CHAPTER TWO
1416 Words
Chapter 2
The beeping sound of the machines beside her bed was the first thing Andy heard when she opened her eyes.
She felt disoriented and for a while struggled to remember where she was and how she had gotten there.
Her eyelids felt like they had been glued shut and her throat burned but she forced herself to think, to remember something.
A dull ache spread throughout her body as she attempted to sit up.
“Mrs. Carter, you're awake,” someone said and then a nurse came into view. “I'll get the doctor.”
Just as the door closed behind the nurse Andy began to have flashes.
At first it wasn't clear but the more they came, they clearer they got until she could make out the faces of people.
Noah, her three year old son was lying in a bed hooked to a machine while she and Nathan stood to the side watching helplessly.
She remembered now. Her son had been diagnosed with leukaemia and needed a transplant as soon as possible.
She had offered to donate and she had been a match.
“Noah,” Andy gasped and sat up a little too quickly. Her world spinned and she fisted the sheets tight trying to push the dizziness away.
She heard the door open but couldn't see who it was, still feeling dizzy.
She closed her eyes again, the memories of what she’d heard before the surgery creeping back in. Had she imagined it? Had the drugs made her hallucinate Nathan’s voice? Asking the doctor to give her bone marrow to someone else?
No. She remembered every word. Clear as day.
“Andy,” he whispered, moving closer to her bedside. “Thank God.”
The familiar voice of her husband helped her regain control of her body again.
“How are you feeling?” He asked looking genuinely concerned and she found herself doubting him.
“How's Noah? Was the procedure successful?” She asked instead of answering him and watched as his face fell.
“The doctor will be here soon to explain everything,” he replied, not answering her question.
She frowned. Had something gone wrong during the surgery?
“So you don't know?” she quizzed, curling her lips. “He's your son Nathan. How do you not know how he's doing?”
“Just breathe Andy, he'll be here…ah, there he is!” Nathan breathed out a sigh of relief grateful that the doctor walked in at that exact moment.
“Mrs. Carter? How are you feeling?” He asked, completely ignoring Nathan who was staring at him anxiously.
“How's my son?” She asked again, tears clouding her vision.
That wasn’t the answer she wanted. Her eyes darted to his face.
The doctor looked at Nathan, then back at her. “The surgery was successful,” he began. “But there were… complications.”
Andy’s blood ran cold.
“What kind of complications?” she whispered.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” the doctor said gently. “Your son didn’t make it.”
For a moment, the world stopped spinning.
Andy felt like air had been sucked out of her lungs. The words echoed in her mind again and again.
Your son didn’t make it.
“No,” she breathed. “No, that’s not possible. You said the surgery was successful. You said—”
“There were post-operative complications,” Dr. Julian explained, his face ashen. “We did everything we could.”
Nathan reached for her hand but she yanked it away.
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she shook her head. “Noah… he was supposed to live. I gave— I gave—”
Nathan crouched by her side, his face crumpling. “Andy, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She stared at him through blurry eyes as the words she had heard him say came back to her.
“It's going to be okay,” he whispered and her face hardened.
Nothing was okay, her son was dead!
“Did you know?” she whispered. “Did you… did you know this would happen?”
His face fell and she saw something that looked a little like guilt, fear, she wasn't sure because it disappeared before she could decipher. “What? No!” Nathan’s voice cracked. “I wanted him to live, too. I loved him.”
He buried his face in her hand and sobbed, and for a moment, it broke her heart all over again.
He looked like a man crushed under grief and she wanted to believe it.
But the words he has spoken haunted her.
“All you have to do is divert the bone marrow… when she wakes up, you could just tell her there were complications…”
The doctor had gone along with Nathan's plan. They had killed her son to favor another.
She couldn’t breathe. The room felt too small.
“I want to see him,” she said.
Dr. Julian stepped forward. “You need rest, Mrs. Carter. The surgery was a major one and you need to regain your strength.”
“I want to see my son!” she snapped, her voice trembling.
Dr. Julian gave her a solemn nod. “Soon. I’ll make arrangements. Please rest for now.”
She turned her head away again, tears flowing freely. Nathan sat there quietly beside her, pretending to cry, and Andy let him.
She needed time. To grieve. To think.
To plan.
****
Outside the room, Nathan found the doctor by the vending machine.
“Dr. Julian,” he called.
Dr. Julian looked up but didn’t look pleased to see him.
Nathan lowered his voice. “I just wanted to say thank you. I know I pushed too hard before the surgery but—”
“You should go,” Dr. Julian interrupted coldly.
Nathan blinked. “I just… I appreciate that you tried. I know it was unethical. I shouldn’t have asked. But—”
“But you did,” the doctor said sharply. “And no, Mr. Carter, I didn’t do what you asked.”
Nathan frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The bone marrow your wife donated wasn’t viable for Noah,” Dr. Julian said. “There were some errors in the initial tests we ran. We caught it during the surgery. It wouldn’t have saved him.”
Nathan blinked, confused. “So… the other patient—?”
“The other patient would be tested to see if the bone marrow is a fit after all we can't open up your wife and put it back in now can we?” Dr. Julian let out a chuckle but it sounded dark and hollow.
Nathan gulped. “Well, at least you tried. “Thank you doctor,”
“You don't deserve that woman or that boy for that matter so maybe it's a good thing he didn't make it,”
Nathan’s shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I wish I had another—”
The doctor cut him off with a raised hand. “Just save your explanation Mr. Carter. For your sake, I hope your wife doesn't find out what you've done.”
Then he turned to leave.
Nthana stood there feeling like the scum of the earth.
“Or maybe she should because she deserves so much better than you,”
A nurse poked her head out of a hallway. “Doctor? Your next patient is prepped.”
Dr. Julian gave Nathan one last look and walked off.
Behind a wall, Andy pressed her back against the cool tile, eyes wide.
She had gotten out of bed despite the pain, hoping to catch a glimpse of Noah’s room, but she’d stopped cold when she heard Nathan thanking the doctor for killing their child.
Now she knew the truth.
The bone marrow hadn’t been used. Her son hadn’t been saved. And whoever Nathan had tried to save…
And the biggest revelation of all? Nathan had chosen to let their son die to save someone else.
He had been ready to sacrifice their son.
Anger bubbled inside of her, burning hot but she didn't confront him.
She wiped her tears, turned and wobbled back to her room, undetected.
She needed to find out who Nathan had been trying to save.
But first she needed to rest.
She didn't care who Nathan was trying to save, he would pay for sacrificing their son.
- Writer
