Last Day On Earth!!

The overstated look on his face was quite amusing. He looked just like a kid awaiting his grade sheet knowing very well that it would an “F” whilst hoping for a miracle that it might somehow change to a D. Nothing more! This was his first, and Andy was scared to his bones that he would not survive the day. He was already 40 for God’s sake! He had spent the last 20 years writing algorithms, building massive programs, fixing bugs, and trying out various solutions on how artificial intelligence and machine learning would make the life of mankind much easy. He was a scientist, and DEFINITELY not meant for what was to come.

Nevertheless, with no possibility left, he sat beside his screaming wife, whom he had loved and stayed married for 15 years now. Normally a cheerful and lovely woman, Cheryl was not her own for the past few months. The fights, the tantrums that she threw, the money she blew out on petty things which had absolutely no need, had cost him his entire life’s savings. She was now getting under his skin. And he could take no more. He so desperately wanted this to be over, but then deep down he loved her and knew that she did love him as well and still he wished the best for her.

“Can you pls stop screaming remain quiet for some time Woman? My eardrums would burst out anytime?” said Andy.

“Quiet? You want me to remain quiet, you fool of a took?” Cheryl screamed back. “how on the world do you expect me to remain quiet, huh? You think it is easy for me eh. Why don’t we switch positions then Andy?”

He decided not to further the discussion and follow her quietly as the nurse came by to wheel her though the hospital. The sanitised floors and the odour of antiseptic the hospital got onto him. The reminiscences of his childhood trauma came flashing before his eyes. As a child, Andy always thought that hospitals were places for delusional people and he pictured the building like a hungry huge monster, ready to devour him. Memories of his haunted past surfaced now, and he saw a mirage of himself, screaming and crying being pulled by his mother and the attending through the doors of the giants’ belly of the hospital.

 Andy hated hospitals as a child. Even the mere thought of meeting a physician gave him nightmares. Getting a shot was indeed an exceptionally long shot for Andy. He hated doctors and could not withstand their presence anywhere. Such aversion, that even at 38, he had that he spent days secluding himself in the bedroom for flu and refused to get it checked, so much so that Cheryl had to finally sedate Andy to get him into the ER for treatment.

And yet, here he was walking down the hospital corridor alongside her. He was sure that he would be engulfed by the jaws of death within the next few hours and today would be it. The question was how? The best bet was that he would either die of hyper - Nosocomephobia else due to intolerance of Cheryl’s screaming? He felt chocked by the blood rushing through his own veins. He knew this was the end and his last day on the face of the earth.

And Yet, there he was. Still walking by her side through the corridor, through the elevator to the first floor of the hospital. Though he was never agoraphobic nor claustrophobic, he now felt the fear creeping into him. The hospital walls loomed around him, trying to engulf him into a devil’s lair. He felt his heart almost come to his throat as the elevator car made its ascent through the shaft.

Finally, the elevator door opened, and they stepped onto the corridor leading to the room allotted to Cheryl. She was still screaming! The nurse helped Cheryl get into the hospital robe. It was funny though, thought Andy that though he had seen Cheryl naked a million times, but now, the sight of her getting out of her overalls and into the robes was not very welcoming. Nevertheless, that was the least of his worry this moment. The worse was yet to come. The nurse fetched the IV fluid tray to prep Cheryl and fix up her line. There would be blood and the moment that Andy dreaded the most. The thought of seeing blood gave him shivers, and the sight of it would be catastrophic. Andy remembered the time when he had accidently scratched his finger and it bled. He lost senses and had passed out for two hours. He watched the nurse aghast and for some reason, the nurse sensed his fear. She looked at Andy and said

“Why don’t you sit by your wife and hold her hand, talk to her while I prep up her other hand, and DO NOT look.” Guess she was not in a mood to handle another calamity. 

She was an angel thought Andy and felt relieved. Cheryl had stopped screaming now and looked at Andy with an encouraging look. He walked toward her with a laggard stride, held her hands, looked her into the eyes and said, “I love you honey, you know that, and I would go any lengths of the world to get anything for you, but this is not the time. Please, ask someone to call me when the baby pops out.” And he walked out leaving an angry and very much in-labour Cheryl behind. She screamed again, not in pain, but in anger. “I am gonna kill you, Andy, you moron”