She entered the sterile, brightly lit room in a rush. They'd told her to hurry, time was of the essence. He'd been in a bad way for a few months now, could this be it? He was all she had left in this world and she all he had. Everyone else had either passed away or left. Even his beautiful bride had passed years earlier from a sudden stroke. Ever since then, it had been he and I just chugging through life together. There he lay in that bed he'd laid in for at least a couple of weeks now. The hospital had been shuffling him between home and back there when he got bad again for at least six months. He was so small and so frail. He'd already been of a small stature but now he was even smaller having lost about 50 pounds, pounds he didn't need to lose in the first place. He'd been so strong her whole life but he was tired and she knew he was....heart troubles since the 90's and now with nothing and no one left but her a bout of pneumonia had gotten his lungs down too. He had fought hard but in the end his old lungs just couldn't seem to recover from the pneumonia. Now his whole body was just giving out on him. She looked at his thinning gray hair, the tired wrinkled face, his thin frame all the way down to his thin legs and arms which looked like little more than toothpicks now. His tired brown eyes found her worried brown eyes. He smiled weakly at her. The lights were much too harsh for the situation at hand but she didn't have time to worry with that, she could see he didn't have long left. Each breath was labored and weak. She sank into the chair beside his bed heavily; held his soft, frail hand and laid her head on his bed. No words were needed in this moment, no words would suffice. Not to mention, he'd always been a man of few words. He didn't see the point in mincing words and for that matter neither did she, only speaking what was needed. They had told each other they loved each other sure but it was mostly through actions. Being there for each other and after all, was that not what mattered the most? She lost track of how long she laid like that humming the old hymns she'd heard in church growing up with her grandfather. She could hear the clock ticking, she could see it getting darker outside the window, the beeps of the machines which most had been removed. It was all about comfort now. At some point, her grandfather put his hand on her head and then all of a sudden she heard a deep, rattling breath. She looked and saw the most peaceful look on a person's face she'd ever seen and then she heard the machines flatline, steady beeep, she took her hand and closed his eyes. Rest in peace and fly high... the doctors and nurses then flew through the door so she got up quickly and stepped back so they could do their job. There wasn't much to do however but pronounce him deceased considering there was a do not resuscitate order. They just disconnected the machines, called the funeral home and asked if she wanted more time with him. She said no, she'd had her time but as she turned to leave she could've sworn she saw the brightest glowing light shoot up into the ceiling. She smiled.
About the Creator
Lindsey Altom
For me, writing runs in the blood. I've written songs, poems and short stories ever since I was a little girl. I mostly like to write about my life experiences mixed with a little fiction or just things that come off the top of my head!
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Mother Earth...
A long, long time ago the great Mother Earth was but a great and vast ball of water. It was but ocean and there was no land. It had been this way for many, many years but one day the great spirits of Water, Land, Fire, and Air decided that the great Mother Earth should be more than just the vastness of water as Land argued that he had so much land stored up in the depths of the seas all he needed was to bring it forth. And Fire raged that his anger had been held back too long. Soon Air chimed in and stated that she needed land to breath. Before long, the heavens rumbled with the great Spirits arguing and the skies and the waters began to shake violently. After a short time of this out of the depths of the water came land mases and soon great mountains rose to the heavens. Some of which in certain areas erupted from beneath the depths below rolling billows of fire which the great spirits called lava. It billowed upon itself so it was as if it would never end. T'was like a cloud as it rolled on and on seeming to never end. It was beautiful, the lava and the mountains from which it erupted would later come to be called volcanos. The destruction it caused was truly glorious as it ate everything in its path leaving nothing but gray and black ash and soot in its wake but also a chance for new life and new life did happen. Shortly after the mountains, volcanos and land rose to the surface animals appeared on Mother Earth. No one knows which of the great spirits created the animals but it is suspected they all four shared a part. It was discovered that during the bringing up of the land mases and the making of the mountains and volcanos that a great unknown was created in the Underground for deep caverns had been made in different parts of the world during the battle of the great spirits and some of the animals tended to migrate there for the comfort of the solitude it offered. This underground world also offered darkness from the bright sun that Fire had decided should shine as a bright ball of gases and heat for light on Mother Earth. The Creation was as it should be and everything was beautiful. Land and Air were working together perfectly and had created these wonderful things called trees and flowers and plants which helped all life grow and flourish. Water and Fire could be at odds but they were learning how to work together. For that matter, all the spirits were learning how to work together and utilize what each other could provide to make Mother Earth better. Some time later, though no one really knows how long, mankind showed up. The great spirits gathered together and discussed who might have made this beast but no one took claim to this. It remained a mystery. And the Earth flourished and floundered, flourished and floundered and what had been done was good. The great oceans, the many great mountains, the waterfalls, the seas, rivers, the creatures which roamed Mother Earth. The Great Spirit looked down and saw that it was all good.
By Lindsey Altom11 months ago in Fiction
Timothy
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