GIVE ME A HEART
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CHAPTER1??6??
It was daylight when I opened my eyes. I looked around me. I was in a bed with screen’s on either side of the bed. From the looks of things, I could tell I was in a private ward. I laid still, aware I was feeling a lot better.
Then the doctor came around from behind the screen. He grinned cheerfully at me. ” You are progressing well. I can see that.”
” Hello, doctor,” I said, and closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, I saw my father, sitting down beside me. The doctor appeared from behind him.
” Dad?” I called.
He smiled and took my hand. ” Veronica, thank goodness you’re alive.”
” How am I doing, doctor?” I asked.
” You’re doing fine,” he told me. ” You’re a miracle. The surgery went well. You’re coming along fine.”
That was reassuring enough. ” How long have I been here?”
” You’ve been here for two days,” he said staring at his papers. ” Now don’t you worry about anything. It’d work out all right. The surgery turned out to be a massive success. You’re lucky to be alive. Just take it easy and rest, okay. Everything is going to be alright.”
I laughed. ” I can’t believe this is happening to me. I expect to find myself in heaven by now.”
The doctor laughed. Dad was awfully quiet. I noticed this and I turned to him. ” Dad, are you alright?”
He stroked my long hair and gave me a bitter smile. ” I’m fine, sweetheart. I’m fine.”
I laid my head back on the bed and inhaled deeply. ” This is great. I can’t believe I actually made it. Andrew would be soo happy to see me.”
The doctor and dad didn’t say anything. The cheerful, bedside smiles on their faces slipped a little.
” Where is he anyways,” I said. ” He promised me he’d be the first person I’ll see when I wake up. Well, I’ve woken up. Why I’m I not seeing him?”
” You don’t have to worry about him,” the doctor said, with a strange voice. ” Now look, dear, you just rest, okay.”
It was my turn to get worried now. I raised my head. ” No, what’s going on? Why are you two acting strange all of a sudden? What are you not telling me? Where is Andrew.”
The doctor ran his hand over his hair. The smile had gone for good.
” A couple of hours ago, you weren’t well enough to be told,” he said gently. ” I can tell you now. He’s dead. He died during the surgery.”
I sat up sharply. I felt the blood leave my face. I clunched on to the sheet.
” Take it easy, dear,” he said. ” I know it’s a shock but you have to take it easy. You don’t have to look so scared.”
” You’re lying!” I said in a voice I didn’t know was my own. ” Surgery? What surgery are you talking about? Where’s Andrew?”
” Relax, Veronica,” dad tried to calm me down.
I wouldn’t relax. I was feeling sick. I had a sudden urge to jump out of bed and run out to go look for Andrew. I struggled up but dad held me down.
” Don’t tell me to relax,” i shouted. ” Are you crazy? Andrew is not dead. What are you trying to do? Send me nuts or something?”
” Take it easy, Veronica,” the doctor said. ” You have to give me a chance to explain. Just calm down a bit, okay.”
I dropped back on the pillow. I was scared and shaking.
” During the surgery, we faced some complications. There was no time on our side and we were losing you in a brink of seconds. You heart stopped pumping. The only hope for you was a heart transplant but we have no heart to match your system. Just when we were begining to give up, Andrew approached me and asked for a heart test. We ran some tests on him and discovered that it was a perfect match for your body. Without wasting much time, he volunteered to donate his heart to save you.”
I turned sharply to look at him. My mouth had suddenly gone dry and my mouth fell opened. I clunched hold of the sheet more tightly.
The doctor scratched the back of his head, he seemed sad about the whole thing. ” I was shocked ofcourse because that would mean he’d be left with no heart. He insisted and we brought a file for both your parents and him to sign before we commenced on the surgery. The transplant was a success and we revived you back before you kicked the bucket. But Andrew was unfortunate. We did our best to save him but he died before we knew it.”
I was shaking violently. My entire body felt cold and hard. ” You didn’t have to sign for that heart transplant, did you dad?”
Dad looked away. ” I had to. You were going to die. There was no other way. I never wanted to but he insisted.”
I began to get excited. ” Get out.”
Dad’s face turned into a mask of surprise. ” Excuse me?”
