Victor was nervous, but prepared. The butterflies in his stomach started to gather by the second, but he was fully aware of the magnitude of this day. It had been 4 years since the car accident. All that time ago, yet he still found it so difficult to accept. All the "what if's?" and "why me's?" A split second sooner or later and an alternate reality would have been created in an instant. The existence he was suppose to have had. A normal life. But being confined to the chair had now become as much a part of him as the damaged cervical backbone that sat uselessly within him, hindering life's plans forever.
The doctor entered the room. A cold rush of air raced across his hot perspiring face. "You OK, son?" Doctor Yarwood said playfully. He could see the tension filled veins pulsating in Victor's head. "Yes, of course... Well... No, not really, sir. I'm not sure I'm ready for this. Will everything go according to plan? Have all my body checks turned out alright for the operation, sir?". The doctor returned a gentle smile and lightly touched his right shoulder. "First off, call me Neil. I'd like us to grow a little more familiar with each other given how long our friendship is going to last. Secondly, we are first and foremost a research outfit. We have gone through years of testing, researching, testing, researching, and then some more testing and researching for good measure. We're just lucky enough to have one of the finest surgeons in the world running the entire show." The doctor gave a small chuckle in an attempt to break the ice. "You're a lucky guy, Victor. Some may say the luckiest guy alive right now. Out of how many was it? Over ten thousand suitable candidates? You were chosen, Victor. Chosen to get back a life you once had. Enjoy all those things again that for years you've missed out on. I'd say you have everything and more to look forward to". Victor closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He must concentrate on the positive, he thought. The lifeless corpse he had been dragging around for what now seemed like an eternity would itself be a distant memory very soon. A laughable memory, in fact. Fight, don't give up now, not with the finishing line so close in view. He could have clenched his fist with determination if he actually had one.
The doctor gave him another affable smile and started to make his way toward the waiting room door leading to his office. "Don't worry about a thing, Victor. Everything will work out just fine. You have my word." With one twirl of his long white medical coat, he was gone, leaving Victor alone to collect his thoughts again. From the other side of room, the entrance door started to open. "Hey Vic, you OK?" a friendly voice called out. He leaned forward and put the small, plastic movable pin in his mouth. His only meagre claim to having some modicum of freedom. The chair rotated quietly around. His brother, Joe, was standing before him. "How you feeling, man?" Vic looked at him with an expression of sarcasm. "How the hell you think? I'm nervous as fuck. I was just getting myself mentally prepped and you had to come in and ruin it all."
Joe looked him over. He had literally been his "backbone" since the accident. His nightly vigils while Vic was in hospital, the months of rehab that was required in an attempt to regain some kind of muscle movement, the caring and tending to when Vic was returned home to begin his brand new life of disability. Joe was there every step of the way and then some. He was much closer to Joe now than when they were kids. They would always just fight back then like little puppy dogs with not a care in the world. He had sacrificed his life to care for Vic, doting on him night and day. A true brother to the very end.
"Sorry, man. I just came in to see if you were OK, that's all. You need a change or something?" "NO!" Vic snapped, feeling more like an invalid than ever before. He caught hold of himself and took in another deep breath. "Look, I'm OK, Joe. I just need a little time to come to terms with what's going to happen to me this afternoon. I mean, they're gonna butcher what's left of me in there. I'll end up worse than that guy in the Metallica video. What's that song again? The one that..."
"Vic" Joe chimed in. "You're gonna be fixed up nicely, man. Better than fixed up. The things I've seen and heard about this program." He knelt down until he was at eye level with Vic and spoke in a lowered tone. "You know, this could really be revolutionary. I mean, the replacements that they're gonna attach onto you are huge improvements on even our normal limbs. The press and media are all over this story right now. All will go well, Vic, and when you recover fully and get accustomed to your new gear, which I hear should take two months tops, you'll be able to run faster, jump further, climb higher than anyone else on this planet! Can you imagine? You'll be like a superhero! My own brother, a real life superhero!" Vic wasn't impressed at all. He continued to sit there sullen and helpless. "I pray you're right." Vic said, teeth gritted. "Because the way I see it, either I make it out of this alive or I don't." There was an increasing air of anger about him. Since spending the last four years of his life in a predominantly imprisoned existence, his emotions were in a constant state of flux and usually the easiest target was the one closet to him.
