A long empty road. An eerie silence. The howling of a wolf at a distance broke this silence temporarily. It was pitch dark, except for a red glow from the tail lights of a car by the side of the road. The red light illuminated the road like the reflection of a red sun, the road wet from the rain. Faint wisps of smoke emanated from the engine of the car, creating an illusion of fog. The long straight road lay as empty as ever and the vehicle in question at an odd angle by its side.

Something stirred inside the car. Forehead resting on the steering wheel, a pair of eyes fluttered open. She could feel something warm trickle down his face, and a blinding pain on his forehead. Moaning with pain, he turned his head to a side and peered at the road.

Through half-closed eyes, he saw it. The headlights of another car, parked at a distance. Ahead of the car, the silhouette of a person came into focus, now approaching her slowly. She squirmed in her seat trying to set herself free. But she was stuck, bound by the seatbelt because she was too tired from the shock of the accident. Her brain couldn't identify how to move her hands-on time but did soon register her injuries and she passed out from the pain.

**

Day 1

"I'm looking for Ruby. I am her father. She was admitted a few hours earlier today. She had met with an accident-"

"Ah yes. She is in room 29..."

Pulse-pounding in his ear, legs tripping over the other, he hurried to his daughter. Nearly breathless, he almost knocked over random strangers in the corridor as he ran past them. He ignored a few nurses who called after him to avoid running into a hospital. But he paid no heed to their request because he had to get to him. He had to get to his baby.

Finally, he found himself standing in front of Room 29. Gently pushing open the door, the view caused pain in his chest.

There she lay, motionless. She looked so fragile. Head heavily bandaged, barely any of her beautiful brown hair was visible outside. Tubes ran in and out of her. Her face was pale and dormant. A bunch of wires everywhere connected to the machines by her bed. He wanted to go near her and comfort her. But he feared that he might hurt her.

Closing the door after him, he took a seat outside her room. People walked past him. Nurses hurried along. Some were spewing jokes, some extremely serious.

But his mind was occupied. He couldn't forget the image of his daughter lying in that hospital bed. The stitches on her body, the blood she might have lost, the pain she might have felt, the shock she might have been in, the number of syringes inserted into her skin. He shook his head.

He later found himself staring at the floor for too long. For how long, he didn't know, until a gentle touch woke him up.

"Sir? Are you a relative of Ms. Rose?"

A man in a white coat stood next to his seat. A nametag on his coat read Dr. Wong. Immediately the man stood up and said, "Yes. I am her father. How is she, doctor?"

"We can't say anything right now. The accident seems to have hurt her quite badly. She hit her head and lost a lot of blood. Her internal organs are damaged too. Let's wait for a few hours and see what happens. She needs to gain consciousness soon," the doctor replied.

"But she is safe, isn't she?" He asked again.

"As I said, she has suffered a lot. We did all we could do. So let's just wait and see. I'm sorry but that's all I can say right now," said the doctor in a sympathetic tone.

The doctor's answer hadn't helped the man in any way. Instead, it made him more afraid for her life.

Everything moved hazily around him. Everyone blurred. He couldn't understand if this was a dream or reality.

"Mister..." a nurse spoke from beside the doctor.

The man looked around for the source of the sound and replied, "John."

"Mr. John, there are a few formalities you need to complete regarding the patient. Can you please come with me?"

John nodded.

"You too, sir," the nurse added to someone behind John.

John turned around and saw a young boy with sweaty disheveled brown hair suddenly rise from his seat. He looked scared and tense as he shifted his gaze between the nurse and John. But what caught John's attention was his T-shirt, stained with blood.

**

"So you brought my daughter to the hospital?"

John asked as he and the boy walked away from the nurse. Clutching his jacket tightly in his hand, the boy's eyes met with John's and he nodded.

"I was driving by that road and I saw the car. It's the smoke that caught my attention," he said.

John nodded, his eyes still on the boy. "Thank you," he said, "For bringing her to the hospital on time. I don't know what would have happened to her if you hadn't."

"Don't thank me, sir. I'm sure anyone in my place would have done the same. I should get going."

The boy smiled at John and walked away. Watching him turn around the corner, John checked his watch for the time. It was past 2 pm. He had missed his breakfast and lunch, he realized as his stomach rumbled.

Sitting in front of a plate with a half-bitten sandwich on it, John was lost in thoughts. The image of Ruby on that bed was something he couldn't forget. Though he was extremely hungry, he didn't feel like eating. The salami looked weird. It looked like meat. But the image of Ruby on that hospital bed kept flashing in his mind. He had lost his appetite. The sandwich made him gag. He thought maybe its time to go vegetarian.

Even when he was alone at home, he had felt a little anxious the previous night. He had felt that something bad was going to happen. A kind of anxiety, causes his heart to beat extremely fast. But never in his wildest dreams did he think, this could have happened.

He had felt this way once before too in his life. It was years ago when Ruby was still a baby, and her mother was still alive. Those were a few weeks John believed that hell exists and that it was here on earth, in his life.

He had always wondered if hell was a concept unique to each human being. In everyone's life will there exist a duration of the time period when life would be horrible, that they would wish to die? If so, that would be their hell. And those who would not experience this hell while alive would experience it after death because hell essentially was a mandatory time for each human being.

Stuffing the rest of the sandwich into his mouth, he left the cafeteria to be by his daughter.

When a brain is idle, it often gets occupied by random thoughts. It gets occupied by dangerous and unwanted thoughts. But this time John's idle mind took him back a few years...

One fine Thursday evening, he sat on his living room couch, waiting for his precious daughter to come home. She was late.

But it's a weekday. Surely, she didn't make plans with her friends. He wondered.

By the time the sun had gone down and the town had gone blue and chilly, Ruby walked in. She looked carefully around the dimly lit living room and saw her father on his usual spot on the sofa.

"Why are you late?" He asked.

Ruby removed her navy blue cap from her head. She looked around. Except for a single table lamp which he had turned on around early evening, all other lights were off. She turned on the lights and asked, "Why are you sitting in the dark?"

She ran a finger through her long brown hair and added, "I was helping out a friend. She needed some notes and some help with her studies."

"Tutoring?" Asked John. Ruby nodded.

"Excellent! That'll help you in your college admissions." Ruby nodded and smiled, agreeing with her dad. She walked across the hall into the kitchen to get a glass of water. As she drank a mouthful, he asked her, "Had you applied to the colleges I listed?"

"Yes, dad. I have applied to all of them," she said as she sighed and slumped onto the spot beside him.

"I'm doing it all dad. Don't worry," she added with a smile, her eyes turning into a thin line that he adored. It reminded him of her six-year-old form.

"I know I know. But I'm your father. It's natural for me to worry," he replied with a smile as he squeezed her hand in his palm.

...Feeling nothing within his fingers, he came back to reality. He stared into his empty palm and felt his eyes brimming with tears.

Nope. He thought. I have to be strong.

He shook his head and looked up at the closed door of her hospital room.

"Mr. John?"

A man suddenly appeared beside him and was eyeing John with concern.

"Yes?" John replied.

"Sir I'm Kevin Davis. I'm with the local police department. Can we talk for a moment?"