Tanks

• Katie Bradford, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2017

I knew what was going to take place, I had waited and dreamt this moment since I was a child. No matter how long I dreamt, imagined or wished I still was not knowledgeable on the major details but nevertheless I was prepared to face it. Anastasia jumped upon my lap, her fur was soft and comforting. My Fidus Achates; I was lucky to have her with me in this instant; no one else was.

I felt weaker as time audibly ticked on. I gasped harder for air as the tightness of my chest became increasingly more intense. While Anastasia looked up at me as her body rose and fell with long breaths. She showed me there was oxygen to take in; but not for me. I did my best to ignore the pain and reminded myself of what this would mean for me, what would become of me. I smiled softly and accepted the pain. I no longer gasped for air. The pain in my chest spread further around my body and my arm began to tingle like little pins and needles were constantly poking and prodding me. The intensity of pain increased and continued to increase but I did not mind. I was about to do it at last! I shed a tear and laughed, I was not sad nor insane; I was full of joy. An entire life of fighting and surviving was about to come to what I had struggled it all for.

Anastasia whimpered and clawed at me with her paws almost as if she was asking if I was okay. If only she knew. I scratched her head in joy and there it was like a lightning bolt to the chest, pain flooded through me replacing my blood. My sight was taken from as if I had been blindfolded.

A few moments of emptiness, I couldn’t see my surroundings but I could feel it. I was stuck inside something that felt like a fleshy, wet tunnel then there it was that familiar bright white light and someone in nurses clothing behind the lighting. As I slowly was pushed out I saw a man wearing a surgical mask and a nurse scrub move closer to me. He picked me up by the legs and as I was upside down and naked I saw that three people, a man dressed in nurses clothes, a woman laid down and someone else in a chair beside that women clutching her hand so tight her hand was red with excess blood. I noticed that they were all staring at me in awe with their eyes glistening. “You can tell by the look in his eyes, he has been here before” informed the man holding me with a smile. He then gave me to the women laying down with sweat dripping down her face and she smiled at me with absolute joy. This was it, I had reached level 2.