The world returned to Amara in pieces. A muffled hum. The sharp sting of antiseptic. A weight in her chest, heavy but steady, like a drum that wasn’t hers.
Her eyelids fluttered, heavy as stone, and when they finally parted, the ceiling lights above her blurred into halos.
For a moment, she panicked, her hands twitching against the sheets. Then she heard it.
Thump. Thump. Thump
A heartbeat. Strong. Rhythmic. Certain.
It wasn’t the frail stutter she had lived with all her life. This was deeper, louder, almost foreign.
She pressed her trembling hand against her chest, feeling it hammering beneath her ribs. Tears sprang to her eyes.
You’re awake,*a voice said gently*.
Dr. Hassan stood at her bedside, his familiar calm smile softening the strangeness of the moment.
Dr Hassan
The surgery was a success. The heart
Amara wanted to thank him, but the words caught in her throat. How could she thank someone for giving her tomorrow? For giving her a life she wasn’t sure she deserved?
When the nurses left her alone, silence filled the room. She stared at the IV dripping steadily beside her bed.
Her mouth was dry, her body weak, but her chest—her chest was alive in a way it had never been.
She closed her eyes, listening. Thump. Thump. Thump.
And then, a flicker. A flash that wasn’t hers.
She saw… sunlight on water. A coastline she didn’t recognize. Laughter carried on the wind.
For an instant, it was as if she were standing there, sand cool beneath her feet.
Her eyes shot open. The vision dissolved, leaving her with only the echo of waves in her mind.
Amara shook her head. Drugs, she told herself. Anesthesia. Nothing more.
But later, when a nurse asked what she wanted for her first meal, the word slipped out before she could think.
Amara Bello
Coffee,*she said*.
*The nurse blinked*.Coffee? After heart surgery
Amara blinked too. She hated coffee. She had always hated coffee.
And yet, her mouth watered for it now.
As the nurse chuckled and made a note, Amara pressed her palm against her chest again.
Amara Bello
Whose heartbeat are you? *she whispered*.
The heart answered only with its steady rhythm, as if it already belonged to her
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