I Died On The Operating Table

On the day I was supposed to donate my bone marrow, my mother called me. “You’re pretending to be sick again? We’re just asking you to donate some bone marrow. Why are you acting like we want you to die?”

My brother agreed. “How could you be so horrible? You owe her this one! Even if she’s asking you to die, it’s because you deserve it!”

Even my boyfriend could not hide his anger. “It’s just a bone marrow donation. We’re not asking you to die. How could you be so selfish?”

They did not know that I would indeed die if I donated my bone marrow.

Since they wanted me to die so much, so be it.

I had always known that I owed Sully Sullivan two lives, because her parents had saved me when I got into an accident while I was a child.

When the paramedics found me, I was fine. My cheeks shone with a healthy glow.

But Sully’s parents had died on the spot. They did not even make it to the hospital.

My parents were educated people and cared about preserving their dignity the most.

They had Sully move into our house to avoid people talking behind their backs.

My mother patted my head and said, “Yelena, you have to take care of Sully from now on. You owe her this.”

Back then, my mother had sympathy in her eyes, but as time passed, all she had was disgust toward me.

As for Sully, she became their best daughter and their walking pride and joy.

During middle school, my mother went over to her school every day to give food to Sully, all in the name of taking better care of Sully.

I had been immature at that time and had thrown a few tantrums about it, but I got slapped for it.

“Yelena, you have no right to kick up a fuss about this. You killed Sully’s parents and even bullied her. She’s sickly now because of you, too.”

My mother’s expression had been really harsh, and when she got worked up, she even kicked me a few times, as if I was something dirty.

I was young, and I did not know why my parents changed. I could only hug my legs and cry sadly.

From then on, the terms “antisocial”, “wicked”, “ungrateful”, and “witch” were slapped onto me, and I grew up with them.

“Where are your parents?”

The doctor’s question startled me.

I instinctively looked to the corridor. It was empty, showing that no one was waiting, and no one cared.

I tried my best to swallow the anguish in my heart, and I smiled in acceptance.

“It’s just me…”

A piercing ringtone interrupted our conversation, and I took out my phone with trembling hands.

My stomach churned in pain. An observant nurse took my phone and brought it to my ear.

It was my mother.

“Yelena, where are you now?! Don’t you know that your sister is in pain?!”

She sounded really exasperated and angry. Her frustrated voice hurt my ears.

“In the hospital.” I only managed to say these three words after much effort, but it only made my mother even angrier.

“Are you pretending to be sick again?! We’re just asking you to donate your bone marrow! Why do you keep pretending that you’re going to die?!”

Those hurtful words stabbed into my heart, and my tears fell.

My father spoke up, too. “You know that she’s an ungrateful brat. She’s pretending to be sick to deceive us.”

My father knew my mother the best. With just a few words, he added oil to the fire and shoved me right into the flames.

“Heh. I forgot. We took care of you for so many years, and we ended up raising a witch.

“I’m telling you right now, Yelena. Even if you die, you’re donating your bone marrow to Sully.

“If it weren’t for the fact that your blood is the best match for her, I wouldn’t even bother talking to you. Your bone marrow would also be dirty, considering how selfish you are.

“I don’t want your bone marrow to corrupt Sully’s kindness!”

The insults poured out of my mother’s mouth like machine gun fire, and it hurt so much that I curled up.

Yes. Sully was always the best and the kindest.

If she wanted my bone marrow, I should be thanking her for it.

To everyone, I deserved this. I was a disgusting criminal.

My heart clenched so much in pain that I could not breathe.

I took huge gulps of breath to suppress my emotions, and someone else spoke.

It was Niel, the brother I brought up.

“How could you be so evil? You owe her this. Even if she asked you to die, you deserve it.”

He said those words so calmly, but they were the most horrible curse. I cradled my head in pain as their chants for me to die kept echoing in my ears.

Everyone hated me and misunderstood me, but Niel had no right to do so, because he knew everything.