CHAPTER TWO: LIVING THE NIGHTMARE

Alisa jumped off her bed to see John face down on the floor, a pool of blood quickly forming around his head. Her hands covered her mouth in horror as she tried to scream, but no sound came out. Her head spun and her vision went blank for a while before she moved to take action.

She rushed to him and painstakingly turned him around, putting his head on her lap and trying to wake him up or even check if he was still alive.

People slumped and died, didn’t they?

She was scared and her hands shook as she unbuttoned his shirt and felt for his heartbeat, but her hands shook so much that she couldn’t steady herself enough to feel it. She put her finger under his nose to feel for his breath, but she felt nothing, and then she managed to scream.

She put him down on the floor again and searched for her phone to call the only person in the world she knew to meet for help, her friend Stacy who thankfully, was a nurse. Alisa screamed some more as the phone rang and tears ran down her cheeks, every inch of her quivering with fear.

“He-he-he-he-hello Stacy,” She stammered as soon as the call got picked up.

“What’s wrong Alisa?” Stacy asked, her voice alarmed.

“It’s J-J-J-J-J-John.”

“What’s wrong?”

But Alisa could not bring herself to reply. She couldn’t breathe and her heart beat wildly in her chest, so much that she felt like she would throw up.

“Is it John?”

“Yes!”

“Don’t panic, Alisa. I’ll call an ambulance from the hospital I work at and be there soon, okay?”

Alisa kept mute and let her phone fall to the ground as her eyes stared at John, wide open with shock. She looked at her hands and they were stained with his blood.

She couldn’t even think. She was horrified.

He hadn’t even left her room.

She could only sit on the floor with his head resting on her thigh and cry, tapping his cheeks lightly, hoping he would wake up and tell her he was fine.

After a few minutes which felt like forever, the front door was thrown open and Stacy rushed in.

“Oh, my God!” Stacy gasped. “What happened to him?”

“I-I-I-I-I-I don’t even know. He was just leaving my room and he called my name and just fell to the floor.” Alisa cried. “I’m really scared Stacy. I’m scared.”

Stacy knelt and took John from her friend and examined him, seeing that Alisa was in no position to be in control here.

“He has hit his head. Get me a First Aid box quickly.” Stacy instructed, wearing a pair of medicated gloves she always carried around with her.

Alisa dashed into one of the rooms, and within seconds she was back with it. Stacy placed a bandage on the wound and proceeded to give him CPR. And soon, he was gasping for air. Stacy let his head rest between her knees, speaking to him gently before turning to Alisa.

“He’s fine. It’s just a single wound that bled so much. I’ve called an ambulance to get us to the hospital for some scanning in case of internal injuries, and for now, all you need to do is to come here and hold his legs at an angle.” Stacy said, trying to relax her friend.

Alisa’s hands gripped her chest as she tried to breathe and she then went to do as Stacy said.

What if she had lost her brother?

“Stacy?” John groaned.

“Shhhhhhh.” She hushed him. “Just lie still and relax in the best way you can.”.

The ambulance sirens sounded in the distance a few minutes later, and soon the vehicle was in front of the small house. John was helped in, while Stacy followed with Alisa, taking off her bloodstained gloves and holding Alisa’s shoulders. Her friend was still suffering shock from seeing her brother in such a condition.

“He’s fine, Alisa. He’s fine.” Stacy whispered, trying to offer some more comfort. But she wasn’t sure of her own words too, and her own voice terrified her. She turned around and looked outside the window into the darkness as the ambulance sped past, trying to think about something else.

At the hospital, John was wheeled into a ward while Stacy and Alisa sat in the waiting room, the latter still visibly shaken. Her eyes were swollen from crying so much, her bloodstained hands locked each other, and an antiseptic smell she had long associated with hospitals filled her nostrils.

Her eyes were overwhelmed with all the white she was seeing—White light, white walls, white uniforms of the hospital staff walking by, and now and again an occasional shade of blue caught her attention.

Stacy sat with her hands on Alisa’s shoulders, her eyes dry but her heart thumping hard in her chest. She then took Alisa to go get her hands washed, and they then came back to where they had been.

