Carpe Diem (29 page)

“I’m looking for Piper Reynolds,” I tell the nurse sitting at the desk in front of me.

She punches the keys on her keyboard quickly to find the information. She sees the desperation in my eyes.

“Yes, the doctor is waiting for you. If you can take a seat for a moment, I will let her know you are here,” she tells me.

I nod in acknowledgment but do not bother to sit. I start pacing the small waiting area, my clothing dripping a trail behind me. I do not wait long for the doctor.

“Mr. Avery?” a woman in a doctor’s coat asks, walking toward me.

“Yes, how is she, when can I see her?” I ask.

“Sir, my name is Doctor Redding. I am a trauma surgeon working on Piper’s case. Piper sustained a heavy head injury along with some abdominal trauma as a result of the crash. I have ordered a CAT scan and MRI to gauge the extent of her injuries and should have those results any time now. Right now I can tell you that we did have to intubate her and that she is not conscious and that we are doing everything we can for her,” she explains.

“When can I see her?” I ask her again.

“I can allow you to see her for only a few minutes right now, but as I said she is not conscious,” she tells me.

“I don’t care, I want to see her.”

Doctor Redding brings me to a room filled with machines, all of them attached to Piper. I cannot control the tears falling from my eyes when I see her.

“I will give you a few minutes,” she tells me before leaving me.

The beeping of the cords running from Piper to the machines monitoring her heart, the tube coming out of her beautiful mouth helping her breathe, the blood painted on her angelic face, is the hardest thing I have ever had to see.

I walk over and take her hand in mine. She doesn’t respond. My thumb caresses her silky skin, again no response. I lean down to her ear in the hope that she can hear me.

“Piper, don’t you dare leave me. I cannot tolerate watching you die before you know the truth,” I whisper.

No response.

“Piper, you fight this, you come back to us. Come back to me,” I continue.

A nurse comes in and tells me that my time is up and that there is a woman in the waiting room asking for me. I kiss Piper’s forehead, wipe my tears, and follow her out.

When I enter the waiting room, everyone is there—Bryna, Casey, Chuck, Abby, and Dave.

“How is my mom?” Bryna asks, running to me with tears streaming down her face.

“They don’t know yet. They should have some information for us soon. All they know for sure right now is that she did have a head injury and some abdominal trauma,” I tell them.

“Can we see her?” she asks.

“Bryna, you don’t want to see her right now,” I tell her.

She can see why in my eyes. I pull her into my arms and hold her tight. Her sobs grow stronger the tighter I hold her. I look to Casey and Abby who are currently looking to their husbands for comfort but like me, they are having a hard time holding back the tears themselves.

About twenty minutes into our silent vigil, Doctor Redding approaches us.

“How bad is it?” I ask.

“After reviewing the test results, the good news is the head injury is not as severe as we feared. She does have some swelling but it should subside on its own,” she states.

I hear a gasp of relief from behind me.

“And what is the bad news?” I ask.

“She is going into liver failure. We have her stabilized for now. We also see a large mass on her liver in the scan. Between the injuries and the mass she will need a liver transplant,” she tells us.

“Is it cancer?” I ask.

“We can’t be certain without taking a biopsy.”

“Okay, so we get her a new liver,” Bryna shouts.

“I’m afraid it is not that simple. Piper is O positive, making finding a compatible liver harder. We are already taking steps to get her on the transplant list, but we may not find one in time.”

“Take part of mine, you can do that right? Use a living donor?” Abby says, rushing to my side.

“Yes, we can. The donor needs to meet some basic criteria then we can run type matching to see if you would be an ideal donor,” Doctor Redding explains.

“First do you or anyone willing to be tested have an O positive or O negative blood type?” she asks.

Silence, everyone looks beaten down and losing hope by each passing second.

“Bryna?” someone finally asks.

“No, I’m B. Dad was AB,” she tells us.

“Then I’m sorry. There is no way we can proceed with the type matching,” Doctor Redding tells us.

“I do,” a familiar voice calls out.

My head whips around to see Kyle standing in the hall right outside the door.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” I demand, walking toward him.

“I heard Piper was hurt. I came down to see if she was okay. I want to help if I can.”

“You and your wife have done enough,” I yell.

“FLYNN! STOP IT,” Bryna yells.

“I don’t know what is going on, but if he wants to help my mom then let him,” she continues sternly.

She is her mother’s daughter, able to command attention and bring about the voice of reason in all of us. I know she is right and that my dislike for Kyle or his wife should not get in the way of saving Piper.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.”

I
t has been a month since we got the news that Kyle was not a match. The devastation almost killed me. That is until Helen offered to be tested. She was O positive and willing to do whatever she could for Piper. The doctors originally advised against it, cautioning her against the risks.

Helen didn’t care and insisted on being tested. In a twist of fate, she was the best match possible. The doctors insisted on waiting to perform the transplant until Helen had regained some strength since Piper was stable, today is that day.

Piper has been stable, but still unconscious in a medically induced coma. I have been by her side each and every day waiting for this day. The doctors felt keeping her in the coma would give her brain a better chance to heal.

Bryna has been here with me, we would take turns talking to her and giving each other support. She has been so brave, first losing her father and now her mother lays before us with her future uncertain.

