It took Annie eighteen minutes to reach the hospital but she didn’t remember a single one. Upon arriving she’d been quickly taken to a small side room and given a hot drink. No one had thought to ask if she was thirsty but she was grateful for the small show of kindness however unnecessary. The man looked asleep. His hand felt too cold to be alive although the monitor and nurses told her otherwise. It wouldn’t be long though; there was no chance of recovery. For a little over an hour she held onto him so that he wouldn’t be alone.
Outside as the world began to wake up, indistinct traffic sounds growing louder, the gaps between the blinds brighter, the man stopped breathing. She held his hand for a few minutes longer and then folded it across his chest and pressed the button to summon the nurse. He was the first dead person she had seen and I had shocked her, how easily it happens. To slip from life into death seemed no more than stumbling on a kerb.
