Cruel Reality

Japan.

In a hospital room, a doctor and a nurse stood over a man as he lay there in a coma. Both of them showed the face of pity and sympathy.

They were sad but not desperate, for that would mean there was no hope left for him.

They waited for what seemed like hours for him to respond. But he never did. Just like in the past months.

"No good today either...huh..." The doctor sighed and stepped back from the bed.

"I'm sorry, Doctor...I called you immediately the moment I heard some weird noise...but it appears he is still not with us..." The nurse muttered under her breath while glancing over at the doctor who wore the expression of worry again.

Her eyes fell upon the unconscious man once more...

It had been roughly about 5 months since the patient arrived here.

The state he was in at the moment was pretty scary, but not as terrifying as the day he was brought here.

A couple of tubes went into his stomach and one into each arm to drip into the veins, attached to little bags that looked like they should be hanging from IV poles.

His face was caved in on one side and skin sagged off leaving large folds of flesh on top, just below his eyes.

Both of his feet were amputated above the ankle, extending past the knee.

His left hand was missing fingers, and the hand was held onto its wrist by only two remaining digits.

In other words, this was a state a human being could possibly die in when "peacefully drifting into death".

He had received multiple blood transfusions because, though nothing showed, a lot of his bodily functions had gone away—some organs completely ceased functioning due to being deprived of oxygen for too long, others have malfunctioned due to too many factors.

The main one being, the reason why he was in this hospital in the first place.

"You said you heard...noises? Could you tell me about them?" The Doctor asked while squinting his eyes slightly.

"...Um..." The Nurse slowly turned towards the doctor before answering, "Well...it was similar as before...it sounded like voices." She paused momentarily.

"But I feel like it was far more clear than usual." She remarked while looking down.

"Really? Then, what did he say?"

"He muttered something...like... 'Who Though', or Whu Thao or something similar."

As if something strange had happened to make him say it.

"Whu...Thao? Was he perhaps calling for some relative of his?"

"No, that couldn't be the case...all of his relatives had passed away a long time ago, and he didn't have friends..."

The Nurse did a thorough investigation about him, and the accident that occurred to him.

"I see."

The Doctor seemed to have noticed that the Nurse had something else on her mind and reached out to touch her shoulder to grab her attention. "Hm? What's wrong?" He inquired in concern.

"Oh... it's just..." she replied, still staring at the bed without making eye contact. "He seemed to look so happy...when he muttered those words...Even showing a small smile...I truly wonder what's happening inside his mind..."

"So you think he's having a good dream?" He hummed and tilted his head.

She nodded without hesitation before replying, "I think so. I don't think we should cut off his life support yet. We should give him some more time."

The doctor considered for a split second before nodding slowly.

"Let's wait then... Hopefully, he found happiness even if it were all a dream."

Let him have his eternal peace.