The agonising pain that throbbed inside him was being managed with drugs.
He should call for more painkillers, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want any more care, any more kindness, he only wanted it to end. His head was full of images; beautiful images, of his lifelong partner who had passed away, leaving him desolate, without any desire to carry on. As he drifted off, he found himself standing, looking across a great brightly lit void at his recently departed wife. She looked so lovely. She was smiling. Then she lifted her arm and beckoned to him. He looked on with a different kind of pain. Soon, he thought; soon my love. The vision faded. He was jolted back by both an excruciating pain and the sound of alarms and monitors shrieking.
He thought now that the time had come, at last. The weeks of lying here, just waiting to pass on. Biding his time, until he could join her. Finally being with her again. This was…
His thoughts were cut off by a woman shouting. She was right next to him. Then came the urgent calls and instructions. The bed was moving. People were running around. Then came the shocks; electric paddles sending a pulse of current through him, although he was only just aware of it. This was followed by a period of silence. Then, the sounds started again, and he was gradually becoming part awake. He listened to the noises of happy relief from those that were huddled around him. The murmurs of them congratulating and thanking one another.
He knew what they had done.
He also knew that he would have to wait a little longer…