Beyond the Shadows (Ivy's POV)

*Ivy’s Note* This is a collab with Nainika Gupta, an OUTSTANDING author, friend, and the best know-it-all I’ve ever known. (That’s a compliment.) As Nainika mentioned, we decided on JFK’s assassination. And as Nainika also mentioned, she has taken the assassin’s POV (link below), and I have taken the doctor’s POV. Enjoy! 

P.S. If you don’t know who Nainika is, then shame on you! JK, but here’s her profile page link so you can follow her!

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing prompts/contests/80/submissions/54448/

P.P.S. This was supposed to be one of last week's prompts, but I didn't finish it on time. So I'm putting it here.

Friday, November 22, 1963

Jacqueline Kennedy

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was over in seconds. My husband, my beloved husband, now lays, slumped over on my lap. His brains seem to be spilling everywhere. People are shouting, but I cannot comprehend what they are saying. I only have ears for my husband's faint breathing. My eyes are ablaze with anger for whoever did this, but the anger is soon replaced with worry for my husband. How long can he stay alive? We are rushing towards Parkland Memorial Hospital. I can only hope that we make it.

Parkland Memorial Hospital

Dr. Kemp Clark

“Get him to Trauma Room 1, now!”

“Patient name?”

“No. 24740, Kennedy, John F.”

“The president, sir?”

“Yeah. Now page Clark, STAT!” Doctors were rushing everywhere, frantically trying to get the president onto the operating table as quickly as possible. When I arrived, another doctor in the room, Dr. Charles Baxter, looked up. 

“Kemp, tell us how bad that head injury is because we are losing him,” he told me. I put on a pair of rubber gloves and examined the injury.

“By golly, the whole right side of his head is shot off. We’ve got nothing to work with,” I said after a moment. I gave a sigh. Just then, his heart rate began to fall. 30, 20, 10. Someone opened a chest tray to begin a chest massage. Baxter leaned over the president and stopped him.

 “There’s nothing to work with and no reason to resuscitate,” he said softly. The chest tray was closed and put away.

“We’ll need to examine his head to determine where the entrance and exit holes were, how many bullets were shot, and possibly what weapon was used,” I told Baxter. He gave a nod. I heaved a sigh. I know I’m supposed to be a neurosurgeon, but when the president of your country is the one you’re operating on… well, it just doesn’t sit well. Not to mention the fact that he’s already dead and I just didn’t want to disturb him. I shrugged off the uneasiness and parted his thick hair. My eyes widened as I took in the extent of his wound. 

“Ohhh, boy. This is bad. Really bad,” I said to Baxter. He examined the wound, and his eyes widen, maybe even wider than mine. 

“By Jove, you’re right! The whole right side of his head is shot off!” Baxter looked sick, like he too couldn’t bear the thought of the president of his country laying there in front of him, with a gaping wound. “So the right side of his head just lifts up like a hinge. See?” I lifted up the flap-like section of his head. We examined the inside. “Okay, it looks like about half of his brain tissue is gone. And there appears to be some pressure on his brain.” Baxter nodded, looking pale and a bit green. I heaved a sigh. Who could do such a thing to our president?

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“We have another...patient, Doc.” 

“Well, who is it?” 

“Sir, it’s the shooter.” 

“...JFK’s shooter?” 

“The very same, sir.” 

“Well, bring him into Trauma Room 2 now!” 

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November 24, 1963

Jacqueline Kennedy

AMERICAN DAILY

November 24, 1963

BREAKING NEWS

We mourn the loss of our beloved president today. Two days ago, on Friday, November 22, alleged shooter Lee Harvey Oswald fired three bullets from the sixth floor of the Book Building, killing the president. One hit Kennedy, then hit Senator Connally, also in the car, in the shoulder, then his wrist, and ending in his thigh. Senator Connally is severely injured, but alive. While being arrested, Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by bar owner Jack Ruby. Ruby is undergoing trial. Oswald was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was operated on in an attempt to save his life. He died from his wounds, across the hall in from the very room our beloved president died in, Trauma Room 1. President Kennedy will have a state funeral, and his casket will be led by the Secret Service. The details on his wounds are not clear yet, but neurosurgeon Dr. Kemp Clark has told us that about a third of his brain tissue is gone, and a tracheotomy was performed. His funeral will be later this week. He is to have a state funeral. It will be led by the Secret Service, and he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.

I read the article, tears in my eyes, falling on the paper. My heart is heavy with grief. Oh, John, how I wish you were here!

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AMERICAN DAILY

May 19, 1994

BREAKING NEWS

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, now Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, has passed away this very day. She will be laid to rest next to her first husband and former president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

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Jacqueline Kennedy

I can see a light, a bright light, and there is a silhouette at the end of this tunnel of light. As I draw nearer to the end, I can see who the silhouette is.

"John! Is it you, really, truly you?"

"Yes, Jacqueline, it is. My death was only a rough patch in our life. We are together now, forevermore. I have been waiting for you for so very long. But that time means nothing, now that you are here. At my death did we part, but at yours we unite once more."