Old

• Jaidyn Fitzgerald , Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2018

He coughed again, more hacking and spluttering than last time they visited him, many weeks ago now. His illness was getting worse and he knew this, but there was nothing he could do. His dementia had robbed him of his mind and body’s previous abilities. He could no longer feed himself, bathe himself or live independently. Worst of all the sadness and loneliness that settled like a dark cloud over him, telling him to unplug every machine in the room, only to be replaced with crippling anxieties when he finally got visits, telling him that they knew his deep secret of his approaching death.
He felt locked up in this nursing home but there was nowhere else for him to go, there was too much wrong with him now. He knew death was approaching. But he had one last chance to tell his son he loved him, to give his grandkids someone to miss and to kiss his wife one last time. He did all of this at the start of their visit. No one wants a sad goodbye, he wanted this last afternoon of his life to be a happy one. The rest of the visit he played and chatted with them all as best he could. Enjoying the last hours of life. In the late afternoon, his son and grandkids left. The little ones smiling ear to ear, laughing without a care. His son's wife with an arm around him, he couldn’t help but wonder if he knew that his father was on his deathbed, that this goodbye was their last. Only he and his wife remained in the cold room that had imprisoned him for months. She leaned down and he kissed her one last time. His cracked lips lightly touching her cheek. They traded emotional goodbyes and she left the room, tears in her eyes. He knew this was his last day, the specialists said he had months left, but he knew that they were just trying to comfort him.
A freezing rush went through him. The heart monitor started to bleep. He put his arms slowly over his heart. In his hands was a photograph of them all together. When his son had only just had his second child, his wife was standing without her walker. He had thin white hair, old but young in spirit, his stick by his side but still standing, a bemused smile on his face. The most important people in his life. Tears falling down his wrinkled old cheek as emotions rushed over him. Love for his family, fear of what was happening, relief as he was going to be free of pain he had endured for so long. As the nurses rushed into the room, he whispered to them with his last breath.
“Tell my family...I love them.”
He exhaled slowly, his eyes closed, drifting into darkness. Hearing the sound of his heart monitors flatline, finally at peace, no longer in pain, no longer old.