The thin line.

Dr Emily Jonathan has always been driven by her childhood passion and ambition to save lives. As a doctor, she feels she could save every life. This ambition of hers made her the leading surgeon in the hospital where she worked. She had performed so many successful surgeries that made patients trust her with their lives. Everything was going smoothly till one fateful night when everything took a different turn for her.

Emily was booked to perform surgery on a young mother named Cynthia, who was diagnosed with an appendix that had spread through her lungs.

"Do you think I'd come out alive Doctor?" Cynthia asked, with tears rolling down her eyes.

"I've carried out similar surgeries before, and all of them came out successful, and trust me, yours isn't gonna be an exception," Dr Emily assured her patient, Cynthia, with a smile on her face.

It was time for the surgery, and Dr Emily went to inform her patient's family about the commencement of the surgery and the time duration allocated to it.

Dr Emily was accompanied by some other doctors working under her in the operating room.

"Kindly pass me the scissors," Dr Emily asked, stretching her toward Victor, who was still learning the job.

Everything was going smoothly till Dr Emily asked her younger doctor, Victor, to assist her in opening up the patient when Victor added more pressure in the process, thereby leading to severe bleeding in the patient.

Immediately, Dr Emily tried everything she could do to stop the bleeding; at that moment, all she could hear were the words she said to the patient, and these words started floating in her head. Dr Emily gave in her all trying to save Cynthia but unfortunately, Cynthia gave up on the operation table.

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Dr Emily was summoned by the other senior doctors and asked what happened in the operation room because, from their end, they witnessed everything going smoothly and didn't expect Cynthia to die in the middle of the surgery. Dr Emily couldn't explain herself at that moment, all she could think of was the promises she made to Cynthia.

"You have to go break the news to her parents, that she didn't make it," senior Dr Mathews said to Dr Emily.

"I promised her parents, she was gonna come out alive. How do I face them?" Dr Emily replied with her breath shaking.

Seeing the look on Emily's face, Dr Mathews followed her to see Cynthia's parents and broke the heartbreaking news to them; Emily couldn't look at them, so she stood behind Dr. Mathews with her right hand covering her mouth as tears rolled down her eyes.

Emily went home that night and was filled with guilt in her heart; as time went by, she began to experience strange things happening around her; whatever she did reminded her of Cynthia and the mistake she made that day in the operating room.

She could feel Cynthia haunting her every waking moment; the ghostly apparition would appear to her in the mirror, in the restroom. These occurrences led to Emily destroying her relationship with her friends and loved ones.

Emily's guilt-driven isolation pushed her husband, "Ben," away; she became alone and was consumed by this guilt she felt inside of her.

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One faithful evening, Emily went to visit Cynthia's family, to confess her role in the tragedy and how everything went astray because of her mistake and carelessness.

"You did everything you could to save my daughter, and if there was anything you would have done differently to change the whole scenario, I know you'd have done it without hesitation," Cynthia's mum said to Emily, holding her hand.

"I'm sorry, I would have carried out the surgery myself," Emily said with a teary voice.

Cynthia's mum took Emily to her daughter's room and showed her the kind of life Cynthia lived in that room because the whole room portrayed the life she lived.

Emily was navigating the room when she stumbled upon Cynthia's diary; the entries of that diary revealed a life filled with love, dreams, and high hopes.

"All these amazing dreams she had were cut short because of my mistake," Emily said to herself.

Emily felt a gentle whisper as a cold breeze blew her curly hair "There is a delicate balance between life and death"

Emily turned around to see who was speaking but there wasn't a trace of anyone behind her.

"Being a doctor doesn't mean you can save everyone in that operation room," the gentle whisper continued, leaving Emily to search for where the voice was coming from.

After that encounter at Cynthia's house, Emily went home a little overwhelmed by the voice she heard and started healing, reconciling with her lost friends and loved ones, most especially her husband Ben.

Though Cynthia's memories still linger in her mind, but this time around, she learned to carry the weight of her guilt and fueled it to something she knows how to do best, which is saving lives. Emily started performing surgery flawlessly without feeling any guilt about the outcome of any surgery.

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