The Hospice
The banshee is wailing. There's going to be a death tonight.
We never know for sure who it's going to be, but my money's on Mrs. Johnson. Over the last few days something's felt different about her. She's already elsewhere, no longer present in her crumbling body.
Some of the other staff complain about the banshee, blaming her for headaches and nightmares, but I appreciate her service. A death takes a lot out of you, no matter how many you've seen before, and her warning gives me time to get ready, to prepare the paperwork and armor my heart.
I spend the night turning Mrs. Johnson every few hours, swabbing her dry mouth, rubbing Vaseline onto her desiccated skin. I can hear the fluid in her lungs when she breathes. It can't be long now.
Enjoying this story? Don't miss the next one!
SUBSCRIBE TO DSF
And yet by the end of my shift Mrs. Johnson is still breathing. She even gives me a weak smile as I turn her. I perform my final rounds in a panic, frantic that someone else has passed while I've been focused on Mrs. Johnson. But no. There are pulses all round.
It's raining as I sign out and climb onto my bicycle. The banshee is still wailing, but her shift is nearly over too, and she's a stickler for rules. I guess she just got it wrong this time.
With drooping eyelids I pull out of the parking lot, and her wail is drowned out by the whoosh and roar of rush-hour traffic on slick streets.
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, August 6th, 2015
We hope you're enjoying
The Hospice by
Julian Mortimer Smith.
Please support Daily Science Fiction by becoming a member.
Daily Science Fiction does not have a paywall, but we do have expenses—more than 95% of which are direct payments to authors for their stories. With your $15 membership, less than 6 cents per story, we can continue to provide genre fiction every weekday by email and on the website to thousands of readers for many years to come.
Tell me more!
Support Daily Science Fiction
Please click to rate this story from 1 (ho-hum) to 7 (excellent!):
Please don't read too much into these ratings. For many reasons, a superior story may not get a superior score.
5.4 Rocket Dragons Average
Please join our mailing list and
receive free daily sci-fi (your email address will be kept
100% private):