Chapter 2- The hollow beat

“Miss Anna,” the nurse said calmly. "I am really sorry your mother did not make it through the surgery." Anna's eyes got blurry when she heard that.

She felt like she was, in a daze.

Those words hit her hard.

Anna looked at the nurse as her voice began to crack up.

“Didn’t make it through? What do you mean by that?” she whispered.

The nurse lowered her eyes. “There were complications during the surgery.” The words felt rehearsed.

Clinical. 

Cold.

Complications.

Anna’s chest tightened painfully. She held onto the hospital sheet as if holding it would somehow stop the world from collapsing. 

“No,” she said weakly. “That’s not possible.”

Her mother had been alive just a few hours ago.

Of course she was weak and maybe sick…but definitely she was alive.

“She was stable when I last saw her,” 

Anna continued, her voice trembling. “She was waiting for the transplant.” The nurse remained quiet. And that quietness made Anna feel more hurt.

Anna ignored the sharp pain that she felt in her chest. “I want to see my mom now!” She said while swinging her legs on the bed.

“Miss Anna, you need to rest…”

“I want to see my mother!” At this point tears already filled her eyes and her voice had already cracked up. 

“Alright…I'll take you.” The nurse said as she helped her get up from her bed.

Every step she Anna took made her weaker. She felt strange movements in her chest. It was like she was trying so hard to keep up with her own breathing.

But she ignored the feeling. The only thing that cared right now was meeting her mother.

They stopped outside a quiet room. The nurse slowly pushed the door open. 

Anna stepped inside. Her world stopped. 

Her mother lay on the bed perfectly still. A white sheet covered her body. For a moment Anna could not move. 

Her brain refused to accept what her eyes were seeing.

“No,” she whispered. She walked forward slowly. 

Her hands were shaking as she tried to lift up the sheet. 

“Mom?”

Silence.

She pulled the sheet back. Her mother's face looked peaceful. Too peaceful.

The machines that surrounded the bed were all gone. The rhythmic sound that once filled the room now disappeared.

There was only silence. 

Anna collapsed beside the bed.

“No…no…no…” 

She lifted her mother's cold hands to her forehead as she cried.

“You promised…You promised you'd fight.”

But her mother remained silent. 

“Even after I gave up my kidney for you…you'd still do this to me.” Anna thought out loud.

After two hours, Anna left the ward and sat alone in the corridor near her room. She forgot when she left the ward. She even forgot when she even signed the discharge papers. 

Everything went blurry.

A doctor approached her. Tall, gray-haired. 

His expression, carefully neutral.

“Miss Anna,” he said. “How are you?” 

“How do you think I am sir?” she asked with tears in her eyes. 

“No need to feel that way Anna. At least your surgery was successful,” he said. 

“Successful?” The word felt cruel. “Do you realize that my mother is dead?” Anna replied coldly.

The doctor cleared his throat.

“I do Miss Anna, but sometimes complications could cause…”

“Stop.” She didn't want to sound as rude as she did. She just couldn't take it anymore.

“Not now..not ever…just…when can I leave?” Anna asked abruptly.

You're required to remain under observations for a few more days.

“No.” Her voice was firm now.

“I want to leave today.” 

The doctor hesitated before nodding. “Very well.” 

He handed her a small envelope.

“Your medical records.” Anna took it without looking. Inside was the proof of what she had done.

She had given up a kidney for her mother and she still died.

After a week, Anna sat on the chair in the balcony of her apartment. She kept looking at passers-by as they walked past her house. When she became tired, she went into the house.

Her mother's chair by the window was empty. Even the sweater her mother was knitting was yet to be finished. 

And the teacup her mother left on the stool by the fireplace was still in that same position. Anna didn't have the mind to move it because she felt moving it meant that she was over her mother's death. She wasn't over it yet.

Her mother was all she had. Now she was gone, she felt lonely.

She rubbed her chest close to her breasts.

She noticed two scars: one on her chest and the other on the lower side of her abdomen. She didn't understand why they were two scars, but she didn't think much about it. It hurt her as she rubbed them.

But lately the pain has been…different.

Stranger. Not sharp. Not dull.

Just…wrong. Like something in her chest didn't belong there.

She felt indifferent about it. It was probably normal. People who donate their kidneys often experience post surgery discomfort. That's what the doctors had said after all.

“But still…” she placed her hand against her chest.

Her heartbeat felt odd.. it was too steady…too precise. Almost like it was mechanical. Anna frowned.

She had studied enough biology to know that a normal heart beat felt like…”lub-dub…lub-dub”

This felt different like…”whirr…click…whirr.” Her breath caught. Did she imagine that?

She pressed her palm harder against her chest. 

Nothing. Just silence.

“Get a grip,” she muttered to herself. Her body had been through surgery. “Of course things would feel strange.” She needed fresh air so she went for a walk.

The street outside buzzed with life. Cars honked. People rushed past. Street vendors shouted. Everything in the city went on normally like nothing had happened. 

Anna walked slowly across the sidewalk trying to clear her mind from what she's been experiencing. But halfway down the street, her chest tightened. Her breath caught and for a second, everything went black. 

Anna stumbled. Luckily enough, a passerby grabbed her arm.

“Are you okay?” 

She blinked as she tried to stabilize herself.

“Of course,” she said. But she wasn't. 

Her chest felt like it had just skipped.

Like something inside her had paused before starting again.

Whirr…click…whirr…

Her eyes widened…that sound again…not in her ears but inside her….inside her chest.

The stranger looked concerned. “You should see a doctor.”

Anna forced a smile. “I'm okay.” She continued walking but the uneasy feeling refused to leave.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

Across the city, inside a private hospital suite, another patient was waking up.

Adrian Wolfe opened his eyes slowly. The ceiling lights blurred above him. Machines beeped steadily beside his bed. 

He breathed in deeply. 

 In months,he hadn't had this type of relief. He was used to the pain in his chest anytime he breathed in and for the first time in months breathing didn't hurt. His heart beat strongly inside his chest. Powerfully…like it had been reborn.

A doctor stepped forward. 

“Mr. Wolfe,” he said with relief.

“Welcome back.”

Adrian frowned slightly.

“How long was I out?” Adrian asked

“Sixteen hours.” 

He sat up slowly. 

His chest felt… strange. Not painful…just unfamiliar. Almost like the rhythm beating inside him belonged to someone else. 

The doctor smiled.

“The transplant was indeed successful.” Adrian nodded slowly. He should have felt grateful. Relieved . Instead, a weird feeling settled deep inside him. Something he couldn't explain. He felt sad for no reason 

Sharp...Unwelcome. 

It looked like he was carrying someone else's pain.

Adrian pressed his hand against his chest. 

“Strange,” he murmured. 

The doctor tilted his head. “Is something wrong?”  

“No.” Adrian replied But he had the feeling that somewhere…something of value had been lost. 

Back on the street, Anna stopped walking. The strange rhythm in her chest returned. This time, it came back stronger. 

Whirr…click…whirr…click.

Her breath hitched. This wasn't normal. 

“Kidney donors didn't hear machines in their chest.” She said as her chest pounded with fear. 

“What did they do to me?” She whispered.