Muted (穆然)

10

There was an operating table in the center of the small, dark room. I was lying on it, and two people wearing masks were holding knives and were slicing open my stomach bit by bit. The feeling was very clear: the cold texture of the scalpel against the skin, the dull pain when the flesh was cut open. I started to sweat on my head, and my body was shaking violently because of the pain, but the two people didn't pay attention to me at all. They only focused on the movements of their hands, with no emotion in their cold eyes. Finally one of them reached out and took out the bright red kidney from my belly.

...

I sat up suddenly, gasping for air.

It turned out to be a dream.

I stretched out my hand to wipe it and found that my forehead was covered with sweat. I tried to calm my breathing and kept comforting myself that it was just a dream.

The ward was so quiet that there was no sound at all. I turned my head and my mother fell asleep with her eyes closed. I got up gently and walked to the window. It was already late at night, and there was no starlight in the dark sky. The images in the dream kept flashing in my mind. I closed my eyes and tried to suppress the fear in my heart.

It turns out I'm just a coward.

Aunt Li came early the next morning. In the past few days, Aunt Li was helping to take care of my mother when I went to the supermarket to work. I have already made up my mind that I will quit my job in the supermarket after the kidney sale is settled. To be honest, I'm not too sure how much damage my body will suffer from losing a kidney, but thinking about it, it's impossible to do the kind of physical work in the supermarket after the operation.

After thanking Aunt Li, I hurried to the supermarket. After getting on the bus for a few stops, I realized that I had forgotten my phone in the ward. Because I was worried that Aunt Li wouldn't be able to find me if something happened, I quickly got out of the car and ran to the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital, I just opened the ward door and found Aunt Li holding my mobile phone in her hand, with an uneasy expression on her face.

"Aunt Li, what's wrong?" I looked at my mother hurriedly. She was still sleeping, and there was no doctor around. It didn't look like something had happened.

"Xiao Mu, what's going on?" Aunt Li handed me the phone hesitantly, with a very worried look on her face.

I took the phone and was stunned when I saw it. There was a text message I just received [Please send your physical examination report to this email address before tomorrow [email protected] If there are no problems, we will arrange the surgery next week. 】

"Your phone rang just now. Aunt Li didn't understand this, and she was worried that someone was looking for something to do with you. She picked it up and tried to answer the call. After a few presses, these few came out." Seeing that I was silent, Aunt Li spoke again.

"It's okay. Maybe it was sent to the wrong number. I don't even recognize the number." I put the phone in my pocket and pretended to be relaxed.

Aunt Li frowned for a moment and stood in front of me, "Xiao Mu, although Aunt Li is a country woman with little education, don't treat Aunt Li as a fool."

"Aunt Li, don't think too much, I really don't know this person. It's late for me to go to work, so I'm leaving first." As I said that, I left the ward in a panic.

Aunt Li grabbed me and her voice became louder, "What kind of surgery? Why do I need your examination report? Xiao Mu, what are you trying to hide from us?"

I tried my best to hide it, and even wanted to take off Aunt Li's hand and run out. Aunt Li held me tightly and refused to give in. Seeing other people in the ward starting to pay attention, I had no choice but to pull Aunt Li aside and tell her about selling her kidneys.