Stranger Times

Wind-up Heart

"Regina!" The man said, forcefully.

"Ooh, better." Regina cooed softly. Louder, and directly to him, she said "you had an accident, Devlan my love. You died."

"Died? But there's no pain in death." Devlan replied, his voice quivering.

"Poetry, I was so afraid you had lost that." Regina replied. "No, my love. I brought you back. I will not give you to the world hereafter. Not yet."

"I....." Devlan began.

"Hush, my love. Try to rest. I'll make this better." Regina promised, trying to pour her heart into her words.

"I've never been so frightened." Devlan whispered.

*****

In her laboratory she managed to clean most of his wounds, and give him a few injections to ward off infection. The copper tubing from his new heart would help clean his blood, and the mechanical heart would keep his blood moving no matter the conditions of his body.

She managed to decant some opioids to numb the pain and let her dear man sleep. While his mind was numb to the world, she reset his rib cage and sewed up most of the incisions.

What she didn't notice, as she set the winding key slot at his chest, was that his new heart had stopped beating.

Desperately, she set the key and began to wind, furiously and quickly.

"No no no." She whimpered as she worked. "How long, darling, how long?"

After a half-dozen winds she felt for his pulse at his wrist.

"Twelve beats in ten seconds. Good." Regina said, as she soothed his forehead.

With her free hand, she reached for a long needle.

"This will hurt, love. But I must know. How much more of you has slipped away? For my heart, which I gave to you so long ago, I have to know." Regina said, as she slid the needle into him, and pushed the plunger.

After a moment, Devlan opened his eyes wide and gasped, clutching at the rails on the side of the bed. Regina pushed at his head, forcing him down.

"Gentle, gentle love." Regina said. "You're well. And will get even better. I promise."

"Regina." Devlan said, as he reached his hand to the side of his head. "I remember a pain, like a flash of unexpected daylight. Then darkness. What happened?"

Regina hissed quietly, and took a deep breath. It took her a moment to decide what to tell him. "You struck your head, when you fell, my love. On a rock. It, it stopped your heart."

"A rock?" Devlan asked, his eyebrows furrowing. "There are no rocks in the gardens."

"A root, then." Regina said, with an exasperated sigh. "The point is, the blow killed you. Stopped your heart. I've replaced it, with a heart that will never fail."

"Like my love." She added.

She smiled in relief when she saw him cringe. His sense of prose and poetry should have flinched at the childish promise, unless he had lost all of himself.

"I think of love, and I see a face." She watched Devlan murmur, his eyes still wide. "I can't think of a name, or even a reason to feel that love."

"It's Regina, darling. Oh please tell me you remember." She said, holding his hand.

"It isn't your face."

*****

The heart needed winding every few hours, a chore Devlan couldn't manage on his own, since his heart would stop every time it needed to be wound. So as Devlan slept in his bed, Regina kept vigil beside him with the turn-key.

Except, when she let her eyes shut to rest, for only a moment, she woke to find his heart had stopped beating.

She threw herself to her feet, and fighting off sobs, wound the key and set his mechanical heart beating again.

"Oh my love." She wispered in relief as Devlan's eyes opened. "I'm so sorry. I fell asleep, I don't know how long. Oh love." Regina cried, clutching Devlan's hand.

"I can't remember." Devlan whispered.

"What is it?" Regina asked.

"I can't remember my mother's name." Devlan said, his voice quivering as he spoke.

"No...." Regina whispered, squeezing his hand harder. "On no, how much of you have I lost?"

"I can't remember if I had siblings. I can barely grasp a memory of my parents. The happiest songs in my life are ghosts in the mist, so ephemeral I can barely believe they ever happened." Devlan muttered, sobbing as he spoke.

"Regina, what has happened to me?" Devlan asked.

"Nothing more, my love. I'll make sure of it." Regina promised, giving his hand a firm squeeze.

*****

While he slept, she wiped the oil from his hair carefully, avoiding the still tender wound on the side of his head. Blood had mixed with the motor oil, making it even less pleasant to wipe away.

"Oh, you're covered in the stuff." She huffed, as she inspected his shirt. His soft white, collared shirt was smeared with the same oil that had soaked his legs. She desperately wanted to take it off him, to clean him so she could rest

*****

"Regina?" Devlan asked. His voice quivered as he spoke.

Regina rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stepped away from the work bench. She sat beside him and held his hand.

"Yes, my love?" She asked.

"I need you to let me go." Devlan said.

Regina sobbed. "No, no my love. Never that. I would move mountains for you! I would let the world burn to keep you near. Anything for you."

"So much of my mind is dark." Devlan said, and Regina cried out as she held him close.
"I can't remember the colours on the lights over the capital. Or even the orange of a sunset. I cannot ever remember making love to a woman, or the taste of sweets, or the pains of heartache."

Here, Devlan grabbed her arm, and fixed her with a stare as intense as she had ever seen from him. "All I remember is pain. And you."

He let go, and his arm fell to his side. "Please. Let me die."

*****

Regina stared at Devlan as he slept, the turnkey in her hand. Beside her, on a small tray, lay operating tools and a new pump, one that wouldn't stop every time it needed to be wound.

By the doorway, a dented container of motor oil spilled the last of its contents; a shimmering smear of oil that slowly creeped along the stone floor.

Her hand was still bruised from the marks the container of oil had left.

She watched Devlan breathe, sobbing softly.

Minutes ticked by, and the only sound she could hear over her own tears was the soft whine of her heart in her love's chest.

The minutes ticked by, and Regina waited as the whining whirl of small motors and gears slowed.

And stopped.