Act of love

Chapter Six

Zachary:
The bright light burns my eyes. A nauseous feeling washes over me.
"Zachary." Who's voice is that? Slowly I try to open my eyes, immediately they get burned shut by the bright light.
"The surgery was a success." Suddenly it all hits me.
"Remember everything is going to be all right after the surgery." Her words keep repeating in my mind like a broken record.
I rest my hand on my chest, right on my new heart. His heart, it's beating firmly in my chest. A healthy heart.
"I need to call her." I mumble softly. Barely speaking, my throat is extremely dry.
"Who son?"
"He's awake, how are you feeling?" The familiar sound of nurse Darby. She brings a smile to my face.
"Doctor Wixx." She pauses. "It's you. Never thought I would see you again today... How do you feel sir?"
"Mentally or physically?" I ask jokingly. "I feel normal for just waking out of anesthesia, nauseous, but no complications with the heart rhythm." Me being a doctor helps her a lot to fill out her form.
When I fully open my eyes I see my dad on the other side of the room, leaning against a window, and staring out. He seems tense.
"Dad?" My voice sounds like the little boy asking for his daddy when he just woke up. That's exactly how I feel.
"I'm here son."
"Where is my phone?" Without saying another word my father hands me my phone.
"Your mom and I are going home to take care of the dogs, if anything is wrong, do not hesitate to call us. We will be there in less than ten minutes." As I give them a slow nod they leave the room.
Directly after they leave I open up the phone case of my phone. Inside is a paper folded many times, with a number on it, hers.
I fill in the number on my phone and let it ring.
Once.... Twice... Even a third time.
"Hello?" The voice of an angel answers, her voice. I would recognize it out of a million.
"Hey, Anfisa." I answer her in a groggy voice.
"Who's this?" Ouch, heartburn, I think I have heartburn.
"Zachary Wixx." There's a second of silence.
"I didn't expect you to call this soon." She doesn't seem happy that I called, making me feel desperate.
"I just woke up from surgery, it was a success."
"That's amazing Zach, I hope you take this chance of a new life and start it, don't waste time on stupid things like calling me."
What? A sudden rush of anger enters my body.
"Anfisa, what's going on?" I ask with a feeling of worry in my voice.
"Do you want me to come over?" She laughs slightly.
"Are you crazy? You just got out of surgery." Anfisa's right, but I don't want to admit it. I hate being seen as the weak one, I've always been the weak one. To her, I want to be the one.
"Then, let's talk over the phone." Her soft laugh morphs my entire face into a smile.
"Did you feel anything from the surgery? Did you feel that you died?" Anfisa asks after a moment of silence. She is good at keeping the conversation going, that's what I like about her. And all this while she told me she isn't a social person.

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Saturday 13 November 2021
Dear Satan,
Today a full month has passed since the surgery, everything is going well. My heart is functioning well, better than ever before and I am back at work. Not full-time, not allowed to work 70 hours a week anymore. So it has been a pretty boring week for me. I still have nothing to live for other than both of my jobs. I promised I would make something out of my life after the heart transplant, so that's what I'm doing.
Besides that, for the first time in months, I've had fun. I went to bars and parties with friends. Tonight the plan is to go out again, after a long frustrating day at work. Drinking the pain of other people away.
Yes Satan that is what you do to this world, I see it happening right in front of my eyes.

