Act of love

Chapter Five

Zachary:
After saying the most beautiful words I've heard in a long time she leaves the room. Not even giving me the chance to thank her for what she just did. Having to go through such emotions and still being able to save my life. From now on I promise I will start living and appreciating my life. For her, just for her, because she gave me her boyfriend's or husband's heart.
"Sir we are getting the heart prepared for surgery right now we will bring you down in two hours." With a gentle smile I know, my mom still hugging me tight.
"That woman doesn't know what kind of wonders she did, she's an angel." Gently I wipe away my mom's tears from her face.
"I'll forever be grateful to her." I whisper back.
The girl turns around once before stepping out of the hospital, and she smiles. It's probably the most beautiful heart touching smile I have ever seen in my entire life.

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After a while of hugging both of my parents, talking to them about the surgery, and telling all my friends and family I got a heart. I decide to get up and go for a walk. The last time with this heart. A sudden feeling of relief washes over me.
"Mom, dad, I'll be back in a while."
Slowly I crawl out of bed, deciding to go back to the roof. Just to see if Zorya is still hanging somewhere around there. I can't wait to tell her the news.
My eyes fall on a girl, she seems to be in her early twenties, with blonde shiny hair. She's staring down, is she planning to kill herself? Is this the thought Zorya had when she saw me sitting like this? A soft sob sounds from her direction.

Anfisa:
Sighing I let my legs dangle over the edge of the building. The building where Dalton just was declared brain dead, the building where a lot of souls are. Souls of dead people wanting to live, wanting to hold on.
I don't have the immediate thought of suicide, but I will say it does cross my mind at this second. But no intention of actually doing it.
That would do too much harm to Dalton. At the sudden thought, tears stream down my face. The only reason for me to stay alive and be happy was Dalton.
"Ma'am?" Quickly I wipe away all the tears with the paw of my sweater. As I turn around I see the most handsome guy I've ever seen, not even handsome, he's beautiful. It's the guy that will get Dalton's heart, I immediately recognize him.
"You..." I say, trying to sound confident. There is a change in his demeanor, but he says nothing.
What do you say to the fiancé of the person who is giving you a heart?
"Please, get away from the ledge." The tone in his voice sounds pleading as he gives me a genuine face full of worry.
"I'm not planning to jump, you don't owe me anything, you can go." He pauses a second, before stepping closer in my direction.
"I actually came up here for myself." I raise one of my eyebrows, confused.
"What in your life can be so bad that you have to come up here? I just lost my fiancé." A small smile appears on his face. What's so fucking funny about this?
"You know..." He pauses, moving in my direction. "A few hours I was on this roof too, when a woman came to me. She asked me if I was going to jump, and now I'm back here and having that same thought about you. We are alike."
"I'm not one of your women!" I fight back.
"Never said you were." A long silence follows.
He's right and I know it.
"I'm sorry, my emotions are just..."
"I get it." He interrupts. Finally, someone that I don't have to fully explain myself to.
"Why do you need his heart?" I could've asked hundreds of other questions right now, but this one seemed the first that came up in my busy mind.
"I have cardiomyopathy." His eyes pierce through mine.
"Cardiomy... What?"
"Cardiomyopathy, I've had it my whole life. As a kid I had surgeries. Doctors cleared me, but the disease is permanent, I will forever be sick. For now, I could survive with this heart till I was at least sixty, that was a lie. I had a heart attack not too long ago, doctors said I'm lucky to have survived it. But the chances of having another one right now are way too high. And that one will be fatal." His voice stammers, making me feel a spark of sympathy. Lightly he shakes his head when he sees the look I give him.
He doesn't want sympathy, clearly.
"What's Cardio....' 'Cardiomyopathy." He says for a third time, not letting me even finish struggling to say the word.
"It's a disease of the heart muscle where the heart isn't able to pump blood very well around the body because of the thickness of the walls of the heart." It's hard to process something like this for me, I've never been a really smart person.
