Artificial Heart

‘Prisha!’ Renee screamed, racing across the carpark.

Prisha staggered backwards at the weight of her effusive embrace. People leaving the train looked over at them curiously.

‘Thanks, Nay, for picking me up,’ Prisha said, her throat thick as she buried her face into her shoulder, hugging her back.

‘I can’t believe he left you there!’ She was sobbing.

‘I wouldn’t make a report.’

Her sister pulled away. Tears glistened on her cheeks. She stared at her in disbelief. ‘Why not?’

Prisha gave her a sardonic look.

‘Ah … yes … well … I don’t think they believed me either.’

’You told them?!’

’Of course! It might be an outrageous story but it’s still the truth! I needed to find you, Prish.’ She gripped her shoulders. ‘What happened? Where’d you go? I waited and I waited but you didn’t come back.’

‘Can we talk about it somewhere else?’ Prisha said, looking around at those watching.

’Right. Of course. I’m just so damn glad you’re okay.’ She gave Prisha a wobbly smile, then another hug before taking her wrist and pulling her towards her car. ‘I’ve already told everyone that you’re back,’ she said.

‘Oh.’ Oh, shit. Everyone. Everyone would want an explanation. ‘Please tell me you didn’t tell them about anything, right?’

‘No. Not about that. I don’t even know what the hell I saw.’ Her face was red.

The moment they both sat in the car and slammed their doors, Renee turned towards her. ‘What happened? Was it really a spaceship? Was there an alien? Did it abduct you?’

‘Can’t I get home first?’

Her sister glared at her.

‘Fine. Yes, yes and yes.’

’Holy Jesus. Are you okay? What did it do? What did it look like? You seem okay. Did it hurt you?’

Prisha hesitated. No. She had to tell someone. She couldn’t keep this to herself. So she told her everything. It was extraordinary. How could something so momentous take only a few minutes to explain?

Her sister looked breathless. Her cheeks were flushed. ‘What does this mean?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know.’ Prisha wrapped her arms around the blanket, pulling it into her chest.

‘Can I touch it?’

Prisha nodded and her sister reached out to stroke it. Her brown eyes were wide and shining. ‘I can’t believe this. I felt like such a fool telling the police the truth. They asked me questions … thinking you’d tricked me. That you left me on purpose.’ She looked into Prisha’s eyes. ‘I started to believe it. I’m sorry.’

‘I don’t blame you. I probably wouldn’t have believe it either.’

‘I didn’t leave you. I stayed all night.’

‘I know.’

‘I was scared.’ Her voice trembled.

‘It’s okay.’ Prisha grabbed her wrist. ’I made the stupid, dangerous choice. I take responsibility for the consequences.’

‘What consequences?’

’If there are consequences.’

Renee swallowed. ‘You should see a doctor. Get a checkup.’

Prisha shrugged.

’Prish. Promise me.’

‘Okay.’ And she said it knowing she would do no such thing.

She started the car. ‘Good. Let’s get you home.’

That night Prisha spent hours on the phone talking to her friends and her brother. It was tiring. It was frustrating. But at least they didn’t know the ridiculous truth. Only that she’d inexplicably vanished. Prisha wasn’t sure if that was any better as she fumbled with her explanation.

Between phone calls, Prisha jumped on the internet to tend to her clients. She quickly found she didn’t need to explain about her absence. Most had seen it on the news or learned it from her sister.

Prisha leaned back in her seat with a sigh. She could almost pretend it had never happened. No harm done. She rubbed at her chest. Then rubbed at her gut. Thursday. Saturday was already so close. So close behind and so close ahead. When she returned to the little clearing, it would be like she’d never really left.

Prisha stared at her computer screen, heart thumping.

Over the course of the next couple of days, she received more phone calls from her family. From her connections at work. Her Facebook timeline was saturated with messages. It was embarrassing. In amidst it all, she received two calls from the police. When Prisha refused to speak to them, they arrived at her door. Not Scott this time. A man and a woman.

‘I haven’t done anything wrong,’ she told them through her screen door.

‘We just want to make sure you’re okay,’ the woman spoke as she tried to peer over Prisha’s shoulder into her home. ‘Do you live alone?’

‘Yes. Why does everyone keep asking that? Can’t a woman live alone?’ She sighed. ‘Look, I’m grateful for what you’ve done. I really am, but there’s no point in telling you anything. You won’t believe me.’

‘Because of the spaceship, right?’ the male officer spoke.

