I smiled at the warm grin she was giving me. She’d been a regular for the past few weeks, a beautiful Black woman who had the most striking brown eyes I’d ever seen. When those eyes looked at me, they seemed so welcoming, as if one of the best moments of her day was looking my way—almost the same way Captain had stared at me. It blew my mind that some people were born with such gentle, caring eyes.

“Of course! Let me ring you up, and I’ll bring it right over to your table,” I told her, punching numbers into the keyboard.

“Thank you, uh”—she looked down at my name tag then back up at me—“Aaliyah. That’s a pretty name.”

I smiled. “Thanks.”

She moved back to her corner table and sat down, pulling out a novel. She’d been reading the same book for the past week, The Rule of Magic by Alice Hoffman. Each week, she’d bring in a new book, falling deep into the pages.

As I brought over her chai tea and cinnamon roll, she didn’t tear her eyes away from the page. Sometimes, she seemed somewhat invested in her novels, but she was more than intrigued with this go-around. She was melting into each word that came to her, flipping the pages with speed.

“It must be a good one,” I said, placing her order on the table.

She looked up and laid the book down. “Oh my goodness, it’s such a good one. I’m part of a book club, and this is our most recent read.”

“Oh, that’s fun! I’m a big reader, too.”

“Are you?” She raised an eyebrow. “What kind of books are you into?”

“Personally, comic books, but I do dive into thrillers from time to time.”

“Comic books?” she asked, surprised. “That’s fun.”

“Well, you know me. I have good taste,” I joked. “Enjoy yourself, and if you need anything—”

I paused as my chest tightened a bit. Everything came to a rushing stop as my knees began to buckle. My hands flew to my chest as I began gasping for air. My heart was pounding at an irrational speed, and as I fell to the ground, I was quickly surrounded by my coworkers.

Their lips were moving fast, and I saw the fear in their eyes as I tried to control my labored breaths. I shut my eyes and knew nothing good was going on. My heart felt as if it were on fire. As if it were shattering right inside my chest and trying to pound its way to freedom from the chains that seemed to be suffocating it.

I passed out at some point, wanting nothing more than the pain in my chest to disappear.

I awakened to bright lights shining down on me. My arms were hooked up to machines, and a nurse stood with her back to me as she was filling out something in her hand.

“What happened?” I asked, dazed and confused with cotton mouth. Nothing was making any kind of sense as I tried to get a grip on the situation. Everything seemed so fuzzy in my mind as I tried to connect the dots.

Flashes.

I remembered flashes that took place before my arrival at the hospital, yet none of them were flashes of love. No…

I had flashes of pain, flashes of fear, flashes of death.

The nurse turned my way with a big, bright smile. “There you are. It’s good to hear you talking. You’re at St. Peter’s Hospital. Do you have family you’d like me to call?”

I shook my head. “No. It’s just me. What happened?”

She smiled, walked over to me, and took my hand in hers, squeezing it lightly. “You’re going to be okay. You had complications with your heart and—”

“Complications?!” I asked, panicked about her word choice, and the worry that hit her eyes made it clear she wasn’t the right one to deliver the news.

“Let me get a hold of your doctor so he can explain everything to you, okay? I’ll be back with answers for you.”

“How long have I been here?” I asked, moving only slightly but feeling intense pain shoot down my spine.

“About twelve hours.”

“What?!” I spat out, sitting up straighter, terrified. Had I been out for that long? What was happening?

“The doctor will be in shortly.”

She left me to sit by myself, scared about what was happening to me. I looked at the numbers on the screen, my vitals. My hands were clammy, and my mind spun as I tried to figure out what exactly was going on. The last thing I recalled was being at work, and then everything went black.

It took over forty-five minutes for the doctor to arrive, leaving me with nothing but anxiety-packed thoughts.

“Hi, Aaliyah. I’m Dr. Brown. It’s nice to meet you.” The doctor walked in with a half-grin and a few others followed, including the nurse who greeted me before. “I hear you are a bit confused about everything that’s going on.”