Soon, a nurse Stacy knew came to call them, and Stacy managed a smile at her as they went into the Doctor’s office. He was an old balding man, his bespectacled eyes fixed on them as they both sat down and watched him. He was wearing a white doctor’s uniform too.

“Miss Alisa Grant?” he asked, his eyes on a paper in front of him.

“Ye-ye-ye-yes Sir. That’s me.” Alisa stammered her reply.

The wall clock in his office ticked. It was 2 AM.

The doctor leaned forward, his hands clasped together in front of him, a fatherly smile on his face.

“You are a brave young woman, I can see. Don’t panic. Your brother is fine and just fainted. The blood came from a cut he sustained after the fall.”

Alisa exhaled deeply and closed her eyes, more tears falling out.

The doctor smiled at Stacy. She knew him too, and she knew when he smiled like that. There was more that he wanted to tell Alisa, but he wanted her to relax first, to ease her with his smile.

Stacy’s heart raced wildly for her friend.

Alisa leaned back in the chair, closed her eyes and took in the coolness of the doctor’s office. She wiped her eyes and sat back up again.

“Thank you, Doctor,” she appreciated, a beautiful smile on her face despite all that was tearing her up. “Thank you so much for—”

“No dear. That’s not all of the situation yet. There’s more.”

Stacy’s heart beat even more wildly now, her eyes on the doctor. She had known the doctor was keeping something away. Alisa just gave the doctor a blank look as he looked some more at the papers in front of him.

“He did not faint for no reason, however, my dear.”

“What are you saying, doctor?” Stacy and Alisa asked in unison.

His face suddenly looked like he had bile in his mouth.

“He fainted because his kidneys have failed. The both of them.”

“Oh, my God!” They both gasped.

It was getting harder to take in.

Alisa did not know much about failed kidneys, but it had always sounded dangerous to her, and Stacy was biting her index finger.

She only did that when a situation was really bad.

“His kidneys have failed and he will require dialysis, or better, a kidney transplant. For now, he is fine and can carry through. But soon, we might not be able to say so with all certainty. The dialysis can be done for free, and you will only have a few bills to cover, but the transplant is always a better solution.”

Alisa felt weak, so weak that she began to feel numb. She felt like she was losing control over a lot. She wanted to do so many things at once. To puke, to faint, to let the ground open up and swallow her whole, but none of them was happening, at least not yet.

“How much will a transplant cost, Doctor?” She heard Stacy’s voice echo as though from a distance, her head feeling light.

“About $500,000 approximately.” He replied, his voice sounding in the same echo.

And then a gentle darkness covered Alisa’s eyes.

Her eyes opened to Stacy and the Doctor looking down at her, worried looks on their faces. They exclaimed as she looked up at them, and the doctor used a file on his table as a makeshift fan for her.

She inhaled deeply, everything feeling new to her, not knowing for how long she had been out and then she suddenly remembered the doctor’s words again.

She couldn’t even afford food to eat. Where was she to get her brother money for a kidney transplant?

The doctor went to a corner of his office, opened a small fridge she hadn’t noticed before, and then took out some bottled water for her.

She accepted it gratefully but drank very little as Stacy stood behind her, hands gently massaging her shoulders and murmuring something that vaguely sounded like “We will find a solution. It’s going to be alright.”

“I have been a medical practitioner for twenty-five years, and I can say I have seen miracles in cases just like your brother’s.” The bespectacled doctor assured, his hand extending a piece of paper.

“Here is a prescription for yourself, to ease all the stress you’ve gone through tonight, and for your brother too. I have requested that the hospital’s pharmacy give them to you for free, so all you need to do is take them and go see your brother now. He is in a more stable condition, and hopefully, he will be fine.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Alisa said, taking the piece of paper and feeling better after the water. Stacy helped her up, and together they left the doctor’s office.

They both went to the ward that John lay in, and as they stood at the door, Alisa stopped and took a deep breath, and then joined her hands together.

Stacy looked at her, and Alisa could not express how much she appreciated Stacy for being here to support her just when it felt like she was losing it all. She could only reach out and hold her friend’s hand for some support as they walked in.

