toward him.
Rajni followed her gaze.
And then she saw them.
Two stretchers.
Both covered completely with white sheets.
The outlines of two bodies were clearly visible beneath the cloth.
A ward boy stood nearby, shaking his head sadly.
For a moment, Rajni stopped breathing.
Something inside her refused to believe what her eyes were seeing.
Then suddenly, strength returned to her legs.
She ran toward the first stretcher.
Her hands trembled as she pulled the white sheet away.
Her father lay there.
Kalu's eyes were closed.
His face looked strangely peaceful, though it was covered with dust and small scratches.
Rajni touched his hand.
It was cold.
Cold like ice.
Her heart refused to accept it.
"Papa… wake up…" she whispered.
She shook his shoulder gently.
"Papa… look… I'm here."
Her voice began breaking apart.
"Papa… say something…"
"You told me to stay strong… how can I do that if you're not here?"
Her whisper turned into uncontrollable sobbing.
She shook him harder now.
"Papa! Please wake up!"
But there was no response.
Only silence.
Her cries echoed through the emergency ward.
Then her eyes slowly moved toward the second stretcher.
Her mother.
Rajni staggered toward it, barely able to walk.
With shaking hands, she pulled away the sheet.
Her mother's face appeared.
She too looked peaceful.
But this time the injuries were clearer.
A dark bruise covered part of her forehead where debris had struck her.
Rajni's hands rose slowly and cupped her mother's face.
She stroked her cheek gently, the same way her mother used to comfort her when she was a child.
"Ma…" she whispered.
"I'm here…"
"Please don't leave me…"
"You said yesterday you'd cook my favorite dal today…"
Her voice shattered.
Rajni collapsed forward, her head falling onto her mother's chest.
Her body shook violently as grief finally exploded out of her.
She clung to her mother's lifeless body like a child holding onto the last piece of safety left in the world.
Her friend and the construction worker tried to pull her back gently.
But her pain was too large to contain.
---
A few minutes later, a doctor walked toward them.
He looked at Rajni, then turned to the worker.
"Is this their daughter?" he asked quietly.
The worker nodded.
The doctor sighed and placed a gentle hand on Rajni's shoulder.
"Beta… I'm very sorry," he said softly.
"We tried our best."
"Your father spoke your name before he passed away. That shows how much he loved you."
He paused for a moment.
"Your mother… she had already passed away before reaching the hospital."
Rajni slowly raised her head.
Her face was wet with tears.
But now something else appeared in her eyes.
A strange fire.
"What happened?" she asked hoarsely.
"Who is responsible for this?"
The worker wiped his eyes and began explaining everything.
How a section of the under-construction building suddenly collapsed.
How they dug Kalu and his wife out from the debris.
How they rushed them into the ambulance.
How their condition worsened on the way.
"Kalu bhai kept calling your name till his last breath," the worker said quietly.
Hearing that broke something deep inside Rajni.
She stood silently between the two stretchers.
One hand holding her father's cold arm.
The other resting on her mother's sheet.
And suddenly the truth struck her like lightning.
She was alone now.
Completely alone.
Her entire world was lying beneath two white sheets.
"What… happens now?" she asked softly.
Her friend hugged her again.
The worker stepped forward.
"Don't be afraid, beti," he said gently.
"We are all with you."
"First… we must take them home."
"We must prepare for the last rites."
Meanwhile, hospital staff approached them with documents.
A nurse handed some forms to the worker.
"We need to prepare the death certificates," she said.
"Are you a relative?"
The worker looked at Rajni.
Rajni slowly nodded.
It meant he could handle the formalities.
Time passed slowly.
Rajni's cries gradually quieted, but the pain in her face only deepened.
Soon another man arrived at the hospital.
The site supervisor.
He walked hesitantly toward Rajni.
His face showed guilt and discomfort.
"Beti…" he said quietly.
"I worked with your parents."
"Kalu bhai was a good man. Your mother too…"
He struggled to find words.
"This should not have happened."
He pulled out some money and tried to place it in Rajni's hands.
"Take this… for now. For expenses."
Rajni didn't even look at the money.
Her eyes locked directly onto his.
There were no tears in them now.
Only a question.
"You were the one assigning them work, right?"
"What went wrong?"
"Why did the building collapse?"
"Why did they have to die?"
The supervisor froze.
He had no answer.
He lowered his head.
"There will be an investigation," he said weakly.
"We also want to know…"
Soon preparations began to take the bodies home.
The hospital arranged an ambulance.
Kalu's body was placed inside first.
Rajni sat beside it.
She held her father's cold hand the entire journey.
Her friend sat next to her, holding her other hand.
Another vehicle carried her mother's body.
When the ambulance finally reached the small rented house where Rajni had lived with her parents, the entire neighborhood had gathered.
The news had already spread.
Women cried openly.
Men stood in silent grief.
The bodies were carried inside and placed on two charpoys.
Rajni faced another painful moment.
Her parents had to be bathed and prepared for the final rites.
Some elderly women from the neighborhood helped with the rituals.
Rajni stood there silently, watching everything.
She wanted to feel every second of it.
When the dust was washed from her mother's face and the bruises became clearly visible, tears returned to Rajni's eyes.
Evening slowly descended.
Neighbors arranged wood for the funeral pyre.
Rajni sat between the two bodies.
One hand on her father's arm.
The other gently resting on her mother's sheet.
Her mind had already begun racing toward the future.
How would she pay rent?
How would she continue college?
Where would she live?
Each question pressed down on her chest like a mountain.
The same worker who had accompanied her earlier sat beside her again.
"Rajni beti," he said softly.
"We will perform your parents' last rites together."
"Don't worry about anything right now."
"Your father's last words were clear."
"Do whatever it takes to survive."
"Remember that."
"You are Kalu bhai's daughter."
"You must stay strong."
Rajni looked at him.
Her tears had finally dried.
In their place remained a strange emptiness.
But somewhere deep inside that emptiness, a new strength was quietly beginning to form.
She leaned forward and kissed her father's cold hand one last time.
Then she slowly stood up.
She straightened the sheet covering her mother.
After that, she turned toward the women of the neighborhood who had come to console her.
Her eyes still carried unbearable pain.
Her heart was shattered.
But her back was slightly straighter now.
Because from this moment onward, she would have to walk the difficult road of life alone.
And the first chapter of that lonely journey had just begun.