Life is unfair

My phone rings at 1 am in the morning and I feel too sleepy to answer
it. I curse those who are night creatures and don't hesitate to dial
wrong numbers. I'm sure this is a wrong number since I don't get calls
at night. It has already rung thrice and I can promise it was no 'Fur
Elise' by Beethoven. I finally make up my mind and rise to pick up the
phone. 35 minutes of conversation and then its disconnected.

I sit beside my phone and my sleep suddenly cease to exist. The
handset is still in my hand and I am not sure, if I want to put it back
to the cradle. I am not ready and I wish I could talk more, at that
hour of the night. Its 1:43 am now. I feel too feeble to just stay
there and so I make an effort to get up. I reach for my
recliner and bury myself in it, my eyes closed.

I fly back to the yesteryears of my lovely childhood days, when I
was so close to my cousins especially my maternal side. She and I were
especially close since she was just a year older than me. She was
beautiful, chirpy and had a big heart. We shared everything and there
was no secret between us. I knew everything about her life and so did
she. Then life took turn and we got entangled in it, both of us. We
left home for college and then she got married. Phone wasn't so popular
neither inexpensive to keep us in touch. However, I did visit her and
met her husband twice. A very handsome young man and I was glad they
were together since they made such a nice couple. Afterwards, I got
married too and it has been  over 10 years since I last saw them
with their 2 years old boy.

I was back to the reality in that half lit room of mine. It was my
mother on the phone and she sounded very sad. My cousin's husband had
met an acute accident. A truck hit him in the middle of nowhere and ran
away. He lied there too long till someone came for his rescue. The
doctor said it was too late and he had lost so much blood. He is in
coma since last two weeks and no hint of life yet. Money is gushing out
of pocket like flood but she hasn't lost hope, not yet. My dad, who is
a doctor, went to see him and doesn't have much to say. No one knows
how long its going to take. Life doesn't come with guarantee no matter
how much we wish for. She had been in the hospital with her husband
from the beginning. Her eyes are soaked and puffed with dried tears but
she is trying hard to fight death. She has 2 kids now and she is only
31 years old.

Its too shocking for me. I never thought something this tragic could
happen in my life. It always happens to someone else.....don't we all
try to live in this lie? I feel this intense pain in the pit of my
heart as if someone is trying to break me apart. I wonder why life is
so unfair and then I remember something I read long ago, about
death:

"Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's
all."

A tear slips through my eyes and I start praying for his life,
for my sister and her 2 kids.