The Hidden Sister of Red Band Society

liberation...parallels...boom

"Don't be dramatic," Leo told me. "You could end up like me, you know, one leg."
I sat up.

"Who do you think you are?" I yelled, standing up. "You're not my doctor, not even close. You can't even take care of yourself so shut the ---- up and stop trying to take care of me! You've never been there for me, ever, and when I apologize for apparently 'being a b---h' you walk away! You think you're so amazing, Leo, but you're not. This feud between you and Jordi and Emma that you think I'm so oblivious about, well guess what, I'm not. I have a life to live and I don't need you dragging me down. Your only liberation will be when you die at this point. Stop trying to minimize my situation, shut the hell up, and get out of my life!"

I took a breath and stormed off. I found myself in Asher's room, where they were finishing up cleaning. The posters were all taken down, the bed was stripped of its covers. It looked blank.

"What are you doing here?" I turned and saw Nurse Jackson standing in the doorway. "Shouldn't you be in bed by now?"

"Leo's annoying me," I replied, running my hand through my hair. "He thinks that he can control me. But that's unimportant right now. Shouldn't you be gone by now, Nurse Jackson?"

She shook her head, and for the first time, I saw Nurse Jackson: strong, courageous Nurse Jackson, with eyes welling up with tears.

"I've been suspended...I'm going home now. Stay strong, Meghan," she told me, before she turned around and left.

Why was Nurse Jackson suspended? I slipped out of Asher's old bedroom and tiptoed down the hall. I heard voices in a side room.

"...switched the label...trusted her...being unfair...right punishment...suspension... children." It was Dr. Mc Andrew, and another voice I couldn't quite put a finger on. I listened more closely.

"Nurse Jackson switched the label on Charlie's blood?" I whispered to myself. "This can't be good."

__________________

The days started going by slowly. Just a few days before, prior to me hearing the devastating news, I heard rumors that Leo and Jordi had gotten into a fistfight in class. Emma went to lunch with some of Leo's friends, which apparently didn't go so well, judging by Emma's face as she returned. Kara, Hunter, Jordi, Dash, and I wrote an essay for Nurse Jackson, who had been suspended. Yesterday, a new doctor arrived for Charlie, whose condition had been advancing rapidly. I watched, mostly in the shadows, as everything happened, dreading the surgery just a week or two ahead. I hadn't spoken to Leo since I blew up at him, but then again, he hadn't even looked my way for the past few days. I thought he expected me to apologize. He thought wrong.

I was walking in the hallway when I saw her. She was struggling in the nurses' grasp, and Dash and Jordi's jaws were practically on the floor. It was a super-sensation, music making, insane (literally, she's insane) teenage girl that had stumbled across success. She asked me to call her Delaney, although I called her more than that when she wasn't listening.

I walked up to Jordi and Dash.

"Wake up!" I shouted forcefully, slapping the two of their faces.

"Listen, Meghan, that girl...I'm gonna hook up with that chick," Dash told me, and followed after her. Jordi shook his head and followed. I turned and laughed. Knowing Dash, he would hook up with her. And then Jordi would get all jealous, blah blah blah. I continued walking, shaking my head. Why was this girl so famous? I made up my mind not to pay attention to her, although sometimes I broke my own promise to myself.

Romance was at an all-time high at the hospital. Apparently, Kara and Hunter had gotten together, which almost surprised me. Almost. Emma and Leo were finally together, and I think something happened between Brittany and Dr. McAndrew, because he showed up at the hospital today with a black eye, and avoided Brittany as much as she could.

I sat down in my room on a green living chair. It had been in my room at my house beforehand, and reminded me of home. I usually sat down here to read, but the assigned book was dreadfully boring, so I figured I could draw for awhile. I began to draw a person, a girl, standing in a dance studio, dancing with a tall and muscular boy. Although it was relaxing, I knew the drawing had many flaws, The figures were nearly parallels of each other, the girl not nearly curvy enough and the boy a bit too skinny. I tore the paper out of my notebook and stood to go throw it in the trash. My hand hesitated over the can. They weren't perfect, sure, but they were human. Just like me.

Later in the day, I heard word that Kara and Leo were gone. Apparently they had left together or something, and still hadn't returned. Coincidentally, I had just seen a car pull up when I had glanced out the window. The figures in the car looked similar to Leo and Kara, although I couldn't be sure.

"Let me check if the car is in the parking lot!" I yelled to the nurses, including Nurse Jackson, who had been brought back in time for Dr. Naday to arrive.

I ran outside and saw their figures in a black car. I ran up to it.

And regretted that decision for the rest of my life.

Kara and Leo were making out and on top of each other and it was just an overall terrible image. I turned on my heel and ran inside.

"Did you find them?" Nurse Jackson asked.

"No," I lied. "Leo just texted me, he told me not to worry. He said he'll be back, but not till late tonight or early morning."

_________________

Bye.
I've been saying that word a lot lately.
I said it to Emma as she left the hospital. I said it to Hunter before his surgery, before he took his final breaths. I said it to Kara before her surgery, which went successfully.
And now, I say it to my friends and family as I'm wheeled into the operation room.

I hear Dr. McAndrew saying something but tune him out, focusing on the rhythm of my breaths and the pounding of my heartbeat. Boom-boom. Boom-boom. Boom-boom.

"Hello? Meghan! MEGHAN! I'm talking to you!" Dr. McAndrew says. I shake my head.

"Whoops, sorry. Looks like your boringness has gotten to me," I say with a smirk. The doctor shakes his head.

"Yeah, yeah. As I was saying, I want you to think of a really happy moment in your life. Sometime when you felt invincible, even," he replied.

I paused.
"Well, there was this one time when I won this flexibility contest, when I could still dance. I did all the splits and scorpions and leaps and jumps and stuff, and I won a scholarship to this high-end and very prestigious dance school in LA." I shook my head. "I never ended up going, but it was still a great experience."

Dr. McAndrew nodded, deep in thought.

"Good," he replied simply. Then, he nodded to the other doctors and nurses assisting with the surgery, and I knew it was time. I was injected with an IV, and hooked up to various machines in the room.

Then, one of the doctors held up the dreaded mask.

There's a reason I hate that mask.
I hate the feeling of breathing in that terrible stuff, and being so helpless to its power. I try fighting it, which never works, and I try holding my breath, which also never works. Anything to escape that mask. Whenever I tell anyone, they always laugh.
"Why do you hate it so much?" someone asked me once. "Do you have bad memories or something? Did you have a bad experience?"

Which, in fact, was every experience I've ever had with it. Trust me, there have been many. I've thrown up, had an aching throat (and I lost my voice for days!), etc. You get the picture.

But the reason I hate it most is because, before I was escorted out, I watched my grandfather inhale from a gas mask before one of his surgeries.

The surgery failed.

"Okay, Meghan. Relax and take a big breath."
I obeyed, my fingers shaking.

"Don't try to fight it, Meg. Count down from 100 with me."

I counted out loud.
"100.
99.
98.
97..."

I pried my eyes open with my fingers.

"No!" I gasped. "No! No! No!"

Those were possibly my last words as I collapsed into a deep, unconscious state.

Boom.