Joe touched his hand and held it softly. "Vic, I love you, man. Please don't say such..." Suddenly, he let loose his pent-up emotions in a flurry of rage that caught Joe completely off guard. "IT'S NOT ABOUT LOVE! I'M FUCKING SCARED, MAN. I MAY NEVER WAKE UP AGAIN FROM THAT OPERATING TABLE. YOU JUST DON'T UNDER...". Before Vic had finished yelling, the nurse hurried into the room. "Hey, what's going on here?" she said jovially, trying to lift the mood of whatever had transpired here a few moments ago. Vic clumsily replaced the plastic pin in this mouth and the chair turned around. "The doctor will be here shortly." Before she had even finished her sentence, he walked into the room rubbing his hands together. "Right, we all set, Vic?" the doctor asked grinning. "Yes, Dr. Yarwood" Vic replied, back to his calm and quiet placidity. He turned back to Joe and a single tear started making its way down his left cheek. "I'm sorry, man... I love you too." With that, Joe reached out and embraced Vic, whispering in his ear. "It'll be alright, my brother. I'll be here waiting for you when you wake up. Just keep thinking of me right here. Everything is gonna work out just fine."
The next few moments felt like a hypnotic daze. Before Vic knew it, he was being wheeled through the doors of the waiting room, through yet another set of doors and down a long corridor. Sweat started to collect like droplets of rain on his forehead as he was now finally on his own. His brothers last few words now a pre-recorded memory in his mind replaying over and over again. He shut his eyes tightly and focused on the future, a better future. From this moment on, mere weeks away from having his life of normality fully restored. The doctors voice gushed abruptly into his consciousness. How long had he been speaking for, Vic asked himself? The doctor continued...
"... so due to the minimal damage sustained to your vertebral column, we will be able to repair any damaged nerve endings and re-stimulate a neural network throughout your entire body. Your legs will be completely replaced as well as both stumps on your arms and using our breakthrough advancements in muscle regeneration, we should get your torso up to tip top condition to accommodate for your new limbs. This is going to be a great day for us all, Vic. You have nothing to worry about. Please, trust me."
A left turn at the far end of the long corridor through one final set of doors and there in front of him was the operating table. A burst of fear filled every corner of his brain. Had he a workable pair of arms and legs, he would have leapt out of that chair and sprinted straight out of the building. He writhed in the chair. "NO! PLEASE! I CAN'T DO IT!" he screamed, the small appendage protruding from his shoulder swivelling this way and that. The doctor hastily moved in front of him and cupped his face with both hands. Vic's tears streamed down from the mental anguish, the insurmountable dread of staring death right in the face.
"Vic, calm down, listen... Please, just take a moment... You OK now?". He nodded, unable to make eye contact. "Vic, get ready to be transformed, my friend" Doctor Yarwood whispered. "Get ready to be whole again and revered by all other human beings on God's green earth. I'm going to make you great, Vic. I'm going to change the world and a beautiful precious life all in one simple operation. When you wake up, you will be the ultimate human being. The finished evolutionary product of how God intended us to be. Just trust me and I will make your wildest dreams a physical reality." Vic was resigned. He had faith in the good Doctor Yarwood and held him in very high regard. Many other dreams would be realised if this operation was a success, not only his. The vast amounts of money spent on making this vision a reality. At this point, it had reached a level where it was just too big to fail. "OK, Doc, I'm ready. Let's do this."
The doctor smiled broadly, patted him on the thigh, then went off to prepare the anaesthetic. A second nurse had entered the operating theatre. Both nurses then proceeded to carefully lift Vic's tiny frame onto the table and lay him down. He looked square up at all the lights shining down upon him. These lights that would help guide the surgical hands to making him whole again and a hell of a lot more to boot. The doctor returned with the aesthetic. "OK, Vic, you'll feel a small pinch and then drift off to sleep while we build a brand new you. You ready, Vic?" Still clawing at the last embers of his shredded nerves, he slowly nodded. "See you on the other side." Some other people entered the room on his left. He strained to look, but in the blink of an eye...
Darkness...
Hope you enjoyed this short story, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)