"It's okay you don't have to understand." He says while laughing, after seeing a million question marks all over my face.
"I..." My voice scatters. What do you say to this? "I'm sure that must be hard." He waves my comment away with his hand. A moment of silence takes over the conversation.
"What's your name blondie?" The nickname brings a soft smile to my face.
"Anfisa Diamond." The stranger who will take my fiancé's heart looks a bit taken aback.
"That's the most strange but unique name I've heard, what does it mean?"
"An Anfisa is a flower, and Diamond, well, I don't think you're stupid." He grins as if he's hiding that my comment made him blush in the slightest way.
"I appreciate the trust, Annie." Annie... A nickname I've never heard before... It's giving me small butterflies in my stomach.
Annie... Annie... The name keeps repeating in my head. The sweet tone he put into the Annie.
"I'm Zachary, you can call me Zach if you like." He says disturbing my thoughts. "I get that losing someone you love sucks." Zachary says to break the silence.
"Have you ever lost someone?" I can't help myself but ask questions, purely to distract myself from the intense headache I'm having.
"Being personal now are you?" He smirks, rocking back on his heels. The intimidating tone in his voice makes my cheeks feel slightly rosy.
'If you don't love anything, you don't have anything to lose.' The words repeat a million times in my head.
"You can't lose anyone if you don't care about anyone." The tone in his voice sounded colder than any ice I've ever felt before.
"What about your parents? They seem lovely, they really care about you."
"They're trying to make up for past mistakes." Slowly he moves closer to me until he is a few feet away from me, leaning over the edge of the building. My heart beats in my throat when I see him like that. . Why do I care about him? He's just a stupid guy who is taking my fiancé's heart.
"What about your parents?" Zachary folds his arms over his chest. Awkwardly I scratch the back of my neck, not knowing so well what to reply to this.
"My dad was an abusive asshole and my mother was so manipulative she drove my older sister away." I don't even bother looking up at him.
"You should go back to your room for your heart transplant, and shouldn't you keep rest?"
"I am twenty-four and a doctor at this hospital, I know what's best for me Anfisa." Why did he have to say my name like that? Shivers curl up my spine. As he notices he moves his body closer to mine. Without noticing it I start holding my breath.
"Breathe..." He says a few inches away from my face. His lips shine bright in the moonlight. What am I doing?
I let out a full breath of air and step back, I just lost my fiancé and my lips are almost pressed on another man.
"I-... I never really have interactions with other people." A smile curls up at the edges of his mouth.
"I would love to take you out for dinner someday, it doesn't have to be a date, you just lost your fiancé. Just as friends, you seem interesting." A shock falls onto my face as he speaks the words, and softly I shake my head.
"That's too bad sunshine, I guess I'll see you around." My body feels like it can finally breathe again as he steps away from me. But my mind can't seem to let go of him.
"Wait, Zach." Immediately he stops walking and turns around with a large grin on his face.
"I don't think Dalton would want me to be alone."
"So his name is Dalton?" With teary eyes, I nod.
"Let me give you my number. So you can contact me whenever you want to get that dinner." He begins fussing around in his pockets looking for a piece of paper. When he finds it I write down my number and he gives me a small smile.
"What brings you to the roof of the hospital?" I have to think long and hard.
"Just to clear my mind." I sit down on the edge of the building, one leg dangling down, one leg standing on the roof.
"Maybe kill myself." Zach holds his breath smiling at me, it actually feels like he cares for me at that moment.
We're both quiet again for a while.
"What are you thinking about?" I ask him since he's looking at me like I'm a goddess.
"I'm admiring your beauty." My cheeks are rosier than ever before.
"Nice ring." He follows up, taking my hand to have a better look at it.
"It's my engagement ring, the ring he could never propose with because a ruthless idiot shot him." Angrily I ball my hands into steady fists trying to keep my temper.
"Does your fiancé have enemies?" I think back, back to all the moments I saw him with other people. In all the moments I see him smiling and hugging people. Helping the homeless people, donating to charity. Why would anyone hate him? He is the most lovely person you will ever meet.
