Post by Spirk on Feb 19, 2005 16:39:01 GMT -5
Death: A day in the life
By R. M. Carroll
Death’s Journal Entry 2211011456: Was a busy day today, was ‘hospital day’ as it’s known among the old ones. They take it all so seriously though, no sense of humor about it and the rules and regulations, like having to keep a journal of the souls we take every day it’s just so much red tape but it’s what the old ones want.
Anyway, today was hospital day and it started with a chess game. It was between Thomas James and Bob Cooley and they were playing for the lime Jell-O making it’s way along the ward in it’s little trolley. Neither of them realized that winning meant a lot more then just Lime Jell-O, the winner was going to get to live at least another day, the loser was coming with me.
“C’mon Bob you know that I got ya.” Thomas had mumbled as he eyed the board, sure in his superiority.
“I’m not giving up though Tommy.” Bob replied as he moved his fingers from one piece to the other as he thought things through.
I stood between them and watched the game intently. Neither of them had long to live and as Bob moved his knight in the wrong direction I saw this game was going to be over in just one more move.
“Ha!” Thomas said with a laugh as he moved his queen with lightning speed, he had saw it too and didn’t hesitate to strike. “Checkmate, I win!”<br>
He had no idea just how right he was as I reached and touched Bob on the shoulder. The old man seized and gasped as his heart suddenly stopped. He had lost one of his shoes, his left one, I noticed as I watched him thrash on the floor. It’s funny how it’s the odd things you notice at these moments.
“Holy Jesus! Bob!” Thomas cried as he got to his feet as his friend fell from his chair to the floor. “Nurse! Nurse!” The old man yelled as he hurried around the table to where Bob lay on the floor, dead from a heart attack would be the official report. I looked over at Thomas and nodded at him. It would be his turn soon, probably within the next month.
Death’s Journal Entry 2211011457: Next stop on the list was the Emergency Room. I didn’t know a lot about Jessie Jenks or the things he had done in his life. It wasn’t my place to know these things; to me he was just another name on the list, just the next job for me. The ER was fairly slow when I arrived; the doctors and nurses did their rounds fully unaware that I walked among them. Jessie wasn’t here yet, hew as still ‘in transit’ but he would be here soon and the emergency room would be in chaos once more.
“Did you see the new Doctor?” One of the nurses asked another nurse as they walked past me.
“You mean the one that looks like George Clooney, oh my yes.” The other nurse replied and both giggled as the ambulance pulled up to the bay doors. That would be Jessie, I moved into the Emergency Room 1 and waited for him to come along.
They came crashing into the room, the gurney between them as they rattled off stats like heart rate and blood pressure while the doctor called for medications and gave his orders. I got a look at him for the first time and had to agree with the nurses, he did look a bit like George Clooney.
I waited until they got Joey situated on the table before I moved forward and looked down. I recognized him instantly as a famous actor from the 80’s who had disappeared from public life until now. See, that’s something else that the old ones don’t get, they don’t understand things like fame and popularity and a life that meant something. They just wanted the souls collected. Personally I felt it was a honor to be able to be here for one of my childhood heroes. Sure if I was still alive we would be about the same age but once you become an agent of Death you kind of stop aging so while I still looked like a 16 year old kid he looked all of the 35 years of age that he was.
I touched him lightly on the forehead as they stuck the syringe into the I. V. And just like that he flat lined as an obnoxious screeching sound came from one of the monitors. I slipped the soul into my bag as the doctor screamed for the defibrillator the clear jell was smeared on the paddles as the doctor put them to Jessie’s chest.
“Clear!” He yelled and pushed the switch on the paddles. Joey’s body arched but it was too late. “Clear!” The doctor called again as I melded into the wall and moved to my next location. I was on a schedule after all.
Death’s Journal Entry 2211011458: I rode the elevator shaft down, feeling the air as it gently moved around me. My next stop was where the bodies could be found, I was here after the other driver in the accident that claimed Jessie’s life. This one was taken directly downstairs having been declared dead at the scene.
