Today’s client is a woman in her fifties.
She is dressed very elegantly, all too much considering what she has come to do.
She is calm and serene, she doesn’t seem to have doubts on her face.
I enter the room.
<<Hi.>> I greet you.
She stands up and smiles at me cheerfully <<Good morning.>>
We shakes hand <<You look good.>>
<<For now, yes!>> she smiles.
We sit down, each in their own place.
<<So …>> I take a sheet and hand it to her <<you should already know, but for legal reasons you must have a good personal motivation to perform this operation.>>
<<Certainly. The important thing is that it can be done. My country maybe be one of the richest in the world, but on some things it is still far behind.>>
<<I understand.>>
<<So … should I tell my story? Something like that?>>
<<In your specific case, I just need to know the moments in which this idea took shape. It must be justified.>>
She nods <<Got it. Well … the first time I thought about it was as a child.>> she says <<I was not too little, I was a teenager. I was very poor, in an equally poor and very bad school. No friends, no support whatsoever, education was awful and the kids were bad. They said and did horrible things to me … and I would come home to cry. I was sick at the time. Affected by a degenerative genetic disease. Every month I had to go to the hospital, which is why we were so poor. Medical treatment was very expensive. And I didn’t have a dad.>>
<<A bad start.>> I observe.
<<Indeed. My mom …>> she sighs <<she did all kinds of work. And even more, just to find the money I need for my treatment. Despite this we lost our first home and started living in a single room in an apartment shared with others.>>
<<Peaceful coexistence?>>
<<Not at all. A lady, the landlady, always complained of “thieves”. She lost things to Alzheimer’s, then she blamed either us or the other tenants. And these others were horrible as well. Dirty. They smoked all the time. At least they tried to be nice with us, but my mom hated the smell of smoke, especially since she started working in a nightclub. She was never at home in the evening. I was always at school in the morning. And in the afternoon she slept. We were in the same room but we talked very little, and the only moments we had to be together were the days when we went to the hospital for check up or hospitalizations.>>
<<In the end you healed though.>>
<<Yes … I survived adolescence and after those hellish years …>> she gives a half smile <<you have arrived. A medical company that had found the cure for my genetic disease. You used CRISPR I think … that’s what you used for me. You have cured my disease. And you did it for free, because it was still an experimental procedure at the time.>>
<<And so you healed.>>
She smiles sadly <<Yeah … but at that point it was my mother’s turn. Too much secondhand smoke, and … HIV. We didn’t have any money because I didn’t work. I tried. I really tried to do it. But the money we made wasn’t enough, working as a waitress or janitor didn’t allow me to do anything. In the end we were kicked out of that apartment, and ended up on the street.>>
<<Didn’t you have anyone to go to?>>
She shakes her head <<Mom had no one to turn to … and I had no friend. Eventually she died. This was the first time I really thought about it. I … I wanted to live for her. To repay her for all the sacrifices she had made for me. She had sold body and soul to prevent me from dying when I was young, and when I got the treatment for free I for a moment hoped to be able to change my life, to be able to find a job, to have friends, to send mum to retire …> >
<<But it wasn’t possible.>>
<<No. It was prevented by fate. From mother nature. From… from this cruel world. And after that … I was alone. Without a roof. Without nothing. Without anyone.>>
<<How did you survive?>>
<<How? >> she snorts <<Like all tramps. Actually… I don’t even know how I did it. I just know that the days went by. And then the months. And then the years. Until … I didn’t see a schoolmate again.>>
<<Where?>>
<<On the street.>> she replies <<He recognized me, but he was kind. He bought me some clothes and paid for my lunch. He heard my story and offered me a job as a caregiver for his mother. He was rich enough to do it. I don’t know if he was one of those who made fun of me or not, afterall everyone did. But at that moment he was kind. I took the job. It is thanks to him that today I had the opportunity to come here. It is to him and to his generous family that I have left the few things I have.>>
<<I understand. >> I sigh <<So … you are 100% sure to proceed, right?>>
<<Yes. I have no reason not to do it.>>
<<Do you know how the procedure works?>>
<<I think so. They say it’s beautiful.>>
<<Yes, it is.>> I confirm <<We will put you in a room. We will make you swallow a white pill. And within five minutes … you will be dead.>>
<<Is that all?>>
<<That’s all.>>
<<The remains of you body will be recovered by an ambulance, as per contract. You will be taken to the morgue in your hometown.>>
<<Good. I don’t know where my mother was thrown. I just hope to be thrown next to her.>> she lowers her gaze slightly, and in doing so I see a flash of fear cross her eyes. <<So … it won’t hurt? Not even a little?>>
<<Not even a little. The pill is an extreme concentrate of dirin. It will inhibit your brain, preventing it from generating any kind of negative thoughts or feelings. Once the negative feelings are inhibited, the positive ones will be activated. All. You will feel gratitude. Gratification. Satisfaction. Happiness. You will even have an orgasm, accompanied by a sudden burst of endorphins and euphoria. Your brain will then relax all the muscles from the pleasure. Everyone… even the involuntary ones. So … even the heart.>>
<<I’ll die of a heart attack then.>>
<<Yes, but you won’t notice it. At that point your brain will have already stopped producing thoughts. The only thing you will feel, from the beginning to the end of the process, will be the pleasure. And since the sensations that regulate the perception of time will also be deactivated … those five minutes will be the longest and most beautiful minutes of your life.>>
<<Ironic.>> she comments with a sad smile.
<<So … do you want to proceed with taking the white pill?>>
She looks me straight in my eyes, then nods <<Yes.>> she says <<I have nothing else to live for. And I’d rather die in the middle of an orgasm than in the middle of a street like my mother. So yes. I’m ready.>>
<<Then … follow me.>>