"No." I answer simply. I could've made the answer so much longer, but no one is interested to listen to my stupid grief.
"I wish I could see the better part of you, not you feeling sad over your fiancé." Who is he to say stuff like this? It feels like Zach is just an angel sent from heaven. Sent to come and save me from myself.
"I'll let you help me." I say out loud. My hand goes to my mouth, I said that out loud...
"Sorry?" I shake my head slightly.
"Why are you up here Zach? Aren't you supposed to be down, celebrating with family and friends, getting mentally ready for surgery?" Zach walks back towards me before speaking.
"We don't have to talk about this now, it must be hard for you to realize this all. " For the first time in a long time, I feel like someone really understands me, someone, other than Dalton. Zach reaches a wall and leans against it with his arm.
"I want to know why you decided to go back up here. Did you go looking for the woman you told me about?" He gives me a slow embarrassed nod.
"So you would rather be up here with a woman you met once, and that being me right now, than spent it with the people who made you?" My voice sounds deeply frustrated, that's because I am. I would kill to have a family as he does. Parents crying at my bed when I'm sick, parents crying at my bed when I get a heart transplant.
"I can tell you're confused... I can't clear up a lot for you right now. All I can say is that I don't need to be prepared mentally for surgery. I've had many surgeries before this. I have cardiomyopathy a heart muscle disease that makes it hard for the heart to pump blood. This caused many heated fights between me and my parents, they didn't know how to pay for it. At some point, they put me in the adoption center so other people would take care of my medical bills. And that's the kind of parents I have." His words hit me hard, his life isn't as perfect as I thought it was. No one's is.
"I'm sorry I thought..."
"Shh," he steps closer as he presses his hand over my mouth to stop me from talking. My lungs stop breathing as his hand touches my face.
"Your soft skin..." He whispers in the softest voice I've ever heard someone talk in. Zach's beautiful green eyes stare deeply into mine. A warm feeling rushes through my body. I step back to be able to breathe and he lowers his hands back to his hips.
That was intense, why did he do that?
"Are you scared of me?" My eyes widen at this question.
"Scared isn't the right word." I would be lying if I said I am not intimidated by him.
He's quite tall, his nightgown doesn't fully fit around his large chest muscles and the serious look on his face isn't helping either.
"Do you think I would ever harm you, Annie?" He says it as if he knows me for years upon years.
"It would be easy to throw me off this roof right now yes." Heavily he shakes his head.
"No." Zach turns to face me, slowly resting his fingers underneath my chin making me face him too.
"Do you think I would harm you?"
If he wanted to he would've already done it.
"No, I don't think you would." A big smile appears on his face, the biggest I've seen tonight.
"I would never harm something as precious as you. Dalton was really lucky with a girl like you, I hope he realized that." I feel tears want to come out of my eyes, I don't let them. Too many have fallen down already, I'm not going to cry in front of Zach.
"Don't hide your emotions from me." He pulls me in by my arm with a twirl. For a second it feels like I'm in a movie. My back is pressed against his chest, I feel his heart beat against my back. With a slow steady beat, he is in complete control of himself.
Suddenly the urge to cry is gone. I can feel him rest his head on top of mine while softly rocking me. His hands wrapped around my stomach, holding me close to him. At that moment, in those minutes I feel the safest I have felt in the last few hours. 'Thank you for this.'
"Don't mention it, I should be the one thanking you, or better your fiancé." His voice is at the top of a breaking point.
"Sir Wixx? The surgeons are ready for you." A voice in the darkness says after a while of just staying there, in the same position, not moving. I can feel him move his head to nod.
"That's my cue." I spin back looking into his eyes.
"Good luck with the surgery, remember everything is going to be all right after the surgery." I try to get my voice to sound as reassuring as possible, hoping he will remember these words and carry them with him forever.
"Goodbye, Zach."
"Goodbye, stranger." I kiss him on his cheek lightly before he loses all physical contact with me, and follows the nurse.