Write the end
The 500 Words
I’ve decided to write the scene that will be the end of my
life. As morbid as that sounds, I actually really want to. Here it is:
Al I could hear was the beeping sound of the heart machine
over the steady whoosh of the oxygen tank. I’d been in the hospital for the
last few days, and I knew that this was the end.
I was old; my 98th birthday had just passed
before Christmas, where I celebrated with my four children and ten
grandchildren. My husband had passed on a few years earlier, leaving me in the
care of my only daughter, Jean-Grey. I spent my days listening to my grandkids
play the piano, reading me stories, and asking me to tell them stories about
when I was a girl.
Jean-Grey’s oldest daughter, my granddaughter Rachel, never
left my side when I went into the hospital the few days earlier. She was 24
years old and resembled me most out of my descendants. She was smart,
ambitious, and self-confident. Even in my weakened state, our relationship was
stronger than ever.
Today was different. Rachel arrived at the end of the day so
that Jean-Grey could go home and rest, and pulled her chair up to my hospital
bed. She held my hand gently and kissed my forehead before she sat down next to
me.
“Darling, I have something to tell you. I know that today is
my last day on this earth, and I want you to know that there is no one I’d
rather spend my last moments with than you,” I said softly, my chest heavy
because it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
She was taken aback, and her eyes immediately filled with tears.
“Don’t talk like that, you’re going to make it through,” she replied, her voice
breaking, because she knew it just as well as I did. I motioned for her to sit
on the bed with me, which she did and let me hold her for a minute.
“I’m scared,” she said as she cried in my arms.
“How come darling?” I asked.
“What am I going to do without you?” she cried.
“You’re going to do me proud by being the best version of
yourself that you can be,” I replied. “You come from a long line of strong
women, and you are going to be just fine.”
My sweet granddaughter continued to sob as my chest
continued to tighter up. “I want you to know how much I love you, and how
wonderful you really are. You were by far one of the greatest gifts I ever
received in my life.”
“I love you too,” she said through her tears.
My body was suddenly overcome with a wave of relaxation as
my breaths grew shorter and shorter. I had lost the feeling in my hands and
could no longer feel Rachel’s embrace. It felt like time suddenly slowed down,
and then I saw the white light head of me.
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