All That Remains: Day 9

Word Count: 54,039

Summary of Events:

Seeing as Tristan had left a will, Chloë decided that if she was going to take the idea of taking her own life seriously, it might not hurt to have a will of her own, but she didn't know how to write one up, and ended up being interrupted by her best friend Céline, who'd finally made it back from North America, coming to visit. Will enjoyed a reprieve from Angelo, who had told Enka about Chloë's visit in what Will suspected was a deliberate effort to hear what Will and Chloë had said in a language he understood, and since learning that Will had been a beneficiary of Tristan's will, had been mocking Will as being so poor he needed financial aid from others, but was presently out of the room for some medical tests…

Excerpt of the Day:

Hearing approaching footsteps, Will hoped they wouldn’t stop at his room, but he heard the sound profile change, indicating that the feet were no longer walking down the open space of the main area, but were instead walking within the smaller confines of his room.

Will looked toward the curtain. A nurse carrying a tray appeared in a moment.

“Bonjour Monsieur,” she said.

“Hello,” Will replied in Dutch.

“Oh, I’m sorry, hello sir,” she said in Dutch. “May I have a look at your hand?”

Seeing as she was on the side of his bed closest to his left hand, he elevated it for her and she looked it over.

Will gasped at the sudden pain signals his brain received from the hundreds of hair follicles on the back of his hand as she ripped the tape off.

“Hold still please,” she said.

Looking away, Will whimpered, not wanting to feel the needle. His insides squirmed as he felt it move before he felt a cotton ball being pressed against the back of his hand.

“Can you hold this please?” she asked.

Reluctantly Will turned his gaze back and saw that the nurse was holding his own hand out to him, so he grabbed it with his other hand, putting pressure on the cotton ball so that the nurse could have her hands free to tear off a strip of medical tape from a roll. She affixed the tape over the cotton ball and to the back of his hand.

“Why did you take it out?” Will asked.

“It’s time to change for a fresh one,” the nurse replied. “We’ll probably want a fresh site too, otherwise there could be a risk of your blood vessel collapsing.”

“Oh,” Will said.

“Although we’ve been notified by your girlfriend that you’re going to England shortly, and it would probably be more convenient if you consumed nutrients by oral means than having to be taken to a hospital to receive them” the nurse added.

“So I’m supposed to eat then?” Will asked.

“Well, liquids at least,” she replied. “We wouldn’t want you to go back to normal quite as if nothing happened, as there could be complications. You’ll need to ease back into a regular diet if that’s what you want.”

“I want to be euthanised,” Will replied.

“Oh?” she asked.

“I made a request for it, and the request has been filed,” Will replied. “That’s the only reason I consented to this.”

“But you’re only here because you can’t get around on two broken legs,” she replied. “If you’d broken only one you’d be home already. You’re in perfectly good health.”

“So?” Will asked.

“You’re not likely going to get your request granted,” she replied. “If you had a mental illness or a terminal disease you might, but not a couple broken legs and a concussion. I am aware that people go on about how liberal our euthanasia system is, but it’s not that liberal.”
“You’re sure?” Will asked.

“Very sure,” she replied.