NDE

Richard De Moines

Appreciation was an understatement, A word richard would have never imagined to use for his family ever. The De Moines family had everything people wished they had and more,they had their own manor, three beautiful children, two sons and a daughter. While growing up richard had always felt like a pariah in his parents home, he was just different, his younger brother Stephen was madly brilliant, he keeps the De Moines name untainted and he bags any trophy and award wherever he goes same with his youngest sister Ellen.

  But Richard was the black sheep, not black sheep in the sense of bad company, fooling around with girls or doing drugs but black sheep in the being useless sense. He wasnt brilliant and his parents couldnt show him off to their friends because he has no achievements to show him off for. He was never jealous but was always proud and happy for his siblings which he realised later than sooner made his parents more mad, he could only guess what circled through their mind fucking useless prick is happy for his brother and sister while as the first son has no purpose amd direction in life. He ignored their cold stares and minded his business, anything involving him in school, his parents were always busy but tend to be miraculously available for Stephen and Ellen but he ignored all that.

   He literally parented himself till he became sixteen and the black hand of fate dealt him a bad hand. He was in a history class which he hated and he had to endure hearing the lecturer go on and on about the brave exploration of the British navy and how they found new lands and cities thereby bringing with them civilization bla bla bla. He was drumming his fingers on the table when his breathing seized. Noone paid him no attention until he started wheezing out loudly and he started banging the table loudly, his skin had gone pale and he fell like a lifeless rag doll to the ground still wheezing, the whole class went into a panic, the ladies were busy staring awed by repeating "oh my God" while the guys in the classroom could only stare still shocked, the lecturer sprung into action, he tossed his teaching notes away and breezed to where Richard had slumped, he Carried the poor boy in his arms and raced out of the class, before he exited the classroom, he glanced back and said "call his parents and tell them I took him to Wasons memorial"and he was gone

    The De Moines showed up immediately they got the call and were lucky to see their son on the hospital bed with the history teacher walking up and down the small room, "what's wrong with him?" Asked mr. De Moines, the history teacher sighed and replied "we are currently waiting for the hospital consultant" Mr. De Moines cursed and had no choice than to wait because Wasons memorial was like the best clinical center in a five mile radius, the consultant breezed into the room with two doctors at his back for support and he greeted everyone in the room, he walked up to Richard who was on the bed with a oxygen mask over his face which reduced the wheezing and made breathing more easier for him, he rolled Richard's shirt up and tapped on his sternum twice, the sound was ok, he went lower and tapped on the ribs above the bellybutton, richard yelped, the consultant ignored him and tapped lower beside the bellybutton and the Yelp that escaped Richard's mouth was louder.

    Mrs. De Moines eyes were swollen and full of tears already, the consultant chuckled amd turned to face them "this boy is critically sick, but before anything I'll as the doctors to perform an xray test", mr. De Moines nodded "anything, just fix him", the consultant gave the doctors some orders and turned back to them "go over to the billing center, it's around the radiology unit and settle the necessary bills and we proceed"

Fifteen minutes of being wheeled in and out of the radiology unit had shown some fluid, Be it thick or watery fluid noone knows, the next day the doctors had told his parents he had to be operated upon, a chest tube insertion to be precise to flush out the siad fluids and give his lungs more breathing space, his mother had gasped at the thought of her son being cut open like a dog and asked what exactly was going on, the doctor had sighed and said "your son suffers from lung infection, spontaneous pneumothorax to be precise and we have to be fast" to be honest, Richard had been shocked to see his mother cry and the next day at the surgical waiting room that was when he saw his father cry for the first time too, he was wheeled out thirty minutes later with a tube jutting out between his third and fifth interstitial rib space.

 The tube was stitched to his chest and plastered, the other end of the tube ended in a transparent calibrated box which was cradled on his lap as the female nurse wheeled him out of the surgical room. He saw the tear welling up in his father's eyes but he walked out before he would cry in front of his son, his mother's tears were uncontrollable as she saw her son being wheeled out. Over the next few days, his parents stayed with him and supported him, the doctors couldn't understand why the fluid wasn't drained yet, they ordered for another xray test and another chest tube insertion surgery which yielded almost the same result, another xray and the final surgery was made which miraculously yielded the expected results after the last surgery, Richard was a shadow of his former self, he was so skinny, his legs were weak and this was his fourth month in the hospital with a lot of blood work being done, a lot of antibiotics and other strong and powerful drugs being shoved down his throat.

 But through all these, his parents never left him, it seemed to him like a dream because while growing up he thought deep down his parents hated him, they erre available for his brother and sister but to him, he was like invisible. The tube came off and the stitches, by the fifth month he was discharged and all was well, a month after he was discharged was his birthday.

  He woke up early in the morning to take a pee amd drink his protein shake because the doctors and nurses urged his parents to feed him proteinious food and organic and healthy drinks to boost his immune system back into life and make them more tougher, his legs were back to their former strength and he descended the stairs slowly holding the railings so as not to fall. The whole manor was pitch black which was surprising, he became scared and thought what if all what I thought I saw at the hospital about my parents being there was all a lie, what if that was all a bad nightmare .

 He reached into his pocket for his phone as he reached the last of the staircase, his fingerprint unlocked his phone and he turned the flashlight on, he almost dropped his phone as a bright light shone brightly back into his face "surprise!" The whole family yelled, his father walked up to him to support him "happy birthday son" and Richard could literally see the happiness in his father's eyes, his mom came up to him and gave him a hug with a huge kiss, he could hear his brother and sister say at the same time "ewwwww" which got everyone laughing. The only thing that he could think of was that my brother and sister got our parent love cos of their brilliance and I got their attention and love cos I almost died? Nothing like a good near death experience to bring the whole family together and it was right in that moment the love and affection swarmed out of him too and he started appreciating his family