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.”

Dr. Horton gasp. “Nicholas, you

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

Think about your

am. The longer I linger, the more they suffer. I am a burden. I cannot keep doing this to them. To myself. Just let me die. I promise you may have my body for your research. Maybe one day,

like you have given

done, Doctor. I am not doing it anymore. No more

that is what you

“It is.”

I will see they are signed by the end of my shift. I will call your family and tell them you are being discharged. But I am sending you home in an ambulance. No car service

“Fair enough.”

assumed that Dr. Horton had stood

out how he was going to tell

***

Nicholas had left the hospital against the doctor’s suggestions, and they were sending him home in an ambulance. Everyone was gathering in the parlour because the EMS had called ahead to tell them they were five

fireplace with one hand resting on the mantle and a glass of bourbon in the other. Teegan and Kinsley sat together on the couch, discussing their theories of why Nicholas

him to check himself out,” Teegan said. “He is not a

at the door. He 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 his

a living corpse. “Nicholas,”

I am not to be kept

on Samuel and Naya’s faces. “You want us to just let you die?” Naya asked.

way. All I received in return was misery and suffering. No more. I am done with it. His document is legally binding. Make your choice. Accept it and