The Slave
Chapter 9- My Life Apparently Will End
The next two weeks passed without any news. I still had the chats with my Guide, I think in that time I learned more than in my entire life about the true values of a living being, about our capacities, about responsibility and about an infinity of more matters. In the hospital some changes of the visit hour were made and allowed any of my family to sleep with me, probably my heart would stop beating in any moment. A cot was conditioned next to the wall so Iggy could spend the night next to me, sometimes my father or any of my siblings to give him a break. Iggy always tried to refuse; he said he wanted to be present in case. They convinced him, saying that the one who stayed with me would immediately call him if something happened. Carla had layed my egg, and it would hatch in a few more hours.
That night it was weird that no one had come to stay with me, I decided to ignore it and supposed Iggy or anyone else would come later. I imagine it was about eleven o´clock when the door suddenly opened, I saw the nurse that tended to me before Esperanza came, that cold and bad-mooded woman, accompanied by a doctor I had never seen before. Both turned to the sides to make sure no one saw them enter, closed the door and pointing at my bed, without looking at my face, she said:
"That's the one I talked you about."
The doctor that was with her came closer to see me, remained thoughtful for a moment and asked:
"How much time do you say he has been in come?"
"About half-eight months. I tell you he is perfect for what we want." She answered
"Well and how do you know his organs are in good condition?" he asked again
"About two weeks ago he was declared dead for six minutes and managed to revive him, since then his vital organs are stable. Everything works well" the annoying nurse answered
He still looked thoughtful; he took his hand to his chin and turned constantly to the door as if he feared to be discovered at any moment.
"It's very risky," he finally said, "in first place; it's the alarm of the device. In second place what if his kindred come… I don't know if it's worthy…"
"It's worthy, man!" she interrupted him; "we'll be given $5000 coins for each of his lungs. His father signed the authorization of no-intervention in case of cardiac arrest. I will take care of the alarm, I can disconnect it. And, for his family don't worry, I know they don't come today."
"Did you verify if his blood type matches with the person's that will receive the organs?"
"It matches; both are positive O,"
"What about the sickness record?" he insisted wanting to find a reason that would persuade him not to go on ahead
"I already did it, everything fine,"
"How are we going to take him immediately to the mortuary?"
"I'm in charge of reporting the entries to the mortuary do that's no problem."
"Well, and to justify we are here when it happens?"
"Listen, I was just assigned again to take care of the patient. So it won't be weird I'm here. Besides you're on guard today, right? Then, it won't be weird that, doing my routine, I find him already lifeless and call you to certify his death."
"I don't know… something's wrong," he commented as he took his hand to his head and turning to look at me one more time
"don't doubt more about it... if doing it for the money is that doesn't convince you, think in the woman that will receive the lungs has got a whole life ahead of her, she's got two children waiting for her at home. He, on the other hand, has reached the end of his life, he's still kept here alive but surely his brain stopped working since they brought him."
As he listened to this, the doctor stared at me for a few moments and then retired the stare as if he knew I was conscious of what they plotted and felt ashamed.
"Very well," he said, letting out a sigh, "disconnect the alarm, I'll make sure no one comes close
The nurse hurriedly moved some wires in the posterior part of the device that kept me alive. While she did, the doctor opened the door a few cm and peeked out, visibly nervous.
"it's done!" she said retiring a bit and rubbing her hands against the coat she wore like children when discovered touching something they had forbidden. The doctor took a one more look outside, closed the door without making noise and got closer to the device.
"Pay attention," he told her, "see these 7 switches? You have to turn them off each hour to prevent sudden changes; only like that we will keep the organs in good state to use them. It's 12 o´clock," he said, looking at his watch, "turn off now the first one and come back here each hour."
The nurse got closer to the control panel of the device and turned off the first of the switches. I noted the rhythm of my heart decreased and felt very tired as when one's about to fall asleep.
"the rest, you have to turn them off in this order," the doctor commented pointing the switched left to right and wiping the sweat that dripped on his forehead with the sleeve of his white coat, "you take care of that and I will prepare everything for the transplant. If something goes wrong, we're going to get into a very deep problem."
"You worry too much," was the last the nurse said before both hurriedly went out of the room.