Lifespan Deathwatch

[Damien McEwan]

Nivek opened the door and quietly followed Alia through it.

As she approached the sick man on the bed, Nivek found a shadow in the corner and remained there as an unobtrusive observer.

He watched her, completely unmoving as time passed. The rhythmic beep of the heart monitor counting the passing of each elongated second like drips of water in a subterranean cavern.

Nivek was unsure when Alia extended a hand out behind her, beckoning him to join this bedside deathwatch, but he stepped foreward, interlaced his fingers with hers, and stood beside her as she stood.

The sensation was unlike any he's ever experienced. He felt light as a feather, yet simultaneously, frozen...heavier than a thousand stone.

Time continued to pass.

The beeping of the heart monitor came faster as blood began to fill the dying man's lungs, and Alia turned to Nivek with a tear in her eye. "Do you understand this?" she asked.

"No." he said back to her as he wiped away her tear, "but I accept it."

She loved that, and rested her head on his shoulder as time continued to pass.

The man coughed in his medicated sleep, and a spatter of blood came to rest on his elderly lips and chin. Alia lifted her head, and Nivek stated, "It's time."

He didn't intended to speak...it was just a natural reflex that was new to him and beyond his ability to control.

Alia took a seat at the edge of the bed with Nivek mirroring her likewise. She took his hand, and together, they made contact with the old man's body.

Through Alia's hand under his own, he could feel the dying man's life as a warmth quickly going cold. In his ears, he could hear something that he couldn't quite describe...it was like a perfect tone, dropping its pitch as it reduced its volume and faded away.

Nivek turned his head as the old man's death rattle seared into his memory, and watched the racing rhythm of the heart monitor end with the high ring of a flatline.


Alia rose her eyes to the ceiling, and after a moment, silently whispered 'Goodbye.'

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