She told me all the details as I tucked her into her hotel bed and lay down next to her. It was a simple financial transaction to her. There was a well established market for human tissue, organs and limbs. Donor transplants were much easier and relatively cheaper than the high price of cloning. The flight to Brazil, the amputation, all paid for by a private clinic and a wealthy recipient. This is how she made her money and paid her way, selling herself piece by piece, a kidney here, a knee joint there, sinew, muscle and bone at top market value.
It wasn't just about the money.
"You'll make me a new arm, won't you, Claudia?" she whispered as she fell asleep under a heavy blanket of painkillers. "You'll make it better than the real thing."
I cried for a long time with her senseless at my side. I wept for her, for everything she was willing to give up and I wept for myself, for the things I wouldn't, for the things I couldn't. Then I left her hotel room while she still slept and called her father.
YOU ARE READING
Less Of Her
Short StoryClaudia is a shut-in, a nerd. She creates custom cybernetic limbs, unique works of art. Lumi is everything Claudia is not, exotic, exciting, outgoing. Claudia comes to realise they both have their secrets. Secrets that will tear them apart.
