Into the abyss

A strange beeping sound fills my ears, I can't function, I can't move or form words, the only constant is that I can hear.

"Who's presenting" a strange voice echoed, I felt the mood change, the stiffening of everyone's spines until a shallow breath began to speak.

"Addison Cooper, age 15, presented with Creutzfeldt-Jakob six months ago, underwent brain surgery to see the extent of the damage, multiple different treatment options were tried, none of them provided comfort. Was brought her back in for another surgery, the tissue damage was more extensive than before, before we could establish what to do next she underwent cardiac arrest, we were able to resuscitate but has presented with all symptoms of brain death".

"Yes, good work Dr. Cassidy, it is rare that we see a case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob in someone this young but we chose to proceed as we would with anyone else who has contracted this disease”, a strange voice spoke

Like the parting of the red sea, you could feel the shift in position in the room,

"These are the parents" Dr Cassidy said, I didn’t want to be seen. I didn’t know who I was, or what my parents did to me, but I couldn’t seem to remember anything about anyone, and it is terrifying.

"Mr and Mrs Cooper, there has been no change in Addison, have you had time to think about the other options?" Dr. Cassidy asked.

"No, we haven't discussed it yet" my mother spoke,

"Well, just page either myself or Dr. Cassidy if you make a decision" a familiar voice spoke. The shuffling of feet began and the emptiness of the room once more became noticeable. The heavy breathes of my parents filled the awkwardly silent room, I just wanted to make them talk, a sharp breath is taken, and my prayers are finally answered.

"There is a problem at the office, I'm going to have to go" my father said, emotionless and cold

"Are you serious Richard, our daughter is lying here, brain dead, whatever problem there is can wait", my mother said raising her voice with every word.

"I know she is dying Hanna, don’t take out your frustrations on me", a challenging breath was taken, but was extinguished with the sliding of the door,

"Sorry to interrupt"

"No, its fine" my mother mumbled

"Addison has a visitor"

"Oh my god, Addi" a tear filled voice yelled, a cold hand grabbed mine, I could feel the person shaking just through the touch of a hand, I could picture this person being scared, we must have been friends, really good friends.

"and you are” my father spoke.

"I'm Elli, I have been best friends with Addison since forever. She used to come over to my place all the time, but I guess you guys never noticed, I mean she was always telling me how neglected and alone she felt". Elli, yeah that name rings a bell, I can start to remember her,

An unintelligible sound left my mother’s lips, I felt Elli's hand tighten over mine,

"What was that?" my father questioned,

“I knew she felt neglected maybe if her father…"

"If her father" my father cut in "what about her mother, you were just as absent in her life as I was"

"Oh please, at least I cared, I checked up on her" my mother snapped back 

"Are you guys serious" Elli butted in "are you guys actually going to fight about you stupid issues when your daughter is here dying, you should be spending time with her, not yelling at each other", I was in shock I had never known of anyone that would stand up to my parents.

"You not noticing her lead to her own death so stop blaming each other, and start trying to make it right because yes this is horrible for everyone but this is probably the best thing that ever happened to Addi, look at her, she is so peaceful, she was never this peaceful in life " and in that moment time stopped, for a spilt second everyone stopped breathing, my parents cared about me, I wasn’t dying, I was lying with Elli, gossiping. Memories flooded back to me, the times we snuck back into my house just to see if my parents would notice, or the times when we stole my parents credit card and bought ourselves entire new wardrobes, because we thought it would make them care.

"Look I'm sorry" my mother said, nobody knew who she was talking to,

"We should have been there for her, both of us" I imagined my mother turning to look at my father, their eyes meeting for a second, then my father breaking the look as he felt ashamed, but he would never admit that.  

"At least we were there in the 6 months leading up to this, we took her to the movies, did family things, but your right we should have been there for her, a child needs her parents". I was in shock, my father admitting his is wrong is miraculous, but I guess death brings out the best in everyone.

The silence in the room broke once more with the sliding of a door. With the extra body, the room felt small, air tight almost. The constant beeping sound started to fade, like an old toy winding down after a long life.

"Not to alarm you but a power outage has occurred, a backup generator will kick in soon but because Addison is on a life support machine I have been sent here because we don’t know what damage could occur" Dr. Cassidy said, her voice seemed calm but you could feel the panic she was experiencing. I felt my limp arm drop onto the bedsheets below me, almost forgetting that Elli had been here, holding my hand through it all. A scream came from somewhere, and the panic in the room became crystal clear.

"She's seizing" I heard someone yell, "Someone get me a crash cart" now I felt it, the jolts of my body, the blood racing, and the feeling of it pooling out of my eyes, then it stopped, everything began to fade, all the sounds around me, all the voices in my head just stopped until I had the realisation that I was dead.