Mrs. Bernard

The first short story I have posted on here so far. Hopefully more to come!

Mrs. Bernard

Most of my time is spent in darkness. I call out but am never answered. I hurt yet get no relief. Something is wrong. My life is sorrow, pain, weakness, and confusion.

I do not know how I ended up in this place. Should it even be called a place? Am I dead? Is this heaven? Hell? Am I in purgatory? Fleeting shapes of red, green, and blue swarm through my blurred vision. They seem to speak to me, yet I rarely understand them. Perhaps they are not like me, yet they must be similar. Most of their thick language I don’t understand, but every now and then, I catch a recognizable word. I call out to them. I scream and yell and ask for help. I call out to my husband and my daughter and my grandchildren. Why are they doing this to an old woman? What do they want with me? They never answer me. I don’t think they understand.

Pain is now my existence. The figures that I cannot see torture me. It seems as though my life is lived in short bursts, for I never seem to be aware for long. I think they are poisoning me. Tubes run into my veins. The blue ones put something that burns in the tubes. It hurts so bad. I think they are using me. I think they are stealing my life.

Amber……Amber…..Amber……I call out to my daughter. Only my captors arrive. They hate me. They are annoyed with me. They want me to be quiet. But where is Amber? Where is my husband Robert? Why are they doing this to me?

I rise from the darkness once again. One of the green ones arrive. I think it’s a he. He says he hates me. He says he wants to kill me. He wants to see my blood sprayed across the ceiling. He cuts my arm, and he cuts deep. The green one is catching my spilled blood in a container. He is laughing at me. Why are they so cruel? My arm hurts so bad, but the green one won’t stop. He just smiles and laughs. I can’t feel my arm. I think he has cut it off. Darkness claims me.

I am naked. I am ashamed. Once again I find myself surrounded. Green ones, blue ones, and red ones. They are enjoying my shame. They point and laugh at an old woman’s shredded pride. One of them grabs a machine with hoses and strange lights on it. They grab a hose. I am so scared. What are they going to do to me now? Haven’t they done enough? They love to hurt me. They put the hose inside of me. Oh my God! It hurts so bad. I scream for help. Help! Help! Please! Amber! Bob! Help! A red one leans close to my head and whispers.

“It’s ok.”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to take care of you.”

I try to fight through the pain. I want to thank her. This red one is going to help me. She is going to save me from the rest of them. The others are terrible. I never find my words though. The pain is too great. Just when I think I can break through and speak, the nice red one changes. She spits in my face. She laughs at me and tells me I am a filthy animal. Just then one of the green ones speaks.

“We are all done here. Go to sleep or I’ll slice your throat hag.”

The rest of them are speaking in their unintelligible language. I don’t understand any of it. I just want to go home. I try to stay quiet. I don’t want them to hurt me anymore. I’m too scared though. I can’t help but call out again. Help! Help! Amber! Amber!……Don’t…….let……them……hurt…….

Darkness.

I can’t last much longer. I can feel my body dying. These….things…whatever they are. They are going to kill me. I have come to terms with that. I just wish I could see my family. Just one last time.

Once again, my body is wracked with pain. This time it is coming from inside. My chest feels as though it is about to burst. I am shaking. I can’t stop it. Shaking, shaking, shaking. There is a pressure in my chest. Soon they arrive. They are happy with my pain. They talk to each other excitedly. Pointing at the machines that I am attached to. Perhaps my body has provided what they wanted. Maybe now they will just let me die. Not yet. It appears as though they have a final task in store for me. They wheel in a contraption that is shiny with strange, bright markings on it. The green one goes to the machine. He puts on gloves. His gloves are covered in blades, and he crashes both of his fists into my chest. Fire and pain erupt through my body. My already distorted vision blurs, darkens, and then brightens once more. I see the green one raising his fists for another strike. I think they have buried something inside of me. Now they want it out. His hands rush towards my chest. I don’t feel them hit. I don’t feel anything. I don’t see anything.

****

“Amber.”

“Amber!”

Amber wakes up with a start, her neck is stiff and she realizes she had been drooling a bit. The dangers of sleeping in a chair. She realizes the nurse is trying to talk to her.

“I’m sorry ma’am, what was that?”

“I’m sorry Amber, but your mother has just passed away.”

Amber’s eyes swell with fluid but don’t spill over. She knew this was coming at any moment. In all honesty it was probably for the best. After all, there towards the end, her mother’s dementia got so bad that she couldn’t even speak coherently. She didn’t recognize her own daughter, though she continually called out to her. She constantly called out to her late husband. He had been dead for six years.

“Thank you nurse. I will inform the family and start preparing.”

“I’m sorry for your loss”, said the nurse.

Amber looked at her and gave her a small smile and a nod.

****

Later that day, Timothy, the chief RN came into work. When conducting his change of shift report, he was informed of the death on the floor.

“Mrs. Bernard passed away last night Tim. She went into cardiac arrest around 3:45 A.M. We attempted to stabilize her heart but our efforts were unsuccessful.”

“Thank you Cindy. It is always sad to hear about one of our beloved patients passing. However, we know all to well that this is a natural part of life. We can be proud though everyone.” Timothy said as he addressed the staff in the room. “We can be proud, that the service we gave Mrs. Bernard made her last few days on earth pleasant. We made her comfortable. I know that she was confused everyone, but behind that confusion, I think their was happiness, and comfort. Mrs. Bernard was deep in the throws of dementia, but I would like to think, that deep inside, she was already dreaming of a better place.”

“Your right Tim,” replied Cindy. “We made her comfortable. We took care of her. I think she was really happy on the inside, behind the confusion.”

“Exactly Cindy,” Tim said as he gave her a quick hug. “We make our patients comfortable.”

“At least all that yelling will stop,” a young tech mumbled, in her red set of scrubs.