Saving Someone Else's Life

Emily’s POV

I staggered back, the room tilting for a few seconds. When the dizziness faded, I didn't hesitate. I picked up my phone and fled the hall.

Students gasped behind me, but I didn’t look back. I grabbed the first cab I saw the moment I got outside.

“Miss, you haven’t paid me!” the driver yelled as I jumped out of the cab in front of the hospital.

Goddess.

I sprinted back, dropped my purse on the passenger seat. The cash inside wouldn’t cover the full transport fare, but he could sell the bag and get his money.

“Hey miss! miss!” He called after me, but I was already bolting into the hospital.

This was a hospital in the human territory. My mother’s condition had worsened so much that even the pack hospital couldn't handle it anymore.

I rushed to my mother’s ward but she wasn’t there. My heart did a double kick.

Where was she?

I didn't wait, I dashed straight to the doctor’s office. “Dr. Monroe, where’s my mother? I checked her old ward…sh...she's not there.”

He looked up, calm but serious. “Emily, please… calm down. She’s been moved to the ICU.”

My heart began to pound harder.

“We’re seeing signs of impending brain failure,” he said. “Her brain is swelling fast. And with the way it's increasing, she may reach brain death any moment from now.”

It felt like time paused. Like my world stopped.

“Emily.”

“Y-yes doc…doctor.”

“So sorry it turned out this way. We did our best.”

My chest tightened. With a cracked voice, I asked. “No…hope...at all?”

He hesitated before replying quietly. “There's a slight chance…but it’s not one I’d bet on.”

The tears that had been gathering in my eyes eventually began to fall.

He picked up a file from his desk. “But… just in case, I already spoke with your mom.” He looked at me over the rim of his glasses. “There’s a young patient in urgent need of an organ transplant. His family is willing to pay any amount.”

He paused. “Your mother asked us to seek your consent.”

I sniffed and tried to steady my voice. “She's not freaking donating anything. She'll live.” I didn’t mean to raise my voice but I just did.

Dr. Monroe let out a quick breath. “Alright. You should come see her now.”

He stood up, and I followed him. I stepped into the ICU like someone walking to her own death.

“Mother…” The word fell from my lips as I broke into tears again at the sight of her.

Her eyes were half open, filled with water that refused to fall. Her cracked lips trembled.

“E… Em… Emmy-sweet…” she whispered.

Dr. Monroe stepped back to give us space.

I gripped her hand with my whole strength like a lifeline, never to let go.

“Mother, please… don’t leave me. Please.”

She smiled faintly, pain in her eyes. “I'm sorry Emily…I'm tired already.”

I was hiccuping between tears, mucus running from my nose. “Don’t… say that… please…I'm begging you.”

“Emmy, they said… my heart and my eyes could save someone. A young man who still has a future.”

“No, Mother… please don’t….”

Her fingers squeezed mine softly. “Please, let them. I'd get to keep seeing the world again. And…my heart can keep beating for you… even if it’s in someone else.”

“No, Mother.” I sobbed harder. “You can't leave me.”

Pum. Pum. Pum. The monitor beside her began to beep.

“What's happening? Doctor!...mother!”

Dr. Monroe quickly moved to her. A nurse faced me. “You need to step out now, miss.”

My heart slammed against my chest, but I obeyed.

I stood outside the door, my whole body trembling. “I promise…I'll do anything. Anything you ask me to do if you save my mother. Just save her.” I clasped my hands together making a desperate plea to the moongoddess. That is if she'd hear.

Moments later, Dr. Monroe came out of the ICU. His face was solemn.

“Doctor…”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Emily.”

A loud cry tore from my throat. My knees buckled, and I collapsed to the floor.

Dr. Monroe crouched beside me gently. “I know this is hard… but we’d like to ask. Would you consider the organ donation before we remove life support? It will save someone else's life.”

I couldn't speak. My chest ached like it has been pierced in multiple places. But I nodded, sobbing. “Go ahead,” I choked out.”

“Alright. We’ll need your written consent. I’ll bring you the paperwork.”

My phone kept buzzing. Linda. Then Sophia, the Ravenwoods’ cleaner. She was my mother’s friend. But I couldn't pick their calls.

A nurse brought the consent form. I signed it with trembling hands.

They needed to take the organs out on time to preserve it. So, I waited outside the operating room, numb, until it was over and they wheeled her body away to the morgue.

Numb and heartbroken, I dragged myself back to the pack. To the Ravenwoods' quarters.

The Ravenwood's mansion was bubbling with Adrian’s birthday. Of course he was their only son. An apparent heir.

“Emmy, I've been calling your phone, you didn't pick up.” Sophia rushed to meet me. Her eyes searching mine desperately. I'd call her when I was rushing to the hospital.

“How's she now?” She asked.

I said nothing. The tears and hiccups answered for me.

“Goddess…” she whispered, covering her mouth as her tears started too.

“Please…don't say anything to the Ravenwoods yet. It's their son’s birthday. Don't want to ruin it.”

She nodded, pulling me into a hug before I pulled away gently and slipped into the small room at the back of the mansion. The one I used to share with my mother.

I slipped under the sheet, switched off the light and played ‘Jealous of the Angels’ by Donna Taggart. I soaked the bed with tears.

At midnight, when it was time to shift, I sat upright. But instead of changing, my body convulsed, as if rejecting something.

Then a searing heat shot through my lower back. Sharp and burning.

I stumbled to the mirror, peeled off my clothes…and gasped.