The last visitor

Lt. General Manekshaw was lying on the hospital bed, wearing a pair of white spotted pyjamas, a far cry from the military uniform that he once wore – crisp and green and adorned with medals.These ones had polka dots. His hands and chest were tied into monitors on his right, emitting a beeping noise every couple of seconds. He no longer had the strength to get up and turn the infernal contraption off, or to even move it away a distance. It was at that moment, that very moment – that he felt old.
The lights turned off. He saw a figure dressed in white, and her perfume that smelled of lavender. He knew it was his nurse, Ms Singh.
“Miss Singh, there are better men to spend time with at this hour” he quipped, as he always did at their check-ups.
She just stood there. He saw her hands clasped down in front, like a child awaiting punishment.
“I am not Miss Singh.”
“What’s the matter, Miss Singh? Has the joke gone old as well?”
“I do not take easily to jokes, Mister Manekshaw”
“I still remember, you know – I’m not senile”
She walked up closer to him, he could feel her scent growing stronger – the scent of magnolias in a bough.
Her saw her eyes, they were completely black.
“Mr Manekshaw, I am your death. I will be your last visitor.”
The machine had beeped seven times without the either of them talking. Manekshaw was now staring at the ceiling.
“About time you came, you know. I thought you would have missed me”
“It was never my intention to leave you “
“What about the girl? Is he dead as well?”
“I have only taken her form temporarily”
“Is she alive?”
“Yes”
“Good”
Mr. Manekshaw sighed, and turned towards the figure that was now his death.
“I guess you’ve come here to gloat, then”
“Not at all, Mr. Manekshaw.”
“I see”
“It is indeed an honour, finally catching up to you”
“The pleasure’s all mine”
He saw her take out her clipboard, noting down the readings into her chart.
“I thought you were death”
“I’m still a nurse”
She cleaned out his urine bag and replaced it. Neither of them said a word.
“I’m assuming this isn’t a social visit”
“You are correct”
“What is it that you want from me, then?”
She stood up straight, and drew her face closer to his.
“I need to know if you were happy with the experience”
The moonlight made its way into the room. It was dark, and he saw her pale skin, glistening against the moonlight. She was there, still standing close to him. His final companion, his death.
“Do you ask this question to everyone in their last moments?”
“Only the ones who were actually alive”
He looked at the ceiling, and closed his eyes. He thought of his childhood, of his days in the large bungalow, playing in the fields as a boy. His life in the military. His wife, his lovers, his children, his grandchildren. He thought of his friends, some lying peacefully in graves, the others burnt into ashes – the people who had shaped him, and moulded him into the man he was today.”
“It all goes away doesn’t it?”
“It stays the same, except for what you say”
“I see”
He craned his head towards her
“The violets – you need to make them more violet.”
She closed her eyes, and nodded.
“Thank you, Mr. Manekshaw”
She bent over and planted a kiss on his forehead.
Lt Gen. Manekshaw was no more.