BORROWED [Watty Awards Finalist/NEWLY EDITED!]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

|Frailty|

"Hold still."

Evelyn sits on the bed with me, weaving new stitches into my wound.

"But it hurts," I say, trying not to whine. Each time she jabs the needle in my back, I wince. She doesn't say a word. Her knuckles brush against my skin with each stroke.

"It needs to be done," she replies in a motherly tone. "This is a serious incision, Iris."

I blow out a breath. "I know..."

One less kidney, Hanna had said.

Averting my eyes to the floor, I gaze at Hanna's body; it's covered with a white sheet. It shouldn't have ended this way, with her being dead. Honestly, I thought I was going to be the one lying lifeless on the cold floor. Maybe I would have been if it wasn't for Evelyn. She saved me. But why? Can anyone be trusted anymore?

Yes. Finn and Bianca can be trusted.

"I'm sorry you have to see that," Evelyn says, as she applies a suture to my back.

I shrug, looking away from Hanna's corpse. "I've seen a Draftee, and a Borrower shot to death."

A small gasp escapes Evelyn's lips. "Oh...That's terrible, Iris."

"It's okay," I say. "I can handle it."

Evelyn is playing the motherly role quite well right now. But I can't let it affect me, I just need to have her get me out of here.

"You don't deserve any of this," she says quietly. "What we've done to you, it's not right."

I force back my tears. "My time with you wasn't horrible, Evelyn."

She pushes off from the bed and faces me. "Would you ever be able to call me

Mom, again?"

"No. I'm sorry..."

Why should I be sorry?

"Fair enough," she replies sadly. "It's what I deserve, after all."

I remove myself from the bed, walking carefully past Evelyn. "Are you going to leave PURE? After what happened to Chase, will you still stay?"

We're staring at one another now. There is a look of sorrow in and around her eyes. Today, she seems to have aged ten years or so. She's still beautiful. It's the pained expression she holds that threatens to hide it away. I can't stand it any longer. Looking down at Hanna, I kneel cautiously, hoping I won't pull on my new stitches. Pulling away the sheet, I gaze at her auburn hair; it's swept neatly around her shoulders. But I can only see the right side of her face. Her eye is open, staring blankly ahead. With a brush of my finger, I close the lid shut. Now she can rest in peace. She's no longer tied to PURE.

"What are you doing?" Evelyn walks over to me, her knees at my eye level. Looking up, I smile faintly.

"Hanna was a difficult woman," I say, "but she had her reasons, like we all have reasons."

Evelyn says, "You don't have to feel sorry for her, Iris." She kneels down next to me, staring at Hanna, lost in thought. "Her insecurities almost killed you."

"I do." It's hard to explain to a woman who you have mix feelings towards. One minute she is your mother, the next she isn't. "Even if she had ulterior motives, she still helped me along the way." Evelyn shifts next to me. Maybe she will never understand.