I passed the orderly that was on duty at his station outside of the morgue. A lone white candle burned in one corner of the station, doing it’s best to chase off the gloom of the entire morgue and I couldn’t help but admire this young man’s attempt at driving away the darkness of death.
He was eating hospital food while he watched a movie on the small TV he had set up in his station. It was the Shining, something else from my childhood, from my human years. It was the scene where Jack Nicholson had the fire axe and was chopping through the door to get to his wife. I smiled lightly as I walked past the orderly. The doodle on the young man’s clipboard, the image of a pig playing basketball made me stop and look over his shoulder. He was a good artist if he decided to proceed down that road. When he shivered at my close proximity I decided perhaps it was time to move on.
I entered the morgue proper and passed through the swinging doors into the examination room. There was an autopsy in progress, the doctor had just removed a kidney and held it up to the light to look at it closer.
“Kidneys are in bad shape, if they bullet hadn’t killed him then he would have suffered kidney failure within the month and would have ended up here anyway.” I watched as the doctor callously dropped the kidney into an old bedpan on the tray next to him before he went back to his autopsy.
I moved on as well, this wasn’t my stop; this soul was long gone from the body. More then likely collected by one of my brethren at the scene of the crime, probably scooped right up before the body hit the ground.
There she was, the last name on my list for the evening, Sarah Meyer was on a slab, a tag on her toe and a sheet over her body. The soul was easy enough to find as it cowered near the body, very much aware of my presence but was unable to stop me as I gathered her and put her into the soul bag with the others.
That’s all for today journal, I’m sure that my superiors will edit out all of my thoughts and opinions before offering my report to the old ones. Things have changed, even over the last twenty years since I’ve joined the legion of the soul gatherers, there are more people, and more of them are dying painful bloody deaths. It used to be I would collect two or three souls a day; I collected twenty-three before starting hospital day and it’s only getting worse out there. Could the old ones be right? Could this be the last days? If so then what will happen to me, to us at the end of it all? Can death die?
By R. M. Carroll
Death’s Journal Entry 2211011456: Was a busy day today, was ‘hospital day’ as it’s known among the old ones. They take it all so seriously though, no sense of humor about it and the rules and regulations, like having to keep a journal of the souls we take every day it’s just so much red tape but it’s what the old ones want.
Anyway, today was hospital day and it started with a chess game. It was between Thomas James and Bob Cooley and they were playing for the lime Jell-O making it’s way along the ward in it’s little trolley. Neither of them realized that winning meant a lot more then just Lime Jell-O, the winner was going to get to live at least another day, the loser was coming with me.
“C’mon Bob you know that I got ya.” Thomas had mumbled as he eyed the board, sure in his superiority.
“I’m not giving up though Tommy.” Bob replied as he moved his fingers from one piece to the other as he thought things through.
I stood between them and watched the game intently. Neither of them had long to live and as Bob moved his knight in the wrong direction I saw this game was going to be over in just one more move.
“Ha!” Thomas said with a laugh as he moved his queen with lightning speed, he had saw it too and didn’t hesitate to strike. “Checkmate, I win!”<br>
He had no idea just how right he was as I reached and touched Bob on the shoulder. The old man seized and gasped as his heart suddenly stopped. He had lost one of his shoes, his left one, I noticed as I watched him thrash on the floor. It’s funny how it’s the odd things you notice at these moments.
“Holy Jesus! Bob!” Thomas cried as he got to his feet as his friend fell from his chair to the floor. “Nurse! Nurse!” The old man yelled as he hurried around the table to where Bob lay on the floor, dead from a heart attack would be the official report. I looked over at Thomas and nodded at him. It would be his turn soon, probably within the next month.
Death’s Journal Entry 2211011457: Next stop on the list was the Emergency Room. I didn’t know a lot about Jessie Jenks or the things he had done in his life. It wasn’t my place to know these things; to me he was just another name on the list, just the next job for me. The ER was fairly slow when I arrived; the doctors and nurses did their rounds fully unaware that I walked among them. Jessie wasn’t here yet, hew as still ‘in transit’ but he would be here soon and the emergency room would be in chaos once more.
