Chapter Seven
Juliet
The look of betrayal and hurt written on my sisters face still plays in my mind. I didn't mean to hurt her but this was something I had to do. I want to be unwound not start kicking-AWOL. I want to do something to make mom and dad happy, maybe then they will love me. I know my sister gave up long ago but Antigone just didn't understand that I never would. And what's so wrong with that? Nothing, is what. So, I'll gladly get unwound if that means, even if only for a moment, that they love me. I'll even volunteer to be unwound my first day there if I could. After all, it's not death anyways, it's living in a divided state. Plus, dad wants to have my lungs and mom wants my eyes, that means they will always have a piece of me with them and I will get to see their lives with them. It will be perfect. Absolutely, perfect. I'll be happy, they will be happy, so why can't Antigone just be happy that I'm happy? Isn't that what matters, that I get what I want in life like she wanted for me? So, I'll wait to be unwound.
I walk with the guards to the Chop Shop. I'm not afraid. I hold my head high. I'm not dying. I going to live in a divided states. Dad will have my lungs. Mom will have my eyes. I'll always be with them. I'll be fine. I let myself get strapped down to the table. As if I would run. I want this. I do. A nurse with smiling eyes walks over.
"You're taking this well for someone who ran," she stayed, "But don't worry, I'm here to help you though this."
"I'm not worried, I want this, I never wanted to run," I tell her.
"Then why did you?"
"My sister made me, I was asleep when she took me, I didn't know."
"I see." I wince as something goes through the right side of my neck, then the left.
"What was that? I thought this was suppose to be painless," I glance up at the nurse.
"That is the only pain you will feel today," she takes my hand. "You'll be awake the entire time but there will be no pain, isn't that amazing?" Her eyes smile down at me.
"Yeah, it is," I tell her. I watch as someone scrubs down my legs with a surgical scrub. "What are you doing now?"
"He's cleaning your legs while others have inserted catheters into your carotid artery and jugular vein. Your blood is being replaced with a synthetic oxygen-rich solution, while the real stuff is being sent right to the blood bank, so not a single drop will be wasted. This solution is also what allows you to feel no pain. It deadens your pain receptors," the nurse tells me.
"I see," I respond.
I glance over when the first set of surgeons walk in. All dressed in sunshine yellow, just like everyone else. Is that their way of trying to make people calm and happy? "Don't mind them, focus and talk to me," the nurse says, "talk to me about anything that comes to your mind."
"Have they found my sister?," I question.
"No, not yet," she tells me. Good, that means she's alive still. Keep going, Antigone. Get your freedom. I feel a tugging at my ankle and start to glance down. "Focus on me, it's nothing to worry about."
"Ok," I take a deep breath. Time seems to go by so slowly as I'm taken apart piece by piece. I dare not look and just focus on the nurse as she asks me questions.
"Why didn't you go with your sister?," she asks.
"Because I wanted to do this for my parents, so they can get what they want and so I will always be with them and others as well and live in a divided state with my parents and those who I've helped save."
"I see, that is very brave of you," she pats my hand.
"I guess," I let my mind flicker to all the times Antigone told me it was stupid to keep trying for our parents love. I let a sigh escape and watch as surgeons come and go. So many surgeons. So much time. Eventually, I watch as a surgeon cleans off the lower half of the table and then taking it away. I watch as florescent green liquid drips to the floor as they take away my stomach. I'd puke if I could. I'm afraid, but I stay strong as more time passes.
"We'll have to stop talking now but don't worry, I'll be right here," the nurse squeezes my hand.
"Ok," I let them take away my jaw and watch all that goes on around me. I blink when they ask me to, to let them know I'm still here. I'm still here. Eventually, I can no longer blink. The nurse reminds me she's still there but I hear her footsteps walk away from me. Liar. I can still hear, I can still feel.
"Splitting the corpus callosum," the surgeon says. But I'm still in here. I'm still here.
"You worthless brat! Get out of here!" My parents just tore me down. I run and cry in my room when my sister walks in.
"It's ok, Juliet. Their words are meaningless," Antigone soothes me.
"I know, but why do they have to be so mean?," I ask.
"I don't know," she sighs.
"Going to the left cerebral cortex." My sister and I are playing tag in the yard.
"Come on Juliet! You can run fast than that! Come get me!," Antigone taunts.
"I'm trying," I laugh.
"Try harder!," she laughs with me and keeps running. I try to keep up.
"Left temporal lobe." I toddle around after my big sister, trying so hard to be just like her. I fall and cry as she comes to my aid.
"There, there Juliet. Don't cry, it's alright," she helps me to my feet and kisses away the "boo-boo on my knee. "See, all better." She smiles.
"Goney!," I squeal.
"Yeah, that's me," she pats my head and holds my hand as we walk.
"Getting the auditory nerves." Silence. I turn my head in my crib and look at my sister holding onto the bars staring back at me. I cry because I'm hungry and she looks frightened and hides away as our parents come in.
"What now?," mother complains.
"The brat is probably hungry," my father rolls his eyes.
"Joy. I'll get the damn bottle," my mother walks away to make a bottle for me as my sister watches from her hiding place.
Left frontal lobe. Was I wrong to walk away from my sister? Left occipital lobe. W-what was her name? Left parietal lobe. What...what's my name? Right temporal. But... But I'm sorry. Right frontal. So... So sorry. Right occipital. I'm... Right parietal. Sorry... Cerebellum. Sorry... Thalamus. Sor... Hypothalamus. S... Hippocampus. …... Medulla. …...