The Days Before I Died - A Short Story

4 Days Before I Died

"Athena." Doctor Parks' voice was the first thing I heard the next morning. After Aiden and Damien's fight in my room last night, I was completely and utterly exhausted. I wasn't even the one throwing light around. Seemed strenuous though.

Cracking my eyes open, I met my doctor's gaze. "Morning." I tried to reply, but it seemed my vocal chords were out of commission today.

Parks nodded at my apologetic stare and began running his regular tests. Normally this was something a nurse would be doing, but I suspected Parks liked me more than he let on. It was safe to say I was actually his favorite patient and the thought made me smile.

"Hey Parks?" I croaked, fighting the pain in my throat anyway. He lifted his chin in acknowledgment though he was a bit distracted by the task at hand. "Would you tell me about Aiden?'

His pen against the paper on his clipboard paused and he sent me a look out of the corner of his eye. "I still have no idea where you heard this, but - okay." He took a deep breath. "What do you want to know?"

"What was he like?"

Parks set down his clipboard at the end of my bed and sat in the armchair beside me, resting his chin in his palm. A reminiscent smile spread across his face. "Silly. Very silly." He chuckled. "He got into all sorts of trouble. After school he used to come here and play with the kids. They loved him but he was a bit of a bad influence sometimes."

I smiled softly. "How so?"

"He liked to convince them to go on adventures through the building with him. There were so many times we couldn't find patients because he had taken off with them. It was a pain - almost got me fired, once - but he only did it because he cared." Parks' eyebrows furrowed. "He cared too much most of the time."

I struggled into a half-sitting position. "What do you mean?"

"Aiden was very empathetic towards people. Kids especially. He would get very attached and that can be very painful when they were people who were terminal." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before putting them back on. "That pain became his downfall."

I frowned. It made sense that he became a guardian angel then. He wanted to keep caring for the people in the hospital, just like he did in life.

"He used to tell me that he was dead set on going to medical school. He wanted to be a doctor like me, but I always tried talking him out of it. I knew if he were to be in the same position as me, seeing people die nearly every day would take its toll on him. I wasn't sure he would survive it." Parks leaned forward, his hands clasped over his forehead as he stared at the ground. "I was right in a way."

I had a feeling I already knew the answer now - especially if Aiden and Damien's argument was anything to go by - but I wanted to ask anyway. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Doctor Parks, but - how did Aiden die?"

Parks laughed humorlessly, as if he was expecting me to ask. Nodding his head, he leaned back in his chair and stared blankly ahead. "I used to have a patient a while back - her name was Anna and she was ten years old. She had brain cancer and it was terminal. There was not a damn thing we could do for her at the point she was at. Anna was here for three months and in that time, Aiden became very attached to her. He spent nearly every day with her, drawing, playing games, reading stories - and then suddenly, she was gone."

Clasping my hands together, I opened my mouth to speak, but Parks continued.

"Aiden came here straight from school." I heard Parks sniffle and my heart shattered. It was so uncharacteristic to see such a stoic man show so much emotion. "I had to break the news to him. He came to my office and asked me where she had been moved to. He had no idea. I'll never forget the look on his face - it's permanently etched in my brain. Her death was the straw that broke the camel's back."