Heart Stopping

Prologue

Have you ever been thrown into a life-altering situation? Have you ever held your breath in hopes that you were just dreaming and you'd wake up in a few seconds from a nightmare? Have you ever felt your heart literally crumbling inside your chest? I have, and I mean that quite literally. It's not everyday that you go into the doctors for a regular check up only to be rushed to the nearest hospital the second a nurse listens to your heart. It happens even less that the case of 'laziness', as your gym teacher likes to call it, is actually restrictive cardiomyopathy. I guess I was special, because that's exactly what happened to me.

Restrictive Cardiomyopathy causes the heart to "lose its ability to pump blood properly leading to heart failure." Or at least that's what WebMD told me; because lets get real I couldn't understand a word the doctor said. Apparently my shortness of breath and fatigue weren't because I was out of shape. My heart palpitations weren't because a cute boy looked at me. I was sick, and I had no idea.

Apparently, my heart condition has very few treatments that work. My doctor told me that their main goal would be to improve my quality of life and control the symptoms. So, for my whole sophomore year I was stuck in a hospital and forced to take medicines that ranged from blood thinners to diuretics. None of which worked, like at all. The next step was to try chemotherapy. Even my seven-year-old sister could tell that the doctors were getting desperate. Three months of different medicines, six months of chemo, and nine months of online schooling.

What did I have to show for all of that? A worsening heart condition. Each and every treatment was a failure. I wasn't getting better. In fact, I was getting worse. In May of 2014, little old bald headed me was put on the heart transplant list. On July 28th, I was moved from the middle of the list to spot number one. Who knew literally dying for ten minutes could have a benefit? On August 1st 2014, I got my new heart. It was slightly used, and I didn't like to think about the girl who died to give me this second chance at life.

So now, here I am. It's the first day of my junior year, the second month for regular juniors. I was lucky that I never fell behind in my online schooling, despite the countless days of barely being able to open my eyes. My hair had mostly grown back. It fell just below shoulder length, a benefit of my genetics. There was no visible evidence that I had just under went major heart surgery a month ago. There was no evidence that I had gone through treatment after treatment. The only thing remaining from my sickness was a long scar running down the middle of my chest.

I could easily cover that scar with clothes and makeup. No one had to know I was a little bit more than messed up. It was a new school after all. We moved to Cleveland, Ohio the second we learned that they have the best hospital for cardiology and heart surgery. My siblings were a little angry, but they wanted the best treatment for me; even if that meant moving from New York to Ohio.

Carson, my older brother, pretty much cursed me out for twenty minutes when he found out. Kenzie, my little sister, gave me the silent treatment for a week. I took it all like a pro, because they were sacrificing things for me. I became the big money spender. I hogged up my parents time. I was sick and they had given up so much for me. The least I could do was handle a few sibling spats.

"Evelyn, are you just going to stare at the school all day?" Carter looked at me in annoyance.

"Maybe." I didn't even turn my head away from the school.

"Get out of my damn car, Ev."

"But Carson, what if I don't fit in?"

"They're not rabid dogs, you'll do just fine." I could practically hear him roll his eyes.

"You didn't tell anyone, right?"

"Your secret has been and will continue to be save with me, sis."

"Okay, good." I let out a sigh of relief.

"People are going to ask why you've been gone for a month."

"I just decided to stop online schooling last week."

"Always prepared, huh?" He let out a chuckle.

"Of course!"

"Now let's go, Evelyn." Carson got out of the car first, and I soon followed. I made sure to hide behind him as much as we could while we walked.

People were staring at us in confusion. I grabbed onto Carson's arm for support. I used to be very confident, but after all the time I spent sick, I've lost all of it. No one said a word to us as we walked by. I was silently surprised, since Carson was the number one pitcher for the baseball team. He's very popular, how typical.

"Who is that, babe?" A very pretty girl with brown hair came up to us. She was the first one to speak. I could see her eyeing my hand with barely contained disgust.

"This is my little sister, Evelyn. Evelyn this is my girlfriend, Julie." He motioned between us, before grabbing Julie's hand and bringing it up to his lips for a kiss.

"Ew, gross. Carson stop it." I cringed at the display of affection. What can I say? I saw the suggestive look they shared.

"Nice to meet you, Eva."

"It's Evelyn."

"Oh, sorry. My bad, I'm not good with remembering names."

"You haven't ever forgotten mine, not after I heard you screaming it in bed." Carson shot Julie a wink.

"Carson!" I practically screeched. He only laughed in return.

"Maybe we should go practice some more." Julie shot him a wink back.

"Okay, I'm going before you two start dry humping each other on the school steps."

"No worries, sis. We never do it somewhere twice."

"Fuck you, Carson." I held my ears as I practically ran inside the school.

I already had my schedule and locker information. I had Carson pick it up for me after school yesterday. I couldn't stand coming to school on Monday, so I opted to start Tuesday, and let me tell ya. Even Tuesday can feel like a Monday.

I quickly put some stuff in my locker before heading to my first period class. I could tell by just how last year went that this was either going to be an extremely peaceful year or shit would hit the fan on my second day.

There is no in between.

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New story guys! Sorry about the authors note, but i just wanted to say that's Evelyn on the side. Played by Taylor Momsen