Free The Second Heart by K. K. Eaton

Amelia sat up and pulled the
chain on her bedside lamp, bathing the room in soft light.
“Meredith? Sweetheart?” Alarmed, she leapt from the bed and knelt
at Meredith’s side.
    As the cramp released its tension, Meredith
felt as if all the energy were draining from her body along with
it. “I’m really sick, Mom,” she managed weakly.
    “I can see that, sweetie.”
    “I need to go to the hospital. I think I’m
dying. Or at the very least, I want to die.” She offered a small
smile to combat the stricken expression on Amelia’s face.
    “Rob, wake up,” Amelia commanded toward the
bed.
    Sleepily, Rob sat up and stared confusedly at
the two women on the floor at the foot of the bed.
    “Can you walk?” Amelia asked.
    Meredith nodded and started to sit up, but
another cramp took hold. Amelia pulled Meredith’s head into her lap
and stroked her hair as tears streamed down Meredith’s face,
soaking Amelia’s flannel pajamas. Normally a grin-and-bear it sort
of girl when it came to pain, Meredith felt helpless under the
onslaught. A small whimper escaped her as she tried to distance her
mind from the agony that wracked her body.
    When the cramp passed, Meredith said, “We
need to hurry. They’re getting worse.”
    Rob already had his shoes and coat on, and he
and Amelia helped Meredith to get up off the floor. Once Meredith
had found her footing, she and Rob headed down the hall toward the
car while Amelia threw on some flip-flops and grabbed her
purse.
    The car ride to the hospital was grim,
peppered by bouts of cramping that Meredith was powerless to
ignore, leaving her sobbing uncontrollably. Amelia sat in the
backseat with her, stroking her hair and murmuring while shooting
worried looks to Rob in the rear-view mirror.
    At last they arrived at the emergency
entrance to the hospital. Rob pulled up to the curb in front of the
double doors, and Amelia and Meredith went inside to sign in while
Rob went to park the car. The waiting room was packed with people,
which wasn’t surprising, given the weather.
    The triage nurse at the front desk took their
information and gestured to the overcrowded waiting room before
moving on to the next patient. There were no empty seats to be had,
so they made their way over to a wall where at least they could
lean or sit on the floor while staying out of the way.
    As they walked, Amelia leaned in closer to
Meredith. “Listen honey, I know you’re in a lot of pain.”
    Meredith nodded.
    “Sometimes when someone is obviously in a lot of pain, they’ll let you cut the line for pain killers.
Got it?”
    Meredith gave her a blank look.
    “Make a lot of noise, Mere. They’ll give you
drugs just to shut you up.”
    Comprehension dawned on Meredith just as
another cramp started to twist apart her insides. Instead of trying
to hold in her pain as she had before, she let it all out in a loud
groan that caused everyone in the room to turn and stare at her. As
the pain intensified, she sank down onto the floor against the
wall, shrieking all the while. She found that releasing the sound
actually helped her to cope with the anguish that consumed her. It
was something she could focus on, something she could do , in
response to the pain.
    After the cramp faded back into the
now-familiar ache, a nurse came over to them and told them that she
was authorized to give Meredith something for pain management while
they waited. Meredith and Amelia’s eyes met, and Amelia stifled a
smug smile.
    “That would be great,” Meredith said
breathily.
    “Come with me, then,” the nurse said. She was
an older woman with closely cropped iron gray hair. She wasn’t
overweight, but she seemed stocky, like a miniature tank. Standing,
Meredith was an entire head and shoulders taller than the
no-nonsense nurse.
    Leaving Amelia in the waiting room, Meredith
followed the nurse through a door and down a hallway littered with
gurneys and other medical supplies.
    Once they were ensconced in a small exam
room,