The Sacrifice

Shawn sat in silence looking at the pictures on his phone. Taken last summer. It was the last time they had a chance to take a trip, the last time they laughed like that. A night out in a new city. She was stunning in her blue dress, and he just smirked at all the jealous guys seeing her with him. He loved that. 

They stopped at a cafe. Two glasses of Pinot noir, French cheese, and the most delicious olives he’d ever tasted. A tabby cat brushed up against her leg, this city was full of them. This one however was not alone. Suddenly its chaser caught up with it. Before they could react the dog knocked over the table. Almost in slow motion, everything went up in the air. They were covered in wine, the dog stopped to eat the spilled food, and the cat had made its narrow escape. 

All they could do was look at each other and laugh. He loved her laugh. 

The house felt so empty without her, and his life felt so empty without her laugh. He started to cry. He would visit her at the hospital tomorrow. As much as he loved being around her, he felt so helpless. Time was running out, and they couldn’t afford what she needed. He was already months behind on medical bills, mortgage payments, this sickness had depleted all their savings. This surgery was their last hope, but they didn’t have the $20,000 to give it a try. 

He was out of ideas and resources. He laid down, tears still streaming down his face. Just wanting to have her there next to him. Staring at her pillow, he refused to move to the center of the bed, even after all these months. It took a while, but he finally cried himself to sleep.

The next morning he went out for his usual walk around the neighborhood. Five miles helped him clear his mind. On his way back, just down the block, he kicked something in his stride. He stopped, turned, and walked back a few steps. Bending over he picked up a small, black leather notebook. 

His phone rang, it was his mother-in-law so he answered. She wanted to know what time he would be at the hospital. He quickly walked back home, paying little attention to the book as he placed it in his coat pocket. All his attention went towards what he needed to do that day. 

Later at the hospital, he sat with his wife as she slept. He reached into his pocket and remembered the book he found on his walk. Shawn opened it to no particular page and found written in black ink:

What do you need most right now? 

Shawn flipped to the next page, but it was blank. As were all of the other pages in the book. He flipped back to the page with the writing:

What do you need most right now? 

(Please write your answer below)

Now he knew that second line was not there before. He was tired, but he couldn’t quite convince himself that it was there the first time. He looked up and around the room. He found a pen on the nightstand. Hesitated for a minute, but then wrote down on the page:

$20,000

Nothing happened. Shawn didn’t really know what he expected to happen. A sigh escaped his lips. He automatically turned the page, which to his surprise now said:

What do you need this for?

This is when Shawn thought he was going crazy. He looked up, no one else was anywhere near him except for his wife still asleep. He looked back down still in shock, he wrote:

To save my wife.

Holding his breath he turned the page. It read:

A noble reason. I will make you a trade. What are you willing to sacrifice to get it?

Sacrifice? Is this for real? Shawn knew he wasn’t dreaming. He had started to sweat and his heart was racing. This had to be a trick of his mind. He thought for a few minutes and wrote:

I will never eat ice cream again.

He turned the page.

That is not nearly enough.

This book or his mind was now taunting him. He angrily wrote:

What would be enough? 

And turned the page.

One of equal value. In order to save a heart, you can choose to sacrifice one of these three -

• Your memories of her
• Your left arm
• Your right eye

Shawn just froze. What kind of sick and twisted trick was this. He glanced over at his wife. What would he be willing to sacrifice for her? Anything. He looked back at his choices. Well, almost anything. Knowing this was just one of those moments his brain was racing. Asking ridiculous, what if’s, just to get him riled up. He took his pen, and circled:

Your right eye.

He closes the book and placed it on the nightstand. This is stupid. It’s just too quiet in this room. He turned on the TV just for the noise. Looking down at his wife he lovingly touched the side of her face. What wouldn’t he sacrifice to just have her well again.

The next morning he arrived at the hospital to an empty room. His heart stopped. He rushed out to the nurses' station to ask where his wife was. His mother-in-law saw him and hurried over beaming. “Isn’t wonderful!” 

“What’s wonderful?” He said in confusion.

“Didn’t you get my message? The hospital received a large donation yesterday and it covers the surgery. They just took her in 20 min ago. It’s a miracle.”

Shawn stood there in disbelief. Gathering his thoughts, he walked back into the hospital room and slowly lowered himself into the bedside chair. This was too good to be true. He had prayed for this every night and it truly was a miracle. He turned to see the little black notebook on the nightstand. With an uneasy hand, he reached for it and just flipped it open to a random page. On it read:

Sacrifice accepted.