The Departed Comfortably Numb 소설 & 이야기

The grave would be filled up later by the caretakers of the cemetery and a tombstone, which had already been prepared beforehand, would be placed at the head of the grave once it was done. Finally, we all in unison, gave Nana one final bow, as the last symbolism of passage into the great beyond. After that bow, Dominic’s parents left. Soon after that, the few household staff that had known Nana intimately also left. Then a few minutes later, Jonathan followed suit. Much later after that, Rachel came towards me and squeezed my arm, saying no words but also saying a lot of words of comfort in that gesture. I nodded gratefully at her and returned the same gesture.

That's how people on the edge of divorce should act. Worried Prof. Dalloz might go in harder, I leaned close. "Prof. Dalloz, we're on his plane. Maybe ease up a little?" Another cold snort. But he didn't say a word. Just stared out the window. "I'm gonna rest for a bit," he said, eyes drifting shut. That was the last time he did. He looked the same—head high, back straight. Even in death, he still carried that quiet pride.

Nothing is going to matter once I'm gone. I left the hospital with a numb face and a long prescription for drugs that wouldn't save me, and they would probably just make dying a little less painful. The nurse had handed me the drugs with a solemn smile, and I tried to smile back at her but all I could manage was a tight grimace. When you're so close to dying, you don't really worry about being seen as polite anymore.

It wasn’t much, but it was the best I could do given the circumstances. As the medication took effect, Debbie’s eyelids began to droop, exhaustion finally overtaking her. With a gentle hand, I brushed a lock of hair away from her face, a pang of sympathy tugging at my heart. “Rest now,” I whispered, my voice barely above a whisper. “You’ll be safe here.” With that, I watched as Debbie drifted off into a peaceful slumber, her breathing slow and steady as she succumbed to the effects of the painkillers.

She then grabbed her phone Travis and she looked at the screen to see what he had seen a while ago the moment that she laid her eyes on it, she cannot help but to freeze in his position and at the same time, her whole body went numb. She is already numb – some who can interact with her in that one year that she was been away will be able to attest that she had become someone far worse than she is in the past and the fact that she has become lifeless, someone who is fitting to be considered already as a living dead. However, right now, she felt the coldness in her intensify, and also, she felt her whole body getting even more numb than it already is.

A softness buried deep, like love that had been through war radiates all over him. He looked like death and comfort. Like destruction and safety. All at the same time. He didn’t waste a second. He lifted me like I weighed nothing. His arms were strong and his chest gave me warmth against my frozen skin. I should’ve pulled away. I didn’t even know his name. But something in me… didn’t want to. My body had already given up, and the last thing I felt before I passed out…was the strange comfort of not being alone. ~~~~~

—JASMINE I don’t want to live anymore. If there’s anything beyond death, then I would like to be there. I’ve never felt so numb. My world has been ravaged, leaving nothing but a trail of devastation in its wake. I'm surrounded by a flurry of medical activity, with doctors and nurses swarming around me, their urgent footsteps and anxious voices fading into the background as they rush me through the hospital corridors, prioritizing my transfer to the VIP suite. Yet, amidst the chaos, everything seems eerily detached, as if I'm observing the scene from outside my body.

Her touch was an anchor, the only thing tethering me to reality when all I wanted was to drift away into numbness. I turned away from the grave, unable to watch as they lowered his coffin completely, the ropes creaking as they played out inch by terrible inch. The priest's voice faded into the background, swallowed by the murmurs of sobbing and sniffing around me. I could hear Piper somewhere behind us, her quiet weeping punctuated by Hannah's mother trying to console her. My own mother's stifled sobs. The sound of dozens of people trying to hold themselves together and failing.

Then exhaled. Again. Again. Again. The trembling in my fingers lessened. The dizziness faded little by little. My heartbeat no longer sounded like thunder. It still hurt. Everything hurt. But I wasn't suffocating anymore. I leaned my head back against the damp wall. The tears had stopped without me noticing. Only numbness remained. Complete... Utter... Numbness. The silence around me felt strangely comforting. Nobody expected anything from me here. Nobody wanted explanations. Nobody looked at me with disgust.

I was not feeling anything. I was numb.