Death Stories #1

3 months ago I decided to touch a dead body for the first time. It’s 4am. I’ve worked for 8 hours. 4 more hours to go. The patient died. His 10 year old son is crying. My body aches. My head is spinning. I’m crying. I enter the room at the end of the corridor. It’s an isolation room. Dark and lonely, separate from the rest of the floor. The dead body is swollen, twice or maybe three times the normal body. The skin is yellow. I gown up, wear mask and gloves. I go in watch the dead body. Very yellow. All kinds of tubes hanging from every part. I look at the face. Blue around the eyes. Eyes are closed. He’s smiling. The scariest smile I’d ever seen. I raise my hand. Rip of the first tape off the arm. I pull the first tube. Blood gushes out. It’s black. I press the gauze. It takes for ever to stop. I look at the face. It’s still smiling. I have goose bumps all over me. Bleeding stops. I move to the neck. Rip off another tape. Pull out the tube. The tube is long. Takes forever to come out. More blood, still black. I’m shivering. I take another piece of gauze. I’m going to put it on the neck. His eyes pops open. A pair of yellow eyes staring straight at me. I yell. Run out of the room. Nurses and doctors are laughing at me. I’m shaking. I look at them expressionless. Walk to the exit door. They announce Blue Code in room 2. Someone else is dying. I don’t stop. I can’t take it. I leave the ICU into the darker corridors. The man is standing there, looking at me, with yellow eyes.