Bete Noire

CHAPTER NINE

So…I got a transplant!!!Unknowingly!!.”Did it happen here?"

Sheila put the chart back and gave me a dry look. “No, dear. We did not give you a transplant here. Seems You had one though We were making sure that it was removed safely and properly. That’s what we had to do; it wouldn’t have been safe for you otherwise.”

She looked between Sheryl and me and added, It is illegal for a transplant to occur without the donor's consent.”

Well , yes, it was. Or wouldn’t have been(as far as i remember i did not consent to a surgery,). But it didn’t mean it wasn’t a shock to my body, my heart and my mind. I felt a million things but the one that stood out the most was that I was very, very afraid.

As if catching a bit of that feeling, Sheila came over to me and patted my arm. “You’re with your family now. you'll be as right as rain. I’ll go get your mother and the doctor, in case you have more questions. You have nothing to worry about.”

She left the room and walked out into the fluorescent lit hallway.

I looked at Sheryl. “What happened?”

“It’s like she said. Shay and Larry said they found you on the floor. You were totally passed out. They said…there was a whole bunch of blood around you.”

“Oh no,” I closed my eyes. How embarrassing this was, how bad it looked for the company.

“Ronnie, be happy you’re alive,” she admonished me.

“How could I have been a donor?” I repeated, as it wasnt making sense to me.Though, It did explain a lot of what had been going on.

“I know,” she said. “I actually thought it last night but I didn’t want to say anything in front of mom. She doesn’t know you were involved with Drew in the Experiment of terror incidents. well , she didn’t know.”

“Oh, God.”

“Yeah, she obviously knows now that something is not right. Dad too.

“I think they both want to kill him. Like, way more now than before.”

Surprisingly, I felt no hatred toward Drew bout this. This was just as much my fault. I decided to get involved with the terror thing . The thought had crossed my mind but I decided to ignore it and deal with the consequences later.. I was left with a ravaged body and a guilty conscious.

“Ronnie, honey,” my mom said as she came inside the room. Her face was at maximum worry levels. However, as concerned as she looked, I picked up a tinge of frustration.

After it was established that I was going to be OK, I was going to be in big BIG trouble with her and dad.

“Hi mom,” I greeted her quietly. I suddenly felt extra embarrassed.

She leaned over me and kissed my forehead, smelling like her heady tuberose perfume. Didn’t the hospital have rules about no smells?

I was going to stay strong and stubborn but the moment her eyes searched mine and I could see how upset she actually was, I weakened. “I’m so sorry, mom.”

“It’s fine. We’ll talk about it later,” she said, burying that last hint of annoyance somewhere. “The important thing is you’re going to be OK. It’s all going to stop now.”

“She may have more cramps and bleeding over the next few weeks,” a man’s voice cut into our conversation.

I raised my head to see who our new visitor was and my body froze in a mix of panic and shock.

It was the same doctor from my dream and from waking up during surgery.

He paused at the foot of my bed, looking nonplussed at my reaction, at my face scrunched up in horror. He even smiled.