-Inert. The body, the system, lies motionless, no movement except for the swelling under the frame, raising the flesh, a steady filling and emptying of the sacs, still fed by artificial airways. Eyelids shut, closed, not tight not pressed, but without so much as a quiver. There is, the almost imperceptible pulsing of the body; valves now fully functioning, ushering plasma to the chambers that regulate the system, the body.
Eyes open. Momentary lapses displaying signs of life, apart from the pulsing of rivers and the filling of sacs. Perfunctory. Dilation weakens, light refracts but does not enter past the dark pinheads. They collapse, the lids, cognition remains mitigated. Medical personnel enter and leave the room continuously. They bring with them monitors and tubes, attach them to the system, remove them from the system and leave the body laying, inert and stable.
Sunlight collides with the blinds, sliding down their length, penetrating through them and entering the room. A nurse stands at the bed, hovering over the system, drawing through a small tube a sample of plasma. She removes the metallic intrusion and walks away as eyes awaken, dilation shrinking. A blank stare, no cognition. There is a quiver, the spheres, the dark pins. They collapse and the quivering is absent. Eyelids frozen. Closed without effort.
The night’s veils, fallen, the room’s crevices dark. Nurses, four, stand around the bed, around the system. They remove the threading from the wrist, the forehead and the arm’s fold. The system sits, eyes closed, breath quickened. Eyes open. There is a blink. There is a quiver. Silent, the head turns. The nurses continue to pull at thread. A dulled pinch the system barely registers. “Go back to sleep.” Eyes close and the system, the body, the nine-year-old-boy, sleeps.
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