“Then who would want to hurt you, Henri? And most robbers I know take phones and cash they don’t smash windows and beat defenseless guys up.” Flynn sighed. “It was malicious, everyone knows that much.”
“What does it matter, Flynn?” Henri said, he looked at him. “What does it matter?” His hand dropped to the side like dead weight.
Flynn scratched his head in confusion. “Because now your surgery is postponed because of the idiot who did this to you.” Flynn whacked the side of his bed in agitation. He didn’t want his cousin to be so nice anymore. For once he wanted him to do the right thing.
“Maybe this was meant to happen.” Henri shut his eyes. The machines beeped and hissed again. Flynn shook his head, ready to vomit.
“This wasn’t meant to happen. You were meant to be here. Not here dying because of some jackass that has a problem with you because you’re a better guy for his girlfriend.” Flynn’s jaw flexed in anger. “Don’t do this to us.”
“I don’t have much of a choice.” Henri cracked a smile. “That’s not how it works.”
Flynn raked a hand through his hair. “You’re giving up.”
“I felt something.” Henri opened his eyes. “I felt this presence all around me before I woke up. And I saw her and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.”
Flynn grimaced. “What are you saying, Henri? You died and came back?”
“No, I don’t know.” He sighed. “I’m really tired, Flynn. I need to get some rest.”
Flynn stood, not wanting to leave, but looking at Henri was enough to know he was struggling to carry on their conversation. He placed a hand on his shoulder, his fingers slipping in between Henri and the scratchy hospital pillow. “I broke up with Tori.”
“Finally.” Henri raised his hand trying to meet up with Flynn’s but failed. It dropped back down against the white sheet.
“So, I need to get back in the game and I need my sidekick. You’ve got to get better.” He squeezed his arm and headed out of the room.
Flynn returned to the waiting room where Dr. Wilder sat with his family. She clutched some papers in one hand, she and his mother seemed to be deep in conversation. Flynn took the seat beside his mother.
“So this device…it will help Henri until we can get rid of the infection?”
Dr. Wilder nodded, looking over her chart. “If all goes well, they look to place the device after he has been treated with antibiotics for twenty four hours. This will keep Henri going until we can find another step.”
“Another step?” Flynn questioned. “What about this procedure he was supposed to have?”
“Dr. Nevil doesn’t feel Henri is a good candidate after reading over his medical history.” Flynn’s mother dropped her gaze. She had gotten her hopes up for nothing. Another thing that turned out would never have happened for Henri anyway.
Flynn dropped his head into his hands. “So, now what?”
“Dr. Wilder was telling us about a device that is used when a patient’s condition is severe. This will keep Henri with us until we can get him a donor.” Flynn’s jaw dropped. Janet’s bottom lip quivered and tears filled her eyes. She shook her head, frustrated. “I know, Flynn, don’t remind me.”
Flynn’s muffled sobs escaped his hands. They all knew the same thing. Henri would never accept a heart. He would refuse to be added to the list. The same nightmare as the last time.
Flynn jumped up, ignoring his mother.
“Where is Maven?” The last he had seen she was fast asleep unaware how bad things were getting.
Mrs. Wilder frowned. “I told her to take a walk and get something to eat.”
“What good is hiding the truth from her?” Flynn snapped. “She cares about him. She deserves to know.”
The look on his mother’s face told him he was wrong. He shut his mouth and rushed down the hall pushing open Henri’s hospital door. “You have to agree to the donor list.”
Henri’s eyes opened. He immediately shook his head.
“Don’t say no. Don’t say anything. Henri you have to do this.” Flynn told him again.
Henri closed his eyes, shutting Flynn out. But that didn’t make him go away.
“Think about Maven. Think about all the good times you guys still could have if you go on that list. That’s something worth sticking around for right?” Flynn leaned against the doorway, he didn’t have the strength to sit down beside his dying cousin and beg him to accept the list. “She’s been outside waiting just like the rest of us. She cares about you.”
“Does Maven know yet?” Henri asked.
“No. Her mother sent her off.”
“Be there for her because she’s going to be miserable because of me.”
Flynn pushed off the doorframe. “Fuck you, if you don’t want her miserable then go on the damn list, Henri!”
“She’s going to need someone.”
“She needs you, not me.” Flynn gritted his teeth. “Agree to the device they want to stick in you and I’ll tell her.”
“Flynn.”
Flynn kicked the frame of the door letting out an angry scream, his tennis shoes screeching across the floor of the hospital as he took off.
Henri dropped his head, closing his eyes. He pictured her eyes, blue and calm staring into his. And soon he felt like he was there with her—right beside her.
The machines beeped and whirred.
TAKE IT
HE KNEW SHE WOULDN’T be in the cafeteria. What kind of person wanted to eat at a time like this? It didn’t take much searching to find her sitting outside on one of the benches. She was staring at the water, motionless. Maybe she didn’t know what was going on but he was sure she knew enough. And as much as she cared about Henri she probably felt it just like him in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong. That something bad was going to happen.
He didn’t move either. He stood there waiting for her to see him. This wasn’t the kind of news he wanted to tell anyone.
Finally when it didn’t seem she was going to look, she did, and it was time.
Flynn moved fast, before he knew what he was doing his feet took on a mind of their own, his dark eyebrows lifted causing a slight horizontal row of creases in his forehead. “Hey…how are you?” The creases smoothed. Flynn stuffed his hands in his pockets, dropping his gaze to the ground taking the spot next to her.
She was wearing a navy blue pair of shorts and a billowy white tank top, the bottoms of her shorts cuffed, hitting her high on the thigh. White beads dangled from her neck, and her hair collected in the back in a braided twist secured with a white clip. Small strands falling in her eyes and around her ears from the nap upstairs in the family waiting room
“How is he?” She asked, clutching her arms to her chest.
Flynn cleared his throat. He scratched his head and then ran his hand through his brown hair. Suddenly he wasn’t sure how to go about saying it. As her blue eyes stared, clinging to his every movement he was taken far out of his comfort zone. He exhaled, clapping his hands together and dropped forward. His elbow digging a little too hard into the muscle of his leg, he was tense.
“Henri wanted me to tell you what is happening.” He started, licking his lips and releasing a silent breath of stressed air. “His heart is failing.” Flynn refused to look at her as he recounted what he could of what the doctors and his mother threw at him. None of it made any sense to him, but he spit it out anyways. “His heart is failing. They want him on the donor list, but Henri refuses just like before.”
Maven’s face heated. She touched her chest, feeling her heart speeding up on the inside. “What happened, Flynn?” Before she heard the worst she wanted to know what brought them all to this ungodly result. Where had Henri gone off to that night?