» Everything is nothing with a twist. «
~ Kurt Vonnegut
「 In which Mackenzie resigns and Johnny worries. 」
Dedicated to: jenziefinn ! Thank you for reading my works!
A/N ~ Get the tissues ready :(
PS- LISTEN TO THE SONG BEFORE READING
POV: Mackenzie Ziegler
DATE: 26 January 2026
•••
"Mackenzie, you have lupus nephritis." My doctor explains before pausing. "Lupus nephritis means that your immune system is turning against your own body and harming, in particular, your kidneys."
I was drowning. Submerged in deep waves of shock, distress, amazement, surprise. I flinched back like I had been hit in the gut with a chair.
Denial. Denial was what I was drowning in. I couldn't have lupus. Lupus destroys lives. My life isn't destroyed. Refusing to believe it, I shake my head furiously, voice snapping out sharp like a whip.
"No. I can't." I plead angrily, closing my eyes. Taking deep breaths, Sharon rests a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry honey." She says.
"Sorry for what?" I get out through a thick throat.
It's then when I catch the look Sharon and Steven are sharing. The look that two people share when they know something others don't. Wildly, I demand to know what's going on, tears dripping down my face like runners in a marathon.
"You're kidneys have taken a hard hit Mackenzie. There's not much we can do in terms of recovery... or keeping you alive." The dark-haired man tells me.
My arm slips off the place I'm resting it on. "You mean," I swallow, gasping to fill my lungs with air, "that I don't have long to live? That my diagnosis will kill me?"
"Yes." He gently informs, kind eyes seeking out mine. "The waiting list for a new kidney is seven to ten years long. You don't have that much time."
"How much time?" I rasp.
"Months." Sharon says quietly.
The tension in the room could honestly be cut with a knife. Tears peek out of my eyes and slip down my skin, resting by my nose and some dripping to my chin.
"What are my options?" I ask after at least a minutes silence.
"You have AB negative blood, as I'm sure you've been told before. This type of blood is only in one percent of Americans– I've never met anyone that has this type of blood in my twenty years of doctoring experience. When you donate a kidney, you do have to have the same blood type, but AB negative blood is extremely rare and it is unlikely anyone you know will even have the same blood type as you."
"Fucking blood." I mumble, finally cracking and giggling under the pressure.
Once I start, I can't stop. To me, it's absolutely hilarious I have only months to live. To me, it's absolutely hilarious that most likely no one I know will have 'AB negative' blood. To me, this is a joke.
YOU ARE READING
holding on • jenzie
Hayran KurguMackenzie Ziegler is a perfectly happy woman, living in sunny Los Angeles with her best friend Lauren Orlando. Her singing career is just getting started, and she's being offered gigs that artists twice her age haven't had the chance to do yet. Life...
