Task

• Charlie Marshall, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2020

Walking down the quiet halls of the Nocona General hospital, Vickie could hear every little detail. The buzzing and flickering of the florescent lights that casted her shadow on the clean vinyl floors, the squeaking of her black leather industrial boots echoing in the hallway. The beeping machines coming from each room and her soft calm breathing. A needle that is dripping of mivacurium chloride was being clutched in her right hand.
A loud ring came from the front desk, Vickie stopped in her tracks. She heard John’s rough voice answer the phone. Vickie continued to walk slowly and quietly towards the desk. She dropped the empty needle in the small desk bin before standing behind John. John put the red phone back and turned to Vickie. She quickly put a warm smile on her face and waited for John to speak.
“Room fourteen needs some help.” The old man croaked.
She saw her old neighbour Margret laying on her death bed. She was sitting up at almost a ninety-degree angle. She was wheezing heavily. Margret’s heart rate was higher than normal. Vickie would see the fear in Margret’s eyes. She stayed quiet and waited for the assistance she required. Vickie turned on the BiPap machine next to Margret’s bed and softly placed the mask over her head.
Vickie sat next to Margret’s bed and held onto her hand. The air slowly made its way into Margret’s lungs finally putting her at ease. The old woman laid back down and closed her eyes, hoping this wasn’t the way she would go out. A small frown was still on Margret’s face from the pain coming from her lungs.
“Would you like some morphine?” Vickie asked her patient quietly.
Margret nodded as she opened her eyes. Vickie went over to the nurse’s station in the corner of Margret’s room and started to prepare the needle. Vickie looked at all the bottles of clear liquid. The urge that had consumed her earlier that evening had returned. Her hand reached for the bottle of mivacurium chloride. She grabbed a fresh needle and cleaned it before placing it in a small yellow trey. Vickie also grabbed a pair of gloves, some iodine and a tourniquet. She grabbed the trey and placed it on the end of Margret’s bed.
Vickie placed the tourniquet on Margret’s left arm and used the iodine to clean her forearm and began to draw the mivacurium chloride from the bottle. Vickie looked sadly at the older woman as she slowly pushed the needle into her leathery skin. Vickie grinned as if she had just completed a task as she took the needle out of her dying patients’ arm.
Margret began to wheeze and hold her chest in pain. She felt dizzy and lightheaded. The older woman looked at Vickie one last time with death in her eyes. Vickie’s smile grew as Margret’s heartbeat faded. Finally, her breathing stopped, and her wheezing could no longer be heard, Vickie had completed her task.