Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Other Side

Kelly paused at the double doors, either unwilling or unable to find what awaited her on the other side. As a 12 year-old girl, she held the hand of her great-grandmother as death overtook her. Through medical school at Baylor, an internship at Duke, and a fellowship at Knightsbridge Hospital in London, she had come to realize that regardless of how much medicine, research, care and money is thrown at preserving life, eventually every one reaches the same inevitable, and sometimes painful, fate.

Through experience and involvement, Kelly grew to understand death and, in the worst cases, to appreciate it. Though the academics of the process came easily to Kelly, death never numbed her. She was still moved by the loss of a sister, a mother, a father, a wife, and worst of all, a child. She would always try to balance strength and compassion in the presence of a patient's grieving family, only to be overtaken by emotion once in the privacy of the doctors' lounge, or an on-call sleep room, or an unlocked broom closet.

The other side of the door certainly presented an end. Kelly took a deep breath, rehearsed the moment to come once more, and pushed one door open.

7 comments:

Katie said...

are you writing a novel?

klhcain said...

Need an explanation.
And what happens on the other side of the door?

King Conch said...

Kelly gets writer's block.

klhcain said...

That's not fair for people like me who HAVE to know.

KBF said...

Good details! Before I read the comments thought that you had copied it from a book.

You could start that off as a prologue 1 or 2 pages, then when Reader goes to chapter 1 start at the beginning of Kelly's life, leaving that in the back of Readers mind and gradually work your way up to that point and then last 1/4 could be what happens after doors open. That would give you some time to figure out what acutally happens when doors open.

klhcain said...

You and Karly should just collaborate and make a lot of money writing.

Lee said...

As a common man who doesn't read very much, my initial thought was that the woman is dead.

Hopefully this information will lead to a classic novel.