The girl’s hair was sweaty from childbirth, plastered to her forehead as she slept soundly in a hospital bed. Her paper gown was wrinkled, the light blue of the material seeming to fade away with the seconds of the day. The boy leaning against the doorframe of the room thought she was beautiful anyway.1
The sound of someone clearing their throat behind him made the boy jump. It was a doctor. His tired eyes immediately focused on the new mother, then slid to the boy beside him. A slightly worried and apologetic smile was creeping across his face.2
“Are you Matt Lancaster?” the man asked, checking the paper’s attached to his clipboard to make sure he got the name right.3
“Yeah,” he boy said. He glanced at his sleeping girlfriend for a second before looking back at the doctor. “Is everything okay?”4
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out now, Mr. Lancaster.” The doctor spoke faster. “There’s been some...er...complications.”5
Matt’s heart stopped beating.6
*7
When Katherine Morgan opened her eyes a few hours after giving birth to her first daughter, she expected to be holding her in her arms. Instead, she was surrounded by a team of doctors. Her boyfriend, the baby’s father, was nowhere to be seen.8
“Where’s Matt? Where’s my daughter?” 9
The first two questions out of Katherine’s mouth made the doctors wince. Those were the ones they had been forbidden to answer. They merely ignored her and kept working, checking tubes and entering things into laptops. 10
“Where are they?” she asked again. 11
The doctors said nothing. Two women standing by the small sink protruding from the wall shared a knowing glance. 12
Katherine broke down in tears. They weren’t telling her. Why weren’t they telling her?13
“Where’s my baby?” Sobs racked her frail body and she choked on her tears. She thrashed in her bed and a doctor hurried forward. 14
“Miss Morgan,” he said. “Please try to relax.”15
She didn’t see the needle he held behind his back. Katherine’s choking turned to sniffles, which eventually faded away. As she slipped under the control of the sleeping drugs, her vision turned black. 16
One floor up and two rooms over, Matt closed his eyes for the last time.17
*18
“Miss Morgan?” 19
Katherine struggled to open her eyes. She was still so tired...so sleepy...her disposable pillow case was looking more and more inviting with every second. But as she caught a glimpse of the pink blanket the doctor held in his arms, her heart beat faster and her eyes sprang open.20
“Is she alright? Is my baby okay?” Katherine reached out to receive her daughter in her arms, and the man gently gave the girl to her mother.21
“Careful, Miss Morgan, she just got out of recovery.”22
Recovery? Recovery for what? Katherine’s eyes drifted to a day-by-day calendar poised on her bedside table. It was two days after she had given birth. 23
“You see, Miss Morgan, there were some complications with your birth that we didn’t realize were there. We almost couldn’t find a donor in time. Your boyfriend- Matt, is it?- wanted me to give this to you.”24
Finally, Katherine understood. She looked down at her little baby girl. Her tiny eyes were closed, her breathing even, tiny fingers curled around something that didn’t exist. Katherine’s own eyes began to swell up with tears. Matt wasn’t coming home with her. Matt would never be able to hold his daughter again.25
The doctor handed Katherine a piece of lined paper, folded in half. One the outside it said “Katherine” in Matt’s typical-seventeen-year-old-boy handwriting. She looked up at the doctor, ad then unfolded it.26
Katherine,27
I’m sorry I didn’t get to talk to you before I made my decision. I’m sorry I never got to ask you to marry me. I’m sorry I never got to finish high school. I’m sorry that I’ll never get to help you raise our daughter. 28
I still love you. You know that. My heart is in our daughter now. Don’t ever forget me.29
Love,30
Matt31
“A heart transplant?” Katherine was in shock. “When...?”32
“Two hours after you gave birth,” the doctor said. “Your and Mr. Lancaster’s parents are on their way.”33
With that he slipped out of the hospital room. Katherine looked down at her daughter. She kissed her forehead. Her baby girl, Hope Morgan, was all she had left. 34
Author notes
http://tweetymom.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/hand_holding_finger_bw.jpg
Picture ^^
In a list
A contest entry
- Mash O Mash/ Options/Prompts by LadyLionnir.
2000 points, ended February 29, 2008, 14 entries
Honorable mention
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
sooooooooo. [:
Comments
1 - 10 of 10
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omg. awww. this was amazing, Sarah! I mean, like AMAZING. I didn't cry - got teary eyed though - and I think that's a great accomplishment for me.
this was beautiful, simply beautiful. it was like...it was touching and sad.
when she was reading the letter, it was like this weird feeling came over me. it was kind of like i could see this girl reading this letter finding out that her boyfriend - the boy who didn't get a chance to grow up, who didn't get to marry her, didn't get to see his daughter grow up - died to save their daughter's life. it was soo sweet. i got goosebumps.
awesome, amazing job!
erica♥xoxo
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thanks so much
i kind of got goosebumps writing this, you know? i really connected with this one. its kind of scary- he wanted to give his daughter a life, so he gave her his heart and the life he didn't get to live.
they were teenagers [katherine & matt], if you didn't get it, and so he had already kind of given his life to his daughter, because he was given up his childhood to his girlfriend and hope morgan, his baby girl.
i just can't believe that this actually does happen to people. i can't imagine finding out i'm pregnant, and then never getting to say goodbye to whoever the baby's daddy is, and then almost losing the baby, and then losing my boyfriend or husband or whatever.
i mean, people do go through this stuff. people who are way stronger than i could ever be.
i don't know, i'm in sort of a weird mood. i feel like i'm going to break out into tears at any moment.
lol.
i'm going to get some kleenex and watch the parent trap.
and maybe eat some girl scout cookies.
♥sarah -
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it is scary. i don't think anyone can really say how they would feel until they've been in that situation. i mean, my friend once told me she would curl up and die if anything happened to her family - something we all agreed on - and then about six months ago her sister got into this car accident. it was really scary for us, and i'm literally terrified of hopsitals. i go in one and i'm at least sick once. (and i shake horribly)
Anyway, so when her sister was in the ICU, I went with her to just...be with her. She said it meant a lot that I was there because she knew I'm terrified of hospitals - and I remember telling her it's just something I had to do. Her sister's okay now. She was in a wheelchair for a bit though. My friend came out okay - but she was a train wreck for weeks.
Before though, I'm sure I would've said that I would never step into the hospital unless I was like dying or something.
I couldn't imagine finding out that I was pregnant either - I know it was hard on my single mother. (I'm the result of a one-night-stand, but that's beside the point.) She had to raise a baby on her own. Well, me. I'm like half-human, you know.
kidding....sort of.
But to be a teenager raising a baby, and knowing and losing the father of the baby? I don't know how I'd manage, but I bet I'd be a weeping, depressed mother for the first six months.
erica♥xoxo -
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i know what you mean. i bet most of my money would be spent on tissues, netflix, and hershey's kisses.
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mmm. hershey kisses...yum. okay, now i want chocolate.
erica ♥ x o x o -
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mmmmmm me too. i got some really good ones- hershey kisses- for valentines day. they're, like, white chocolate and caramel and milk chocolate swirl.
yum.
here. have fun. *hands you bag*
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That was amazing, and the picture was just awesome. Keep up the good work =D
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thanks!
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Oh, what a beautiful story. I looked at the picture and I'm surprised it was such an inspiration. I see how much you developed the plot and the story itself is so meaningful. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen! Great piece, really!
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thank you.
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