Pr3ttyNP1nk

Prompt: The phone rings and rings and rings in the middle of the night. It keeps ringing after the machine picks up. Finally you answer it—groggy, irritated, and befuddled. It’s the call we all dread and yet know will come more than once in our lives … The narrator’s (closest friend, lover, parent, brother, sister, you decide who to kill…) was in an accident, is at the hospital, and will not last until morning. He or she dresses furiously, jumps in his or her car, get to the hospital, cursing at the slowness of traffic, and the stupidity of parking attendants, and arrive at the person’s bedside. What happens next? Describe the scene, be detailed.

Response:

I felt extremely light pressure on my hand and I was awakened. As I groggily adjusted myself, nose was instantly flooded with the steril smell of the small cramped hospital room. My too tired eyes, already burning with fatigue, now blazed and itched. The lights seemed almost to bright to believe, too bright indeed for such a small space. As my eyes began to adjust to the brilliantly white room, I glanced down at the the cold, clammy hand that ever so gently held mine. It appeared as if it belonged to a corpse. I was startled by this image and I quickly looked up to her face in hopes that she had not noticed my grimace.  I squinted to see my mother’s face. Blink. Blink. Now she was no longer clouded by the overpowering white sheen of the room. I could see her clearly, too clearly. I realized after studying her face for a while that not only her hands but her entire self looked like a corpse. This was too much for me to handle. I knew that she was still alive but the realization that she looked dead and easily could be at any moment was just too much to take in at once. I carefully pulled my upper body off the edge of her bed side and sat up as straight as I could in the small uncomfortable chair. The chair had a somewhat modern design but it was over stuffed which made it hard and uncomfortable. To make matter worse, it had been upholstered with a rough boring tan square patterned fabric. The same boring square patterned fabric that was used to make the curtains that hung over the window directly across from me. I looked back at my mothers sallow face, she was scowling at me.

“What is it mah? Why do you look angry?”

She said nothing, she looked me straight in my eyes with a look of hatred that chard me from the inside out, leaving tiny embers floating inside the hallow of my body.

“Mah I know that its probably difficult for you to respond to me but I know that you can hear me. I came to see you. To say goodbye. You understand what’s happening don’t you?”

She just stared; then another light squeeze to my right hand, which she still held.

“Yes Mah! You do understand!” I sounded elated at this little victory, this small accomplishment. As I began to process what this ment I began to choke on the rest of what I had to say and tears slowly began to flow from my stinging eyes. She was dying, right in front of me and she knew it. I knew it.

She blinked once but it was so slow that I thought she was…was going. When she opened her eyes again I came closer to her face. So close that I could se nothing else but the sunken skin of her face and the swollen purple skin around her eyes. I began to speak agian.

” I love you, you understand that don’t you? Even though…you understand right-”

My words were cut off by a shrill alarm sounding. She had pressed the emergency help button. Had I frightened her. Did she think that I would cause her some sort of harm? I assumed that she did because she looked so relieved to see the nurses rush into the room. They flung me back agains the the far wall of the tiny room. It felt cluttered too cluttered. All the machines and the large bed already seemed to take over the room, and now with the addition of seven nurses, it felt like a cage. They all crowed around her and she was glad they were there to survey and scrutinize me. She hoped that one of them would realize that her loving daughter, her only child, was not as innocent as she appeared.

After checking all the monitors, several nurses left but, two remained there in the room for another hour or so before leaving us. They finally prepared to leave when it was clear that my mother had fallen asleep. As the last young nurse was passing by, he gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder and told me that she would probably pass in her sleep. I nodded once and gloomily looked back at the floor. He left the room and shut the door with a soft click. The sound was so small I hardly even heard it but as soon as I looked up at my mother I know that she had. She was awake and looking at me wide eyed. I looked at her and then rushed to her side. I stopped myself mid-stride because I realize that this would probably startle her and I didn’t want a repeat of the last few hours. When I approached I sat on her bed side this time and held her hand. Her eyes darted up to my face and her other hand began to slowly creep up to the emergency call button. I swoped my other hand down and pushed the button and the long cord it was attached to over the edge of the bed. There was no way she could push it now. I leaned in close to my mother’s face.

“Look. I really do love you but you’ve got to stop with this. You know that I won’t…well I am but… You know I love you Mah.” I began to sob  and I leaned in to kiss her forehead. As I slowly pulled away from her face, I took the plugs in the nearest outlet with me. All the machines went blank and my mother’s wild eyed stare faded as she died in front of me. I made sure that she was dead before I plugged everything back in and I reset each device before leaving the room.