Heartless

• Abigail Campbell, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2016

Rue slammed her door, as tears filled her eyes. Did she do this just to spite her? Why did she go out of her way to ruin her life? That was her sister, Amanda - cold, annoying, heartless Amanda. She always took her parents’ side; she was supposed to be her sister, not her mother.
Rue angrily punched her pillow, her vision blurring. As she choked out tears her breaths became short and her chest tightened, the room spun as she was sucked into darkness.
She couldn’t move, she couldn’t open her eyes or speak, but she could hear. The loud beeps and bustling of people around her, her mother’s hoarse wails. Rue faded in and out of consciousness for a month. She had a deadly heart condition and a rare blood type. She’d been on the waiting list for a heart transplant for a year, but her heart couldn’t wait any longer.
The next time she came to she could barely open her eyes. Her mother was being assisted by a nurse. Her face was empty with hollow eyes and cheeks, she looked like a ghost, like she hadn’t slept or eaten in weeks. Her father’s troubled eyes were glazed over, but looking directly at her.
“We have a donor, you have to make it.”
Was that why her mother was sad? The life-threatening surgery? It was die in surgery, or of heart failure. Surely she knew that?
Rue felt the bed moving, saw the lights flickering and heard her father’s reassuring words next to her. Amanda was nowhere in sight - that was her sister cold, annoying, heartless Amanda… did she even care?
When she woke up she tried sitting up but felt the earth moving and laid back down. Her mother gripped her hand tightly and Rue wondered how long she’d been there. Her father was on the phone to someone. Amanda still wasn’t there. Did she even love her?
“Where’s Amanda?” her voice cracked, like she wasn’t used to it. Her mother refused to look at her, her eyes watering.
“She made the choice by herself, since she’s over 21, we couldn’t stop her…” her mother mumbled, but who was she trying to convince? Herself or Rue?
“Where is she?” Rue started panicking, her new heart thumping like a drum. Her heart, her blood, Amanda, it hit Rue like a crashing wave as her world crumbled around her and disappeared in blackness. She felt herself being dragged down deeper and deeper into the black water. The heart banged against its foreign cage, her parents eyes were filled with pity, sadness and regret.
Regret, Rue - her name and heart were a constant reminder.
The last thing she’d called her sister was heartless…