PROLOGUE: I’ve Made My Peace With It

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

In a private hospital room with only one occupant, the only sound to be heard was that of the EKG monitoring the patient's heartbeats. An almost constant reminder that he was still alive---

"Ugghh"

A young man, pale to the point of looking sickly, groaned with his body in a constant state of agony that he was trying, and mostly failing, to endure.

The whites of his eyes had become yellowish and while that made his grey pupils stand out more, it was not in a good way.

"Ughh, Six months really flew by just like that?" he said and then gave out a half-hearted chuckle,

"I tell you, Death can't come soon enough." he said to the empty room, "My pain will finally end."

The young man was Vincel Grey, an eighteen-year-old enduring his last minutes of life.

Ever since he was an infant, he had suffered tragedy.

Vincel never knew his parents.

They both died due to a collision with a truck being driven by a drunkard. His father died before Emergency services arrived while his mother lost her life upon arriving at the hospital.

Vincel was delivered afterward and quickly given up to social services once it became clear he had no living relatives.

Eventually, he ended up in Saint John's Orphanage where he was received by Matron Agatha who happily took care of him and even named him.

"'Vincel'. It's what I always planned to name my son if I ever had one," Matron Agatha told him once he was old enough to be curious about her choice.

"Why didn't you give me your last name, then?" a young Vincel had asked her and the old Matron just smiled while she stroked his cheek,

"I looked into your cute little eyes and knew 'Grey' was perfect. You are going to be great Vincel, I know it!" she said with assured confidence.

Thinking back to that moment, Vincel could not help but laugh. It was a little laugh but it hurt his chest enough to cause him to groan.

'How could she ever think I would be great? From the start, it was clear I had no potential. Hell, I lost my parents before I was even born,'

Of his age group, Vincel was the only one to never be adopted.

Matron Agatha was a kind woman who cared for and fed all children in her charge but no matter how well-fed Vincel was, he always had a thin sickly look about him.

His face had the potential of being cute, handsome even, but the constant appearance of malnourishment hindered that.

Once it was clear that he was Matron Agatha's favorite, he also found it hard to make friends with the others in the orphanage and was quickly isolated.

By the time he was fourteen, Matron Agatha was basically his parent. He had no one interested in adopting him and she never stopped caring for him so they made a pretty good fit.

Academically, Vincel was never the best in his class but he did well enough to get into college. The tuition was going to be too much for Matron Agatha to handle, especially with other responsibilities that she had so Vincel decided to get a job.

He decided he would work for a year and hopefully, make enough money to start a part-time college education.

Matron Agatha had always said how she would be proud to see him get a degree and making her proud was all Vincel wanted to do for the one who had cared so much for him.

'I'll try and become an accountant. I hear they make good money' Vincel thought.

Alas, life had other plans.

Six Months Ago,

Vincel got diagnosed with a chronic illness even the doctors didn't have a name for. It targeted multiple of his organs like an unpredictable virus.

The first to be affected was his heart which resulted in pains in his chest.

The next organ was his liver which caused the ever-darkening yellowish coloring of his eyes.

His lungs got damaged and by the end, neither of his kidneys was spared.

"There is no cure. Even if we authorize multiple transplants, all of which are very expensive and time-consuming, the disease will just attack the new organs unless we get rid of it which is impossible. We don't like to use that word but in this case, it's accurate" the Doctor told him,

"I'm sorry Mr. Grey. I advise you to put your affairs in order,"

Vincel's upper lip twitched,

"I have no affairs,"

He and the Doctor shared a look and then he cleared his throat.

"So, how long do I have, Doc?" he asked doing very well to hold back any tears of despair.

"The symptoms can't be managed. No drug will work. The best we can do is give you pain meds to deal with the pain."

"How much- How much time do I have?" Vincel asked again.

"Six months... Maybe less,"

"Six months is enough," Vincel said with false positivity.

