One Last Goodbye

A daughter deals with the heartbreak of losing a mother.

 

            The air was thick with memories both bitter and sweet. Walls, painted a stale white, only reflected the poor amount of light from the windowsIt gave the room a dark shade, as if the only real light were coming from the machines on either side of a bed.

            Nichole sat blankly beside the hospital bed. Her mother was lay spread on top of it, her silky gold hair was dangling off the side. Nichole resisted the urge to cry. She had never seen her mother in such a position of vulnerability. She couldn’t bear to look at the many wires and machines keeping her body stable. She bowed her head, clasped her hands together, and began to pray.

            God, I know I haven’t spoken to you very much, but I need a miracle. I don’t want Mom to be like this. She is a great woman, and she deserves heaven more than anyone I can think of, but you can’t take her yet. You just can’t. Please, all I want is my mom back.

            “Nicky?” said a weak voice, interrupting her prayer.

            “Mom!” Nichole answered with trembling lips.

            “Nicky, What are you doing here?”

            “I’m here with you, Mom.”

            The door slowly creaked open as a man dressed in turquoise scrubs entered the room. He had a stethoscope hanging around the base or his neck and an utterly frightening look on his face. He stared up from the clipboard in his hands and his eyes widened as they rested on Nichole.

            “I’m sorry but your daughter shouldn’t hear this. She’s too young,” he said.

            “Nicky might be young, she has as much right as I do to listen to this. She is my only child. The least you can do is tell her is what’s wrong.”

            The doctor rubbed his chin with his fist. He seemed to be refusing to look at Nichole. “Fine then. If you put it like that, then there’s no way I can avoid it. You see, we aren’t exactly sure what’s wrong. There’s something floating around in your blood. It’s attaching to your red blood cells and feeding off of them like parasites. They drain the cells until they die. Whatever it is, it’s eating on your blood. There…” he stared directly at Nichole and hesitated, “There is no cure. You won’t even see the next morning.”

            Nichole gasped and stared at her mother, her mind swirling between each thought. She clenched her fists and stood up. “No cure? But… Mom can’t… you… You’re not trying hard enough! Give me those sheets! There has to be something you’re missing!”

            She lunged for the clipboard but the doctor dodged out of the way. Nichole flipped around and seized a fair grip on the slate of wood in the doctor’s fists. She tried to pull it away but the doctor had a firm hold on the other end. Nichole freed one of her hands form the slate, and it landed with a thud flat across the doctor’s face. He released it and stumbled from the force of the blow. Nichole gave him a last shove out the door befor she closed it and turned the lock.

            She slowly stepped to her mother hurling her vision from left to right across the sheets she stole. With every sentence she read, another piece was chipped off of her heart. When she reached the end of the paper, she gazed up at her mother, who was still smiling. Trying to act calm, she trotted back to her mother and stood over her. Tears welled in her eyes and, not willing to resist anymore, she collapsed upon her.

            Glazed, icy tears flooded onto her mother’s blanket.  Her mother wrapped her arms around Nichole. It took her a few moments to come to the realization of the situation, but when she did, she returned the warm hug. So many things to say filled her head, but none of them would come out. They were only downed by her tears and swallowed back down.

            “No matter what they say, and no matter what happens, you will always be my baby girl,” said her mother, her voice growing slower and weaker with every word.

            It was meant to be comforting, but Nichole’s crying only increased. She felt the life leave her mother. Her arms went limp, and her heart quit beating in her chest, but her smile remained. Nichole wept over her mother’s body as the machines by her side let out a long, flat screech.

            A jingling noise sounded outside the door and it burst open with two hospital security guards dressed in tan and brown fabric with a gun on each of their hips rushing inside. They grabbed either side of Nichole and tried to drag her away. She struggled and elbowed one of them in the gut screaming, “That’s my mom! You have to save her! Mom, you can’t leave!”

            The security shuffled out of the dim room with one of Nichole’s arms in either of theirs. She struggled with her armsand kicked with her legs, but she did so in vain. Once the bottoms of her feet cleared the door, the doctor, with a large red spot beat into his face, closed the door. It eliminated what little light was left in the room. And a beautiful smile was shut away in the dark.

Author's Note

I wrote this in tribute to the sister of Urlissa Sheffield, who is in the hospital very sick.Please, pray for her safety and her family

Reviews

[Scotty White]

What a sad little story. Lot of emotion in there, though I felt it to be a tad rushed almost like a sub plot to a television medical drama. There some great description especially the tug of war with the doctor for the clip board (and his poor face!).

The only thing I can note is

"No matter what they say, and no matter what happens, you will always be my babe girl." I think Babe should be Baby.

good job!