So much for my hiatus. Finished this this morning… xo, Amy
Anna opened her eyes to find a nurse standing over her. “Where am I?”
“Mercy Hospital. Do you remember what happened?”
The intravenous drip in her arm reminded her. She hesitated, wondering how much the nurse knew. “I was dead?”
“Dead,” the nurse repeated disapprovingly.
“Oh.” Anna swallowed. “Could I please have some water?”
“The doctor has to see you first.” The nurse whisked out a clipboard and a pen. “Name?”
Anna knew the drill. “I don’t remember.”
The nurse made a bitter face. “We don’t release patients with amnesia.”
“Betty Boop.”
“Your real name.”
“Okay, Elizabeth Boop.”
“Fine,” the nurse spat, writing. She clicked the pen shut and bustled out of the hospital room as though she had other, more important business. She probably did, Anna reflected.
Anna lifted her gown to look at the marks on her chest. It hurt to breathe, like her lungs were bruised. She wondered what they’d done with her clothes. Assuming Bruce had put any on her before getting her to the hospital. She didn’t wear anything during the actual act, of course. That could be messy.
Where was Bruce, anyway? He hadn’t hung around the emergency room, she was sure of that, but was he waiting for her to call and let him know she was all right? Did he even care?
No TV in the room, she noticed. A curtain hung from ceiling to floor next to her. She could hear someone moaning softly on the opposite side. A real patient.
Anna sighed and shifted on the gurney. This waiting was bullshit. Doctors did it on purpose. She was fine. What if she got up now and left? Nobody could stop her. She had her rights.
“Elizabeth?”
A female doctor and a man had entered the room.
Anna sat up. “Can I go now?”
“I’m Dr. Rees. This is Mr. Saludi, our social worker.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “This is a joke. Just sign off and let me go home, okay?”
“We have new rules now regarding patients who may be abusing—”
“Fuck off! It’s not illegal. Where’s my stuff?”
Saludi spoke gently. “You don’t have any. You were left naked on the curb outside the ER.”
“I’ll wear the gown home.”
Dr. Rees shook her head. “Not until you’ve had a psych evaluation.”
“Fuck you!”
Saludi again. “You’ve been DOA at Mercy three times now, always for the same reason.”
Rees. “It’s becoming more common. Using home defibrillators to cause death, then resuscitate. You become addicted to the endorphin rush.”
Anna put her hands over her ears. “Shut up and let me go home!”
Rees: “How often do you induce death? Who owns the defibrillator?”
“Fuck you.”
“I’m ordering an EKG. You may have weakened your heart.” Rees departed.
Saludi leaned forward. “Look, Elizabeth, or whoever you are. Tell me. Why do you do it? Why kill yourself?”
Anna swallowed. “It makes life bearable.”
The silence was uncomfortable.
“Can I have some ice chips now? Death makes you thirsty.”
Copyright 2005 Amy Frushour Kelly. All rights reserved.
Reproduction by any means prohibited without prior written consent.