Flash Fiction: How to Save a Life

blockurator (65)in #fiction • 6 years ago (edited)

This flash fiction story was originally published in Jake's Monthly Anthology. It's a little strange, but what else would you expect from me?

Image from Pixabay

How to Save a Life

“Scalpel.”

Jessica handed Ashley an exacto knife.

“Wait,” the ten year old set the knife on the floor. “Razor.”

Jessica took a small blade from its place on a washcloth lying on the floor and handed it to Ashley who gently placed the cutting edge of the blade to her teddy bear's chest and shaved off a rectangular piece of fur one inch wide and two inches from the center of the chest to its belly. Jessica stood watching, impressed by her friend's eye for precision. Confident she had cleared the bear's chest of any excess hair, Ashley placed the razor beside the knife on the floor and took the latter instead.

Her hand was steady as she stuck the knife to the teddy bear's chest and sliced an incision from the top part of the shaven piece of chest to the bottom. She set the exacto knife again on the floor next to the razor blade.

Snapping her surgical gloves, she inserted an index finger on each side of the incision and pulled, exposing the teddy bear's insides. The girls were expressionless as Ashley exposed the white cotton beneath the cloth that made up the bear's torso.

“What now?” asked Jessica.

Ashley said nothing. She gently prodded the bear's chest with her finger, sliding the cotton to the side. A purple pulsating organ appeared beneath the outer exterior of the bear's inner parts and Ashley began to breathe heavily. Jessica smiled.

“There it is,” she said.

Ashley turned her head away from Jessica and the bear and lifted her surgical mask. She coughed. Then she placed her surgical mask firmly back over her nose and mouth and turned to face the bear again. She took the knife in her left hand and pulled the bear's skin with her right index finger.

“Finger,” Ashley ordered.

Jessica took her finger and stuck it into the bear's incision next to Ashley's. Their surgical gloves rubbed against each other as Ashley removed her finger then slid around the bear's head to its other side. She pulled the bear's cloth skin with her finger until its heart was fully exposed, its chest spread apart between its rib cages, the cotton underskin out of the way thanks to Jessica's quick thinking and expert assistance. Ashley inserted the knife and cut a vein.

Jessica reached out with her free hand holding a clamp. Ashley set her knife on the bear's belly and took hold of the clamp. She snapped it onto the bear's cut vein to stop the bleeding. They repeated the procedure. They kept repeating it until all the veins and arteries were cut loose and clamped, then Ashley removed the bear's heart and handed it to Jessica.

“Heart,” Ashley commanded. No expression, no emotion. Just pure science.

Jessica maneuvered her hand to the washcloth, picked up a chicken heart, replacing it with the bear's own organic organ. She smiled at the chicken heart, which she held like a diamond between her thumb and forefinger, and handed it to Ashley.

Ashley took it and the girls gazed at each other before Ashley the surgeon continued her mission. She poked her free index finger into the bear's chest again and pulled the skin back, pushing the cotton out of her way. She set the heart in place and matched up arteries and veins to valves. She took her time, ensuring every measure of success with clock-like precision.

“Suture.”

Jessica was right on time handing Ashley a needle with stitches, followed by a pair of tweezers. She watched as Ashley sewed the heart's valves back to their corresponding veins and arteries, tested them for circulation. The satisfied surgeon looked up, nodded. Jessica, equally satisfied, removed her finger from the bear's chest. Ashley stitched the bear's chest shut. They cleaned their surgical tools with the same care as their more critical, more substantive work, threw their masks in the trash and went downstairs for dinner.

Want to know who writes weird tales like this?