Side Story 2
Raghav
After the death of Siddharth's mother,
his tiny heart broke down.
He didn't want to live… but he was afraid to die.
And he started to hate his father.
Even when people were around him,
Siddharth always felt alone.
In the beginning, he didn't come out of his room for hours… sometimes even days.
Just alone.
Ramesh was tense about him.
Siddharth would just eat food and go back.
No talk, no family time.
After a few weeks, Siddharth gathered some courage and started going to school.
But in school, children avoided him.
They saw him as a cursed child… the one responsible for his mother's death.
Their parents told them,
"Don't go near him. He is not a good person."
Siddharth would just go to school, sit at his desk,
and come back.
No talks. No friendship.
Slowly, Siddharth himself started believing…
that he was the curse.
In that darkness, Siddharth tried to do something far beyond his age.
He did something truly unbelievable.
He took sleeping pills.
Not one… not two…
but thirteen.
Even eight pills were enough to put an adult into a coma.
Alone on the road,
after swallowing all of them at once…
Something unexpected happened.
He suddenly thought—
"I want to live…"
He remembered his mother's words:
"Live a good life."
And with that, a will to live awakened inside him.
He forced himself not to sleep.
"I will not sleep," he kept saying.
But the tablets were strong…
So he just sat beside the road.
After 20 minutes,
hallucinations started.
His mind began to imagine things.
His body started trembling.
There was no one around.
He started shouting,
as the hallucinations showed him the things he feared the most.
His eyes turned red.
He kept screaming…
But still—
he endured everything for his mother's last wish.
On that same road,
Raghav was passing by after school.
Seeing Siddharth in that condition,
he immediately lifted him onto his back and took him home.
On the way, he kept asking,
"What happened?"
Siddharth could barely speak:
"Don't… do anything…
and… please… don't tell anyone…"
Raghav's father was a professional doctor.
Raghav understood something was seriously wrong.
He took Siddharth to his room.
With his basic medical knowledge,
after recognizing the medicine…
Raghav quickly gave him lemonade and said,
"Sleep."
"If you sleep, the drug will settle in your body.
Your body has already absorbed most of it…
it won't affect you much now."
Siddharth fell asleep for four hours straight.
Raghav stayed beside him the whole time—
doing his work,
but checking on him again and again.
After some time,
Siddharth regained consciousness.
Raghav asked softly,
"What happened…? Why did you do this?"
Siddharth… just broke down and cried.
Raghav hugged him tightly.
After a while, Siddharth told him everything.
Everything… about his pain.
Raghav got angry.
"These stupid students… and their parents…
they don't know anything."
Then he said in a firm voice:
"Don't worry. I'm with you now… my friend."
He added,
"Try to take admission in my school.
If not… I'll come to yours."
For the first time in a long while,
Siddharth felt something…
Happiness.
Because someone… finally saw him as a friend.
After the session ended,
Siddharth took admission in Raghav's school.
And from there—
their bond only grew stronger.