Part Twelve of The Narrow Gate
The Narrow Gate is an allegory in twelve parts. This is part twelve.
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Gregory was still blinded by the light. He heard a loud digital “beep” slowing. He felt a soft, feminine hand squeezing the fingers on his right hand. Did he have a girlfriend? He felt a loving presence.
“Don’t leave me,” the young woman pleaded. “I can’t live without you.”
Farther away, he heard an older woman say, “Do it.”
Was the voice his mother? She never loved him. Carried him for nine months, sure. She raised him by telling him he was a burden. A burden because he reminded her of her failed marriage and worthless husband. Gregory’s entire life had been spent striving to help his mother resolve her issues with men she dated.
Gregory couldn’t see. All mechanical sounds in the room stopped. The woman holding his fingers began to sob.
Gregory felt his body convulse. He lifted his hands to his face and pulled a tube out of his mouth. He removed tape that kept his eyelids closed and looked at the hospital room around him.
Two doctors and two nurses looked shocked that Gregory was alive. They moved in to assist him in his recovery. His girlfriend sat beside him on his right. His best friend, whom he affectionately called the little fat man…