Prisha stiffened. The female officer was doing her utmost not to smile. The corner of the man’s mouth kept quirking up and down. Prisha closed the door in their faces.

She didn’t work much. She didn’t need to. She had savings and needed a holiday anyway. Generally, for her current clients, the money took care of itself.

No harm done.

No harm done.

She had already planned her trip to return to the clearing later that afternoon, just as she’d promised. I’ll come back. Same day. Same time. Right here.

Prisha dropped her dumbbells and rubbed at her chest with a grimace. It was hot in her little gym. Sweat trickled down her brow and under her arms. She was feeling a bit … off. Not just her chest. Not just her stomach. All over. She was shaking. She’d been sleeping a lot over the past couple of days. Eating a lot. Drinking a lot.

She grabbed at her head, then leapt from her seat as her body suddenly flared with heat. Racing to her kitchen, she got a drink of water and turned on her air conditioner—but the heat kept getting worse until she was forced to lean over the kitchen bench, gasping for breath.

What was this? Fucking menopause? Her symptoms had never been this bad before. She slid to the floor onto her buttocks, then lay down upon the cool tiles. Closing her eyes, Prisha took long deep breaths.

It clearly didn’t help because the next time Prisha woke it was in a hospital bed. She squinted against the fluorescent light as people talked and shouted and banged around her. She’d been in an emergency department once before when her heart had first acted up. She’d hoped to never do so again.

Prisha wriggled her nose, then reached up to grab the oxygen tube. She tried to pull it off.

‘Prish? No. Keep it on. It’s for your own good. You’re in hospital. She’s awake!’ she called.

‘Nay?’ Her voice was all hoarse. She sounded sicker than she felt.

Her sister was standing over her, long blonde hair slung over one shoulder. She was smiling, lines of worry around her nose and mouth. Her chin wobbled and there were tears in her eyes.

‘What’s happened?’ Prisha croaked.

‘You wouldn’t answer your phone. I was worried and came over and found you on the floor. They say you were probably there several hours. I told you you shouldn’t live on your own, Prish. Especially with your heart. Do I really have to check on you like an old person?’ She gave a sad, dark chuckle.

Prisha sat up and promptly grabbed her head with a moan.

’Prish, careful.’ Her sister seized her wrist.

‘Oh, so you’re awake, finally.’ A woman was standing at the foot of her bed. She was black with long black braids pulled into a ponytail. Her dark eyes were shining. ‘I’m Ama, the doctor looking after you. How do you feel?’

‘I feel … fine. I don’t know what happened.’

‘You should have seen a doctor after what happened, Prish, I told you,’ Renee said.

’After what happened?’ the doctor asked.

Prisha glared at her sister before she could speak. ‘Nothing. It’s nothing.’

‘She disappeared for four days. She was on the news,’ her sister explained.

Prisha sighed.

‘Really?’

‘Don’t bother asking her anything. She doesn’t remember any of it.’ Her sister folded her arms.

‘You don’t remember anything of it?’ the doctor asked.

And so the questions began, alongside a rather extensive physical assessment. Prisha didn’t bother fighting. Not with her sister. Not with the doctor. She wanted answers too. About her chest. About her belly. About why the hell she collapsed in the first place.

‘Was it her heart?’ her sister asked.

‘I have a pretty significant heart murmur,’ Prisha said at the doctor’s questioning look. ‘One of my valves has a defect.’

The doctor frowned. ‘That’s strange. I didn’t hear anything earlier when I examined you.’ But she leaned in, using her stethoscope to listen to her chest. ‘Are you sure? I hear nothing.’ She pulled back. ‘Do you think it’s your heart? Do you have chest pain? Palpitations?’

‘Ah … I have some pain. Right here.’ She pointed. ‘Feels muscular though. Like I’ve pulled something. We were hiking …’

‘I’ll add on another blood test, just to be sure,’ the doctor said.

‘No palpitations though,’ Prisha said, rubbing her chest. ’Funny that. Other than the new pain, it’s actually been pretty good. Really good. Ever since …’ She chewed her lip.

Renee was staring at her.

‘We’re still waiting for the results of the head CT. It should be back soon,’ the doctor said. ‘Until then, I need you to stay here for monitoring.’

The doctor left.

Prisha leaned back into her pillows, then suddenly sat up. She looked at her sister. ‘What time is it?’

Her sister looked at her phone. ‘Quarter past two.’

‘In the afternoon?’

’In the morning, Prish.’

Prisha’s stomach lurched. ‘I missed it. I promised him and I missed it!’

‘Promised who? Promised what?’

Prisha just shook her head.