Artificial Heart

6

They released her soon after, all her tests clear. The pains in her stomach and chest remained a mystery. And as to the cause of her collapse—they eventually put it down to stress, exhaustion and menopause.

In other words—they had no idea.

But Prisha had an idea—and so did her sister.

'What the hell did he do to you?' she murmured on their drive home.

Prisha didn't answer, staring through the windshield as she tried to think.

'I want to stay with you today,' her sister said.

'No. You need to rest. You shouldn't have stayed, Nay. It was a waste of time. And what about work?'

'I'll cancel work for the day. You're more important.'

'I'll be fine. The doctors said so.'

'Only because they don't know what's going on.' Her sister rolled her eyes. 'Menopause. They blame everything on that. You should have told them the truth.'

'Are you kidding? They'd throw me in the psych ward!'

'But someone needs to know about this,' Renee said as they pulled up at her house.

They got out of the car. Prisha shook out her keys and opened her front door. The sun was rising, glaring through her kitchen window. She pulled down the blind, head throbbing.

'We can't just let it go as nothing,' Renee continued. 'See another doctor. Get someone who knows about this ... kind of thing to give us some answers.'

Prisha snorted. 'Tell who, Nay? You've already tried the police.'

'I'll go online. Find somewhere. Someone.'

'Find a cult group, more like. And a quack.'

'It's better than nothing!'

'Could you just let me handle it please?'

'Like collapsing on the floor again?' They glared at each other. Her sister sighed. 'I'm just worried about you, that's all. This is terrifying.'

'I know.'

'Do you think your heart's really gotten better?'

They both sat down at the dining table. Prisha folded her hands together on top of it. Renee leaned back in her seat, forehead creased with worry.

Prisha pressed a hand to her chest. 'I think so. I haven't had a single palpitation since I got back. I'm sore too. Right here. Like I said. It's like he's ... it's like he's gone in there.'

Her sister stared at her.

'No scar, though.' Prisha shrugged and gave an embarrassed laugh. 'I'm probably just full of shit. Why would he bother fixing me?'

'Good point.' Renee looked over at the blanket folded up on Prisha's living room cabinet. Her face brightened. 'I forgot all about that.'

'What are you doing?' Prisha said a little too sharply as she went over and touched it.

'But we do have evidence. Something extraterrestrial.' She picked it up. 'We could hand this in—and then they'll see. They'll see everything we said was real!'

'No! I mean ... no they won't. It just looks like a typical space blanket. You know—the ones they use to keep people warm when they're sick? They won't even try. They'll just laugh at us.'

Her sister's forehead puckered. 'You don't want to send it in.'

'It's just like I told you, they won't believe ...'