“I know you don’t believe me, but you can feel it beating in my chest, can’t you? Happy lives on inside of me.”
He lifted my hand and placed it on his chest over his hospital gown, and everything came back to me. The scar on his chest that he showed me when we went to the Pirate’s Cove. Him knowing my sister’s nickname and even the one she gave me. The stuff about catching her smoking and swearing I’d make her eat one if I caught her again. That was something only Holly and I knew.
My mouth suddenly went dry.
I’d been so damn stubborn that I hadn’t let anything sink in, writing his odd comments off as part of his personality.
Why the fuck did I suddenly believe him?
After cleaning the living room floor, I shoved the vacuum into the coat closet by the front door. My phone buzzed in the pocket of my sweats. When I pulled it out, I saw it was a message from an unknown number.
Holden, I know you had to work tonight. Thanks for letting me know. Dr. Latham told me I can leave tomorrow. I have a few balance issues that mean I’d rather not stay by myself. I hoped maybe I could camp on your couch for a week or so. I’ll clean up after myself and feed Ossie and let him out while you’re working. You won’t even know I’m there, really. Call me. I had Jack buy me a crappy phone to use until Dad remembers to bring mine back.
I shoved it into my back pocket to think for a minute. I’d had to work overnight on a semi that had a blowout. I was by myself, and it took a while. I’d been lost in my head the whole time I worked on the semi, and I planned to go see him this morning.
I grabbed furniture polish to clean everything. It was funny, because I didn’t usually do much housework. When I wanted the place cleaned up, I called a service to come in. I wasn’t lazy, but I just didn’t like to clean.
“No, youarelazy.”The voice was feminine.
I spun to look at the front door, seeing it was closed and locked. Ossie was in his bed in a post dinner coma. I was alone in the house.
Once I’d searched the house to confirm I was alone, I went back to the living room to finish my cleaning. I picked up the remote to turn on the television so there was noise. I had to stop imagining I was hearing things that weren’t there.
When I pressed the button, nothing happened, so I pulled out my phone again to see my WiFi was down, which sucked. Itook the trash with me into the kitchen to the bin and started unloading the dishwasher.
“Are you not going to call him back?”
I turned to see someone sitting on top of the counter. I scrambled over the door of the dishwasher and fell on the floor. I had no weapon in the house except for a butcher knife in the drawer under the woman’s legs.
“Wh-Who... Who are you?” I stammered like an idiot, which I feared was going to become a habit.
“Well, I likethat. You don’t recognize your own sister?”She hopped down from the cabinet and put her hands on her hips, staring at me.
Oh, god, it was like a fucking flashback. Since Holly learned to stand without holding onto anything, if she didn’t get her way she would put her hands on her hips and stare at her opponent until they caved—which was usually me or Dad. Mom did the same thing, which was where Dad and I believed Holly picked it up.
“Happy, you’re dead, sis. I’m dreaming, right?” Yeah, this was a stupid fucking dream. It was because of what Avery told me the last time I saw him two nights ago: “I know you don’t believe me, but you can feel it beating in my chest, can’t you? Happy lives on inside me.”
“Maybe. I’m not sure you won’t wig out if I tell you too much. Why didn’t you talk to Mom and Dad about reaching out to the transplant people so the big questions can be answered? There are five other people who received a piece of me, and only one has died. He was really sweet when I met him. Mom and Dad need to see that I didn’t die in vain, and they need to meet Avery.
“You love him, Holy, and you not accepting that he could talk to me is thick-headed. You don’t know everything the universedoes, and you make him feel like you think he’s nuts. He’s not nuts, Holy.
“I was given a gift in being able to communicate with the person who has my heart so I can move on and know he’s taking care of the people I love since I can’t. Don’t be an idiot. Bring him here tomorrow and fill out the damn papers for UNOS. I don’t have much time left before I move on.”
Holly walked around the dishwasher and patted my cheek before she disappeared.
When I opened my eyes, as I suspected, it was a dream. I was on the couch with Ossie on my chest licking my cheek. It was a beautiful dream, though. Seeing my sister was certainly a gift, even if it was in a dream.
“Come on, Ossie. Let’s go to bed. We’re going to pick up Avery tomorrow and bring him home to stay with us.”
I sent a message back to Avery.
I’m sure you’re asleep, but I’ll be there to pick you up in the morning and bring you here to stay with me. No couch camping. You’re mine, Avery Langhorn, and I intend to treat you like a king. Love you, Holy
Something told me the dream I had wasn’t just a suggestion from my subconscious. Whether I could wrap my head around it was another matter. Before going to sleep, I sent a message to Mom and Dad to call me in the morning. I wanted to push them to contact the United Network of Organ Sharing so they could do whatever was necessary to open the door to sharing information with Holly’s recipients.
In my soul, I now believed Avery was right. I didn’t know how it worked that he could actually speak to my sister, but he was right. Meeting the folks who had received Holly’s organs would bring closure to all of us.
I just needed to convince my parents of the same.
