1 Poison In The Heart

Have you ever thought of what death felt like? The cold fingers of the Reaper reaching out to take your soul, dripping a dry chill in the air as it wisps away. Being dragged down and down, to and endless demise. I would think of these things from time to time. Wondering. Just wondering what it must feel like to die. What it would feel like to be dead in a coffin under the earth's fragile crust."Where would you go once you're dead." I would muse to myself occasionally. I would look into it, studying religion to unlock this secret, learning their theories on afterlife. But none felt quite right, not settling in my broken stomach.

"BEEP." Went the machine next to me. "BEEP… BEEP." Went it once more. I sat back, lounging on the medical bed supplied in the room, focusing on the sound of the machine tracking my heartrate. "BEEP… BEEP." Went the machine once more. It went again, and again… and again, until someone called. Calling out my name in a tone close to a yell. I turned around, coming face to face with a woman in a white lab coat. She looked at me with a smile. A sad smile of contempt and pity. There were two more to the side. One a man and a woman, both dressed in what seemed to be Plaid button-down shirts.

"How are you feeling Oliva?" Questioned the woman in the white coat.

"Alright, nauseous and cold, but other than that I'm doing alright." I said, glancing over at the woman. She started to walk closer, pulling out a small, block-like device. She placed it in my ear. The plastic cover fell into my ear gently, cooling the inside of my ear as we waited. Simply sitting there in silence until an uncomfortable, high-pitched BEEP shot out from the device as the woman in the white coat took it out of my ear to examine the context gained from the device. She gave another sad smile, staring at me with pity drenched in her eyes. She glanced over at the man and woman that stood over my medical bed. She walked over to them, walking them out of my room. I waited. Waiting, and waiting, focusing on the BEEP of the machine that stood next door. Soon after the man and woman walked on in. They came over to my side. Lingering overtop as their sad smiles shined in the sky above.

Chapter 2

"How are you feeling Liv?" The man questioned, taking my hand, not wanting to hear my answer.

"I'm doing alright dad." I exclaimed, squeezing his hand." What did the nurse say?"

The woman moved next to me, grabbing my hand. " Honey… I-... you-..." The woman stuttered, her eyes swelling with tears." You've contracted the West Nile Virus… and with your weak immune system, the doctors say you don't have much time…" The woman exclaimed squeezing my hand, breaking into a sob as the man tried his best to confort, but only joined her in her everlasting sobs.

The BEEP of the machine rose. Increasing in tempo as shock erupted into my brain. Not much time left… What does that mean? I thought to myself as the beep started to go faster. I was scared. Afraid of what may happen. "W-W-What e-exactly is the W-West N-N-Nile Virus?" I stuttered my heart racing as I spoke, every word coming out like an unsanded floor.

The woman looked up, staring me in the eyes as her tear expression mixed with another sob. "I-I don't know much honey… but from what the doctors said, it's a virus contracted from the Asian Tiger Mosquito, a Mosquito native to Asia but got here thanks to international tire trade."

I sunk on the name. Thinking and thinking until it came to me that I had heard of it before. It was during a school assignment. One focusing on invasive species, telling about what they are and how they are counted as an invasive species. I saw this one as an option at the time, learning of the diseases, but decided to focus on the invasive Coyote population of North Carolina. However now, I wished I had chosen the stupid mosquito. "Wait why can't I see?" the Doctor explained why I can't see and he looked worried. He thought that it should have taken longer for the symptoms to start. I started to feel even more sick then I already was. The reason I have some serious symptoms is that just 2 weeks I needed a new kidney.

The time was 10:30 PM and my parents and the doctor were outside talking about the chance that I might not make it. One bad thing with that is I could hear everything they said so when they came in I was sitting there waiting to tell them something. They finally came back in so I told them "I know that there is a chance I might not and could make it but the chances are slim that I could make it". Something felt wrong and it was getting hard to keep my eyes open. The nurse that was in there, because the doctor was in the bathroom, was yelling for the doctor to hurry up and get back here. The doctor was going as fast as he could but he could not get here in time before I went into my coma. I could not watch my little girl when she was this sick. She had so much she didn't do in life. I really hope she pulls through this and can do those things. I can't handle death anymore than just being really depressed for really long periods of time. I hope that she will come out of the coma soon. The time is 12:30 and there has been no update on Olivia. I am worried that she may not make it out of the coma. She has always been a fighter and has never given up so she has a greater chance of pulling through.

Chapter 3

The time was 5 A.M. and it was raining, we thought the worst when the doctor said that she was close to death. He told us "we don't know how to tell you this but it is possible that she might not make it. Her symptoms have gotten worse and she still has not come out of the coma." "She is a fight" I kept telling myself "she will pull through I just know it" it has now been three years since she went into the coma I am starting to think she has given up. Later that day she opened her eyes. The doctor came to my room and said that I scared them when I didn't wake up for the three years. I wondered where my parents were. They came rushing to the hospital in hopes that they get to see there girl before the doctor says they can't. They got here just in time for me to say hi. I finally got out of the doctors exams and went to see my family. The doctor said that I should stay here at the hospital.