25 seconds & more of agony
Real life horror
Luck is to pass out. Yet, their anguished screams push me on - faster! - almost frantic amidst splashing blood. Panting and sweating to climax: meat dropping at my feet.
He - held firmly. I, poised with the blade. As if on signal, I sprang to work, metal biting flesh. Deeper, seeking bone. His suffering was total.
A dresser joined the agonised chorus, his fingers sliced clean in my haste. He'd not live.
One heart stopped for the horror of it all.
I'm renowned. None other claim a limb with more speed, nor an operation with a 300% mortality rate.
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Note from me: Thank you for reading! Please comment so I can reciprocate.
If you are interested in the story behind the story: This one is a trule tale - Robert Liston, a barber surgeon in the 1800s, could cut off a leg in 25 seconds. Speed was essential to minimise the suffering of the patient. Faster operations were generally more successful, possibly because there was less margin for infection. The downside being that mistakes happen at that speed. A "dresser" (an assistant holding down the victim) lost some fingers in one such accident and later died from infection. The patient in that case also died, and so did a witness who died from shock.
If you have been reading my dystopian series (beginning with Glass Dolls and continuing with Straw Dolls), you might be able to guess at the research I was doing, and what might happen next to the protagonist.
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More stories from L.C. Schäfer and writers in Fiction and other communities.
Midnight
60 seconds… 59 seconds… Time was slipping through his fingers, though he clawed at the falling grains of sand, he could not stop the hourglass from flowing. Around him, the silence was deafening. He had taken over every screen in the command centre, putting the terrible seconds before the terrified eyes of his friends and comrades.
By Alexander McEvoy4 days ago in Fiction
Comments (14)
The horror is sweet here. Love it. I could picture the scene and cringe at the thought. Difficult to accomplish in microfiction. Great job.
This was disgusting and horrifying, in the best possible way. Well done!
Oooh! Intense and gory. Everything you look for in a horror. And now for some reason, my legs hurts! 🤨 Great Read and commentary at the end, L.C.
Horror is growing on me. Didn't get this at first. Thanks for explaining. Thank God for anesthesia, bleach, antibiotics etc, etc,
This was a tension filled and heart palpitating story! I love the way you created a sense of terror and had a "classy" amount of gore that doesn't ruin your appetite but your still not eager to eat afterwords. I also really appreciated your comments and break down at at the end, when you told the reader about your inspiration and sources. So well done! This was a great piece, L.C.!
I laughed when the witness died of shock. Certainly going to hell, lol! Loved your story!
Makes me think of the battlefield surgeons. Great detail and effect. Excellent. 🤩
Oooh this captured some horrible atmosphere of an (unfortunately true) story! I felt my heart race! Well done!
Very well described L.C. Have you read any of Patrick O'Brien's Jack Aubrey/Steven Maturin series. Maturin performs some very harrowing Napoleonic Period surgery occasionally, including once on himself!
Woah! Speed to minimize suffering, but at quite a cost! Sheesh! This reminds me of one of my favorite non-fiction books by a real life victim of the ice pic lobotomy. Gruesome stuff. Well done!
Wow. Thank you for the note telling more. What a story!
Oh, this brought to my mind an episode from A Young Doctor's Notebook mini-series. Did Robert Liston operate on his patients before or after ether was found to be usable as an anesthetic?
It was nagging at me and I remembered it with his name. You knocked this one out of th epark. I missed Straw Dolls, but I'm headed that way now.
Ach, fuck. That was intense! Well done!