I pressed the pillow over the old man’s face, and watched in horror as his dormant body became a mass of flailing limbs. My father’s withered appearance had been a lie. His strength had merely outlasted his memory.

“Shush,” I begged. “Please stop fighting.”

The nurse, who had wheeled him from the ambulance, would not have understood when she returned with his roommate assignment. I pressed harder. The terror in his muffled screams made me want to die with him, and his struggling left me with no choice.

In the indicting brightness of the room, I climbed onto the gurney to restrain him with one knee. “This is what you wanted,” I reminded him, and sobbed as I waited for him to grow still.

I prayed that my own memory had not failed, grateful we did not have to look into each other’s eyes.

BIO: Damon DeBusk was raised in Mesa, Arizona and currently lives in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania. DeBusk's writing experience consists of 29 publications, including feature articles in a variety of magazines and journals. He is presently working on his first and second suspense/thriller novel and will soon have excerpts posted at www.writeleftwrite.com.

Acknowledgement: For their guidance, patience and encouragement, I would like to thank Kathryn Craft, and Vicki Hendricks, author of Miami Purity, Sky Blues, Voluntary Madness, Iguana Love, and her soon to be released, Cruel Poetry.