Gracie Zaragoza
Prof. Dixon
WRIT201 – Original Work of Short-Short Fiction: Rough Draft
January 29, 2023
Demise
(Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI) is a fatal illness with no known cure which inables the patient
from sleeping and over time causes severe physical and mental deterioration and inevitabley
leads to death.)
As the snow steadley fell outside the hospital window, Sophie’s breaths staggered, slowly
and quietly as she layed, cuddled in the arms of her younger sister, Amelia. Closing in on nine
months since Sohpie was diagnosed with Fatal Familal Insomnia, she felt that soon enough, she
would finally be able to sleep again, but this time, she wouldn’t awaken the following morning.
The past months had been a real struggle, but none of them compared to the last few weeks.
Being unable to sleep had taken its toll on her body, making her lose far too much weight to be
healthy, and not being strong or energized enough to walk or speak even a single word. Everyday
she would gaze out the window, secretly hoping she would fall asleep and awake the next
morning, energized and back to her old self, so she could walk outside and breathe the fresh, cold
air she missed so much.
She closed her eyes and thought of her favorite memory, to the prior spring before she
was diagnosed with FFI, she remembered one particularly sunny day after a sudden shower of
rain, she rode her bike over puddles and under beautiful cherry blossoms that were in full bloom.
Riding next to her was Amelia, her precious Amelia who she loved so very much. She loved this
day because as they rode, they could look at the ground and see the reflection of cherry blossoms
in the puddles, but more so than that, she could see her sisters smile. Her sisters smile was the
best, she loved it more than anything else because it was one of the last times she saw a real
smile grace her sisters lips. Ever since they discovered her illness, Sophie hadn’t seen a genuine
smile on Amelia’s face, all she would see were pity filled, sad and sypathetic, fake smiles that
she forced herself to do so she wouldn’t cry in front of her suffering older sister.
As Sophie thought back to this cherished memory, the edges of her lips curled ever so
slighty, showing the smallest of grins. Amelia looked down at the girl she was holding in her lap
and saw this, and without realizing it, a tear streamed down her cheek and landed on Sohpie’s
forehead. She didn’t know how her sister was smiling when she was quite literally on her death
bed. Sophie felt the tear drop and glanced up, then with all her strength, she twitched her hand a
bit to grab Amelia’s attention. When Amelia noticed this, she quickly but gentally grasped her
sisters hand while her face made the expression of “How are you smiling right now?” Sophie
read her expression and leisurely blinked a few times, Amelia immidiantely knew what it meant,
“Because you’re here.”
Amelia held on tightly to her sister as she drifted off to sleep later that evening, as the
night grew old, Sophie gazed out the window, as she watched the snow flakes continuously fall,
her breathing slowed, she knew death was close, at the saem time of fearing death, she was
happy that she could finally sleep again. An hour past, then another, and with the thought of
being held by her sister, Sophie took her final breath and at long last, drifted off to sleep, an
eternal slumber that she wouldn’t be awakened from, into her demise.
