3
588words
Leaning close, he said softly, “Nora.”
The words that followed had cut through all the joy.
“Lily needs a full blood transfusion. She won’t need your blood anymore after this time.”
Adam had always claimed that my blood was for research whenever he drew it from me. Now the truth settled coldly in my stomach. It was always for Lily.
My smile vanished.
He tried to soothe me, “Nora, we’ll get married right after this.”
He touched slightly where my eyes used to be, “I will fix your eyes. I’ll give you new, bright ones.”
A hollow ache spread through me. My voice sounded unfamiliar and raw,
“Adam… after this transfusion… I might stop loving you.”
He paused for some seconds. Then he laughed. Relief washed over his features.
“Nora, I know you’re teasing me. You love me so much that your couldn’t stop loving me.”
He ended with a playful flick on my nose, supposing that I had agreed on the transfusion, dismissing my fear and declaration.
I said nothing. My focus returned to the fragile kite against the vast sky. Then, with a sharp snap, the string broke. The kite was lost.
What would Adam do, after the transfusion, when he learned the truth about Lily’s so-called illness?
Lily wasn’t sick at all.
I’d learned that on the day Adam rushed to her supposed emergency.
Adam hadn’t come back though it had already been very late. So I stumbled to the hospital, limping painfully on my injured knee, leaning heavily on my cane.
He wasn’t in Lily’s private ward when I arrived at outside the room. Pressed against the door, I heard Lily chatting casually with someone.
“Lily, if you keep faking these illnesses,” the other person voice was tense, “what will happen when Adam finally figures it out?”
Lily’s reply was chillingly nonchalant, “Honestly? I don’t care. He’d never blame me. I’m his precious sister. Nora… she’s just a clone.”
The chill sank deep into my bones.
Just a clone.
I was not even a person to them.
But I felt pain. I formed thoughts. I could love…
After the trip, Adam practically dragged me to the hospital lab.
Tests were run. When the results confirmed my blood matched Lily’s “needs” perfectly, the relief on Adam’s face was stark.
He ushered me to her suite where she lay waiting. Her cheeks were flushed with health, a vibrant picture that mocked my own drained, pale exhaustion.
She looked at me with open satisfaction. A cold, disdainful triumph flickered in “her” eyes.
As I was wheeled towards surgery, I clutched weakly at Adam’s sleeve.
“Are you really going to draw my blood out?”
The question hung, heavy with the burden of truth I carried.
He simply thought that I feared the pain. He smiled confidently.
“Don’t worry, Nora.” he murmured, stroking my hair, quietly pulling his arm free, “It will be over quickly.”
Moments later, Lily and I were side-by-side in the sterile operating theatre.
Doctors efficiently inserted tubes into my arms. And I felt the unsettling pull as my lifeblood began its forced journey towards Lily.
Color drained from my face; weakness flooded my limbs.
Soon, a doctor glanced between me and Lily – where she looked peacefully healthy, receiving my stolen strength.
The doctor then turned to Adam who was observing me intently.
“Director… should we continue?”
