The Hospital Bed

A Story by Liam McMillan

A short story taking place in a hospital room.

I sat down next to her hospital bed. The steady beep of the heart monitor’s steady beep was the only thing that would cut the sorrowful silence. I looked over her barely conscious body. She weakly stared back at me with a frightened look upon her face. I gave her a weak smile to reassure her that everything would be alright, but everything wouldn’t be alright. This girl who I wished for and constantly thought about was clinging on the remnants of life. The one who I said I would care about forever was dying in front of me and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Her expression became more and more pained. Every breath she took seemed laboured and difficult. I knew it wouldn’t be long now. I softly enveloped her hand in mine as tears started to appear in my eyes. The piercing of the monitor became more and more spaced. She was still looking at me with her wonderful eyes that were so plagued with pain.

I whispered that, “everything will be alright,” and, “it will all be ok,”

but with each passing second I was becoming less sure of that. As life drained from her eyes I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. I cried over her body and held her hand tightly in both of mine. Three words that I had wanted to say to her since we had met under the stars came to my lips as the monitor flat lined.

Between my sobs I whimpered, “I love you.”