A silent scream vibrated the air in the night, a quietened kid holding his ear in pain, for fear of letting his weakness show. He could not move his head, for it would ache. He couldn't turn his neck, for it would pain. His eyes were moist with fresh tears, the pain growing ever and ever stronger. Simply moving his jaw up and down while speaking would bring upon him agony. He couldn't stop it from hurting, no matter what he tried to do.
His parents, to their credit, were trying the solution that the doctor provided them. "A few droppers of liquid into the affected ear will cure it right up". This is what the doctor said to the parents. They were aware of the pain that their child was in, yet it wouldn't subside, no matter the painkiller he took. "It'll get worse before it gets better, though." The doctor added at the end as they were leaving.
The child lay down in his bed, his right ear turned skyward. His father walked in, and did as the doctor had told him. He placed the dropper into the child's ear, filling it up with liquid. The child experienced relief at the feeling of the pain dissipating, but that experience would be quick to fleet away.
The child, moments after his father had left the room, began to feel pain arising in his right ear, the pain quickly growing, despite the Neurofen tablet painkiller he had ingested half an hour prior. He felt the inside of his ear moving in and out, almost as if the liquid was trying to absorb itself into his eardrum. He reckoned that it was a good thing, as that might mean that his pain would die down in a bit.
Suddenly, he thought he had heard a whisper behind him. It was almost like a pice, but he realised that, since his good ear was on the pillow and his bad ear was filled with water, he must have mistaken him moving his duvet for a whisper.
He hiccuped slightly, and his eardrum felt like it had pushed outwards. He clasped his ear and grasped tightly, generating more pain but allowing him to cope easier. He couldn't help it, for not even his usual trick of deep breathing was helping.
Over the course of the night, the pain grew higher and higher, almost like it was a riser in an electronic song leading up to a drop. He couldn't stop grinding his teeth and holding his ear as the pain got more and more unbearable. He felt as if he couldn't move, for if he moved another muscle his mind would shut down due to the pain.
He kept hearing voices in his head, repeating phrases such as "Why keep struggling against the pain?" and "Give up, it's not worth fighting.", trying to get him to fall into the pain. However, no matter how many times the voices spoke, he kept on trying to fight against it, believing his lie of it being just him moving the duvet.
And suddenly, at the strike of midnight, the child hiccuped once, and his eardrum burst. His vision went dark, his senses shutting down as he struggled to understand what had happened. He didn't realise the sheer horror of what had happened to him.
The doctor smiled at the strike of midnight, a smile lining their face. "It did get worse for him, but it got better. He's now released from his pain." The doctor spoke to themselves, laughing as they looked into the sky.
A silence like no other was heard in the night, a quietened kid holding his ear in pain, his injuries gone as from his ear dropped crimson blood. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, leaving only the whits visible, his body going stiff as he was released from this mortal realm.
He was dead.