The dying part wasn't very painful. I barely knew it had happened, until I found myself with the knowledge that I was dead. If that makes any sense at all. I remember feeling asleep for a short while, a fluttery feeling inside of me, and then I was in a different place. The walls were white, but painted with colour. I know that doesn't make any sense, it doesn't to me, either, and I've seen it.
I was staring at these walls. I was in a room, or something, but the place seemed to stretch on forever. Like the blue of the sky, or the memory of summer. I was alone in the room. It felt like just moments. Maybe it was. I can't be sure. I just stared at those coloured white walls, and let the trance take over. It wasn't until the colours began to shape themselves that I tried to feel alert.
It took a moment for the image to completely form, but when it did, I could only blurt, "KATE!" My voice did not echo. My voice did not seem to have sound. My voice did not affect this image of Kate. She did not know I was there. She was standing in our room. My bed was unmade in the background. She was peering in the mirror, her fingers touching her sides. I could see a scar there. I looked at her face, and she seemed old. By at least a few years, but that was stupid. I couldn't have been dead for years. Also, my mother would not have left my bed unmade for years.
Yet, Kate seemed old by years. She had hair. She had make-up on. She had a healthy glow. I knew that deep into the core of my soul. My sister was healthy now. She tapped her fingers, manicured, by the way, against the scar. Suddenly, I knew the scar. It hadn't occurred to me before, but I knew now. That was the scar from the kidney transplant. That was where they cut open my sister and put a piece of me in her. The last piece that I could ever give her.
Suddenly, Kate's glossed lips are moving. I hear her voice, older sounding, more mature. "Thank you, Anna. For saving me."
Of course I saved her. Given the chance, I would spend every second saving her. Just like in hockey, I couldn't let the team down. There was no way I would let my sister down. So, even if it meant that I had to die, at least I could save Kate on the way out.
I do not own My Sister's Keeper.
~TLL~