Abandoning Death
rating: +3+x

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2021/11/20 09:23 Tyner General Hospital

’I’m feeling somewhat down, probably because what I’m about to do is gonna be tiresome.’ With that in mind, the man took a moment to get back in the mood, then stepped into the hospital. Flinching a bit at the pure, white interior, he begins talking to the woman at the reception desk.

“Excuse me, I’m Olsen. I had an appointment for a Thanatoma extraction today at 10:00.”

“Mr. Olsen… Let’s see… Do you have your insurance card and registration ticket?”

“Yeah”, he says, pulling out his insurance card and registration ticket ─ The same ones he pulled out for his physical examination last week ─ out his wallet, kept inside his pants’ right pocket, and handed them to the somewhat languid lady. She takes them, pulls out a file ─ swish ─ and checks its content. Not much of a talker, he inwardly sighs in relief at encountering a person who, while a tad blunt, wasn’t talkative either. Then, after a moment of silent, she begins talking to him, still looking at the file.

“Ehh, Leon Olsen, correct? Please wait in front of room 7.”

“Alright, thanks.”

He leaves the reception area, looks for a “Room 7” on the information board to the side, and eventually finds it. ’It’s pretty secluded…’ Having a somewhat indescribable anxiety, he enters Room 7.

Many people walked to and from as he entered. ’This is a big hospital; there’s lots of people here even though it’s morning on a weekday.’, with these blunt emotions, he stepped through. Eventually, traffic became less and less, and by the time he was in front of room 7’s door, there were only two figures there: Olsen himself and an old woman sitting in a chair. He sits a short distance away from the old woman, and waits for his name to be called.

While he waited, he quickly reminisced about what had happened a week prior…


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2021/11/13 17:21 Green Rouge Co. - Private Room

“Uhhh… Well then, I think it’s finally time we move and talk about extraction companies.”

Surrounded by dirty white walls, Olsen faced the man inside one of the rooms of the company. The man wore a gray suit, contrasting the shabby-looking jacket he wore. The man was moving a mouse through the screen to his side, using PowerPoint.

Seebach.svg

“So obviously, Seebach Central Pharmaceutical Ltd. is the biggest one. It’s the first one to discover Thanatoma, and the Swiss company that’s the best at handling it. They’re also the best at extractions, so if you want to be assured it’ll all be safe, this is the one to go for.”

“Understood.”, he nods. ’No matter how little I know about Thanatoma, even I have heard of this one. Their commercials flood the TV, and my grandparents have already been on their care.’

“When I looked up online, Seebach was the first one that came up. It’s very popular.”

“Yeah, especially in Europe where they boast with market shares of 87%. That being said, the truth is that it’s a tad pricey. Those who worry about that choose other companies, like for example…”

As he says that, he clicks with the mouse, changing slides.

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“… Tai-Pi-Tsiu Inc. It’s a Taiwanese company, and it’s rumoured that they developed a less expensive method to extract Thanatoma. Being an Asian venture, there’s many who worry about the extraction process, but as far as I can tell, there’s no particular issue with hygiene and the sort.”

“Huh, first time hearing about it.”, he says, scratching his head. “It’s that much cheaper, huh…”

“Tai-Pi-Tsiu is, yeah. Wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it’s the cheapest in the industry. They have a pretty big market share here in America.”

’Huh.’, he thinks, crossing his arms. ’Dunno much about Taiwan, but if what you say is true, then it’s probably fine. Frankly, I don’t want to spend a lot of money, so I might go for this one.’

“I see. Is there anything else?”

Kleio.svg

“Ehhh… Well, the last company we can introduce is Kleio Corp. They’re mainly a machinery company, but they’ve been researching Thanatoma handling since the early days, advancing into American soul, where their headquarters are. The company has a better image in the refining, mixing, and building of machinery than in the extraction business, but they offer cheap extracting, although not as cheap as Tai-Pi-Tsiu.”

Nodding in silence, he thinks. ’From what I’ve heard, the Taiwanese one might be fine. It might be better to let other companies make effective use of the Thanatoma, but the purpose here is only to extract Thanatoma. Thus, the least expensive one sounds good.’

