Life Support

Chapter 1

Genesis

Genesis

The name resonated in my ears, over and over again, my brain reacting strangely quickly to it. I must've been in an empty room because the name kept bouncing off the walls and coming back to me, the words a little distorted and wavering. But where was I?

Genesis?

It hurt to try and open my mouth. My lips were attached to each other, preventing any word from coming out. And all at once, my entire body started aching. But it was a familiar ache, one that I've felt before and one that never ceased to tear me apart from the inside out.

It was a rare condition the doctors said. I felt surges of pain at the most random of times for an unspecific period of time. Sometimes the pain could last up to a half hour and sometimes for hours on end. That wasn't the tricky part though, the tricky part was the lack of physical proof. The doctors haven't been able to detect anything wrong with me because my body wouldn't give it away. No amount of x-rays, blood tests or checkups has done the trick.

Genesis

Up until now, the illness hasn't been confirmed as life threatening. I haven't shown any sign of a weakening system or any blood or cell loss so the doctors are taking that has a good sign. But there's this one doctor who's been questioning everything. He's the only one who's diagnosed my illness but has yet to reveal anything to me or my parents. I think it's more because he wants to be certain of what's going on with me before saying anything. 

Genesis, can you hear me?

White everywhere.

It was hard to open my eyes in the harsh light but I had to. Something was pulling me back to reality. Something that I couldn't fight or wanted to fight. But it hurt to come back to my senses. Like small bugs crawling into my skin and feeding off my muscles.

Genesis, can you move something for me?

Moving my fingers seemed like an easy enough thing to do but at that moment, it took everything in me to just get it to twitch. God, where was I? Apart from that same voice I keep hearing, nothing else around me was determined.

Very good. Can you open your eyes, Genesis?

Moving my fingers was hard enough as it was, how was I going to open my eyes? My entire body was numb, I could barely feel anything. Just tingles of what used to be there. My eyes were moving rapidly under my eyelids and my fingers were twitching on their own but I still couldn't get my eyes to open.

I couldn't do it. It was hard to move anything other than my fingers. Surely, it wasn't possible to move something you couldn't feel, at least that's what I told myself. And why couldn't I feel my legs?

I heard something beat erratically next to me, almost at the same time as my heart. My chest started moving up and down quickly, my lungs contracting and making it hard for me to breathe properly.

And then everything went black.

I was standing outside my house back in Los Angeles, staring into the window that overlooked the garden. My little sister was washing the dishes, in the kitchen, her small hands struggling to reach the slippery corners of the dish without dropping it. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth in concentration. I didn't dare take a step closer to the window. I didn't want this moment to end. My little sister was here and I didn't want her leaving yet.

She's changed somehow, she seems more happy and more free. Like a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her skin was fair and not so red and blotchy anymore.

As a big sister that's all I could ever hope for. Her happiness. Even if it took her loss to understand that. What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here. No, Genesis you have to leave. It isn't your time yet. 

It isn't your time yet.

It isn't your time yet.

I gulped in a big breath of air, my back leaving the pillows and my pupils dilating in the darkness. A fit of coughs followed directly but the only thing that kept spiraling in my mind was the thought of my little sister.

"Genesis, calm down. It's alright, sweetie. You're alright." Someone said beside me.

More voices swarmed into the room, a hospital room, and hands started tugging on my robe and on the tubes inserted into my skin. It was strange being able to see all that was happening but without being able to do anything about it.

"She's having a reaction." A woman said.

"To what?" A man said. The voice was familiar.

"I can't tell. But I need everyone to leave the room now. I only need the nurses in here."

Everything was too loud; the voices, the heart monitor, my breathing and it was so hot in the room. My back and thighs were aching but my legs were burning. Almost as if I was being pushed into an open oven.

"Genesis, it's okay. Breathe in and out." The woman said.

Breathing was the least of my worries. I needed this burning feeling to cease. I wanted cold water to be dumped on me so it could prevent my skin from suffering from a 'non-existant' first-degree burn.

"Genesis, you're going to lose consciousness for a while but when you wake up, it's all going to be okay. Brace yourself, this is going to hurt."

That was the last thing I heard before something that stung pushed itself into my skin and knocked me out cold.