Climb

Arun woke up. He didn’t know where he was. It looked like a hospital room. A doctor noticed that Arun was up and came over to his bed.

“Hi Mr. Arun Sharma, you have been unconscious for almost two weeks now.  Would you like some water?” asked the doctor

Arun nodded.

The doctor poured some warm water in a glass and gave it to him. Arun took a few sips.

“How are you feeling?” asked the doctor

“I feel tired, lot of weakness. I can’t feel much strength in my legs” replied Arun

“Yes, you will take some time to recover. You were very dehydrated when we found you, you must have been unconscious for at least a couple of days before we found you. What is the last thing you remember?” asked the doctor.

“Did we make it to the top?” asked Arun

“The top?”

“The last thing I remember, we were climbing up to Kalyani peak.”

“We?”

“Yes, Mayank and me.”

“I am sorry to inform you, but you didn’t make it to the top. When the rescue team found you, you were around 100 metres from the top.”

“Oh okay. And where is Mayank? How is he?”

“I am sorry to be the one to inform you, but Mayank didn’t make it. He was already dead by the time the team found the two of you.”

Arun was stunned. He didn’t know what to say. He closed his eyes, put his head in his hands.

“I am sorry to break the news to you right now. I had not planned to tell you for a few days. Instead, I had planned to tell you that he was also unconscious and recovering and give you the bad news once you had slightly recovered yourself. But I felt that it will be better to tell you immediately.”

“No, it’s okay,” said Arun. His voice was shaky.  He took a few more sips of water.

“I am glad you told me. Mayank wasn’t really interested in climbing this peak. He was going to get married in May and didn’t want to climb this peak right now. But I pushed him, I didn’t want to do this alone. I thought this would be our last climb since he is getting married and will be settling down. I feel horrible, I am not sure what I am going to tell his mother.”

Arun started crying. The doctor just looked at him, not saying anything.

“Can you try and remember what happened?” the doctor asked Arun.

“I have been trying to remember myself since you told me. The memories are faint, but I do recall that we had got caught in some snow, some snow or rocks had fallen over us, and we were injured. Mayank was injured quite badly; he couldn’t feel his legs. I couldn’t get up myself, my entire body was paining.”

“Was there anyone else with you? Did no other group find you?”

“It was just the two of us. And I remember shouting for help, I think we were shouting for hours or maybe days. I don’t even remember exactly. But the winds were strong, nobody heard us. Nobody came for help.”

“Can you remember how many days you were stuck there?”

“I can’t. It feels like many days. I think I now remember one of the last things Mayank may have said to me.”

“What was it?”

“He made me promise that I will take him down - dead or alive. I didn’t want to discuss this, instead I kept motivating him that a fresh group will be coming soon, and we will be saved. In the end, I did make the promise. Did the rescue team bring him down as well?”

“They did, but…”

“But what, Doctor?”

“His body was found next to you, half eaten. Initially we thought it was eaten by an animal. After analyzing the both of you, we realized that isn’t the case. The police have asked me to notify them the day you are up. They will be coming in the afternoon. They have some questions.”