She whipped her head in my direction. Eyes cold, with trembling hands.

" You had him in vitro so that he can be a perfect match for a dying child?" She drawled.

Every word she pronounced was a stab to my heart. It felt like replaying my life on a screen. I have been to different hospitals for surgeries. She is the first doctor to question my parents decision of having me just so I could serve as a donor child.

Mom and Dad maintained that it was not her business. She dawdled. Pacing from one corner to another. I understood there was nothing she could do. No one could save me from this misery, but I was glad she tried.

" Do you want this?" She stopped on a casual check-up. 

I never wanted it. No one asked for my permission before any of the surgeries. Every time, it would feel like I was not human like them. Surgeries after surgeries, Vitalis didn't recover, my parents didn't stop. They can't even see that I am dying as well.

" Does it matter?" I said, looking away from her misty lens. Whether or not I agree, they will go ahead with it anyway. If I refuse, I may be left on the streets like daddy threatened the last time. 

Later, I heard there was a little change. The kind woman has been replaced.

Vitalis was as worried as  I. " Will she lose her job?" He asked the new doctor.

“ Who? Dr. Hayley Nelson? She is chief.”

His response comforted us a little. Like ice on a burning cheek. Vitalis sent her a drawing he made, and I soon learnt that her son had departed a month before.

My brother finally spoke to me. It was brief. A single line that contrasted my situation. “ You will be fine.”

I was being prepared for the bone marrow transplant. My parents watched from outside like two hawks. Vitalis delayed, unwilling to be moved. I didn't understand his aim, until Dr. Hayley put the surgery on hold.

I heard her reprimanding my parents that Vitalis doesn't want this surgery as well. It was not their decision to make anymore.

" Why did you do that? You will die." I told him, putting reins over the well in my eyes.

“ I am dying. You have given enough. It is my turn to do the same for you, little brother.”

That was the last conversation I had with him. My parents mourned his departure ignoring my existence. The street was my destination, but I stumbled on Dr. Hayley by the exit and her curiosity intervened.

“ Where?”

" A safe place." I replied.

" It may not be much, but I have a room and some love left to give. Until your parents acknowledge their wrong, let me be your legal guardian." She said.

My parents never came. At first I wished they would, but the years spinned until their memory was a distant voice. That was how I became a son to a bereaved mother, whose late son had always wanted a brother like me. On his bed, I slept well. I didn't have to worry about the next surgery and what I will have to donate. It was a second chance. A chance that Vitalis requested on my behalf, through a letter buried in his drawing.