CHAPTER FOUR: THE ACCIDENT

Back to the present…..

After Riona stormed out of Tryton's office, feeling pissed and frustrated, she needed to vent out that anger and her feelings.

She headed straight to see Lydia, who had admired Tryton from the very start. Lydia saw her walking straight towards her with an angry face, she smiled and asked.

" Yo!! What happened? Did you enjoy your time with the new vice director? I wish I was given that opportunity to take the handsome man on a tour"

Riona looked at her furiously and went ahead to sit down, ignoring her comments. Lydia sat beside her and asked again.

"Tell me, what happened?"

Riona leaned back in her chair and began talking.

"You won't believe how pompous and arrogant Tryton is. I took him around the whole hospital through every department before finally getting to his office. Throughout the whole tour he never replied to anything I asked or even said a word to me, but getting to his office he said thank you and forced me out of his office like I was a nuisance of some sort. He treated me with such disdain. It was as if he thought he was above everyone else,"

Riona exclaimed, her voice filled with both anger and disbelief, because no one had treated her like she was nothing.

Lydia couldn't help it, she burst into laughter and also mocked Riona's face and expression.

Lydia leaned in closer, with her glowing eyes, she said.

"Riona, you have to remember that people often project their insecurities onto others. Perhaps Tryton's behaviour is rooted in his internal struggle, maybe he is just a reserved kind of guy. It doesn't justify his actions though, but it might be better if you put it that way."

Riona became a little calm after hearing those words. They both looked at each other and laughed, and they talked about other things.

********

Bring! Bring!

The phone at the receptionist's desk rang!

"Hello! This is Maplewood Regional Medical Center, how can we be of service?"

"Emergency!"

Shouts the ambulance driver over the phone,

"There's been an accident at a building site, a contractor fell from a height while working and is seriously injured."

The hospital staff springs into action, preparing for the incoming patient. The receptionists went around to tell the news and also let the doctors know that an emergency patient would arrive soon. They knew that every second counts in cases like this.

Tryton was in his office when the news got to him. He thought to himself,

" Another perfect opportunity.."

He stood up and wore his Jacket and moved out to assess the situation and observe.

The ambulance arrives at the hospital, the man on the stretcher still and pale, his leg pierced with a rod and his body disfigured, the nurses and doctors help to move the patient to the emergency room.

When Tryton saw the condition of the patient, a little cold smirk appeared on his face. In his thoughts, he never saw success in this man's surgery, he was surely going to die.

In the emergency room, the doctors and nurses gathered around the patient, trying to stop the flow of blood and stabilize him, while Tryton and the board stood from a distance to watch, communicate and give orders. It was looking impossible for the patient to be revived, at that point Tryton left the group and headed back to his office giving a dark cold smile.

After Tryton got to his office, he locked the door and covered the window shades so no one could see inside. He brought out his suitcase, opened it and brought out an old brown sheet, it was the list of souls to retrieve, and a new name was added to his list with the location being where he was.

" It's time," he said, smiling.

Tryton waved his hands, the room around him fell into darkness, and his blue eyes lit up with flames. His cloak born from darkness enveloped his body, concealing his face and creating an aura of deathly power. 

His suitcase, seemingly ordinary, also changed. It transformed into a scythe, its blade gleaming with light. Tryton, now fully transformed, became the night itself, no mortal eyes could see him any more. He had a duty to fulfill that is guiding souls to their destined afterlife, His first task for the night awaited him.

As he moved through the corridor, a chilling cold engulfed the place, causing shivers to run down the spine of everyone present at the hospital.

********

While in the emergency room, Riona, Jonathan, Lydia and the nurses, focussed on saving the life of the patient in that state. The room echoed with the urgent beeping of machines. 

The patient lay motionless, trapped in a coma his life hung on the balance. Riona carefully tried to remove the rod from his leg, her hands were shaky because she was careful not to make mistakes that might cost the life of the patient. Jonathan tried to stop the flow of blood from the patient's deep cuts. At that time the patient's wife and family came into the hospital crying deeply, they tried to go into the emergency room, but Lydia, having witnessed countless cases like this, went out of the room to stop them, and offered them comfort.

As they worked tirelessly, the patient went into cardiac arrest, blood was no longer flowing to his heart, the ECG machine stopped beeping and the heartbeat sensor showed a straight line, the patient had died.

" We've lost him," Jonathan said.

They all stopped for a moment, and with a tired face, they looked at the dead patient. The board of directors who witnessed the whole surgical process, decided and ordered that the body be cleaned up and stitched, and also be reported back to his family. 

At that time, Thanatos came in holding his scythe, while no one could see him, Jonathan saw him and was shocked, but he tried his best to hide it and not make it obvious to Thanatos that he could see him. It became very cold in the room, at that moment the soul of the patient came out from his body, the soul looked at his body and looked at Thanatos and asked him,

"Are you here to claim my soul?".

Thanatos responded by nodding his head and saying.

"Follow me, your time is up"