A Furious Chick

And So He Left

Katherine

I checked Nobody's pulse. It was nothing. Absolutely nothing. I felt my soul crushing. Kaleb looked at me and for some unknown reason, had hope in his eyes.

"He's gone, K." I cleared my clogged throat. "It's over. He isn't in pain."

Kaleb's jaw dropped and he stood from the bed. He massaged Nobody's limp hand. I watched as my brother completely lost his mind. He screamed out in agony as he felt the reality of this situation. We just lost our mentor, our friend, our second dad. I felt what he was feeling but showed nothing. Showed no sign of emotion.

"I have to call it in." I told Kaleb.

I don't think Kaleb heard me. I stumbled down to Nobody's office and called the medics at Inc.

"It's Howard." I spoke softly because my voice was trembling. "There's been a.....a.....someone is dead."

"Name and ID number?" The dispatcher asked.

I couldn't say it. It was getting stuck in my throat. It was threatening to spill out with tears. I can't break down. Not now. Not ever.

"Nobody. 9907686." I quickly blurted and hung up.

I walked back to Kaleb who was still trying to get him to wake up.

"Kaleb, he's gone." I whispered. I grabbed his arm.

He tried to push away from me and I had to physically restrain him on the floor. He begged me to let him go and I felt the weight of my heart crushing in my chest. I felt the weight of the world bearing down on my shoulders. How the fuck was I going to do this without Nobody? In that moment, I felt unbearably alone.

The medic crew came. They had a stretcher with medical supplies. One of them, Dan, held up the syringe to me as I sat on the floor, cradling Kaleb.

"He did this?" Dan asked me.

"Yeah." I nodded sadly. "He had to."

"He only had a few weeks left." Dan shook his head. "He went out the way he wanted to. I honor him."

I didn't respond. I couldn't deal with it anymore. I had to get out. Watching them put the blanket over his face burned my chest something fierce. I got up from my place and Kaleb's upper half fell. I hurried downstairs and raced outside. The crisp air burned my skin. That drive home was the longest I've ever experienced. I kept thinking about how his hand grew limper and limper with every finale breath he took. I shook my head to clear it. I heard his raspy breathing and saw his sweaty forehead. I know he didn't want to make this decision. I know he didn't want to leave us. But he had to because if you know Mr. Nobody then you know that he does things on his own time. It just sucks that he chose death over life. Even a mere few weeks would've been better than this. Anything is better than this.

-Chicken Soup 🍜