A Heart of Time

“Time of death...” the doctor said.

I won’t forget that moment I looked over at Ellie—the paleness of her once rosy cheeks, the blue hue coating her perfect lips—the woman I had been with since we were five years old. My wife. My best friend...and the mother to our newborn baby girl.

You promised me we would be together forever, I wanted to tell her. She gave me her forever, I told myself. Her forever just ended at twenty-five.

“You need to say your goodbyes...” the doctor said.

How do I say goodbye to the one person in my life I could never say goodbye to?

My body is numb, and my heart hurts. Hurts like someone just ripped it out of my chest. Which is ironic...

“We are going to remove her heart now, Hunter. It was her wish to donate,” the doctor said.

She never told me this.

She never told me another woman would carry on with her beating heart. She never told me this woman knew me but wouldn’t let me know her.

She never told me if I should follow her heart, or if I should follow mine.

She knew. She could have told me...