My sister's keeper. (26-12-13)

My sister almost died that day. I remember dragging her to the car. Her head was on my lap. My fingers involuntarily kept running through her hair. We reached the hospital just in time. They took her away. The doctors kept coming, one after another. She was finally shifted to the ICU. All my siblings were busy so i volunteered to stay the night. She finally woke up. told me she was cold. I hugged her and started rubbing her back. Did it for almost two hours. She fell asleep again. I spent the night by her side on a chair. Made sure i didn't fall asleep. Every time she turned the monitor plug used to come off and I was scared to let that happen. At night when everybody fell asleep I finally had time to looked around. There were six more patients. Two had hepatitis C. One of them cried in pain that night. Another was on tubes. I just knew she wouldn't survive another night. She was old and weak. Another lady was coughing blood. They were all asleep. The only sound that night was of the monitor and that old lady breathing. I spent the rest of the time carrying my sister to the bathroom, brushing her hair, putting her drip on and off every time she had to go, answering her questions. Night changed into day. I went home in the afternoon. My other sister stayed back. It was her turn to spend the night but my sick sister demanded that i stay. I went back in the evening. That night i stayed up again. I had a book in my hand because i had a final the next day but couldn't study because of that old lady. She was dying. I spent that night watching her and reciting darood. She passed away around dawn. I watched her die. Everybody knew she was dying yet none from her family had the time to stay with her. She died alone and it broke my heart. Maybe because i live each day with a fear that i'll end up just like her... alone on my deathbed. I stayed in the hospital for two more nights. Used to go home in the afternoon for 6 hours. Out of those six, i'd spend the first eating breakfast (only meal of the day i could find time for) and updating my family. The next cleaning up and praying. later my family used to leave for the hospital so i could have almost 2 hours alone. During that time i used to cry. Staying strong was not easy but i had to for my family. The rest of them had fallen apart. I had to make all the decisions. Console each one of them. Thats how i spent those four days. Couldn't have done it without the support of my best friend. It wasn't the first time i had stayed as an attendant. Had done it a year ago for another friend. It made me realize God had made me do that to prepare myself for something worse. God does that all the time.