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10

    Amada went home, with her heart full of despair. The school year was going to be over in a few weeks and her appointment was in a little over a month. Until then, the surgeon told her to exercise everyday to loosen up and burn excess fat. She just hoped she wouldn’t get sick again. Amada and Bella agreed to work out together for 15 minutes a day. Nothing too difficult.
    The Stewart sisters agreed to this once before and it was during summer break a year ago. They had been working out for a few weeks and Amada lost 30 pounds. She worked for longer periods of time than Bella, who lost 15 pounds. Amada was running with her sister and there was a tree branch sticking out of the ground. It smacked against her leg, slicing it open. It wasn’t necessarily a deep cut, but she had just recently recovered from being sick a day ago. She still had the antibiotics in her blood stream, and they had thinned her blood. The blood poured from her leg like a broken faucet.
    A day later, the wound had gotten infected and Amada grew ill. Her infection lasted for a few days and she gained two pounds. That wasn’t the first time Amada tried to work out. It was just the first time she didn’t do it alone. The times before that, she would either give up, or get a bacterial infection.
    A month had passed since they first started working out and Amada saw huge improvement. She didn’t get sick, fortunately, because she wore a mask to block out bacteria. There wasn’t a reason in particular they had never thought of that ahead of time. Amada lost 27 pounds and there was visible improvement. She also felt better emotionally.
    The time had come to go back to see the surgeon, Dr. Montgomery. As they entered his office, his face lit up. “Amada! You look much better! How much have you lost?” Amada smiled bashfully. “27 pounds.” Dr. Montgomery whooped in excitement. “That’s awesome! How do you feel?” “Much lighter,” Amada joked. The three of them chuckled softly. “Well, are you ready to get this show on the road?” Dr. Montgomery asked. Amada looked to her sister who had a smile on her face. “Yeah, sure,” Amada said with a laugh.
    While they walked down the hall, Dr. Montgomery explained the order in which the surgeries would go. For the first procedure, they would do a tummy tuck. The second procedure was an arm lift and a liposuction on the legs. Lastly, the third procedure was breast reduction. He then led her and Bella to the operation room. “Could you lay here, please?” He patted gently on the hospital bed. Amada obliged and lied back against the pillow at the top of the bed. Dr. Montgomery put on a surgical cap and mask along with a pair of blue hospital gloves. A few more surgeons strolled into the room, one pushing a cart of tools. In total, there were four of them. “Okay, Amada, just take a deep breath and count down from 10.” As she inhaled deeply, one of the surgeons injected her with anesthetic. “Ten… nine… eight…” As she went on, her vision began to get blurry and her eyes grew heavy. When she reached three, she fell unconscious.