Elysian Fields Read Free Page A

e-bike towards the side parking lot, she couldn’t help but see the stretcher being pushed through the sliding doors by two paramedics. On the stretcher, a young face was streaked with blood and dirt. The head was turned sideways towards her and she was struck with unimaginable sorrow for the young man. He opened his eyes and kept them on her even as they were moving him away.
    Please don’t die! Don’t do this to me! Jules felt the horror as strongly as ever, fearing she would once again play an active role in the replacement of yet another human.
     
    ~~~
     
    Siren noises woke him up again. Allan opened his eyes this time and saw strange faces looking at him with concern in their eyes. “Stay still,” a woman was saying as she leaned down towards him. “You’ll be fine.”
    She placed a mask over his mouth and gently lifted him to stretch the elastic band around the back of his head. He could breathe easier immediately, but something was wrong. He couldn’t feel his body. He tried to move a finger, then a toe. Nothing.
    Allan was moved to a stretcher and people were rushing and pushing him towards the ER entrance. His head was leaning on the side and he felt utterly helpless as he tried to form a word. He couldn’t even move his lips. What’s wrong with me? He wanted to scream. Only his eyes were able to move and he scanned the perimeter bathed in electric lights.
    He saw a girl by her e-bike, standing nearby with a hand over her mouth, looking at him. Her eyes were frightened and sad. He kept looking at her until they moved him past the sliding door of the emergency area, and she was gone from view.
    Then e verything happened very fast. Allan could not seem to think straight; a sheer terror at what was going to happen next gripped him. He heard someone say, “Bring him in here.” The stretcher was pushed into a large, immaculate room with a bright light emanating from the entire ceiling. Anti-gravity forces generated by the gravitron placed straight overhead lifted him up and placed him on a white block with cables and hoses and all kinds of instruments protruding from the sides. This was the operating cube. Allan ended up on his stomach, with his head tilted to one side.
    “Is the C here yet?” the same voice asked.
    “Almost here. Is this really necessary , doctor?” a younger woman’s voice questioned.
    “Yes. Put him under now.”
    A man in a blue operating gown was standing beside him. Allan couldn’t see his face, but he could smell an expensive musky fragrance coming from him. “Do not worry, dear boy, you’ll be fine when you wake up,” the surgeon was saying softly. His eyelids started to close and he sank into oblivion.
    Allan regained consciousness slowly. With great effort he managed to open his eyes, and discovered that he was on his back, with his head leaning to the side. For a moment he was confused. Lying on another cube directly opposite him, he saw another man, one who looked exactly like him. It is C . The realization that he was being discarded began to sink in. Terror enveloped him. He tried to get up but was unable to do so. He simply could not feel his body.
    His eyes filled with tears and he hoped someone would see them running over the base of his nose and realize he was not dead. Then he reasoned that they must have known that already because they had instruments monitoring his vitals. The only conclusion he could conjure was that the decision had already been made to have him replaced. The thought of his father doing that to him was unbearable. Surely it‘s a mistake, it must be a mistake . Before he could ponder on this any longer, he saw some movement at the corner of his eye, green coveralls, and knew that his time was up. A few seconds later his world darkened into nothingness.

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    After seeing the stretcher pushed inside the ER reception area, Jules made her way towards Floor 2, which housed the Recovery wing, where her assignment would begin shortly. Her