The Reaper

Death Brings Back To Life

I remember 7 years ago when I went to identify my mother’s body, some days after the great tragedy.

Her head had been bashed in by a falling piece of the deteriorating skyscraper. That she could hardly be recognised by her 17 year old daughter at first, second or third glance.

She could neither be fitted for burial with the damage caused to, not only her distorted face, but other parts of the body.

Half her hand was crushed under the rubbles, her legs... Equally mashed. Forming a thick paste of flesh and blood altogether.

Moreover, I didn’t have the money to do that. It was, in a disturbing way, a win win.

Seeing her lie helplessly on the bed that day-

“Clear” I yell, so as to ensure no one was touching the body.

The chances of him coming back to life was less than 15 percent, I think to myself as I feel like the biggest fool for not giving up.

There was no need to yell clear. Everyone already distanced themselves and were only around because I was their superior.

This was the last try, I silently prayed that the dark misty entity who somehow is able to communicate with me, and I with it, would listen to my wishes. “CLEAR!!!”

Seeing my mother lie helplessly on that bed is a constant reminder that I should not easily abandon anyone’s side.

Especially when everyone else has.

The machine detected a heart beat even before I’d charged his body with electricity. The patient’s chest visibly began to rise and drop back down.

It wasn’t long before he flung his eyes wide open in an unexpected pace.

I gasped at what I beheld as I glared at him, in between states of shock and excitement.

The patient’s forest green pupils were gone as both eyeballs were tainted in black.

He repeatedly blinked, the strange dark colour dispersing to the corners before the white pupils could finally be seen.

The patient slightly lifted his upper body, tilting his head from left to right. Taking brief glances at all the apparatus, varying in size, that had been attached into him.

He was pretty wide awake and alert for someone who’d been in a two weeks coma, I noted.

Whispers filled the room from the nurses who had given up on him just a while ago. A few moved closer, towards the revived patient's bedside.

“Take these off me” his very first words had been. “I need go see my wife”

“You’re in the hospital, Mr. Castillo” I began the calming procedure. For patients who remained unconscious for a really long time, they wake up lost, confused, fazed.

“I can see that” he wobbled his bandaged head in short to and fro movements, gesturing, with his eyes, at all the tubes that were around him. “I am not a fool”

I heard he had been an arrogant man. But in truth, they had failed to place ‘very’ before his arrogance.

“But you still can’t see your wife right now. We must run a few scans-“

“Some more tests?” He dismissed me as he took hold of the blue sheets that did him good to conceal those hairy legs.

I’d been more fazed by his reaction than he was of his surrounding, or how he got here.

Had I just brought this man to life!!? I questioned. Not the excited kind, but the kind that makes me believe the universe does everything for a purpose and shouldn’t be tampered with.

“Mr Castillo” I called out, stretching both hands to his stead so as to stop him from causing any further harm or possibly, an internal bleeding “You shouldn’t move your body so carelessly”

“And why is that?” He questioned, disgust in his tone followed by him weakly smacking my arms far away from his sight. “Are you afraid I might die a second time?”

I grew stunned by the second with everything he had said, and done so far. The whispers equally intensified behind me after that dismissive show of his. Causing a pointless anger to surge from within me.

I turn around, retaining an expressionless appearance so as to address my underlings “ I want to talk to Mr Castillo alone”

A few displaced themselves by a step, others unmoved by their superior’s request.

“Leave us!” I order now in disdain towards the fellow resisting practitioners and assistants.

Everyone reluctantly disappeared behind the doors within thirty seconds. Each dragging their feets and looking at the man who had been dead for some minutes but now sits upright.

The man, unshook by everything.

“Mr Castillo” I now pay attention to him once the last nurse had shut the door behind him “ do you know why and how you ended up here?” Asking, as I now watched him sway both feets to the tiled floors.

“Car accident” he replied briefly, and clearly annoyed before making a vain effort to stand.

His legs wobbled to the sides as he tried taking a step forward. Knees, unsurprisingly, bent once he did.

“Don’t touch me!” Mr Castillo added when I reached out after seeing him loose his stance and almost trip. He was, however, fast enough to get hold of the hanger which contained sachet of blood and two other sacks of treatment.

A transparent liquid and another lemon green, like that of urine.

“I’m sorry sir” I apologize, automatically pulling my hands back to my stead on his command.

I wasn’t one to follow instructions, or do as told, I thought. This is strange.

Once he managed to regain his balance, he took an insignificant step forward. Knees visibly trembling as he pushed himself beyond his limits.

Anyone would anticipate a fall out of the fact that this person had not used his feet for weeks. But why was he being so rude, or dismissive to any form of aid!?

Then again, I had had enough of this, I thought as I now grabbed him by the arm.

“You should not act so reckless” I urge him into submission despite his little, vain efforts to break free from my hold.

His hands were terrifyingly cold, dead cold, I notioned as I carefully brought him back to his bedside.

But it had not even been an hour since he left and came back... Why is his temperature so high?

“I have a wife” his tone held no resentment this time, it was just him stating the facts. A fact that ought to be the least of his worries right now.

No matter, I was open minded. Could this be why he refused my help? Maybe I shouldn’t have judged him so quickly.

“She, and my kids, are why I am here” he willingly sat this time. There had been no need to compel or use force on him.

“I know, “ I tried a different approach. One where I don’t mention blood tests or scans. “And I have a husband” I lied, hoping I could get some closure into seeking answers from this man.

The dark figure that whispered into my ears, his black eyes. What else?

“I’d cheated on my wife back when I was alive” his gaze grew distant. Absent minded before taking a glance at my hand which unknowingly still clutched onto him. “Telling me you’re married doesn’t mean you-“

“Back when you were alive?” I butt in as I now let go of frail hand.

“My-“ he lifted his free arm up to his forehead.” My head hurts” wheezing, all of a sudden.

“You should get some rest” I say. Despite my search for answers... A patient’s health was every doctor’s priority.

He is probably not thinking straight, I notioned as I watch him feebly adjust his position. A two weeks coma, suffering a concussion yet he remembers it all.

The accident... His wife and kids... A person who’s been unconscious for that long and received a heavy blow to the head wouldn’t remember it all at once.

Yet, everything he said so far was true.

Back when I was alive?,

Truly, we had lost him for some minutes, but how does he know??

“How do you-“ No, I stop myself from invoking his headache he claimed to be having.

He should get some rest, then after he can answer any of my questions.

I lift his hairy legs so as to get a hold of the blue sheets before then bringing it up to his chest. I tuck it at the corners, aware of his lingering eyes throughout the process but hadn’t faced him so it wouldn’t be awkward for him.

“Your wife should be here when you wake up” I offered a, hopefully, reassuring smile “Hopefully you can conduct yourself right with her this time “

“I intend to Erica” he said, taking me by surprise before realising I had a name badge clipped to my pocket.