Now that there was no more hope of a college education, he decided to spend the six months dedicating every penny he got to Matron Agatha.

'I owe her too much'

Keeping a job with his illness was difficult.

And painkillers, the really powerful stuff he needed, was expensive and would affect how much he could actually leave for Matron Agatha.

His condition got worse and so when he was approached by a man in black at his place of work one afternoon, Vincel only had the energy to be confused about what the man asked him for.

"So you want my body?"

The man nodded solemnly.

"We do. Your body is an interesting specimen. The disease it holds ..."

"The one currently killing me,"

"Yes, that one. It's interesting in how it mutates to remain unpredictable while also being untransmittable- at least as far as we know. Anyway, we would like to study it once you have passed." the Man said.

"Passed?"

"Once you have died," the Man clarified.

"Can't you just take it? I mean, once I am dead, there won't be a need for consent, right? Just stick around so you don't miss it" Vincel said with an uncomfortable and painful chuckle.

"Things are not always so simple. Besides, the organization I belong to does not do things like that.

You will be compensated for the remainder of your life so long as you sign over Power of attorney to any decisions that involve your body going forward.

I understand that you have a lot on your mind at the moment so take as much time as you need to think it over."

The man passed him a business card.

"Contact me with this when you have made your decision."

-

Lying on the hospital bed Six months later, Vincel did not regret how quickly he said 'Yes' to the offer.

He said yes on the spot as though he was worried the offer won't be open for long.

"What use is my body to me once I'm dead? I'll be DEAD!"

He was provided with a bunch of documents to read through and sign and he only glossed over them once he saw that the money he was set to receive had more zeroes than he had ever seen or ever thought to see in his life. His eighteen years short life.

They were even the ones who provided him with the private hospital room to spend his last moments in.

*Knock* *Knock*

The door to his room opened and the Man in black, the same one to present him with the offer Six months ago, came in.

The Man walked over to the side of the bed with a neutral expression,

"So how are you feeling?"

"Like crap," Vincel said with a painful groan.

"But you had the chance, right? To live your life to the fullest. The rest of it, I mean"

Vincel took a deep breath,

"I went traveling. Paris and Greece especially.

With all that money, processing documents came easy. I wanted to see what all the fuss was with tourism,"

"And how was it?" the Man asked.

"Overrated. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were beautiful locations with great architecture but visiting them felt empty, and lonely.

Plus, it's hard to enjoy a vacation while being in constant pain. The pain meds only got me so far,"

"Lonely?" the Man asked, and retrieved a small bottle and an injection pack from his inner pocket,

"You didn't take anyone with you?"

"No, I didn't. I hated being lonely but at the same time, I wanted to be alone. It was- peaceful."

Vincel said and then looked up at the Man to see him pulling liquid from the bottle into the syringe,

"Do you understand what I mean?" he asked.

"Hmm? Not really," the Man said in a deadpan voice.

As he spoke, the man made sure there were no bubbles in the syringe barrel before injecting the liquid into one of the tubes going into Vincel's arm.

"What is that?" Vincel asked.

"Your organs are at their limits, the next twenty-four hours will be torture for you. It will be more pain than you've already endured.

This *indicates the syringe and its used-up content* is a heavy sedative to let you pass peacefully,"

"Oh... I see," Vincel said with his vision already getting blurry as the sedative got right to work.

'At least I put all my affairs in order. A half and a quarter of the money I received is already in Matron Agatha's bank account. She will never lack what she needs to be the Saint she is to the children at Saint John's.

Ha, I can still hear her voice...

I can still hear her pleading to her lord and Savior to spare my life. To let me live.

I've made my peace with my death... I hope she will too...

... Ahh, I'm thirsty...

... Should have drunk before the man came in...

... So woozy...

... So sleepy...

... So--- peaceful...'

Vincel's heart stuttered to its final beats...

*Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...*

... And the EKG machine flat-lined.