Page 110 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
“I’m being punished,” he said.
“For what?”
“Because I’m not any different than him. And perhaps God is making things right. I blamed my father. I set out to destroy him. Perhaps true justice is understanding that if I am to destroy him for what was done, then I have to destroy myself.”
“Stop. Don’t get nihilistic. You just have to live through this.”
“If I can’t see, I don’t know that I want to live.”
“Stop it. Many people live without their sight. Or various other senses. Do you think that they shouldn’t live?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t. Because you don’t mean that. Which means on some level you must understand that whatever happens, you will learn to live. You will.”
“Perhaps I’m tired. Tired of learning to live in new realities.”
“Don’t get self-pitying. It’s only going to make it worse.”
“You have a bruise on your cheek. Don’t speak to me about self-pity.”
“Matias. You didn’t deserve for this to happen to you. And you will... You will be all right.”
“You don’t know that.”
She didn’t. She was actually just afraid that he was going to suddenly die on her. If something was wrong enough in his brain to take his sight away, who knew what else could suddenly happen. He could have a stroke. Or something. Old anxiety churned through her, along with new.
That she had watched her mother die in spite of all the advancements in modern medicine, grabbed hold of her now. As she looked at the one man she had ever been intimate with, and watched as he seemed mortal for the first time since she had ever met him. Then she heard the sound of rotor blades outside.
“Thank God.”
The next piece of time was a flurry of activity. A stretcher was brought in, and Matias was moved upstairs. There was equipment that came in behind them. And a medical team assembled.
She wanted to follow them, but they kept her sitting downstairs, as they began to examine her.
“You were also in the accident?” the nurse asked, touching Auggie’s cheek. “It looks like you were injured.”
“Yes. But I’m fine.”
She was checked over nonetheless. And given a clean bill of health. Nothing but the contusion on her face.
At that point, Dr. Valdes came back down the stairs.
“Augusta Fremont. You are the one who called for me?”
“Yes. I’m... I’m his fiancée.”
She was. For all intents and purposes. And she was going to use that here.
“We will keep a team here overnight. The concern of course is that the swelling will get worse, and we will have to fly him back to the city to do brain surgery.”
“He doesn’t want to go back. He was... He was bound and determined to leave the city.”
It occurred to her that he probably didn’t want brain surgery either. And she was arguing about medical emergencies that nobody in the room had any control over.
“We will do our best to treat him here. A scan shows that he has swelling in the brain, centered on the optic nerves. Once pressure is relieved, it is highly likely his sight will return.”
“Do you see this often?”