A man I knew died last week. Stomach pains started on a Saturday. I'll let it pass, he said. It will go away. It always does. Getting sick in the stomach, might be a bug, maybe something from food, mishandled, ate someone else's virus. Feeling a little better but still quite weak, couple of clocks later. Then worse. When will it ride out, the pain getting worse. Should a doctor be required. More wait. Can't sleep. Finally, vomit, constant. Very weak.

On the Thursday, he walked into a hospital. He left in a box. The bloodstream annihilated, no white blood cells, destroyed by his own fecal matter. It had been leaking through a broken bowel wall. The pain. And it spread to the blood. The weakness. They tried to save him.