Thy Shall Choose

“It’s your choice Susanna, said Lawrence, “It’s all up to you”.

“Choose from what?” 

“If you don’t choose, you’ll face brutal consequences. Beginning with the ones you love most.” 

This was the 5th night in a row Susanna was having this dream. The chills and hot flashes would wake her up everytime at 4:34 am causing for her not to go back to sleep. She would lie restless in her bed til 5:45, when her alarm clock would ring. Her day had begun.

“Sam, wake up! You’re going to be late!” 

“It’s stuck again mom, I need help.”

As the aromatic smell of pancakes and coffee filled the house, so did the morning frustration. 

“I told you that these don’t fit anymore mom,” said a frustrated Sam.

“Look Sam, I called Dr. Procter 2 times last week, do you want me to harass the guy?”

“Well if it leads to me getting the prosthetic legs that actually fit, then godspeed.”

Susanna hadn’t called the doctor. Her insurance called her a week prior telling her that Sam’s new legs wouldn’t be covered by their insurance and that his doctor was no longer in their network. Susanna needed to look for a new doctor that would take a new patient that didn’t have that great of a track record. 

Ever since George and Grace passed, things were tough for Susanna. She knew that she had to be strong for Sam, now that he was dealing with his amputation. She didn’t cry at the funeral. She didn’t bring any of the flowers, letters, or teddy bears inside. Ever since the accident, every morning, she tells herself “you’re okay”, when she knows she’s breaking. 

“Okay, finish up your breakfast, you’re going to be late. Come on let’s go”.

“Mom?” questioned Sam.

“Yes?”

“Why are you always in a rush to send me off to school because I’m always out the door 45 minutes before the bell rings when we only live 10 minutes from school?”

She wasn’t going to tell him the real reason.

“Because punctuality is the key to success, now go wait for the bus, it will be here any minute now.”

“Okay, love you mom.”

“Love you too pick you up at 4”

As the door closed behind him, the tears began to blur her vision.

 

“No tears Susanna,” she told herself. “Today is the day.” Today was the day she was going to make it. She showered, packed her things, and got dressed for work. She put her stuff on the kitchen counter and began to walk towards it. 

“Today is the day,” she murmured to herself. “Today I will walk in.”

As she saw the pink and purple bead curtains sway side to side, she remembered Grace’s laughter. The smile that was Susanna’s everyday motivation. The smile that was missing two front teeth. 

As she stood in front of the door, she began to tremble. She put out her left hand and pushed the beads aside as she nervously reached her right hand toward to the door knob.

“On the 3,” she said to herself. “One, two-o-o, thhre-e-e”.

Push. 

It had been three years since she saw Uncle Earl’s dollhouse. The vanilla essence brought back carpool, candy store visits, and father-daughter dances. The vanilla essence brought her to her knees.

“Why! Why Gracie! Why!” she had broke. 

Her cries for Grace were so loud that she didn’t here the front door open.

“Susanna?!” It was her older sister, Nancy. “Oh my goodness Susanna get up.”

“Why Nancy? She was only 5! She was to be at school right now. Why Nancy?

Nancy hadn’t seen her sister cry before, this was all very new to her. 

“Susanna it’s going to be alright. You’ll get through this. You need to let the past go Susanna. Sam needs you. He needs his mom to love and care for him, including his mother calling this new doctor her sister found for her.”

“But, Nancy,”

“No, no don’t speak about the money. It’s taken care of.”

“I can’t accep-”

“Stop. Yes you can. Now get up and go find out if this Dr. Lawrence Fisher is really as phenomenal an as they say he is. “

“Thank you Nancy.”

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The doctor’s office was just 2 streets down from her work. She decided that she’d go to work and then go to Dr. Fisher’s when she was settled.

As she drove into the parking lot, something felt out of place. Everyone who was usually inside during their hours was actually outside. She parked her car and spotted Lucia, her friend. 

“Is there a fire drill going on?” said Susanna. 

“Um, no. We just liked how, um, nice the weather was. You know how suffocating those cubicles can be”

“Yeah, I guess. So I guess I’ll see you inside?”

“Oh yes! Most definitely!”

As Susanna walked towards her cubicle, she began to see more and more flowers appear out of other people’s cubicles. The smell of her favorite Cinnamon Spice cake grew stronger as she approached her cubicle. 

“Oh no,” she thought to herself. “Martin.”

A middle aged, athletic built man jumped from behind Susanna’s cubicle’s wall.

