The Shrink Program

Chapter 167

(Flashback. Don't expect it to make sense. It's Robyn's.)

The quiet voices woke me.

"If she has the operation, how much more time will she have?"

"Three to five years. If we can't get her a transplant in that time...."

"If money is the issue..."

"Hearts her size aren't exactly common Des."

A shifting, and then I was being resettled in the strong arms around me. I looked up when large fingers tickled my ribs.

"Can't fool me, Chicken." Warm brown eyes smiled down at me. "I know when you're just pretending."

I blinked at him.

"Robin. " I corrected, closing my eyes to return to sleep.

[*****]

" Why doesn't Robin talk, mum?"

"She does talk Arty." Mrs Mc'Valium smiled down at the blond child clinging to her leg.

"But she only says little words. Apollo's only a baby, but he still knows more words than Robin... "

".... When Robin was little, she was very sick sweetheart."

"Why?"

"A broken heart. "

" Cause her mum died? "

" No, darling... She was born with it... "

" But why doesn't she talk? "

"Sometimes, when people are little, and they go through a lot of pain... Words don't come to them easily... "

"But she's not sick any more now right?"

"No. Mummy's friend Cassandra fixed it for her. "

[*****]

" This is the girl, right?"

The red-haired Lady leaned over me.

I blinked up at her, unable to move.
Needles. Tubes. Pain.

"You can help her, right? " Mrs Mc'Valium pleaded. "Please, Lark can't lose them both."

The red-haired Lady huffed.

"Of course, I can."

She smiled at the dark-haired woman.

" I can do anything!"

[*****]

I met a purple-eyed boy.

Daddy brought me down to the Lab to see the red-haired Lady. To check my heart.

In her office, there is a boy.

He was big. Bigger than Artemis. Not as big as the twins I sometimes saw, but close.

The red-haired Lady said she made him.

He didn't know much, though. He could talk but didn't speak unless Red-haired Lady told him to.

Eat. Sleep. Play. Clean.