My Sister's Heart
Katlyn is watching the late-night news in her small apartment. Not that the news was that interesting lately. It was nothing more than corporate propaganda. Some stuff about Lilly Goldwell having a liver disease. Katlyn rolled her eyes.
Lots of people in the world are ill. Yet when a rich girl gets sick, they organise a large-scale program where tens of thousands of people are tested to see if they match as donors.
Katlyn knew this all too well. Her twin sister, Jenny, got tested a week ago. Jenny always was ambitious and would do anything to ‘make big money,’ so giving up part of her liver in exchange for a life-changing amount of money was very much in character for her.
Even worse, one of the Goldwells had the audacity to ask Jenny on a date while she was waiting in line at the testing centre. She didn’t blame Jenny for saying yes. She was probably being wined and dined in an upscale restaurant right now while Katlyn was eating prepackaged food in front of her television.
Suddenly, the front door opens and Jenny storms in. Her face is wet with tears.
“What’s wrong, Jenny? Didn’t your date go well?”
Jenny ignores her and walks to the kitchen. She looks in the cabinets until she finds an old dusty bottle of wine. She stares at the bottle for a while as if lost in thought. Then she composes herself and pours two glasses of wine.
She hands her sister a glass and turns off the TV. She sits down on the couch next to her sister and puts down the bottom of wine next to her.
“Thank you,” says Katlyn, sipping from the glass of wine. “Now, tell me what happened.”
“Well,” Jenny starts, “It started really well.
“John picked me up in his car. It was a very fancy limosine, and we drove to the Silver Chimney, you know, the most expensive restaurant in town. He parked right out front. We were shown into the dining room. When I entered, I saw that there was nobody else there. We were alone except for a waiter and two bodyguards. He rented out the whole restaurant.
“I told him he didn’t need to do all that, that I was a simple girl that didn’t need this extravagance, but he laughed and said that his family would not miss the money spent anyway. That this was one of the perks of being a Goldwell.
“When the waiter came back, we ordered our food. Our waiter brought us this special wine. He explained it was some kind of vintage and tasted great together with the lobster bisque.”
Katlyn nods knowingly, even tho she never tasted lobster in her life. Or expensive wine, for that matter. She takes a sip from her glass. Thinking about expensive wine makes her aware that the cheap wine she is drinking tastes horrible. Or maybe it was just out of date. The bottle is very dusty, after all. It had probably been in the cupboard for too long.
Jenny continues. “The appetiser came, and we talked for a bit. He was really nice and charming. Although he was a bit out of touch.”
“Well, being the heir to the largest corporation in the world will do that to you. ” Katlyn says.
“He was surprisingly easy to talk to. We were still talking when the main course arrived, and then things turned.”
“What happened?” asks Katlyn.
“He told me he wanted to thank me for considering donating part of my liver to his sister, Lilly. I was mortified.
“So I asked him ‘, Did you only invite me here to convince me to donate?’ His response was, ‘no’. Just a simple ‘no.’ That made me more suspicious.
“Then he said: ‘you know, it was very nice of you to get tested if you were a match for Lilly.’ And I told him that was really sweet but if he wasn’t going to tell me why he invited me here, how could I trust him? He replied, ‘don’t worry about it’. So, I asked him again. Why he invited me there.”
“And?” prompts Katlyn while pouring herself a second glass of wine.
“He told me: ‘It actually doesn’t matter anymore. The infection has spread to her heart. She needs a heart transplant.’
“I couldn’t believe it! Then he dropped the bomb. ‘You see, you’re the only match available for her. So we are going to need your heart.’
“I jumped up from my chair and tried to leave, but then he and the two bodyguards each pulled out a gun.
“They took my wallet and cell phone. Then they pushed me back in my chair.”
As she says all this, her voice quivers with rage. She’s not crying or even close to crying. She seems angry, not sad.
“He kept telling me how sorry he was and promised he’d be honest with me from now on.”
Katlyn looks at her sister with sympathy. “I’m so sorry, Jenny.”
“Yeah,” says Jenny bitterly, “I feel pretty stupid too.” She stares at her wine glass for a long time before taking another sip.
“How did you escape?”
“Well, it wasn’t easy. I knew I needed to play it smart if I wanted to survive.
“I told him that if I was going to die anyway, I wanted to enjoy the rest of the night at least. He agreed.
“He then spent the next hour telling me how sorry he was and how he had no choice. But his words meant nothing to me. I didn’t even enjoy the rest of the food. I was buying time to come up with a plan.
“After we finished dessert, he asked me, ‘Is there a final thing you want to do before you die?’ and I said: ‘I know this restaurant has a beautiful roof terrace. I would like to see the stars for the last time.’
“So he cocked his gun and said: ‘Ok, follow me’ and walked with me toward the elevator.
“We rode the elevator up to the roof terrace. He kept me at gunpoint the whole time. We then walked outside to the roof terrace. It was very high up. We could see the whole city lying beneath us.
“Then he told me again how sorry he was, and that he actually liked me, and that if things had been different, we could have been a great couple. But he loved Lilly more.
“I told him he didn’t know me, we just met and that he obviously didn’t care about me. I told him he only cared about himself and his stuck-up family.
“He just looked at me. And started crying. Can you believe that? He cried!”
“What did you do then?” Katlyn asks.
“I used the opportunity to walk to the roof’s edge and stood on the ledge. And I told him I was going to jump. And then my heart, which Lilly needed so much, would be smashed to pieces on the pavement, together with the rest of my body. Then both of us would end up dead.
“He begged me not to jump. That it wouldn’t make any difference and that if there were any way to save both his sister’s and my life, he would.
“And then I told him there was a way.”
Katlyn tries to ask Jenny what she suggested, how she survived, but she doesn’t seem able to get the words out.
The doorbell rings and Jenny stands up to open it.
Katlyn starts to panic. She feels weak and can’t get up. Or feel her fingers. She tries to push herself up off the couch, but her body won’t move. Her glass of wine slips from her fingers. It falls on the floor, staining the floor in a dark shade of red.
Jenny opens the front door. Katlyn sees the one and only John Goldwell enter their apartment. He points at Katlyn.
“Is this your twin sister?”
“Yes, she is my identical twin.” Jenny smiles at her sister. “I am sorry for poisoning you, sis. But it was either you or me.”
