Do you believe in Miracles?

I woke up well before the sun shined down on us. It was Sunday, my favorite day of the week. I got ready and went outside to wait for Kevin. As usual, he was late. I smiled and went to wake him up. But I had just reached the door and was about to knock when he opened it.

"For once I can be on time", he smiled and kissed my cheek.

It was a daily routine for both of us to go and attend Sunday mass together. We had been doing it since childhood.

It was only after he came back from London, that we realized that we loved each other.

Instead of dating each other, and hiding this from our parents, we decided to tell them. And to our surprise, they already knew.

"We are your parents, my dear child. We all knew it was bound to happen one day", Kevin's mom hugged me.

So the date of our wedding was set a year after that is just 4 months from now.
Holding hands we reached the church and attended the mass.

"What did you ask for?” Kevin asked me.

I turned around to face him and winking him I said "as if you don’t know".

"Hmm...let me guess...you asked for a perfect wedding, that you look the best bride in the world, and I don’t run away before the wedding", he added laughingly.

"You know this wedding means a lot to me", I said getting serious.

And then he did something unexpected.

He bent on his knees, and taking my hand in his he said "Baby, I have been waiting to marry you since the first time I saw you. I know that was when I was just two, but somehow I’ve known all these years that I love you. And I promise the wedding will be perfect! And for me you are the most beautiful girl, regardless of what how you look. I love you, and always will ", he said kissing me hand.

My eyes were filled with tears, and seeing me close to crying he stood up and hugged me tight.

After 2 months

It was again a Sunday. As usual I was waiting for him to grace the occasion of Sunday mass with me. I smiled and went to wake him up.

I was at the door, when his mom came out.

The moment I saw her face I knew something was wrong. Was Kevin's dad all right? Oh, he was already a heart patient. What if-

"Kevin's had an accident".

I froze in my tracks. No. It can’t be. Life couldn’t be so unfair. Why? Why Kevin?

And the next thing she was about to say would shatter my world. I knew what she would say. How could this be? In a moment, my world fell apart. Kevin no longer with me....

Sensing my train of thought, she said, "He is in the hospital. Fighting for his life".

The relief washing over me made me stumble and I lunged forward to hug his mom.

"He's alive mom. He's alive!!!I knew god couldn’t do this to us."   

But she was not hugging me back. Wasn’t she grateful? But sensing something amiss I looked at her face confused.
“He hit his head. He is in comma”, she said. Her eyes filling with fresh tears.

Comma. This means he might never wake up.

I felt the scene before me blur. I tried to squint to look through. But all I could see was haze.
They took me to the hospital. Took me to him. Took me because I was hardly aware what was happening around me. I remember my dad coming to pick me up from the floor where I had fallen from shock. I heard them saying something, but I couldn’t pay attention.
How could this happen? He was always so careful while driving? What if something happened to him? I have known him since I was two. Twenty years of my life have been spent with him. And now, 2 months before our wedding, this. Can something this ironical and horrible happen to someone?

We met the doctor before going to see him.
“ There were no external injuries. Only a single major head injury. Apparently he hit his head on the steering wheel. We have done the tests, and frankly the results are not so positive”, the doctor said looking sorry.
“Will my son ever-“, his dad started but choked on tears.
“We can only pray”, the doctor said, looking into his eyes.

The meaning was clear. The sorry note of his voice only cleared our doubts. Kevin might never wake up. And with him my dreams, my life, my soul might never wake up.

I saw him. There were no tubes attached to his body, no blood, no IV tubes, no big machines, nothing.
Just him and a small cardiograph which was attached to his wrist. It showed his heartbeat. He was alive.
At that moment all I could do was thank god. At least he was alive. I sat on the edge of his bed. I touched his hand with mine, hoping to see his eyes flutter, his hands move- just like the climax of Hindi movies.
But life isn’t always a happy ending.
I talked. I tried to wake him up. I cried. I shook him. I tried to make him feel my presence.
I tried reminding him what all we used to do together. All the movies we watched repeatedly, all songs we danced to, his special tie which I had once cut, just to irritate him, my favorite Barbie doll- which he disfigured to tease me, all our coffee talks when it rained.
But he didn’t wake up.

My mom came and put her hands around me.
“It’s useless, Kathy.”
I turned to hug her, losing my patience. I don’t know for how long I cried. Maybe seconds, minutes or hours, all I knew was that my love was no longer with me. The feeling of being separated – the feeling of never able to see him smile, wink at me, never to hear his voice, never to hold his hands, never to have me hug back…
“It’s going to take a miracle to wake him. I am so sorry baby!” my mom whispered in my ears.
Just before I was about to give up, I remembered him once asking me if I believed in miracles.
“It depends”, I had answered.
“You know, there are just two colors-black or white. No grey. Likewise, either you believe in miracles, or you don’t believe in them”

And it was then that I decided that for the sake of my love, for the sake of our love, I will believe in miracles. That one day he would wake up- wake up and call for me. Tease me, scold me, and hug me.
Not once will I think about the other result. Not once will I doubt in the power of good. The power of love. The power of miracles.
Because miracles do happen.