The Gift

Standing here in the middle of the room, surrounded by emptiness, all I could think of was the tiny box which I held in my hands ...

Times were getting tough, times were changing, yet it was hard to understand why my twin brother, kyle, and I had drifted apart. Yes, we had a few minor problems because of his condition but I never really took mind to them. About one year ago, Kyle was diagnosed with brain cancer. He underwent surgery which was successful. Months passed and he began taking treatment to ensure that the cancer would not start to grow again.

The treatments had worked at first but then the symptoms of his brain cancer started again. It was found that the cancer had begun growing again, spreading to different parts of this body. The CT scan lit up like a Christmas tree. That was when Kyle and I started having problems, all he wanted to do was resume to his normal life but the cancer didn't allow him. I often argued with him to take new treatments when the previous one didn't work. Kyle got frustrated when he couldn't help himself. I always offered to help but he, wanting to be independent, refused. However, I still ended up helping him.

"Kyle, Kyle?" I shouted through his room, looking for him.

There was no sign of him and I was feeling really tired all of a sudden. My breaths came out in pants and my lungs felt constricted; while there was a striking pain right in the chest area where my heart was. It felt as if someone stabbed a dagger in my lungs while ripping out my heart. My mind didn't even process the fact that I was falling until I hit the floor with full impact. Everything was in swirls, black dots dotted my vision as everything became inaudible to me. Soon everything became dark, while I struggled to breath and keep conscious.

**

I took a sharp intake of air, instantly opening my eyes and jumping up, only to fall flat on the floor with some needles sticking in my left hand. Wait, needles? I tried getting up to see where I was but to no avail I failed because of my aching muscles.

"Where is she?" I heard a woman's voice, she sounded a lot like my mother. I saw a pair of women's feet in front of me. The person helped me up unto the bed. Indeed, it was my mother.

"Mom? What happened? Last thing I remembered was struggling to keep conscious as the darkness sucked me in," everything was all in a frenzy.

"Well, your heart failed," Mom began, "And the only possible donor was your brother. All of his other organs were taken over by the cancer, but his heart was the only one not affected. Your brother gave up his heart to you. However, you fell into a deep coma for about a year now," Mom informed.

I could not believe what I had just heard. I lost my twin brother and I wasn't even there to see him take his last breath. Not there so see him go. My eyes became heavy and once again the darkness surrounded me as my vision clouded with tears.

**

Weeks had passed and I was finally out of the hospital, all my brother's things were gone. They cleared his room. So here I am standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by emptiness, all I could think of was the tiny box which I held in my hand. I was contemplating whether to open it now or not. My hands were itching to open it as my curiosity grew by the second.

I opened it only to find a piece of paper with the words, "Don't waste your gift of another day. Tomorrow is not promised to everyone!"