“You bet it’s Martin! The one and only Martin. The man who’s meant for you Martin. The only Martin in your-”

“Stop!”

“I’m sorry, did I do something wrong? Oh no, it’s the cake isn’t it? I knew there wasn’t enough powerdered sugar on it!”

“No Martin, it’s not the cake. This is so sweet of you to do all this for my-”

“Our!”

“Our work anniversary. But today just isn’t the day. Okay?”

“Okay.” 

“Thank you Martin, I’ll help you clean up”

“Does this mean I need to cancel the massage appointment I had for?”

Susanna knew she was not going to pass up on that opportunity.

“Oh no! I would hate for that to go to waste, I’ll just take it for now and drive there myself.”

“Oh okay, good!” exclaimed Martin “It’s two streets down, in that new doctor’s office. And Susanna?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you”

“Great, thanks for the coupon!”

Susanna had never driven as fast she did for that massage session. In less than 5 minutes, she was welcomed into a rejuvenating advanced massage center that left her mesmerized. It wasn’t like anything she had seen before. She knew she deserved this. 

She walked up to the service lady and handed her the massage coupon.

“Hello!” screeched the computerized service lady. “I am Flo! I love the rejuvenation center! I feel so rejuvenated! How can I help you today?”

“One massage please.” This was the happiest Susanna had been in a very long time. 

“Great! Change into a massage suit and wait in the jacuzzi until we get to your turn.”

There were already 3 ladies in the jacuzzi. 3 ladies that seemed a bit off to Susanna. Then again, since the accident, a lot of things seemed off to her. But these ladies were especially bizarre

“You’re not crazy Susanna” said the blonde lady.

“Pardon?” 

“You’re not crazy Susanna” repeated the blonde.

“Yes she is, she’s psychotic” said the red heard.

“I am not psychotic!”

“Yes you are,” said the 3rd women in the jacuzzi. “You are a slimy murderer who killed her husband and daughter!”

“LADIES!” A tall man approached the jacuzzi from the steamy sauna in the back. “My kitties, this is not how we treat our new guests. Understood?”

The 3 ladies stood up in the jacuzzi and their heads flashed a beam of light at the ceiling as they all answered “Yes Mr. Fisher”.

“Mr. Fisher was Sam’s new doctor’s name,”Susanna thought to herself

“Susanna it’s a pleasure, I’ve been looking forward to our appointment.”

“I think you mean my son, he’s the one who will be your patient soon.” 

“No, you. Come with me Susanna.”

Dr. Fisher walked Susanna through a glass tunnel that led to a steel elevator.

“You are to take this elevator to the UG floor. Wait there for me, do not talk to anyone. I’ll take care of Sam.”

“But Dr. Fisher-”

“Call me Lawrence.”

And with that she was off.

The elevator was something out of a haunted house. It was dented and had bullet shots through every wall. Susanna had a headache began to worry, not for herself, but for Sam. Horrid thoughts crossed her mind one after another as she got deeper into the ground. The deeper she went the more pressure she felt on her head.

Then, a light shined through the bullet holes. Susanna began to get light headed.

“What’s going on?” said Susanna

The shadow of a women appeared before her who pick her up.

“The antidote is working. Let her fall.” said the woman

Susanna began to see black and white stripes and fell into a deep sleep

-------

“She needs to choose Lawrence!”

“Nancy, it takes time.”

“No, there isn’t time, we don’t have time. Gracie and George are slowly fading away, we need them back or none of this.”

Susanna was slowly gaining back her consciousness.

“Nancy?”

This wasn’t suppose to happen.

“Lawrence, I thought you said she wouldn’t wake up for a while!” screamed Nancy

“Nancy is that you? Help Nancy, they took me.”

“Lawrence I’ll put her back to sleep.”

“Nancy, don’t. We need to tell her.”.

“Lawrence? Tell me what?” Susanna began to tremble again.

“It’s your choice Susanna, said Lawrence, “It’s all up to you”.

“Choose from what?” 

“If you don’t choose, you’ll face brutal consequences. Beginning with the ones you love most.”

Susanna fell into a state of shock. 

“No,” she said.

“We can bring George and Grace back Susanna,”

“No stop.”

“Susanna, just listen to me.”

“No I don’t want to hear it Lawrence, plea-”

“Susanna!” yelled Nancy. “This is for your own good and for Sam. Okay?”

