Chapter 3

Subham's condition was getting worse with each passing minute. We could hear his moans coming from the doctor's chamber, which indicated to his suffering. As his moans got louder and frequent, we got more and more worried. His father could not stop himself and tried to get inside. We tried our best to stop him but he still pushed the door and went in. We also ran into the room and were shocked to see that the doctor was shaking Subham's weewee!? 

Nope, he did nothing like that. At the moment we entered, we found Subham lying on the bed, unconscious, covered in sweat and moaning in pain. The doctor looked at us. His anger was clearly visible on his face. He was sitting beside Subham, placing a wet cloth on his forehead to control his fever. He wanted to vent his anger on us, but he chose not to. The reason was clear, there was a patient in the room. 

"Doctor, how is he?" Subham's father asked, almost whispering. 

Doctor looked at him. "Not good. If his condition gets worse, we might lose him."

Hearing those words made my heart heavy. It was a shocker for all of us.

"Is there no way to save him?" I asked.

Doctor stayed silent for a second and stared at the ground. Then he lifted his head up and looked at me. "There is only one way now. The wish fish."

The wish fish, a creature from legends. Legend says that there lies an island in The Great Black Sea. On that island, there is a pond in which this creature lives. It has the power to fulfill one wish. However small or big the wish is, it can be fulfilled. Many sailors, pirates, kings and people tried to reach that island but never returned. Nobody knows what lies in that sea and why they all did not return. There are only speculations and stories.

Subham's father grabbed the doctor by his collar and shook him angrily. "Are you fooling with me?" He shouted, his face red with anger and irritation. 

We immediately ran to them and tried to pull them apart. 

"You asshole, my son is dying and you are telling us find a fish which I don't even know exists," He said, while Rahul, Bhaskar and Govind pulled him out of the chamber. "Best doctor, my ass."

When I think about it, what he was saying was not wrong. We don't even know if it exists or not. 

I realized the doctor stared at me. "Do you believe this too?" He said. 

"What?"

"Do you also believe that this is only a conquerory story?"

What? Is he still going at it!? Is he serious? I thought. "I don't know, but if no one has ever seen that creature, then how would I know it exists?" I replied to him.

"Hm, then how do you think this legend came to us in the first place?"

"Maybe someone made it up, then people started believing it and it spread like wildfire."

He said nothing and sat on his chair. He signalled us to sit. I sat on the bed near Subham's legs. Surya sat beside me and Ashok sat using only half of his ass on the corner of the bed. 

"Let me tell you a story," The doctor opened his mouth. 

Was this the time to listen to stories? Did this doctor have some screws loose in his head? I wanted to say it out loud, but I controlled my emotions and stayed silent. 

"What is this story about?" Ashok asked in curiosity. 

"This is the story of a man who wanted to study medicine but could not because of his poor financial condition," He responded and started telling the story. 

How was this story related to the topic on which we were just discussing? 

"His father was a poor farmer who could only make enough to feed his family,' He continued. 'He could not afford to let his son study medicine. But that boy now had a dream. He decided to work as a servant for a famous doctor. He then learned everything he could by observing him. Years passed by and the boy became a teenager."

To be honest, I had no interest in listening to his crappy story. But still I did not interrupt him. He was too invested in telling the story. It seemed like nobody had ever listened to him and he had finally found the chance.  

"One night, he was alone in his small shabby home. His mother was feeling labour pain, so his father took her to other town, and he was left alone at home. It was quiet that night. He was sleeping on his bed, suddenly he heard a loud thud on his door. He got scared, but curiosity got the better of him. He slowly walked to the door, opened it and peeked outside. No one was there. He thought that someone played a prank on him, he was about to close the door but his sight fell on someone sleeping on the floor just outside the door."

Now the story was getting interesting. I looked at Surya and Ashok. They listened it with full concentration. 

"It was a girl, shivering because of cold. He took her inside. He noticed she had a high fever. He now had to use his years of medicine knowledge he got from serving the doctor. He treated her with whatever he had. He stuffed her in a warm woolen blanket, prepared a soup for her with whatever he had, tried to keep her warm by all means."

What did he mean by 'all means'? Did he... 

"In the morning, she woke up. She was feeling okay now. Her face was not visible clearly in the night but as soon as the sunrise, he got mesmerised by her beauty. Brown long hair, pale skin and her sharp features made her extremely pretty. She looked like a fairy from the heavens."

I was constantly looking into his eyes. They were in pain. I could sense it. It almost felt like that he was telling his own story. 

"They became friends after that. The people in the village started talking and making things behind their backs. However, they never reacted to them. When the boy's parents returned, they poisoned their ears. His parents were so furious. They threw both of them out of the house. Then... they never looked back. They left the village, decided to live in an abandoned hut in a town. They married each other and were leading their lives happily. But..."

He took a pause. His eyes were filled with tears. At this moment, we three understood that the story he was narrating was his own. 

"But?" Ashok broke the silence. 

Doctor looked at him with sad eyes. "But she passed away one night. It was so sudden, he could not even think of anything. He cried for hours that night sitting beside her body. When few hours were left for sunrise, he noticed that her body suddenly started glowing. A few seconds later, a shining figure came out of her body. It was her soul. It was shining so brightly that even moon was nothing in front of it. 'Yuddhrama' A voice he heard coming from the shiny figure. The same voice as his wife."

Yuddhrama was that doctor's name. Just as I deduced, it was his own story.

He looked at me. "Now, you know this story is about my own life."

"What happened after that?" He smiled a little at my words. 

"She said, 'I am a fairy. That was all we had together. If you want to know everything about me, if you want to know the truth, then find Ichha Matsya in The Great Black Sea.' Then she flew in the sky and her body got vanished."

I could not believe my ears. This old man slept with a fairy? Unbelievable.