A Myriad of Paradoxes

The monitor made a loud marring sound as a heartbeat ceased to beat and a life ceased to exist as a mother sobbed uncontrollably over her child's lifeless body. The father seemed unphased as he continued to stare blankly down at his phone. Somber nurses clambered around the main desk trying to recollect themselves. Moments later the father was seen hastily exiting the room and making his way towards the front entrance. A nurse proceeded to pull the sheet up over the young man's face respectfully. Across the hall another somber family was clinging to hope as their daughter lie lifelessly attached to multiple machines. Nurses were desperate to save this young woman, but their efforts would prove futile. Bewilderment set in over the emergency room staff. How could two thriving young teens succumb to such a fate? Tests later revealed that both teens had died from poisoning. Naturally the police questioned the parents. Without any circumstantial evidence linking the parents to the crime the police turned to outward sources. Questioning if there was a contamination issue. Panic stricken parents began to bombard the police desperate for answers with fears that their child would too succumb to this fate. The young man had been gravely ill before hand. He was suffering from a terminal illness. One that was incurable. However, the young woman had no prior health issues. Investigators were baffled and full of speculations without yielding any proof. Weeks dragged into months with little to no answers. Those months eventually faded into years. The young woman's family had slowly drifted apart. The surviving sibling chose to reside with her distraught mother. It had seemed the young man's family had moved on. They had had months of preparation before hand knowing that one day they'd lose their son. While each family grieved in their own personal ways the case grew cold. It was reduced to a medium sized vanilla envelope stored in a box at the back of a dusty old shelf. All had been relatively forgotten. Only on the anniversary of their deaths do somber memories conjure up as they lay flowers across their loved one's graves. The surviving sibling of the young woman faded into the background as if she wasn't even there. Her existence had been replaced by the harsh memories of her sisters passing. Throwing herself deeper into the realms of depression she lashed out in desperation to be seen. Her screams for help fell upon deaf ears and her acts of desperation had gone unnoticed. Five years of agony had passed and the forgotton teen had plans of ceasing her very own existence. Writing down a letter had crossed her mind, but it wouldn't have made any difference. She visited the young mans grave breifly before plopping down onto her older sisters burial site. Sobbing uncontrollably she grasped the tombstone with her left hand. She then pulled out a small plastic container with an unknown substance. Without hesitation she began to take a swig of the questionable contents before setting the container atop the soil beneath her sister's tombstone. Curling up into a fetal position she lay on top of the grave before gently drifting off to sleep. Hours had come to pass and the young girl lay undisturbed. The groundskeeper was making his nightly rounds when he notice an oddity in the distance. Upon closer inspection the elderly man come to realize that it was a young girl. He instinctively began to shake her, but she didn't respond. Her body was limp and lifeless. The man pressed his fingers to her neck to check for a pulse. It was very faint and almost undetectable. The man, visibly shaken, began to fumble around for his phone. He'd been shaking so vigorously that he'd dropped the phone several times before he was able to grasp it long enough to dial three simple numbers. Nervously, the elderly man began CPR until the ambulance could arrive. What had been minutes seemed to drag on as hours as the man began to sob uncontrollably. Fearful that the young girl wasn't going to make it. Upon the ambulances arrival the paramedics began taking immediate action before whisking her away to the hospital. The elderly man took a moment to catch his breath. Still shaken from the incident. It was only then that he'd notice the small plastic container. The container had been empty, but the man opened the lid to get an idea of it's contents. The smell was ghastly and harsh. This was a smell that he'd vaguely recognized. Paint thinner. But why on earth would there be an empty container of paint thinner in a cemetary? Only then had it dawned on him that the young girl must have drank this vile concoction. He nervously fumbled his phone around. The man began to yell anxiously about what he had found. At the hospital the nursing staff rushed around the young girl franticly. They began to insert a tube into the girls throat. It was raw and quickly closing. They quickly managed to force a tarry black substance by inserting a separate tube down the girl's nostrils and into her stomach. The girl then began to vomit uncontrollably. Hours drug on as they worked tediously to stabilize her condition. Her mother paced the halls anxiously waiting to hear from the doctor. It was then that the staff noticed another all to familiar face. The mother of the ailing young man that had passed years before in that very same room. Both mothers greeted each other in an awkward embrace. The glaring question of why she had been there quickly faded once the doctor appeared. He announced that the patient was stable enough for surgery to repair her vocal cords, but the odds of her speaking normally if at all were very slim. He continued to add that this was a very delicate procedure and there were many risks as he clutched the clip board that contained consent forums. He began to motion the clipboard towards the young girl's mother, but the other woman intercepted. She began to jot down her signature hastily. Confusion fell upon the doctor, but he quickly recollected himself to prepare for the surgery. The young girl was placed under anesthesia and rolled away to the operating room. For the next twelve grueling hours both women wait nervously in the empty hospital waiting room. The nurses were overwhelmed with anxiety and curiosity as they tried to decipher what was going on. Many speculations swirled through the whispered lips. When the father of the young girl arrived he rushed into the woman's arms. He began to brush the hair out of her face and wipe the tears from her eyes. The man then exchanged heated glances with his ex wife across the room. It was obvious that he had blamed her for this incident. Interrupting the awkward moment the doctor broke the tense silence by announcing that the surgery had went well. There were so many unanswered questions that lingered. Some that may not ever be answered. One thing is for certain though, and that is that there are two dead children and one who almost succumbed to the same fate. Curiosity overwhelmed one particular nurse. She had began blurting out all of her conspiracy theories to the young patient to which the young girl just smiled. The girl reached for her notebook and began searching for a pen. The nurse graciously handed her the pen off the counter. The girl began to scribble down words onto the paper hastily before handing of the notebook to the eager nurse. The nurse began to read what she had written. There on the paper was one sentence and that sentence read, "Can you keep a secret?"