Chapter 5: Hospital

A couple of hours later, I woke up to hear a stern voice talking to my mother. He kept on stressing that my mom wasn't keeping an eye on me and that she was negligible of her only child.
As I stirred, the doctor quickly got up, left and commanded a couple of nurses to check my vitals. My mom then started to speak.

"Hassan," she said while fiddling with the zip of her jacket, "Why can't you ever stay outta trouble?? You know how much this treatment is gonna cost??" she leaned in close. "Its gonna tear apart my savings for Eid! You know how much I work so that YOU could enjoy a decent life?? Why....." she broke down, sobbing. I was shocked. I couldn't even reach out to comfort her. I was pondering over what to do and how to react to this when I saw a notebook on the bedside table. I took out a paper and wrote:

Mum,

I know that it has been hard for you to earn a living. I know that I had been a trouble for you since middle school. But I honestly didn't ask that man to come over and thump me in the face. Nor did I go to the theatre to do something wrong. But, I am very sorry for whatever I did. I promise I will compensate for all the cash that you spend on this treatment. Wallahi.

Aasif,

Hassan

As I reached out to hand her the letter, she snatched it outta my hand. I shrunk back, scared, as I had never EVER seen her this angry. She skimmed through the message and then tore it up and threw it at my face.

"How many damned times have you written an apology like this to me??? Have you EVER stuck to what you said?? Ha?" she said, her voice shaking with fury, her face twisted with anger.

Nurses streamed into the room while I stood there with my mouth open as wide as a mosque door on Friday morning. The man, who was speaking to my mom when I was waking up, came in and gently pushed me back into the bed, as I gasped for breath, unable to process what I had just witnessed.