Chapter 3 - Something Missing

Mourning someone can make time look like a doodle.

Some days feel long and heavy, like the clock has stopped.

Other days pass so fast that Anna barely notices them.

Three weeks had passed since the surgery.

Three weeks since her mother died.

But Anna felt stuck on that day.She saw the uncompleted scarf her mother was knitting before she had gotten sick.

“You didn't keep to your promise…how could you mom?.” She said as tears rolled down her cheeks

Her mother left the needles and pins stick in the soft yarn.

Anna touched the wool mildly.

She could not bring herself to move it.

Silence echoed in the apartment. No humming from the kitchen. The radio that once played country music was no more. No voice calling her name from the other room.

Just silence.

For a second, she thought she heard someone moving in the hallway, but nothing was there.

Her chest hurt again.

Anna placed her hand over her chest with despair.

The pain had been coming and going for days now.

At first she thought it was normal. She had surgery after all. The doctors said her body would heal with time.

But this pain felt different.

It was not sharp like a cut. It felt deeper. It felt strange. It felt like something was vibrating under her ribs.

She moved around on the couch with an attempt to ignore it.

Then it happened again.

A faint sound.

Whirr….click….whirr

“Oh my goodness…” Anna said while she pressed her hand harder against her chest.

Her heartbeat felt strange.

Too steady…too perfect.

Almost like a machine instead of a heart.

She sat still and waited.

Nothing happened.

The strange rhythm disappeared.

Anna slowly breathed out.

"Calm down girl…You are just tired," she told herself quietly.

The past weeks have been hard. She couldn't sleep. She had cried to the extent that there were no tears left.

Anyone would feel strange after going through a loss like that.

Still, she was really not at ease.

She went to get a glass of water from the kitchen.

Halfway through the glass the feeling came back.Stronger this time.

Whirr…click…whirr

The glass slipped a little in her hand.

Her chest tightened.

"What's all these?" she said out of contempt.

She began catching her breath.

With the way her body was responding, she thought she might faint.The feeling stopped again like before.

Anna slowly placed the glass on the kitchen slab.

Something isn't right.

“I must leave the house today.” She murmured to herself.

Staying in the house everyday was starting to feel too difficult.

People were everywhere in the street. Cars honking here and there. People talked and laughed as they moved around their daily businesses.

Anna walked without thinking about where she was going.

While she was going she saw a small bakery that her mother loved.

Immediately, the smell of fresh bread hit her nostrils. She remembered those times when her mother always made them stop there on Sundays.

"Fresh bread makes everything better," she would say.

Anna walked inside the bakery. She had some money with her at that point. So she bought some bread.

She wanted to move back home, then she remembered, there was no one waiting for her at home anymore.

She continued walking.

The sky was already turning gray when the strange feeling came back again.

This time it was stronger than before.

The pain came in as minor swings then as sudden outbursts.

Whirr….click…whirr

Anna stopped walking.

Her breath caught.

She pressed her hand against her chest again.

The feeling was very painful. And it felt very wrong.

Her heart should not sound like that.

“Hearts don't sound like machines…do they or am I just hearing things?” she asked herself.

She leaned against a streetlight in order to get a hold of herself.

A woman walking past looked at her with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," Anna said quickly.

She forced a grin.

"I am fine."

The woman looked in disbelief but kept walking.

Anna waited until the “not so strange noise” faded again.

Then she pushed herself away from the pole and continued walking.

But now the uncomfortable feeling inside her had grown into something stronger.

She became afraid.

The noise worried her so much that she could not sleep that night.

She just lay on her bed and kept staring at the ceiling.

The strange sounds kept replaying over and over again in her head.

She turned onto her side.

The scar from the surgery pulled slightly.

Her fingers traced the line of the scar on her chest without thinking.

A thought slowly formed in her mind. “Maybe something had gone wrong during the surgery…yes…That must be the reason.”

But the strange sound still echoed in her memory.

Whirr…click…whirr..

Anna sat up quickly.

Her heart began beating faster.

It was no longer painful this time around …it just didn't sound normal.

She stood up from the bed and walked into the bathroom.

Her tired face appeared on the mirror when she turned the lights on.

She already had those black circles that appeared under one's eyes if they didn't have enough sleep.

She appeared a lot older than she was.

Anna raised her shirt up a little and looked at the scars.

It didn't look weird at all.

The skin was healing well.

It didn't look like there was any problem, but she felt that looks could be deceptive.

She pressed her hand over the scar on her chest again.

For a few seconds, she didn't hear any sound.

Suddenly,the sound came back.

Whirr…click…whirr

Her eyes widened.

She knew she had heard it clearly this time.

It was not her imagination.

It was coming from inside her chest.

Her heart should not sound like that.

She became really scared.

"What's wrong with me?" she whispered.

Back in the private hospital room, Adrian Wolfe woke up from sleep.

He rarely had dreams.

His life had always been planned and never free.

But tonight something felt different.

Random images appeared in his mind.

Bright hospital lights.

A voice he did not know.

Soft and far away.

He woke up immediately, moved his hand onto his chest and felt his heartbeat. It was strong.

He hadn't felt healthier than he just did.

Still, the rhythm felt stranger as ever.

Almost like it belonged to someone else.

Adrian frowned slightly.

Then he got out of bed slowly.

“It’s probably normal,” he said as he encouraged himself.

He just felt really sad for no reas

on at all.

Meanwhile at Anna’s apartment, Anna finally fell asleep.

And even while she dreamt she still heard that strange sound.

Whirr…. click….whirr

Her heart was gone…

What was beating in her chest?