Anfisa:
I haven't been sitting long at the bar when a person comes in and chooses the chair right next to me. I am not in the mood to start a conversation with anyone. I was supposed to sit here with Dalton on my side. Without realizing I move slightly away from the person. . "Give me your strongest." He tells the bartender, making me scoff.
"The strongest? Like you have such a rough life." I reply with a deep dark voice, not even bothering to lift my hoodie off of my head or look at him.
"What would you know about my life man? Keep your offensive thoughts to yourself." His hands reach for my hoodie.
He leaves me shocked as he pulls it off my head. Annoyed I sigh at him.
"Listen if you want to fight..." As soon as my eyes meet his, my breath catches. The movement is mutual.
"Zach... I thought I would never see you again." I answer a little too honestly. A large smile appears on his beautiful, symmetrical face, giving me a warm feeling on the inside.
"Do you want to get out of here?" He suggests. I tilt my head and cock an eyebrow to see if he actually means it. But he keeps a straight face.
"Sure why not?" It's better than sitting at a bar all night, all alone feeling sorry for yourself because of what happened.
"I know a good place." He pays for his drink and mine at the same time. I catch myself with a weird blushing smile on my face.
With his arm secured around my waist, he leads me somewhere, telling me to keep my eyes closed.
"You can open them when I say so we are almost there." For the last few feet, he grips me very tight.
"We are standing in front of the building right now." I try to let the smell of the food run through my nose. Instantly the smell feels familiar.
"Sette Giorni?"
"You weren't supposed to look yet!" He spins me around and looks right into my eyes.
"I didn't, this is my favorite restaurant, I recognize this from a mile away! How did you know?" Happily, I wrap my arms around his neck, I don't think he realizes how happy food makes me.
Zach picks me up a bit from the floor and spins me around. For the first time in the hard month that I have, I feel myself smiling again. Smiling because of Zach, maybe he isn't such a strange person who just tried to take my fiancé's heart after all.
Something behind him catches my eye as he sets me down back on my feet. Is that... No, it can't be. I lay my hand on Zach's chest and feel it beating hard. I bring my other hand to my mouth in full shock.
This is Dalton's heart beating inside Zach's chest. How do I see Dalton a few feet in front of me? 'Anfisa? What's wrong?' His expression looks worryingly calm.
I let go fully of Zach's touch and run towards him. Not even bothering to check traffic, making me almost run into a bus.
Right when the bus passes I see no sign of Dalton anymore. I swear he was really there! Two arms pick me up off the floor and bring me right back to the sidewalk, where I just was two seconds ago.
"What has gotten into you? Do you want to die?" A form of rage is visible on his face.
"Dalton, I saw him, he was right there!" My voice loudly says as I point to a group of people leaning against a wall. All smoking a joint which is easy to smell from this distance.
"Anfisa look at me." In disbelief, I shake my head.
"I said... Look at me." His hands tightly grip my face, forcing me to look at him. The fear in me grows by the second. His grip is so tight that it hurts. Flashbacks of my dad hitting my mom come rushing onto me.
"Dalton is dead, he isn't coming back, I have his heart in me, you can't see him." His words echo loudly in my head, everything starts to spin. Screaming and crying I get onto my knees, tears rushing down and falling onto my knees. This is reality.
"Hey hey, it's okay." Zach gets on his knees in front of me and he pulls me tightly against him.
Lots of people pass us, but he doesn't seem to care one bit that people see him like this. Softly he rocks me in his arms as the wind blows through my hair, calming me down in an instant.
"Why are you so nice to me?" I ask sobbing slightly. He cups my cheeks with both hands.
"Because you are something special Annie. You deserve love and care, and if Dalton can't give that to you anymore I will be here. But never as a replacement." He knows the exact right words to use, making my heart beat uncontrollably.
"Let's get you something to eat and drink shall we?" He says after a while of just holding me. I nod slightly and we walk in together. My eyes are all puffy and red, I look great for a first date, and... I stop walking. I just called this a date.
"Are you coming Annie?" With a big breath, I swallow back everything that wants Dalton back. I'm just going to have fun tonight with Zach, date or no date.
"Hello, sir Wixx, what a pleasant surprise." A questioning look is visible on my face.
"I come here a lot too." He smiles as one of the waiters leads us to a table, Zach starts talking about the past of this restaurant. I've never looked at the actual place, always just at the food.
"Tell me what you like to do Anfisa, you seem an interesting person." Softly I wipe away all of my leftover tears with the paw of my sweater. The breeze of cold November air hits my spine, making me shiver.
"We have talked a lot about me, and I know nothing about you." Zach sighs deeply over his lungs.
"Fine, what do you want to know?" The look on his face seems disappointing, disappointed that we have to talk about him.
"You don't have to say anything about yourself if you don't want to." I try my best to reassure him.
"Annie." His hands make the short path to mine. "It's okay." The touch of his cold hands freaks me out, making me pull my hands back in an instant.
"What do you like to do in your free time?"
"Free time? What's that?" He jokes, making the edges of my mouth curl up in the slightest.
"Believe it or not, I like to write poetry." My eyes widen at his words, poetry.
"Can I read something someday?" I ask inhaling deeply. Without saying another word he grabs a small book out of his pocket.
"In case something on my way inspires me, I keep a little note block with me at all times." His arms rest on the table, holding the little book. It's fully black, probably the darkest black that I've ever seen. Darker than a soul.
Without even asking I grab the book out of his hands and scroll through it. It's mostly just random words that rhyme together.
"This is no poetry." Zach keeps looking at me, like actually looking at me.
My eyes catch on a page with more text than the others. I glide my finger over the page as I read it word for word.

I light my fifth cigarette,
it's the only thing making me forget.
Forget all the pain,
that runs through my veins.
People left me for good,
here I sit while my thoughts overflood.

This is beautiful... His jaw looks very tight, definitely more stressed than before. Stressed for what? My reaction? Why would he care what I think of his poetry?
"Zach, this is beautiful, you should do something with this! Did you publish this anywhere?"
"It's just my emotions, I'm not going to share it somewhere, in a place where God knows who can read this." He says, snatching the book away from me, leaving a paper cut on my finger. I suck in a rush of air through my teeth.
"Ouch." He doesn't even bother saying sorry.
After a while, he clears his throat before asking.
"What are you doing next week on Saturday?" I try to picture my agenda in my head, next Saturday.
"I'm pretty much free."
"Perfect, you're mine then." He grins possessively.
"My friends are hosting a party I would love for you to come. It doesn't have to be a date like this one, it would be nice, but I will give you space Anfisa, as much as you need." This is probably the most he has ever said to me. His face looks very tense as his eyes are scanning the restaurant.
"I would love to go there with you."
His eyes apologize for the long silence when they meet mine again, I tell him it's okay without words. Seconds after his eyes doze off again. I turn to see what he looks at, just working people.
When my eyes return to him, they're staring down, embarrassed.
"What are you looking at Zachary?" I can tell that me saying his full name, makes him nervous. As he fidgets with his hands.
"Just wondering when they are going to take our drink orders." I can't tell if he speaks the truth or not.

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I'm not sure how much we talked the whole night, it all passed so fast. This is for sure the most fun I've had since Dalton's passing. I'm in the middle of a fit of laughter when his expression turns serious. . ... "Anfisa, I had a lot of fun tonight with you." We are both not fully sober anymore, I wouldn't call it drunk either, because I know exactly where I am, and who I'm with.
"I did too Zach." A few feet is the only thing keeping us apart. He steps even closer and tucks a lost strand of hair behind my ear.
"I will wait for you, as long as you need princess." My heart races in my throat. An angry feeling rushes over me like he is replacing Dalton. Except he isn't. He is much different, and he will wait for me.
"As long as you need." He repeats when he notices my expression full of questions. My lips touch his cheek softly before going separate ways.