NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

Jessica said one blanket at a time, that didn’t stop the nurses from giving me more. Luckily she didn’t visit when they did or I would have been yelled at again. They brought the blankets and when they came in that morning and put a needle in my arm, I decided I don’t like needles. They said something about contrast but I wasn’t sure what that meant, I wasn’t happy about being told not to eat though. Eventually they came and got me. They put in a large tube and it had a quiet humming noise to it. Afterwards I was told that they’ll have the results in the next couple of days. The only thing that happened over the next few days was the doctor coming in and running lots of tests. They kept drawing my blood and putting those white circles on different parts of me. Though this next time was different.

He walked in holding a piece of paper, he seemed to be a little excited. “Ah, hello Red.”

This time he had black cats on his coat. I kept staring at them but replied. “Hi.”

He looked at the paper for a second. “Well, we now why you have an irregular heart beat.” He showed me the paper but I had no idea what it meant, I just a bunch of white, black, and grey splotches. “It would seem you have two hearts… there is a problem though. Have you been experiencing any chest pain?”

I was, how did he know? “Yah, whenever I have to do something more intense then walking?”

He nodded. “Good… well, no that’s not good but we can fix the issue. It would seem that one heart has six chambers and the other has four. I am not aware of the reasons but as it stands there is something very wrong with the four chambered heart, it seems to be in conflict with the pulsing of the six chambered heart… Given the circumstances we think it would be best to remove that heart as the six chambered heart seems to be heartier then the other, excuse the pun. It would also be far easier to remove since it doesn’t have as many arteries attached to it, most of the six-chambered heart seems to be inactive but we could get it working and we can relocate the extra arteries. I require your consent to do this along with Jessica’s, she’s listed as your primary consultant.”

Surgery? “Will it stop the chest pain?” He nodded. “So what could happen if you don’t do this?”

He let out a small cough. “That would put you at a high risk for a heart attack and possible main arteries rupturing given the conflicting directions the blood is being pushed. The reason we believe the six-chambered heart is stronger is because it overpowers the other and forces the blood into the proper directions, though this is heavily stressing your arteries along with greatly increasing the chance for air bubbles to form in your blood. We’re actually quite surprised that your arteries can handle this much force.”

I was wondering how much longer I’d have to stay here. “How long would I have to stay here?”

He sighed. “We don’t have surgeries here often, at the very least another week for the surgery and recovery around two months.

I didn’t like the idea of being stuck here longer. It sounded like it needed to be done though. “Fine. I don’t want to but I’d like the chest pain to stop.”

He smiled. “Trust me you’ll feel much better after this, our goal is help anyone who comes in the door.” He walked out.

It was several weeks later, the only time I was visited was when someone got me food. I heard a conversation outside the door. It sounded like the doctor was talking to Jessica.

She didn’t seem happy. “Does she really need this surgery?! I’m having trouble getting her approved to stay here let alone drain resources to save her life, the other three are barely even humoring me with trying to keep her!”

The doctor seems frustrated as well. “She has a death sentence! If we don’t do it she’ll die regardless of whether she’s approved to stay or not. I don’t care what side she’s from, they didn’t take care of her. I can’t bring myself to tell her just how bad it is, were going to be stuck in surgeries for twenty hours at least!” A death sentence?

I heard a scream. “DAMMIT! I finally find my sister and she’s likely to die! I don’t know what to do!”

It was quiet for a minute, eventually the doctor spoke up. “How have you been trying to convince them?”

Jessica’s voice was shaky. “I’ve tried almost everything, they don’t see her a potential resource and my standing isn’t enough for them to allow it either.”

It was quiet for a few more minutes, the doctor spoke up again. “Jessica, we’ve ran tests over and over again. We’ve even tried simulations, she will die if we don’t get her into surgery. This is not a might, she WILL die… Perhaps you could try convincing them she’s a victim… The level of damage I’ve seen is unbelievable. She should be curled up in pain right now but she doesn’t even know what’s going on inside her… If that fails stall them long enough for me and my associates to get her into surgery. If she can’t stay I can at least give her a chance at living her own life.”

It was silent after that. I didn’t know what to think about that… I couldn’t get over the conversation, it kept replaying in my head all night. At least until a nurse and a doctor I didn’t recognize came in the next morning. The doctor had a metal cylinder with her.

She gave me a smile. “Hello Red, I’d like to introduce myself but we don’t have time.” She walked over to the bed and pulled out one of those plastics masks. “Now I’m going to put this on you. You may feel tired but please don’t fight it. We want to help.” She hooked it into the cylinder and turned a nob… I felt tired… I wanted to stay awake but I couldn’t. It was weird, this drifting asleep felt very different.