Short Story: A Failure In Trust #3 (FINAL)
Image Credits: Image of broken-hearted woman sourced from Nevit Dilmen (Sunset_02459.jpg; Broken_Heart_symbol.svg) via Wikimedia Commons
CHAPTER THREE
He finds her near the dispensary, and immediately asks how Ruth is doing. What she tells him destroys all the optimism he had. She tells him that there was a complication encountered during the procedure.
"The doctors tried all they could, James, but they couldn't save the baby. Now they're trying to get Ruth back in a stable state, because she has lost a lot of blood."
Mandy's words grip him, and James replays her words over and over again in his mind. He is overwhelmed, and he doesn't give Mandy a reply. A blank and distant look appears on his face.
Mandy's phone rings, and she answers it. She rejoices at what she hears. Ruth is in a stable state and she asked to see James. Mandy tells this to James, and some life comes back to his face.
They both go to the ward where Ruth is, to see her. James enters the room first, and he locks eyes with her as soon as his head gets into the room. He walks to her bed, scanning his wife's face, vigilantly. He notices an expression on her face—one that he knows well. She's suppressing a lot of pain inside her, both physical and emotional, and she's desperately in need of someone to throw it at and relieve herself.
James reaches for her hands and holds them, and kisses his wife's forehead.
"I—lost—her, James," Ruth says in between sobs.
"I lost her," she adds, before breaking out into tears.
At this point, James is already crying, with tears streaming down his cheeks. He doesn't say a word, but he just squeezes and caresses Ruth's hands in an attempt to comfort her. No combination of words seems right to say.
The two seemingly fall into a trance of some sort, and just cry.
Mandy is heartbroken. She has seen many scenarios such as these, and yet she's not the least bit jaded. No matter how many times she sees these unfortunate occurrences, they always get to her, and she often finds herself mourning with the affected. This time is no different, if not more painful because of her close relationship with the family.
Ruth is devastated. She lost the baby that she had been carrying for the past nine months. The one she had been praying for, and hoping for. The one that would have given so much joy to the family, and fulfil Susan's dream of having a younger sibling. All those expectations have been shattered, and she's left with only scars to show for her efforts. She feels defeated.
James feels betrayed. All the trust he has placed in the hospital and its staff was not enough to save his baby. The trust he placed in "giving it another try" has proven to be useless, harmful and not in the least bit rewarding.
A nurse enters the room, holding a file with paper sheets in it. She walks past Mandy, as she heads to the bed where James and Ruth are at, but stops halfway as though she had just realized something. She turns around and goes back to where Mandy is standing.
"I think it is best if you tell them," she says, handing Mandy the file.
Mandy reads the contents of the file, and involuntarily frowns. What she has to tell the couple is not something she wants to be the bearer of. She manages to find the energy to do so anyway.
She walks up to them, and the two, who saw the other nurse's actions, give her their full attention, curious to know what is going on.
Not wanting the experience to last longer than necessary, she decides to be blunt in her approach.
"I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but Ruth's blood test results came, and she tested positive for HIV."
Ruth's jaw drops, and a low, almost whispering voice comes out.
"But how?"
She looks to her husband in search of a similar state of shock, but finds on his face the look of guilt that she has become so accustomed to over the years.
"I don't believe this! I trusted you, James."
James doesn't respond.
"You told me that you would never cheat on me again. You lied to me."
Ruth is now crying and struggling to get her words out clearly.
Still no response from James.
"Get away from me! I don't want to see you near me ever again!"
Ruth swiftly turns her head away, and cries and screams into a pillow on her bed. James turns around and walks away, head bowed; and Mandy dashes to Ruth to comfort her.
EPILOGUE
Trust. Hard to gain, but even harder to regain once lost.
By cheating on his wife, James destroyed all trust she had in him; and in this case Ruth's trust in James has brought her harm.
In a move that can be considered a way to shift partial blame from himself, James conducted further investigations, and found out some disturbing facts. In an effort to gain clarity on what really happened at the hospital, he decided to examine the hospital's functions.
He discovered that the hospital was facing a serious shortage of supplies, and as a result, it didn't have most of the necessary medication required to ensure safe childbirth.
It also didn't have accurate and reliable tools to check things like blood pressure of its patients, and most readings were being faked.
Apart from all these discoveries, there was the fact that the doctor who performed Ruth's operation had a bad record of casualties, and was not trusted by many.
The lack of drugs and adequate equipment can be blamed on corruption or something else; and the doctor's poor reputation can be blamed on poor working conditions or incompetence on his part. All in all, these problems are related; one creates and exacerbates the other, and it is unclear where the real blame lies.
Failure in trust caused by incompetence is more easily forgiven than that caused by a lack of honesty. There is no sure way to avoid bad situations such as these. To trust is human, and it is essential to a healthy and happy existence.
This story is not meant to discourage trust at all. Trust does deliver good results, if placed rightly. It is just bringing attention to the negative paths that failures in trust can lead us on; and ask the question:
Can trust be trusted?
Copyright © Innocent Mwatsikesimbe
Thank you for reading
Hi
Just dropped by to have a look.
This is not the kind of writing or story I would normally read so will not comment due to having little to compare with.
Keep posting good regular content and you will get noticed.
I think you need to include more images.
Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it :)