“Well then, the, uh, what was it called again?”

“Ah, Tai-Pi-Tsiu?”

“Ah, that one, yes. I’ll go for that one.”

“Understood.”, the man says, closing the PowerPoint. The man grabs a black clipboard from the desk, and offers it to him. A sheet of paper’s on the clipboard.

“Now, please fill out this form.”


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2021/11/20 09:46 Care Room 7

His recollections end with a loud voice yelling “Mr. Olsen!” to which he responds with a “Here!”. He opens the door, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the equipment there. The lightning might have something to do with it, but the indescribable smell coming out of the room gave it a most peculiar atmosphere.

“Over here.”, the woman by the bed on the center right calls to him. He looks at the machine by his side with curiosity, before putting his luggage on the shelf and lying down on the bed. ’Is this the machine use to extract Thanatoma?’

“Alright, we’ll start immediately.”

“Alright.”

She cleans the back of his right arm’s elbow with a gauze that smelled like alcohol, tying it with a rubber tube. Then, after telling him to clench his right thumb, she says “This will sting a little.”, and stabs him with the needle without hesitation. More surprised by how proper her hands looked than by the pain itself, he stared as the syringe filled with liquid. The liquid had complex coloring, red like blood, but also like expired gasoline. He didn’t know how to describe it.

“So what made you decide to have Thanatoma extracted?”

“Eh? Oh, uh, my dad was in danger recently, and I thought, oh that could happen to me. So.”

He replied while still staring at the liquid inside of the syringe. “I see. It must have been terrible.”, she replied, while slowly, but not so slowly withdrawing the liquid. The thick liquid billowed sickly inside of the syringe, eventually filling it.

“We’re done here.”

She said, pulling the needle out of his arm. This time he frows as the action hurts a bit, but still kept staring at the liquid inside the syringe. He stared at it as she wiped the back of his elbow with an alcohol-smelling gauze, putting a dry gauze over it afterwards.

“Hm, was that your first extraction?”

“Oh, yes. Yes it was.”

“Yeah, it seemed like it. Thanatoma is a weird thing, you know? I kinda hate to think of this coming out of my body.”

With a giggle, she began fiddling with some sort of machine or equipment. Contrasting the amused woman, he felt somewhat disgusted now that he realized the liquid had indeed come out of his own body.

“… Guess we’re done then. Thanks for coming.”

“Ah, are we done here?”

“Yup. We’ll take of the rest from here.”

“I see.”, he replied, picking up his luggage from the shelf, and leaving the room. The smell of the hallway fills him with a sense of freedom, and he can’t help but stretch himself taller right on the spot. ’That was so fast’, he thought, leaving the hospital.

*

After exchanging a couple words with the woman at the reception desk, he leaves Tyner General Hospital through the automatic doors. ’Im kinda tired…’, he walks down the hospital’s entrance without a thought in mind.

Suddenly, he heards the loud sound of a car horn, instinctively turning towards where the sound was coming from. A red car is coming his way. Amid panic, he tries to avoid by moving right, but the car also turns to the right. Mere moments later, he’s been sandwiched between the car and a wall. The energy of the impact breaks the wall, and the front of the car is destroyed. Passersby around the area scream. Then, the car slowly backs up…

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… And on the other side stood a man without injuries, clothes dirty and torn apart.

“I’m- I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!”

A man gets out of the car, and rushes over to him. He was too busy thinking about what had happened to him to react to the man.

“Ah…”

“Eh, uh, what? You’re safe- Oh, could it be… Did you extract your Thanatoma?”

“Eh? Ah, uh, yes. Just now I had my Thanatoma for ‘being run over’ extracted.”

Finally returning to his senses, he replies, confused. “Thank goodness!~”, the man sighs in relief, speaking to him again.

“Let’s see… What am I supposed to do now? Call 911, but you’re not really hurt…”

“Ah, maybe calling 911 would be a good idea.”

“Alright.”, the man replies halfheartedly, pulling out his smartphone. However, a police officer runs up to the man, and begins talking to him. Whatever they’re talking about, the man is apologizing while the officer smiles optimistically.

’What miraculous timing’, he thought, fiddling with his newly torn clothes.

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