I'm creating some stories for everyday of October. Now if I miss a day, bare with me. I'll catch it up. The stories will be SHORT stories.
Happy Halloween 🎃
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My body ached all over. A familiar smell hit my nose. A smell I know all too well. I was in a hospital. I'm always in a hospital. My heart has been a problem since the age of five. That was ten years ago. When they told me my heart was degenerating, I knew I wouldn't have long to live. Not without a transplant. All hope was almost lost until me and my mom got that call. They had a heart available, and I was next on the list.
The surgery was long and extensive, but at the end a success.
"How do you feel?"
My mom spoon fed me applesauce.
"Better. You know I can feed myself mom."
"I can't dote on my only daughter?" She shoved more food in my mouth and it glides right down.
"Mom? Did you know who's heart I got?"
She fell into an awkward silence. Playing with the food in her hands she avoided my eyes.
So... she knows, but doesn't want to tell me?
"Mom?"
"No. I don't."
Lie.
"I'm going to get something to eat. Do you want anything? Juice? More applesauce?"
"Sure. Thanks mom."
A nurse came in a few minutes after she left. "How are we feeling?"
"Physical, I feel as good as expected. But emotionally..."
"Is something the matter?"
"My mom told me about the man. The man who's heart I have."
"Oh. I see. She said she wasn't going to tell you and she didn't want us to either."
"She changed her mind I guess. I'm glad she did. I had a right to know."
"I too think you're old enough, but you're still a minor. It was your mother's decision. Having a serial killer brother is one thing, but having his heart inside you? I just couldn't imagine."
I went pale. My brother's dead! I have my brother's heart?!! No wonder my mother didn't want to talk about it.
My brothers been in jail since he was 14. He set our neighbors house on fire and stood outside to watch it burn. Inside was a family of five. A mom, a dad, and three small children all under the age of ten. He's been in a psych ward for as long as I can remember. Why wouldn't she tell me my own brother was dead!
Mom came in with a plate of food and a carton of apple juice. The nurse left when she did. Smart of her. She doesn't want to get caught in this crossfire.
"What did the nurse say?"
"Oh the nurse said a lot of things."
She paused and looked at me. "What did she say?"
"My heart... it belonged to Matt?"
"Damn it! Where is the doctor?! I told them not to say anything to you."
"Wasn't her fault. I pretended I already knew. And honestly, I should've already knew. HE'S MY BROTHER! Unlike you, I've never stopped loving him!"
"You watch who you're talking to. I didn't stop loving your brother!"
"You never visited him. He always asked about you, but you never visited him!"
"It was hard okay?!! I was really close with our neighbors."
"So was I! Mom, Matt had very very disturbing mental issues. Mental issues you knew about when he was a child and did nothing to help him. If he was medicated then, he probably wouldn't have set that house on fire!"
"You don't know that. I did everything I could as a mother!"
I shook my head as tears stained my face. "Not. Enough."
"I—I think I'll eat my food in the cafeteria."
I laid back down as I heard the door shut. The room was quiet with only sound of my brother's beating heart.
