2 - Absent

Melissa’s POV

“We tried to revive her, but she’s unresponsive,” the voice from the other line says. “Allie has fallen into a coma.”

She keeps speaking, but I can’t hear anything anymore.

The sky and the ground are closing in on me, it seems. My body reacts before my mind can process it. I just go back to the car, speeding to the hospital.

I rush to Allie’s room, the faces and voices of everyone around me blurring together. But when I finally arrive, I notice that she’s not in her bed. Doctor Samuels, the one in charge of Allie’s care, finds me along with two nurses.

“Mrs. Morgan,” he says, putting a hand on my shoulder to steady me. Hearing Andrew’s last name referring to me feels strange, even more now. “I’m so sorry. Allie’s condition rapidly worsened over the past hour. We were prepping for surgery but the donor withdrew.”

All the things I feared just happened. Tears flow down my cheeks, and the sinking, screaming pain in my heart just reaches its crescendo.

I fall to my knees in front of the doctor, and I hold onto the hem of his coat. 

I’ve never been one to beg, but I find myself staring up at him as though he’s god himself. 

“You’re the only one who can save my daughter,” I sob. “Please, I need you to everything you can. Allie… she’s the only one I have….”

“Mrs. Morgan.” The doctor’s voice deepens with shock and sympathy as he hurriedly helps me up. His nurses guide me back to my feet, but I notice that none of them are looking me in the eye. “I’m going to do what I can, alright?”

It’s supposed to be comforting, but the helplessness in his tone is hard to miss.

I don’t even know what to say now. The nurses pull up a chair for me, basically forcing me to sit. I look at the empty bed, and the doctor catches me looking.

“She was looking for her dad, right before she passed out,” he says in a low voice. “Forgive me for asking, but why isn’t her father here?”

Picturing Allie crying for her dad right before the bad things got ahold of her fills me with sadness. But more than anything, it makes me livid.

A low, bitter laugh bubbles out of my lips. “I stopped asking where he was a long time ago. There’s only one place he spends all his time in, and that’s the house he bought for his first love and their illegitimate daughter. It’s actually their daughter’s birthday today.”

The nurse seems unable to help herself. She gasps. “While his other daughter is in the hospital? The poor kid could….”

Die. She stopped herself before she could say it, but I know that’s what she meant. Allie could die.

Andrew just doesn’t care.

“We’re going to check on Allie,” Doctor Samuels says. “And we’re going to keep you updated. Just stay here for now.”

I can’t even nod. They just leave, and I sit there staring out at the door. I don’t know how long I stay there like that. All I know is that it’s probably long enough for me to imagine things, because right now, I think I might be staring at Andrew heading to the emergency room….

I blink rapidly, shaking off my daze. Suddenly, I realize that it is indeed Andrew.

Jumping to my feet, I follow him. I block his way, my pulse racing. “You’re finally here! I was trying to tell you—”

Andrew recoils from me, his eyes wide with shock. “What the hell, Melissa? Is this what it has come to? Are you stalking me now?”

“What?” I shake my head in confusion. “You know very well that….”

I trail off when I see Eleanor and Lottie lagging behind him. Eleanor looks up and sees me, but then a nurse comes and ushers them into a different room.

“What are they doing here?” I face Andrew coldly.

“Lottie cut her finger when she was slicing her cake,” he explains hastily. 

“Allie’s surgery has gone wrong,” I tell him. “She’s in grave danger right now, Andrew.”

To my utter surprise, he rolls his eyes. “Jesus, it doesn’t end with you, does it? I was here when the surgery was done. She was fine. That was last week, Melissa. She even asked me to take her to the amusement park, remember? Why do you have to make up stories?”

“Stories?” A derisive laugh escapes my lips. “You think I’m inventing this?”

“Yes,” Andrew declares flatly. “Every time you see me, you just make up these elaborate stories about Allie needing this and that. Now, this is serious. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why you have to use her cancer as an excuse! What if your lies suddenly come true?”

I step back, stunned. If I wasn’t personally hearing this from him right now, I would think this is a cruel joke.

Andrew is still basing his ideas about Allie from last week. Which is the last time he’s seen her. 

He has no idea that ever since he made that stupid promise to take her to the amusement park, Allie pushed herself to walk and dress herself even though she’s not supposed to. He doesn’t know how many times Allie escaped her room to stand outside in the cold waiting for him to show up. 

Most importantly, he doesn’t know that his absence, his neglect, might be the real reason why Allie’s life is on the line right now.

But how on earth am I going to explain this to him when he doesn’t believe me?

To him, I’m just a desperate nut job who can deal any cards just to get his attention. Someone who can weaponize my fragile daughter just to get him to show himself.

“You done?” Andrew coaxes. “Because if you are, then I will attend to my daughter who is actually hurt, not the one her mother lies about.”

He makes a move to leave, but I grab his arm and stop him.

“Allie is your daughter too.” My voice is soft, defeated. “Why is it that when something happens to Lottie, no matter how small it is, you’re ready to drop everything? How come Allie never gets the same treatment?”

I’ve done it this time. Andrew is angry. 

“You know very well how Allie came to be,” Andrew spits out, every syllable slick with rage. “Don’t act like you forgot.”

“I remember,” I breathe out. 

Andrew forces my hand off him, making me stagger back. He leans close, making sure that I can’t look at anything else but the blaze of rage in his eyes as he says the words I always suspected but never wanted to hear.

“I never wanted you or Allie.”