” Get out!” I yelled. ” All of you. Out!”
” We should leave her,” the doctor said and they went out quietly. I fell on my bed covered my face as I cried.
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Dad came in two hours later. He sat beside me and stared at me. I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, my eyes dried from tears. My hand was in my chest, feeling Andrew’s heart beating against my chest.
” Did he really died?” I asked.
Dad nodded. ” Yes, dear.”
” What do you want?” I asked, not wanting to look at him.
” Veronica, I really am sorry for Andrew,” he said. ” Believe me but I never really wanted him to do it.”
” Just tell me what you want and leave me alone,” I said with a strangled voice.
Dad dropped a journal on my bedside table. ” Andrew wanted you to have this. He says if he doesn’t make it out from the surgery, you should be given this.”
I didn’t say anything. I was too down to even speak another word. Dad rose to his feet and after wiping a tear off his eyes, he left the room.
I watched him go with mixed feelings. The moment he closed the door, I sat up and took the journal. It was Andrew’s journal. He had written on the cover: GIVE ME A HEART ?? ?
I opened the journal and stared at the first page. There was an instruction that told me to turn to page 54. I opened to page 54 and read:
To Veronica:
Veronica, if you’re reading this journal, it means I’m already dead. Remember when you told me I should write a story about my life and I told you I wasn’t a writer? I lied. This journal contains all the past events of what happened ten years ago and now. I never told you this but ten years ago, before that incident that happened back then in school, I had a dream. I was at a funeral and someone was being buried. Cain and I were arguing and Cain was yelling that I should’ve saved you. It’s been ten years now and that dream made no sense to me till tonight. While you slept, I took the whole night writing this down because I know you would be heartbroken by what I was going to do tomorrow. You were right about something. I do have a heart. I found out the day you slept on my chest and felt my heart beats. It was the most amazing feeling I’ve ever had. I suddenly realized that God did answered my everyday prayers. Tomorrow, I’m going to meet the doctor and run a test and if my heart matches with your system, I am going to give it to you. You are an amazing person, Veronica. You don’t deserve to die. You deserve better. Because of your forgiveness, I’ve felt an inner peace of mind I’ve never felt in a long time. Since I met you that rainy day, I’ve been developing these warm strange feelings towards you. It seemed crazy at first but as time went by the feeling became stronger and just tonight, after our lovemaking I realized what that feeling was. I am inlove with you, Veronica. I really am. I don’t know if you feel the same way about me too but I do know this feeling is true. You are the mysterious girl I see in my sleep Evey night when I go to bed. I just didn’t realize it until now. I want you to live and that’s why I’m going to sacrifice my heart to give you a better life. It’s about time you stopped taking medicines and going for checkups all the time. You deserve a better life than I do. I hope to see you make it out of your surgery tomorrow. I’ll pray for you. I’ll definitely pray for you. I love you Veronica. I’ll always do.
Tears dropped on the pages as I choked and cried with all the emotions locked up inside me. I turned to the next page:
Today’s the surgery. I’m waiting with your parents. The tension is high, the pressure is high. It’s been four hours since the surgery started. Victoria came in around noon and returned back to handle your appointments at work. Cain stayed for the next two hours before he returned back to his hotel. By now we were all getting worried about you and just when the doctor came out and announced the bad new, we were devastated. Your heart had stopped beating and we were losing you.
