[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter One

Lauren was standing in the kitchen, staring down at the tea she'd just steeped, tears falling across her cheeks. She leaned against the counter, bracing her weight with her splayed palms and closed her eyes. The house was silent except for the sounds of Igby and Nacho panting as they lay on the cool tile. Neither of them understood Nick's absence; although Lauren could've sworn Nacho had been looking for him under the bed the first night he'd been gone. At this point though, nearly a month had gone by, and they'd both stopped anxiously waiting for him. A part of her wondered if either of them remembered Nick at all.

She carried her tea into the living room and lowered herself into the sofa, curling her legs under herself. Igby jumped up next to her and licked her knee absently before twisting into a ball beside her and Nacho stretched out on the carpet in front of her. The TV flickered through the dark room, casting a blue-green hue on the walls and turning Lauren's face pale. The sound was off, and the silence permeated the room, so thick that it was a bit like being underwater. Lauren clutched the mug to her mouth and took a sip of the tea.

A knock on the door distrupted the silence. Nacho leaped to his feet and bolted out of the living room barking, his feet scrabbling across the wood floor all the way to the front door. Igby looked up, his ears perked, and Lauren struggled to her feet out of the couch, leaving the tea on the coffee table. Igby shuffled to look over the arm of the sofa towards the foyer. Nacho was bouncing off the front door when Lauren got there and she hoisted him up to her hip, which was more of a feat than it sounds since he'd put on a considerable amount of weight since they'd gotten him almost two years ago now. She peeked out the window beside the door to see who was on the step before swinging it open.

"Rochelle?" Lauren's voice registered surprise as she stepped back so that Rochelle could come into the house. Tears were staining Ro's face, and she looked at Lauren with an air of misery about her. "What's the matter, sweetie?" Lauren bent down and dropped Nacho to the floor after closing the door.

Ro looked at Lauren and she burst into tears, "I think AJ and I are getting a divorce."

"What? Why?" Nacho stood a couple feet away, surveying the situation, unsure if he wanted to trust that Rochelle wasn't a burgler.

"I've been trying so hard to deal with it," Ro started, "I know it's because he's worried about Nick, but he's been so sharp-mouthed toward me, and he's been acting so strangely..." she hesitated. "He went out drinking tonight with some guys I've never met before. I went to get him to make him come home and he cussed me out. He treated me like shit." Her voice broke.

Lauren scowled. "He's drinking?" she asked.

Rochelle nodded.

Lauren ran a hand through her hair, "Nick would be so pissed."

"Don't tell him," Rochelle requested.

Lauren waved Rochelle into the living room. "Do you want tea?"

"No," Ro replied. "I just didn't want to go home to that big house all alone. I don't want to be there when he gets home and has his stupid morning hangover. I don't want to hear him telling me he's sorry." They settled onto the sofa and Igby lay back down between them. Nacho hovered uneasily a few feet away, studying Rochelle still. The TV flickered over ads for knives and mixers. "How is Nick anyways?" Rochelle asked.

Lauren sighed, "Same as he was yesterday and the day before..." she picked up her tea and stared into it. "There's no donors yet."

Rochelle stared at Igby for a long moment as he curled his nose under his back paw. "I'm sorry," she said. "I wish things were going better for us," she added. "For all of us."

"Me, too," Lauren answered.

Lauren's cell phone suddenly broke the silence, making both girls jump in surprise. Igby groaned and got off the sofa and stretched out in the space under the coffee table. Nacho was up and alert again, ears twitching, tiny ruff...ruff barks coming out of the back of his throat as he looked around for the perp. Lauren grabbed the phone and an expression of horror slipped onto her face. "It's the hospital," she trembled. She shoved the phone at Rochelle. Phone calls from the hospital at two o'clock in the morning were not friendly how-do-you-do calls. Lauren's hand shook, "I can't. I can't." Her voice broke and her eyes flooded.

Rochelle took the phone and answered it. "Hello?"

In the second between the hello and the moment when there came a response, Rochelle took a quick inventory of the scene, burning it into her memory. This, she thought, was a night that would never die away from her memory. It would haunt her forever.

"Rochelle?"

She let out a breath of relief, a quick reprimand to her mind for the morbid thought she'd had in the second, and held the phone to Lauren. "It's Nick," she said.

Lauren's fingers grabbed for the phone and she gasped out, "Nickolas, you scared the bejesus out of me."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. His voice was raspy, quiet.

As much as she hated how weakened and pained he sounded, Lauren couldn't help but be comforted at the sound of his voice, however different it sounded. "It's okay. I'm glad you called. Are you okay? What's the matter?"

Nick's breath carried through the phone line. Lauren closed her eyes. Last time he'd called her during the night, he'd been getting worse. "Dr. Carroll was just here," he said quietly.

"And?" Lauren felt goosebumps along her arms.

"And she said there's -- there's a possible donor."

Lauren's heart stopped with excitement. She opened her eyes again -wide- and met Rochelle's eyes, her jaw dropping. "Really?" she gasped.

"Yeah," Nick replied, "They're working on contacting his family but if they sign the form I could have a new heart by tomorrow."

"Oh my God," Lauren's hands shook with glee. The nightmare was finally going to be finished. She could scarcely believe it. "I'm so happy," she said thickly.

"Can you come down?" he asked. "Please?"

"I'm on my way." Lauren leaped up off the couch, kicking into her sneakers. Rochelle followed suit and the two girls ran across the yard to Rochelle's car. It smelled like AJ and Rochelle made a mental note that, if they were really getting a divorce, she'd have to buy air fresheners to get that scent out of there.

Lauren's voice shook. "Can you believe it?" she asked.

"It's a miracle," Rochelle agreed, backing down the driveway to the street.

Lauren wrung her hands nervously as the headlights pierced the darkness before them. She glanced at Rochelle. "Is it wrong -- am I going to Hell because I prayed for someone else to die so that Nick could live?" she asked.

Rochelle shook her head.

"I feel a little guilty, being so happy when somewhere there's someone that's lost their world," Lauren commented.

Rochelle took a deep breath, "Everything happens for a reason."

"Everything?" Lauren asked.

Rochelle nodded. "Everything. It's like the farmers. The one that needed rain because his crops were too dry and the one that couldn't have rain or else his crops would drown and they both have circumstances in their lives that mean the crops are terribly important and they're both praying and God can't answer one without destroying the other," she shrugged. "It's like that."

Lauren drew a deep breath. "Where'd you hear that one?"

"Brian told Alex it once," Rochelle shrugged.

The car was headed down the freeway. The sky glowed from the city's lights. In Rochelle's purse, her phone rang. She dug it out with one hand and shoved it into Lauren's palm. "Here," she said, "It's probably my son of a bitch husband calling to apologize," she said, rolling her eyes.

Lauren glanced at the caller ID.

"It's the hopsital," she said.

"Maybe it's Nick. He knows I'm with you," Rochelle suggested.

"Oh that's true," Lauren replied, clicking the answer button. "Hey sweetie," she said as a greeting. She pictured Nick's confused face pulling the phone back to look at what numbered he dialed.

"Hello, Mrs. McLean?"

"Uh --" Lauren pulled the phone back, confused as she'd imagined Nick being the moment before. "No, no. Wait. Who is this?"

"My name is Dr. Elizabeth Carroll. Is Mrs. McLean available?"

"She's driving," Lauren said.

"I need to speak to her," Dr. Elizabeth Carroll responded.

Lauren felt her blood turn to ice. She looked at Rochelle, who was sneaking glances at her between glances back at the road. "Pull over," she said.