“It’s time,” Doctor Redding tells us.

“Okay, thank you,” I reply.

I lean down to kiss Piper’s hand as I have done each day. I move to whisper in her ear.

“You are going to survive this, you are going to come back to us, come back to me, so that I can tell you how much I love you.”

I wipe the tear falling from my eye before standing and moving to allow Bryna to say what she needs to say.

To give her some privacy, I move to the other side of the room. I see the tears falling from her eyes as she whispers into her mother’s ear. I want to promise her that everything will be okay, but I can’t.

We watch as the nurses’ wheel the bed out to the hall and down to the operating room. A moment later, we see Helen being wheeled down the hall also.

“Helen,” I yell, running to her side.

“Flynn…”

“I want to thank you. I know you didn’t have to do this, that it is a risk. I just want you to know that whatever happens…” I am unable to finish.

“Flynn, if this is all I can do to somehow right the wrong I caused then I will do it, no matter my fate, it is the right thing to do,” she tells me before signaling the nurse to continue on.

The next few hours pass as if they are days. The doctor told us it could be four to eight hours for the surgery.

Hour One

Abby and Casey try to convince Bryna to lie down and get some rest but she refuses. They tried with me briefly, but could see that even though I did not sleep much last night, there was no way I was going to rest now. I cannot rest until I know Piper is okay.

With nothing else to do but think, my mind wanders to the first day I met Piper
.

It was Christmas break, Jack and his family had taken a family vacation to visit some family so I was stuck without my best friend for winter break.

Since our yearly ritual of wintertime shenanigans was off and with my mom insisting I not mope around the house I spent most of my time at the movies or at the arcade. It was when I went to go see Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country for the third time.

I had just gotten my pop, popcorn, and candy and was on my way to the theater number three when a girl came running around the corner knocking everything out of my hand. I had never seen a girl so beautiful. The way her cheeks flushed with embarrassment only added to her beauty. She immediately started apologizing and offered to buy me a new popcorn and pop. I, of course, took all the blame and told her she didn’t have to.

When she asked what movie I was there to see, I stuttered trying to get the words to form but finally managed to tell her Star Trek. She told me she and her sister were also there to see Star Trek and would be happy to share their popcorn. I happily accepted. She told me to wait where I was while she used the bathroom and then would take me to their seats. Afterward, we went out for pizza so she could once again apologize for spilling my popcorn.

She told me all about how they had just moved to town and would be starting school here after the break, I couldn’t help but wonder if we would have any classes together. When we were finished, she gave me her phone number and told me to give her a call sometime. This was the first time a girl had ever given me her phone number. I was in shock that someone like her would want to give someone like me her phone number, so like an idiot, I didn’t call her right away.

A few days later Jack was back from his trip and with only a few days left of winter break, we didn’t waste any time talking about what was new. We fell right back into our video games and other winter break activities.

It was when we got back to school that I remember I still had not called Piper. I had hoped I would see her in one of my classes or in the hall so I could talk to her again and apologize for not calling. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I had been to all my morning classes, no Piper. When the lunch bell rang, I had renewed hope that I would see her wandering around the lunchroom, looking for a friendly face and a place to sit.

I rushed through the lunch line and started walking to the table Jack and I always sat at when I saw them. Piper and Jack sitting closely together laughing and my heart sank. I slowly walked over to the table, when Jack looked up and saw me, his smile said it all.

Hour Two

My thoughts are interrupted when Abby goes to the cafeteria to get us some food. We nibble here and there, but none of us seems to have an appetite. It does not take long for my memories to float back to the past.

After that lunch Piper and Jack were inseparable. I soon became the third wheel. My thoughts would wander back and forth to what could have been. If I would have just told Jack about Piper when he got back from vacation, he would have known I liked her. After Jack found out Piper and I had already met at the movies, he asked me if I was interested. He offered to back off if I was. I told him no, I wasn’t interested. It was not a hard lie to convince him of since I hadn’t called her and I hadn’t told him about her. He, like a good friend, asked if I was sure before he asked her out. I stupidly assured him I was.

When Jack told me Piper was pregnant and that he would not be going to college, I decided to stay here with them. Some would call me a masochist for wanting to stay, but I could not leave my best friend behind while I went off and followed our “dreams.” College was not for me anyways, I was only going because all three of us were. My life was here, it always had been.

Hour Three

Bryna finally falls asleep in Casey’s arms. Casey had been comforting her when the need for sleep overcame her will to stay awake. I watch as Casey gently caresses Bryna’s hair. It reminds me of Piper and Jack the day Bryna was born.

Piper had a very long, hard labor with Bryna. Jack and I had been taking turns listening to Piper yell at us as we waited for her to fully dilate. Piper did not have and still does not have a tolerance for pain. Jack had just sent me to get us some coffee. The hospital coffee was horrible so I would drive over to a cafe a few blocks away to get the good stuff. When I got back, the door was closed and a nurse let me know Piper was in full labor and it could be a while. I took a seat in the waiting room and waited. Part of me was happy for them. They were about to become a family. The other part of me was still jealous. Not because I wanted to be a young father, but because I wanted it to be me and Piper, not Jack and Piper. I had been in love with Piper since the day I met her.