Inside, there were three hospital beds. Two of the beds sat empty, blue covers neatly spread across them and John lay in the third, his eyes shut in deep sleep.

There was a white bandage around his head, and a red spot stood out on it like light from a lighthouse. A drip was connected to his wrist, and he was covered in one of the blue covers too.

“He’s asleep, and fine for now,” Stacy whispered.

Alisa nodded, her hands covering her mouth, her eyes stinging as they watered. She went and pulled a seat next to his bed and sat, her hands running through his hair.

“I will do anything to save you, John. I lost our parents, and I can’t lose you.” Alisa whispered and then rested her head on his hand that had no drip, letting her tears run freely. And behind her, the ever-supportive Stacy rested her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Alisa spent the rest of that night watching over her brother like a guardian angel, even after Stacy had gone back home, and when his eyes finally blinked open, a big smile broke out on his face. Someone said he looked like her when he smiled, and she understood it right then.

"I don't know what happened, Alisa." he started, trying to sit up in the bed. "I just fainted. Next thing I saw was Stacy, and now I am in the hospital. is everything okay?"

Alisa was quiet. She did not know how to tell her brother.

"You will be fine, John. Your kidneys have failed, but with the doctor's treatment, you will be fine." Stacy's voice spoke from the ward's door.

"Failed kidneys?" John asked.

"Yes." Stacy said, coming to his bedside and standing behind Alisa, who just sat there and buried her face in her palms.

The ward went totally silent, no one uttering a word for a while.

"If you say I'll be okay, then I will be okay." John said.

If only they could feel the pain in his heart.

He felt like he was going to die.

The rest of that day, and even the next day went in a daze for Alisa. She spent her nights at John's side in the hospital, received several calls offering their comforts, and even got an indefinite leave from work, but overall she felt empty.

She was scared to lose her brother.

She found the apples she had previously picked that evening, and finally made the pie she had picked them for, which would have been eaten here at home if that horrible night never happened.

Was that what her parents had wanted to alert her to?

Stacy divided her time between her work and John, and Alisa made the pie for them both before Stacy made her go back home to sleep that night, promising to take care of John.

And for the first time since John fainted, Alisa slept at home.

She lay in bed, sobbing like she had been doing for the past two nights, a pain that felt like a big black hole in her chest sucking her in. John was still in the hospital, and she had spent every penny she previously saved on getting food for him.

She lay down thinking of how she would find some money, and once her brain exhausted every possible idea she had, she let her tears flow again, soaking her pillow.

It was night, and the full moon was bright, the silver light pouring through the windows of her bedroom again. She sat up in bed, holding her knees to herself when her phone rang.

She looked at the caller and saw that it was Stacy.

“Hello?” Stacy’s voice came through as soon as she picked up the call.

“I’m here,” Alisa responded, blinking more tears from her eyes and sniffing.

“I hope you’re okay?”

“I’ll pull through it, Stacy. I know I will.”

Silence came between them, each waiting to hear what the other would say.

“I don’t know Alisa. I don’t know if you will find this offer useful.” Stacy moaned.

“What is it?”

Stacy told her everything about an offer she had seen. It wasn't something Alisa could do, but desperation was the Devil.

“I will think about it, Stacy. You’re the best.”

She tried to imagine Stacy's expression as the call got disconnected, and then she turned to look at the moon.

It was peaceful and beautiful, its face like a woman’s, seeming to guide her ever so gently as she tried to listen to her heart. Her heart had always guided her when she was at a standstill, always shown her the way, always illuminated her darkness, and she felt like she could trust it right now too.

If only she could.

She suddenly felt something, a good feeling she could not explain, something that felt like a mix of joy and peace, something like seeing heaven. The feeling coursed through her body, filling her with positivity and making her smile, removing the pain she felt in her chest, and somewhere far away a wolf howled in a tone that sounded very sad and lonely to her, so sad that it echoed her sadness while still somehow taking that sadness out of her, the sound guiding her out of her darkness.

She remembered the black wolf she had seen at the pond.

And suddenly, Alisa knew what to do.