It hurted me to see your parents cried and prayed for a miracle to happen. I took an excuse and went to make a call to my parents for the first time in ten years. It was relieving to hear my family’s voice again. We spoke for a while but I didn’t tell them what I was planning to do. I just wanted to hear their voices for the last time. Afterwards, I went to the doctor and had a test run on me to my surprise, my heart was a perfect pair to your system. The doctor explained to me what was at stake but I wasn’t listening to him. I was determined to go ahead with my plan. The doctor brought some files, I signed it but your dad was reluctant to sign the files. I pushed him to do it. I guessed he was scared about my decision but I knew he wouldn’t have done it if he knew I was going to die if the surgery on me went haywire. Well, this is it, Veronica. I’m about to go for the surgery. The nurses are giving me some encouraging words but I was deaf to what they were saying. I could only think about you. I desperately wanted to see you for the last time and say a better goodbye but you were still undergoing surgery and time was fast running out. I’m handling this journal to your dad. He’s going to give it to you when you wake up from your surgery. I promised you, I’d be the first person you’d see when you wake up, right? Well, you still saw me in my journal, didn’t you? Don’t worry, it’s going to be alright. And one more thing, just so Cain never knew, I want him to know this, the day he lost a lot of blood in that truck accident years ago, I was the one who donated my blood to save him because the hospital was short of blood. He never knew this because I told his parents not to mention it to him. I just wanted him to know that, I’m very very sorry and if I die today, he should find it in his heart to forgive me. Well, goodbye, Veronica, I prayed for a place in heaven. I just hoped God kept a place for me there but I’m not so sure. Death can be a funny thing don’t you think? Tell the world about my story and if it pleases you, you can add whatever you wish to the story. You’d make enough money from the book if you punish it. It’s all I have now. Please if I die don’t cry, I’m just a character in a novel. My own novel to be prescise.
Love, Andrew?
I closed the book and cried my heart out. I rolled over my bed, tore at the sheets and dragged my hair until I thought I was going mad.
I screamed.
Dad and mom and Victoria ran into the room. I jumped off the bed and began turning things around.
Dad ran behind me and strained me tightly in his grip. ” Stop it, Veronica, you’d hurt yourself.”
” Leave me alone,” I cried, struggling with a loud voice. ” Let me go. I want to kill myself. I want to kill myself!”
???
(Selena Gomez…The heart wants what it wants….)
….there’s a million
reason why I should give
You up
But the heart wants what
It wants uh,uh,uh,uh……
It was black rainy day. We stood with our umbrellas as Andrew was lowered to his grave and covered with sand. I’ve been crying for the past six days, now. The cemetery was filled with our classmates from SS 2 and some of our seniors. Even Jude was there as well. Naomi was there with her husband and children. Two young pale couples which I’ve never seen before were there. Cain was there too. He hadn’t been himself since he got the news of Andrews death. Ten times, Cain had been caught, attempting to jump off a bridge or to hang himself. It got soo Serious we had to keep him in sight all the time. Andrews parents was there too. It was a sad day for everyone.
Everyday, before I went to bed, I placed my hand in my chest and listen to Andrew’s heart beating against my ribs. I’ve stopped taking medicines and my the last time I went for checkup was definitely my last. I took Andrew’s sister and took care of her as my own. Andrew’s loss meant a great deal to all of us. He was no longer a bully or a failure. He was a hero and he was also my love. Before Andrew’s funeral, I published his story and had it distributed far and wide. Right now, the covid-19 virus had strucked the country and many people were dying from the deadly virus but I was strong at heart to fight against it because I had Andrew heart beating in me. He gave his life up to save mine. He wanted me to live so I was going to live for him alone. As a result, I decided to remain single till I died. I decided to live for Andrew alone.
After the funeral, we all retired to our homes. Just as I headed towards my car, the two pale looking couples approached me. They were young and very beautiful.
” We’re sorry for your loss,” the young lady said to me. She had deep blue eyes.
I nodded. ” Thank you, but I’m sorry, do I know you?”
” We’re travellers,” her husband spoke. ” We saw the posters and we decided to pay our condolences.”
” Oh,” I said with understanding. ” Thanks again.”
They nodded and walked away towards a dark Range Rover sports car and zoomed off.
” Who are those people?” Victoria asked, approaching me.
” I don’t know,” I said to her.
*****
On my way home with Victoria, I became uneasy. I felt my breakfast lurched up to my throat. I immediately parked my car and jumped out. Victoria got alarmed and ran around to where I was throwing up in the bush.
” What happened?” She asked.
I threw up till my stomach became empty. This was the third time this week I’ve been vomiting. Because Victoria was worried, she drove me straight to the hospital where they ran some tests on me.
The doctor came with the report and grinned at me. ” Well, congratulations Miss Veronica. You’re Six months pregnant.”
Victoria and I shot him a shocked look.
” WHAT!!!” we said in unison.
?THE END?
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