The Day I Walked Away

The cab driver took one look at the state I was in and floored the gas, running red lights all the way to the hospital.

The doctors rushed me into the operating room. Still, I only caught one sentence through the haze. "We can't save the baby…"

Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes. Maybe it was for the best. Now, I could leave without anything holding me back.

When I woke up, the hospital room was empty. I rested a hand on my now-flat stomach and let out a bitter smile. The baby's father had never even known that our child existed before it was taken from us.

My phone rang. It was Brandon.

I had been planning to have a serious talk with him, but his anxious voice came through the phone before I could say anything. "Eleanor, where are you?"

My heart still skipped a beat. He still loved me. Maybe things didn't have to end like this after all.

I inhaled slowly as I answered, "I'm in Room 501 at Central Medical Center."

The call ended abruptly.

…

Moments later, the door to my room was shoved open. Brandon walked in with his two closest friends.

The moment he saw my pale face and hospital gown, he froze. "Eleanor, what happened to you?"

"I—"

Before I could answer, one of his friends cut me off. "Brandon, hurry up. She looks fine. Hannah needs our help!"

Brandon snapped out of it. "Right."

He grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the door.

Pain shot through my body. I'd just had surgery. "Brandon, let go. You're hurting me."

A sheen of cold sweat broke out across my forehead.

"Eleanor, you have the same rare blood type as Hannah. The blood bank is out of blood, so you're the only one who can donate." He looked at me pleadingly.

That was true. Hannah had always served as my emergency blood donor. However, Brandon had protected me so well over the years that she'd never had to donate a single drop.

I stared at him in disbelief, tears filling my eyes. I'd just lost our baby. Yet, he now wanted me to give my blood to another woman. "Brandon, I just—"

My words were drowned out by a nurse shouting down the hallway. "Where is Hannah's family? She needs a blood transfusion immediately!"

Brandon let go of my hand. "I'm her boyfriend! We have a donor!"

He turned to his two friends. "Take Eleanor to donate. Make sure she's taken care of."

Then, he left without looking back.

"Brandon!" I tried to go after him, but his friends held me back.

"Eleanor, come with us. Hannah needs your blood."

My eyes turned red. "But I just had a miscarriage!"

His two friends froze in shock and exchanged a look.

Then, one of them sneered. "You're just making excuses because you don't want to donate. How could you have miscarried in such a short time? Hannah has risked her life and has been by Brandon's side for years.

"You're just a woman who can't even support him. You would've died who knows how many times if it weren't for Hannah."

"That's right. You're donating whether you want to or not."

They ignored my struggles as they dragged me to the blood donation room and used their status to pressure the nurse into drawing my blood.

As the blood was drained from my body, my vision began to blur. My hospital gown was soaked with cold sweat.

I kept staring at the entrance, waiting for the man who had promised to protect me for the rest of my life. He never came.

In the end, I couldn't hold on any longer. My vision went black.