Love For Hire

His family had come by a few times through the next few days to see him, but Nicholas had left orders with the medical staff to send them away. He did not want to speak to anyone. He had spent a lot of his time thinking. The nurses told him he needed to get up out of bed, so at least once a day, they put him in a wheelchair and wheeled him out to the hospital atrium so he could get some air. When they brought him back to his room, Nicholas asked them to park his wheelchair by the window and to open it so he could hear the birds.

He had been sitting by the window for a while when he heard footsteps come into the room. They were too heavy to be female, and since he was not taking visitors, they had to be Dr. Horton’s. “Hello, Doctor.”

He heard Dr. Horton chuckle. “How did you know it was me?”

“Lucky guess,” he lied. He did not feel like explaining his process.

“My nurses told me you asked to see me when I came on duty.”

“Yes, thank you for coming.”

“How could I say no to my favourite patient?” He could hear Dr. Horton pull up a chair and sit down. “So, you wanted to talk.”

“How is your research coming?”

Dr. Horton sighed. “Honestly, I am getting nowhere. I do not know how to help you.”

His heart sunk, but it was what he had expected to hear. “Be honest with me, doctor… I am at the end, are not I? I am failing fast.”

“Nicholas, there is always hope.”

“No, there’s not. You know it as well as I do. I am about two steps away from the grave,” Nicholas held a hand out. “I want to sign a DNR.”

hear Dr. Horton gasp. “Nicholas,

stops for any reason, the hospital staff is not to resuscitate me with CPR or other life-saving measures. They

cannot do this. Think about your family;

burden. I cannot keep doing this to them. To myself. Just let me die. I promise

you have given this

doing it anymore.

is what

“It is.”

will call your family and tell them you are being discharged. But I am sending you home in an ambulance. No car service is going to take

“Fair enough.”

of the chair drag against the floor, and he assumed that Dr. Horton had stood up. The sound that followed was Dr. Horton

out how he was going to tell

***

the parlour, where she found the others. Octavius had received word from Dr. Horton saying that Nicholas had left the hospital against the doctor’s suggestions, and they were sending him home in an ambulance. Everyone was gathering in the

Teegan and Kinsley sat together on the couch, discussing their theories of why Nicholas was refusing medical treatment. Naya took a seat on the couch across for the girls. “He should

not understand why Dr. Horton allowed him to check

was dressed in a pair of black slacks and a deep blue button-up shirt. His eyes were sunken, and he was very thin. He was still seated in a wheelchair, and Octavius was pushing it. Nicholas did not look like he had the strength to move the wheels on

was breaking Kinsley’s heart to see him. She remembered the man he was the first night they met, and now he was a husk of that man. He looked like a living corpse. “Nicholas,” Naya spoke as she went to his side. “You are not well; you should be

the doctor and the hospital draw up some papers,” he said when Octavius placed the papers in his hand. “This is a living will. It states that I am not to be kept on life support if something

just let you die?” Naya asked. “That is

you may leave. I did things your way. All I received in return was misery and suffering. No more. I am done with it. His document is legally binding. Make your