“You’re in on this Nancy?”

“George lied to you. George didn’t work for an architecture firm. He worked for the NSA. George was working on a very sensitive sensor that if not dealt with correctly, would endanger every single person in this country. This sensor detects natural disasters to bioterrorism plots. The only person who can unlock the sensor is George. He made the sensor so locked that only him or someone with the same blood as him can unlock this sensor.”

Lawrence took over. “However, recently we got word that one of the militants in Kenya has hacked into the NSA’s system and is in the process of unlocking the sensor as we speak.”

“George knew something like this would happen Susanna. He also knew that he would give up his life to protect this country. Therefore, he made the sensor in way that only a certain person’s blood, besides his, could shut off this sensor. An arm’s worth of blood can only shut it off.” 

“Then, I’ll give blood. Give me a vile, I’ll do it myself.” proclaimed Susanna

“You can’t Susanna,” said Lawrence, “we already tested you. You are iron deficient you can’t give up an arm’s worth of blood.”

“But we know who can.” said Nancy

A silence fell among them. Susanna looked to Nancy as she handed her a report.

“Susanna, I tested Sam. He’s the only one who can sto-”

“No! You won’t take another part of my son from me! He is already suffering enough from the last car accident. I won’t let you!”

“It’s the country or Sam, Susanna! Uncle Earl would laugh at you right now.”

“Me Nancy?! You tricked me into coming into this dungeon that has robot women who accuse me to be a murderer!"

Lawrence realized this was all getting out of hand.

“Look Susanna, we can calmly talk about this.”

“No you listen to me, both of you! Do not get close to my son or me every again. You guys got us here in the first place and I want out. George is dead. He is gone. He left us. 

This was his problem. Not mine and certainly not Sam’s.” 

Susanna pulled the IVs out of her arm and pushed her way through the double doors to where she thought led her to the elevators. But instead, it led her to the hospital wing.

Susanna saw a sight she thought she would never see again. 

“Gracie?” 

Nancy ran towards Susanna to stop her. 

“Susanna wait! Don’t get close to her!”

Susanna ran towards Grace and embraced her in her arms. She cried and squeezed her tightly as Grace stood there. Emotionless.

“Gracie, it’s me! Mommy!”

No response from Gracie just a blank stare.

“Gracie?”

“Why did you let her run through the doors Nancy!?” Lawrence wasn’t pleased.

“What did you do to her!” Susanna looks to Grace and begins to frantically shake her. “Gracie! Gracie!”

Gracie looks to Lawrence then looks Susanna

“You must choose Mommy”.

Susanna looked taken a back.

“You must choose Mommy. You must choose Mommy. You must choose Mommy.” Gracie got louder until the phrase into a siren shriek. 

“What’s going on!?” Susanna couldn’t handle the sounds or her daughter anymore. Lawrence ran across the room and grabbed on to a red lever. Once he pulled it down, Gracie turned off. Lawrence looked to Susanna.

“It’s up to you Susanna. Make your choice now or the rest of our nation’s children will end up just like Gracie.

“Fine. But I want to be in the car with him to make sure he’s not in pain.”

Nancy didn’t approve. 

“It’s much to dangerous Susanna, I can’t have you do that.”

“Me in the car, or not blood.”

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It was 4 pm. Lawrence’s robot driver and Susanna were on their way to pick up Sam. Susanna began to tremble again. She knew she had to be strong to make sure Sam would be okay, who she spotted limping towards the car. 

“Hey sweetie, how was school?”

“It was awful, I‘ve got blisters all over my legs. Did you call the doctor?”

“I sure did. We are actually going now so buckle up.”

As Sam sat in the car, he realized his mother wasn’t as happy as she usually was to see him.

“Mom,” said Sam.

“Yes sweetie?”

“Are you okay?”

Susanna squeezed out a grin and said “I’m fine”.

“Okay, good.” Sam turned his back to the door and began to tell his mom about how much he loved coming home to be with her. As he turned Susanna saw Nancy’s programmed SUV coming straight for Sam’s door. She clenched his legs and closed her eyes. 

Crash.

Susanna heard Sam screaming for help but she felt restricted. She couldn’t move to hold him and tell it was all going to be okay, that he saved this entire country. All she could see was one of the jacuzzi ladies open her claw hands and grab her unconcious son. The blonde jacuzzi lady looked to Susanna and assured her that everything was going to be okay and that she was not going to remember any of this. Susanna drifted off.

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