Stay alive

Becoming one

"His vitals are stable", the nurse stated after several frightening seconds, allowing then Connor and Gabby to sigh in relief.

The physician checked the surgical site, where Matt had snatched one of the three chest tubes still in place.

"Alright. Page the radiology and tell them we're on our way."

"W-what?" Gabby stuttered, worried.

"I need to know if this gesture has created a pleural effusion or an hemorrhagic one. It's too early to get them off", Connor tried to explain.

"B-but... But it's been five days."

"It takes about twice this time before deciding to get them off. The time for tissues and muscles to heal at the surgical site. Snatching them like he did, it's dangerous."

"So, you will replace it."

"I will replace it and check if there is no damage as well."

The nurse came back into the room, running.

"Radiology is ready to take Matt immediately. They have a hole in the schedule."

"Okay, we take him. If all goes as planned, I will replace the chest tube down there."

he began to unlock the bed to take away the bed, the nurse calling another one to help.

"By the way Gabby", he began again, "with your permission, I would like to restrain Matt"s movements. For his own safety."

"W-what?" she stuttered again, astonished and frightened. "No!"

"In his actual shape, he could hurt himself. It's just a precaution", Connor assured.

Gabby thought for several seconds while the nurses were preparing the bed.

"This... It won't hurt him?"

Connor shook his head from side to side.

"Not at all. We'll just restrain his arms so that he won't snatch the chest tubes again as he did earlier", he explained reassuringly.

"When you will come back?"

"If all goes as planned, in about twenty minutes, thirty minutes at the most."

Gabby then whispered something incomprehensible while looking down.

"We do this as quickly as we can", he assured again to reassure Matt's wife.

She nodded, letting the bed being swept away by the nurse and Connor. Worried, lost, destalibized, she took her phone and called Christie.

"Gabby? Everything okay?"

She began to bite her lips, searching inwardly the proper words, but none could explain what she was feeling at the moment. So, without saying something, she began to cry. Again.

"I'm here within ten minutes."

Christie hung up immediately, while Gabby dropped her phone and collapsed to the ground, unable to stay up. When she arrived in the room, Matt's sister just found Gabby on the cold ground and nothing else. The room was empty. Fearing the worst, Christie rushed to Gabby and requested inaudibly an explanation.

"He... I told him for Kelly, and... A-and he... He panicked", she explained between sobs. "He snatched a chest tube and... He said that... That he didn't want his heart."

Christie could understand what happened at the time in her little brother's head. Kelly was his best fieind, a better brother than she had been a sister for Matt. Knowing that this brother died to give him his own heart was undoubtedly something terrible to handle, the most terrible thing. But Matt still wasn't unaware about why he did this, and he probably would make change his mind.