A Beating Heart

Prologue

"Any second." I thought, "Any second now, he'll come out and tell me she's alright. Any second now…" I chewed nervously on a fingernail, as I watched the clock in the waiting room, chemical and medicinal smells accosting my nose. I rubbed it as I sneezed once more, cursing my sensitive sense of smell.

Bored, and incredibly jittery I looked around, taking in the others around me for a distraction. There was a child with a fresh cast, gaze fastened on a tall, thin lady I assumed to be his mother talking to a nurse at the front desk. A few seats away from the child sat a very old woman, who was gazing, slack-jawed, into the distance. Next to her sat a frazzled young woman, who occasionally gently shook the woman, possibly to check if she was awake. Or alive. Put off by the old woman's almost dead gape, I quickly turned away. Aside from a man who seemed to be waiting for someone, or so I gathered, seeing as he was checking the clock as nervously as I, they were the only others in the white waiting room. I glanced at the clock once more. The surgery was taking much longer than the doctor said it would.

Suddenly, my attention was drawn to a nurse in purple scrubs with smiling daisies printed on them. "Disturbing…" I thought as she addressed me.

"Miss Dellucci?" she asked. I nodded. "The doctor would like to speak to you. Follow me." As I stood and followed her down a hall, I got an intense feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. I walked into another white room, where a man in green scrubs was washing his hands. "Doctor." The nurse said, indicating me when he turned around.

"Is this the daughter?" he asked. The nurse nodded in the affirmative, and left the room quickly, shooting me a strange look as she left. "Miss Dellucci, right?"

"Stella." I said. The doctor nodded before looking down and drawing a hand across his face tiredly.

"Well, Stella, you know about your mom's surgery, right?" I nodded. "Then you know how risky it was." I nodded once again, hoping he wasn't about to say what I thought he was going to say. "-oWe did all we could, but your mom didn't make it. I'm so sorry."

And with those words, my life ended.