The Death Surgeon

Person after person was nearly jumping away from the road to not get hit by 2 young people. Eugene and Douglas were rushing back to Dagaz residence, and while Douglas was completely out of breath, Eugene did not slow down his pace as if his life depends on it. His face was giving this kind of vibe as well, erst cheerful and happy lad now bears the expression of a ghost. Eugene's skin was pale as clouds and the eyes were nearly falling out of his sockets.

"Eugene, please, wait!" exclaimed the man, who has fallen onto the ground, but Eugene did not hear him, or rather he could not due to how loud his own thoughts were.

At "Bean of the nation" they found out about an accident that has occurred weeks ago at a nearby hospital. Christopher had been performing an operation, not quite a hard or deadly one. Alas, his patient did not survive, which stained his brother's hands with blood. It was the first death under the hands of Christopher.

"Why the hell have not you have spoken a damn word!?" aggressively whispered Eugene, whose eyes were now filling out with tears. He could not bear a thought of his brother being a murderer. Especially terrible Eugene felt about his initial suggestion that something might have occurred in Christopher's life, but he just had to brush this weird vibe off to give more space for his pathetic self loathing over the defeat at the hands of the stranger.

Soon enough, he reached Christopher's apartment, wiped tears away with his sleeve and knocked on the door. But instead of his brother, the one to open it was Vera, nevertheless he rushed inside and searched for Christopher in every room, but could not find him.

"What's the matter, Eugene?" asked Vera and pushed the door to close it.

But Eugene stopped her with the words, "Do not close it yet, Douglas will come back soon as well," then he sat on the sofa and grabbed his head with his hands. He sat like this for a couple of seconds, but right after Douglas rushed into the room, he continued talking with Vera, "Why did not Christopher say anything about this failed operation?"

Afterwards, the three of them remained still, listening to the breeze coming from an opened window. The smile slowly disappeared from Vera's face and under the pressure of Eugene's gaze she sighed, "So, he did not tell you…"

Only two of the people were left in the apartment. Douglas felt like he should not delve in this problem, deeming it as the "family issue". Thus, he swiftly departed to the streets of Paris in search of new costumes and pubs. Even though Eugene understood why one would not want to get involved with an accident that resolved in the death of an individual, he still frowned at his words of excuse. Vera as well appeared to be quite gloomy, which was a huge and depressing contrast to her own self just an hour or two ago. She sat in the sofa with her frame shrunk as if she was visiting a stranger.

At last, Eugene spoke through the bitterness in his throat, "And what the hell happened?"

"It was an accident!" exclaimed Vera, but after a second of respite she proceeded talking in a calmer manner, "Your brother is not a killer, Eugene. He would never purposefully end someone's life, I swear to you…"

"I know, Vera, I know!" Eugene started losing his composure, "I have known him for far longer than you, as hell he would ever kill someone! I just want to know how did this happen and when?"

Vera looked pitiful as if she was about to cry, this topic was a burden for her indeed. But after a few deep breaths and a sip of cold coffee that remained from the dinner, she continued, "It happened a month ago, he was treating varicose veins of the patient. I do not how it happened, but apparently during the procedure he slashed the patient's artery and noticed the bleeding way too soon… but the worst part… was about who he was treating."

"Was he a big shot?" raised Eugene his brow.

"He was treating one of the ministers of the Popular Front. George Weisen, he was a decent man indeed, loved among common folk, but this love came in prise of being an enemy of higher ups. And well, his death during the operation felt quite convenient for those who cherished him and… I can actually show you."

She stood up and entered the hallway, only to disappear in another door. This gave Eugene some time to digest the information he received. Judging by the story, Christopher was in huge trouble, being accused of the death of a politician is atrocious news for any person. Though it was still an accident, thus the man foolishly assumed that Vera is exaggerating the consequences. But papers brought in by her destroyed his naive thought, and sudden realization of the hellishness of the situation made his whole body numb and mind afloat as if he was drunk.

"Christopher was answering to some of these at the beginning, but it proved to be useless and wasteful. So now we just throw them away. These nasty letters from even nastier people pretty much destroyed his career."

Vera silently gave one of the letter to Eugene and not being able to hold her tears, she rushed into the kitchen. Eugene could not see the text yet, but was still able to feel the weight of hatred engraved into the ink. He glanced over the table, but in the sight were only a stack of around 13 more letters and an empty cup of coffee, but not the letter knife. He ripped the envelope as gently as he could and took out a piece of paper which stated, "Monsieur Dagaz, the sin you committed is unforgivable, I hope you will burn in hell, but never find the repentance."

Eugene never had expected for words to cut this sharply. The letter was short, vague and laughingly formal, yet the hatred towards the recipient was unfathomable. And god knows how many bloodthirsty letters in total were sent to his brother.

"Moreover, people now avoid him not only as a person, but as a surgeon as well. He received a title of the death surgeon among common folk. This is primarily the reason why he became so free recently." returned Vera from the kitchen, her eyes were still red, but no trace of tears were left on her face.

Eugene suddenly felt dizzy, his vision became blurry at first and later on his eyes could not see anything but black. He laid down on the sofa, rubbed his forehead which nearly burnt his hand and took a last glance at Vera before completely dazing off.

What awaited Eugene the next morning or rather afternoon was beyond comprehensible.