Dead on the inside

And so it came to pass. The couple decided to go through with it again. However, Inhio insisted on waiting at least a full year after the tragic day. Nearly 15 full months had passed since the day Inhio had made his wife make the vow, and so they returned to this dreaded place that was still giving Inhio nightmares up to this very day.

Just as last time, it was evening, and a man was sitting on the chairs in the corridor and waiting for someone to finally enlighten him on the situation, only this time, the man was more stressed than happy.

The process was starting to take long...too long...certainly longer than last time, and last time was no joke. Inhio could wait no longer. He walked up and peeked through the window. The sight seemed almost too good to believe. His wife was smiling as she looked back at him. Her smile brought joy to his mind...the look on the faces of the doctors, however, did not.

One of the doctors noticed him peeking through the window and ordered someone to take him away with a swift movement of his hand. After a few seconds, a nurse came through the door and spoke to the man at the window in a rather frightened voice. "Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to step away from the window.”

"Sure...Everything seems to be going well, so I see no further reason for standing here.” Inhio gladly did as the nurse asked and sat down with a smile on his face. Oddly enough, the nurse still stood next to the door, looking a bit...pale.

"You don’t know what’s going on, do you, Sir?”

"Well, not exactly, but I’m guessing everything's going well and I’ll soon get to hold my son or daughter, ain’t that right? Angela sure looks happy, she’s not moaning at all.” He stopped to think for a while and then looked back at the nurse again and asked. "Isn’t she supposed to be in pain if the baby’s still in?”

"Not in this case, Sir.”

The color of the man’s face was starting to match that of the nurse's. "And what exactly is this case, if I might ask?”

"The same as last time, Sir...Well, almost.”

"I...I beg your pardon?”

"Last time, you got to choose the fate of the child.”

Inhio reclined in his chair and sighed loudly. His thoughts started punishing him again. Damn it, damn it, damn it! GAAAAAH!!! I knew this would happen! I f***ing knew it! And I still let her go through with it, again!

Inhio almost succeeded in convincing himself that Angela’s better off without him. He then remembered that nothing is more important to him than the fact that his wife is still alive. This thought helped him cleanse his mind from the thoughts trying to break his will.

"Oh well...I just pray to all the saints and divines that she won’t try to convince me to try this again...Hell, there’s nothing on earth that could make me put her through this, again, anyways...I...I’m not sad...this day is nothing but a repeated tragedy, but you know what? I’m not sad!” Inhio pushed his back against the chair again and made himself comfortable. The night was going to be long, so he figured he’d may as well at least keep a cool mind. A few things, however, would not let him achieve peace at mind- two rather intriguing questions, two things that seemed out of place, when compared to the last time.

Why was Angela so happy, this time...and why is that damned nurse still standing there with that stupid expression and pretending like she doesn’t know I fully comprehend the current situation. "Why...” He was about to ask that for himself, but it then occurred to him. His jaw reached for the floor, his face instantly painted itself into a ghostly color, his shades dropped, and it looked as though half his hair was about to go with them.

"Sir...” The nurse barely got to say a word before Inhio rocketed out of the chairs, somehow managing to drop half of the entire row of chairs behind him, and then storming through the door and nearly injuring the nurse in the process. "Sir!”

Inhio pushed the curtains aside and startled all the doctors. He dropped on his knees and grabbed the cold hand of his wife who was still smiling at him.

"Hey!” One of the doctors shouted at him in a violent tone. "What’s he doing in here!? I told you to make sure he doesn’t find out!” the doctor kept shouting at the nurse.

"Don’t stop, we need to keep the operation going if we want at least one of them to stay alive!” one of the other doctors calmed the doctor in charge. The annoyed doctor directed an angry gaze towards Inhio, but quickly realized that it would take a tractor to get a man in his state out of here, so without much thinking, they resumed the operation.

"No...please tell me this isn’t what I think...please tell me you didn’t break my promise!” Inhio cried next to his wife while she just smiled back at him. Once again, the tides had turned.

"I love you,” Angela whispered to her desperate husband.

"No...no, no, no, no, no! How...how could you...” He held on to her arm ever so tightly, hoping to warm it up and to feel life in her veins again, but it only kept on getting colder and colder, right before he heard her whisper one last time.

"I love you...”

As Angela's head dropped on the pillow, and her hand lost whatever was left of its grip, Inhio screamed so loud that the doctors nearly dropped their instruments.

Inhio's soul mate was dead...and it felt like she took his soul with her as well. He dropped on the ground, his vision started to fade, and he could barely still hear anything. Only barely audible noises still echoed through his ears, the only sound he heard clearly was the heart monitor that was now producing a single long beep without end. The last thing he heard before completely losing consciousness was someone shouting.

"Get him out of here!”