“Did you see the new Doctor?” One of the nurses asked another nurse as they walked past me.
“You mean the one that looks like George Clooney, oh my yes.” The other nurse replied and both giggled as the ambulance pulled up to the bay doors. That would be Jessie, I moved into the Emergency Room 1 and waited for him to come along.
They came crashing into the room, the gurney between them as they rattled off stats like heart rate and blood pressure while the doctor called for medications and gave his orders. I got a look at him for the first time and had to agree with the nurses, he did look a bit like George Clooney.
I waited until they got Joey situated on the table before I moved forward and looked down. I recognized him instantly as a famous actor from the 80’s who had disappeared from public life until now. See, that’s something else that the old ones don’t get, they don’t understand things like fame and popularity and a life that meant something. They just wanted the souls collected. Personally I felt it was a honor to be able to be here for one of my childhood heroes. Sure if I was still alive we would be about the same age but once you become an agent of Death you kind of stop aging so while I still looked like a 16 year old kid he looked all of the 35 years of age that he was.
I touched him lightly on the forehead as they stuck the syringe into the I. V. And just like that he flat lined as an obnoxious screeching sound came from one of the monitors. I slipped the soul into my bag as the doctor screamed for the defibrillator the clear jell was smeared on the paddles as the doctor put them to Jessie’s chest.
“Clear!” He yelled and pushed the switch on the paddles. Joey’s body arched but it was too late. “Clear!” The doctor called again as I melded into the wall and moved to my next location. I was on a schedule after all.
Death’s Journal Entry 2211011458: I rode the elevator shaft down, feeling the air as it gently moved around me. My next stop was where the bodies could be found, I was here after the other driver in the accident that claimed Jessie’s life. This one was taken directly downstairs having been declared dead at the scene.
I passed the orderly that was on duty at his station outside of the morgue. A lone white candle burned in one corner of the station, doing it’s best to chase off the gloom of the entire morgue and I couldn’t help but admire this young man’s attempt at driving away the darkness of death.
He was eating hospital food while he watched a movie on the small TV he had set up in his station. It was the Shining, something else from my childhood, from my human years. It was the scene where Jack Nicholson had the fire axe and was chopping through the door to get to his wife. I smiled lightly as I walked past the orderly. The doodle on the young man’s clipboard, the image of a pig playing basketball made me stop and look over his shoulder. He was a good artist if he decided to proceed down that road. When he shivered at my close proximity I decided perhaps it was time to move on.
I entered the morgue proper and passed through the swinging doors into the examination room. There was an autopsy in progress, the doctor had just removed a kidney and held it up to the light to look at it closer.
“Kidneys are in bad shape, if they bullet hadn’t killed him then he would have suffered kidney failure within the month and would have ended up here anyway.” I watched as the doctor callously dropped the kidney into an old bedpan on the tray next to him before he went back to his autopsy.
I moved on as well, this wasn’t my stop; this soul was long gone from the body. More then likely collected by one of my brethren at the scene of the crime, probably scooped right up before the body hit the ground.
There she was, the last name on my list for the evening, Sarah Meyer was on a slab, a tag on her toe and a sheet over her body. The soul was easy enough to find as it cowered near the body, very much aware of my presence but was unable to stop me as I gathered her and put her into the soul bag with the others.
That’s all for today journal, I’m sure that my superiors will edit out all of my thoughts and opinions before offering my report to the old ones. Things have changed, even over the last twenty years since I’ve joined the legion of the soul gatherers, there are more people, and more of them are dying painful bloody deaths. It used to be I would collect two or three souls a day; I collected twenty-three before starting hospital day and it’s only getting worse out there. Could the old ones be right? Could this be the last days? If so then what will happen to me, to us at the end of it all? Can death die?