THE RESCUE

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A wintry friday evening during the end days of December was not what
Rohan had hoped for on the last day of the week. Wind was blowing hard
as if a tempest was brewing up. The dimness of the dusk was giving way
to blackness as thousands of tiny sparklers started to flame the
heavens with their twinkling radiance. Rohan and Tarun were on their
way back home from college. It had been a tiring day ending with an
exhausting carpentry workshop.

Suddenly, Tarun hears a rumbling noise.

"Quiet!"

"Can you hear that? Look, over there"

Rohan turned his head to the direction Tarun was pointing at.

A huge wave was roaring in their direction with the swiftness of a jet.

"Oh, f***... ... RUN"

It was the fastest race of their lives. Eventually the giant sea swell
won and had them tossing about on its gigantic ripples. Rohan soon
lost sight of Tarun. Tens of other people were crying out for help. As
Rohan tried to get hold of something a sharp object hit his thigh that
made him shriek in pain.

Getting hold of a piece of a wood, which probably was a part of a door
of some house a few earthly seconds back, Rohan clambered on top of
it. Groaning in agony, Rohan saw himself being carried into the sea as
waves started to recede. With blood rushing out of his leg, Rohan
plucked the object out and tearing apart a piece of his shirt, he tied
it to the wound.

Rohan watched helplessly as hundreds of others were being swept away.
Some were shouting for their relatives and friends and others shouting
for help. Soon the voices began to subside. After a few moments, a
voice broke the strange silence that was beginning to creep in.

"Save! Save my baby, my baby"

Rohan, still in severe pain, tuned into the voice and saw a woman
splashing the water rapidly to swim towards a tiny baby that was being
carried away by the sea.

Both the grievous situation around him and his pain made him hear the
sound of death knell. The cry of the woman was dying out and the view
fading, when he heard the same rumbling sound he had heard while
walking with Tarun. A turn of the head made him see a huge water wave
racing towards them. Another turn of the head made him see a mother
crying out to save her baby. That somehow produced a jerk in him and
the ringing of the death knell stopped.

With the wave still at a distance Rohan jumped off the wood and made a
dash for the baby, the pain in his leg notwithstanding. He enclosed
the baby in the safety of his arms and made a tight grip on the log of
wood baby was floating on. Soon, water crashed over his head.

--

Despite his leg bleeding profusely and his strong arms holding the
baby, Rohan managed to survive the ordeal. Opening his eyes, the few
thousand twinkling sparklers dazzled him for a second. Sitting up, he
realised he was in the midst of the ocean floating on the icy waters
on just a piece of wood, with just the moonlight enabling him to see
around. Rohan guessed he must have been asleep for more than a couple
of hours. There were tens of other things around him. Twisting around,
Rohan saw the baby sleeping cosily in the warm clothes it was wrapped
in. That sight made him feel better. The pain in his leg had faded but
the sting remained. The blood had stopped flowing. He slowly bent
around and washed his wound with the seawater. The salty seawater
produced a stinging effect for a short while. The pain was worthwhile
as after imperceptible winks of the eye Rohan felt better. He felt
energy running back inside him.

Holding the baby in his arms, he swayed it back and forth and was
comforted by the thought that his effort had not gone in vain and had
saved two lives. That comfort was short-lived as he realised the grim
situation he was facing. With nothing to either drink or eat, he and
the baby would soon die. Rohan picked up two pieces of wood and a few
other things that could act as tools. Turning those pieces into
something like oars, he frantically tried to row towards a tiny light
he could see at a very far-away distance. Probably that was either
land or a lighthouse.

His tiny hopes turned into bliss as he saw a boat with a few persons
standing on it. One person was holding a torch. He quickened his
rowing even though energy was fast draining out.

On reaching the boat, Rohan was helped up the boat along with the baby

"I am Captain Warsi from the rescue team; take this and relax", the
Captain told Rohan, while handing over the blanket.

With his mouth gasping for breath, Rohan felt sudden weakness in his legs.

Handing over the baby to the Captain , Rohan exclaimed as his
breathing became shorter and shorter,

"Captain, please take care of this baby; I faced great hardships to
save his life."

"But, but the baby is already dead"

Rohan dropped dead.
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THE END