Tim Harper moaned and shuddered, his face screwed tight with pain.
Sally, the Hospice caregiver, opened the tap on the small bag of morphine she attached to the primary drip. She flicked the drip line to make sure the fluid was flowing. Sally looked down at Tim, adjusted the pale blue covers and placed both his hands on his chest like he was in a coffin. She dimmed the lights.
Liver cancer will take you in a matter of weeks, not months, the doctors said. He will spend his last days at home, supported by a caregiver. Tim was in his third month.
“Tim, why do you fight so, dear fellow?” Sally said. “Your athletic physique wasted away. Your once handsome face distorted by the pain you suffer. The lines from the side of your nose to the corners of your mouth are deep now, your cheeks hollowed. Your once sharp gaze no longer questioning.”
Sally turned away from Tim to take up her armchair seat for the night.
Tim shuddered, his eyes fluttered. Sally hesitated, looked at the monitor. “All seems well,” she commented to herself and shivered.
“Who are you?” Tim’s mouth formed the words but not a sound.
“I am death. You do not know me, but you soon will.”
This caused the monitor heartbeat reading to spike and beep. Sally rushed back to his side, gazing first at Tim, then at the monitor. The heartbeat line bumped the graph beyond average levels for a patient close to a coma. Tim’s mouth moved.
Tim: “I choose my own death. I have free will, and I will die when I choose. You and the doctors have no say in it.”
Death: “Ah, so when and how are you going to do your own death.”
Tim: “Cut my throat.”
Death: “What mess blood would make of the sheets, your bed, the curtains, the floor, and even the walls. Cut-throats are messy instruments. Your keepers will not feel sorrow for you when they have to clean up.”
Tim: “I do not have another means. Can you get me a gun?”
Death: “No.”
Tim: “When I was shot, you should have taken me then. But, no, you knew better. You wanted me to suffer like this and take my own life.”
Death: “No, Tim. I took your measurements then. Then put you back for a second chance. You abused that chance, and here you and I are again.”
Tim: “You make out you’re so clever at who will die and who will live. Even when they will die. You are so smug in your power and control.”
Death: “Oh, is that so! Is that what you think of me?”
Tim: “Yes. I am better than you. I have free will over my life, what I do with it, and when I choose to die. All you do is obey your MASTER.”
Death: “Is that what you think I do? Anyway, you said that when you were shot. What a bore.”
Tim: “THE MAN has a Lever Arch file with our pages. HE pulls a page, passes it on to you, and all you do is pay the poor sod a VISIT. Well, that’s not going to happen to me. I visit that Lever Arch file, and put my page at the back so that I can end my life when I want, not when HE, or you, want.”
Death applauds and bows with a gracious wave of his hand. He pulls his cloak closer to his chest and leans on his scythe.
Death: “What a simple explanation you have of Life and Death.”
Tim: “Yes, well, I’ve given it much thought and analysis; if I have freedom of choice, what other explanation can there be.”
Death: “When someone other than HE decides when you die, the dying will be hard and painful, and the spirit will linger forever.”
Tim: “What are you telling me? Are you trying to scare me?”
Death: “No, you’re scared already.”
Tim: “No, I’m not.”
Death: “Yes, you are. If you were not scared, you would have done it a week ago. Instead, you suffer great pain. Why?”
Tim: “So much pain! I want another chance. If not, then help me to cut my throat, please. And stop this pain.”
Death: “There is no need to cut your throat and make a mess, Tim. Cancer has killed you. You are mine now.”
Tim: “What…the…?”
Clever dialog between Tim and Death – Tim deluded himself, thinking he could choose the time of his own death and finally discovers that he can’t – no one can. Interesting approach – I enjoyed it
Thank you, John. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing something different in a different style too.
This is very effective piece of writing. I enjoyed the different format and the debate with death. An original approach to the homework task. Well done.
Hi Jude, Thank you for reading my post. I feel a course like this is an opportunity to “experiment”, so I did. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Great premise of making the hospice nurse Death and ensuring we, the readers, did not sympathise with Tim. You kept the dialogue short and snappy, which propelled it forward. And the end was abrupt and appropriate.
Enjoyable. Well done.