Two Broken Hearts

Two Broken Hearts

    A man with a broken heart. He laid on that hospital bed. He was always laying in that bed for as long as he could remember. Probably because he was born with a heart defect. He had become lifeless. The world was as lifeless as him. Everyone was locked up on bright little screens.

    The bright little screens had become brighter than the world they were living in.

    His family would visit rarely and people would walk past his room giving empty stares. He was once fortunate to have a family and friends that would love him. But ever since he’d become a young adult, he was lucky to see them once each month. There were artificial life forms, the societies term for Robots that his family owned that would check up. Those came more than his family. They used to support him, but now, the only support he had was life support, to keep his heart beating. His family let him live by a machine.

    He normally spent his days staring blankly at the white walls around him, looking at the world outside the window to his left, and drowning in thoughts while he sleeps.

    He lived a lonely life.

    The most company he had was when the nurse. She had beautiful brown hair and eyes that lit up the gloomy room. He had yet to know her name. She would often walk in with a smile and warm greeting. She’d then ask him questions about his day and health. The man would always reply back, but neither answers ever changed.

     He always felt tired and empty.

    He would then ask her how her life had been. How her family is and what life is like outside the hospital doors. She would tell him stories and experiences. He was given an idea of what life was. Only with these artificial life forms.

    The machines tried to take place of humans. It would give information on not only heart rate and temperature like the older versions of these machines. It also shows the patients emotions, can automatically determine the problem of a patient with a scan, and determines all medicine needed. It was not always accurate. It has advanced abilities. More advanced than some humans, but it could still make a mistake.

        But most people stopped feeling emotions because Robots could do it for them.

    This woman was different though. She truly cared and felt real feelings. This was rare to find in a someone.

    The man was sure she was the only person left in this society who felt emotion and compassion. She was the only person who’d treat him like a human.

           They had fallen in love.

The nurse walked in to check how he was. The same as usual. He was staring out the window watching the world. Imagining him and her together in it. They both knew that would never happen. But they would dream.

The nurse spoke softly, “You look tired. You should really get some sleep. I’m just gonna check your heart rate and see how you're doing today.”

The man listened and his eyes slowly closed. She walked towards the screen that gave thousands of pieces of information about the man’s health and life. He heard her tap a few keys and walk out.

And he didn’t remember anything from there.

The woman returned and it’d been several hours later. She looked at the man with fear in her eyes.

The computer had a number on the screen. It showed the rate his heart was supposed to beat and how many beats per minute it needed to pump to keep him alive. The number was less than it ever had been. The machine measured the wrong about of beats required. The machine made a mistake.

He was motionless. The nurses ears started ringing and her vision started blurring. His body was helpless.

She tried to call doctors for help, she tried to fix the machines. She, was too late.

Doctors ran in with advanced technology and new robots the nurse had never seen before. The doctors tried first… Then the robots… But all that could be heard above the chaos was a ringing.

The heart monitor stopped.

The nurse watched the love of her life, his last breaths come to a slow and his lips quiver.

She shook her head in disbelief.

Everything else slowly seemed to fade out. The woman stared blankly at the walls and out the window. The day dreams were gone and nightmares had taken over. She was surrounded by the gadgets and screens that killed him. The medical technology was supposed to fix the man's broken heart.

But in the end, it only gave one.