Sweet Silver Lining

Annabelle walked down the hallway, not watching where she was going. Her mind was preoccupied with what the doctor had just told her about Landon. Annabelle had a meeting with Dr. Reynolds, Landon’s main physician, about Landon’s condition. Dr. Reynolds had been blunt in telling her that if they didn’t find a heart for Landon soon, there was a very good possibility that Landon would die.

Annabelle had no idea how to reply to that. It wasn’t like she could give him her own heart, and she couldn’t beg others to give him theirs. No, instead, she had to wait for a miracle to happen. She had done her research, and she knew that there weren’t just hearts lying around waiting for a body to be placed in. No, this was all a waiting game, and Landon didn’t have much time left.

Annabelle shook her head, continuing to look down at the floor, as she made her way towards Landon’s room. All of a sudden, she found herself crashing into something. She quickly lifted her head, finding herself staring into the eyes of Andrew Ladd. “I’m sorry,” she began.

Andrew laughed a little. “No harm, no foul,” he told her. “Are you okay?” he asked politely.

“I’ll be fine,” she told him with a small smile.

Suddenly, Annabelle heard someone call out, “Ladder, you’re here!” Annabelle looked around Andrew to see Lily running their way. “And, I see you’ve already met Annie.”

Andrew turned around towards Annabelle. “Annie?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m Annabelle Marquis,” she introduced, holding her hand out for him to shake. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Andrew Ladd,” he told her with a smile.

“Ladder, Annie’s Landon’s sister, you know the one I’ve told you about?” Lily interrupted.

Andrew turned around to look at her, realization settling in. “Oh!” he exclaimed.

“Andrew’s here to meet Landon,” Lily told Annabelle, smiling.

“Oh my God!” Annabelle exclaimed. “Thank you so much for coming! I have no idea how to repay you, but thank you so much!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Andrew told her. “I mean, how could I not meet my biggest fan?” Andrew joked.

“He really is your biggest fan. I’m not even kidding,” Annabelle told him.

“Well, where is he?” Andrew asked.

“Right in there,” Lily said, pointing towards Landon’s room.

Andrew walked into the room to see the young boy sleeping. He turned back around towards Lily and Annabelle, saying, “I don’t want to wake him up.”

“Oh, no, he’ll kill me if I don’t wake him up,” Annabelle laughed, walking to the side of Landon’s bed, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Landon,” she said softly, as the boy stirred. “You have a visitor.”

Landon slowly opened his eyes and sat up in bed. As his brain registered who was standing in front of him, his eyes went wide with shock. “You’re Andrew Ladd!” he exclaimed, pointing a finger at him.

“Yeah, I am,” Andrew laughed. “And, you’re Landon Marquis!” he said with the same excitement.

“You know who I am?” Landon asked incredulously.

“Of course I know who you are,” Andrew told him as Annabelle’s phone rang, causing everyone to stare at her.

“Sorry,” Annabelle apologized. “You guys continue talking, I’m just going to go out here and take this,” she told them. Landon appeared to ignore her, as he continued talking to Andrew, not even looking over at his sister.

Annabelle rolled her eyes at Landon as she stepped out into the hallway, answering her phone. “Hello?” she asked.

“Annabelle?” the person asked.

“This is Annabelle,” she replied, leaning against the wall and peering into the window to Landon’s room. She could see Landon, Andrew, and Lily all laughing at something, and Annabelle smiled to herself.

“This is Dr. Reynolds. Are you still in the hospital?” he asked her.

“Yeah, I’m up at Landon’s room right now,” she told him, wondering why Dr. Reynolds was calling her when she had just seen him an hour ago.

“Can you come back up to my office? I have some things I need to discuss with you,” he told her.

“Sure, I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she said, nervousness filling her.

“Okay, I’ll see you then,” Dr. Reynolds said, hanging up the phone.

Annabelle quickly walked back into Landon’s room, telling Lily that she needed to go talk to Dr. Reynolds and that she’d be back as soon as she could. She walked back to the elevator, pushing the button for the eighth floor, as her foot tapped against the floor. She couldn’t help but let her mind wonder what Dr. Reynolds had to say to her. Did Landon have less time than they thought?

As soon as the elevator doors opened, she rushed through them, practically running down the hallway towards Dr. Reynolds’ office.

“Annabelle,” Dr. Reynolds said, seeing her coming down the hallway. “Well, that was quick!”

“Yeah, I was a little bit anxious about what you needed to talk to me about,” Annabelle admitted. “Is it bad news?” she asked.

“Why don’t we go into my office?” Dr. Reynolds suggested.

“Okay,” Annabelle said, following him back to his office. After he sat down at his desk, and Annabelle sat down across from him, she looked up at him. “So, is it bad news?” she asked, again, quietly, scared to hear the answer.

“Not at all,” Dr. Reynolds said, a smile coming across his face.

“What is it?” Annabelle asked excitedly.

“We found a donor for Landon.”

“Are you kidding me?” Annabelle asked. “Please tell me you’re telling me the truth,” she asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She had been waiting to hear those words since she had first heard that Landon needed a heart transplant.

“I am not kidding,” Dr. Reynolds assured her. “We’d like to schedule the surgery for tomorrow morning, if that’s okay with you,” he told her.

“Of course!” Annabelle exclaimed.

“Okay, well, let me give you some more information on the operation and have you sign some papers, and then you can go tell Landon the good news,” Dr. Reynolds told her.

An hour and a half later, she got back into the elevator, going back down to Landon’s room with a hop in her step. On her way, she saw Lily walking around. “Lily!” she called.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Lily asked, walking toward Annabelle.

“Everything’s better than okay,” she said, the tears once again forming in her eyes. “They found a heart! Landon’s getting a heart transplant tomorrow,” she told her, giving her a hug.

“Oh my God! That’s amazing!” Lily told her.

They talked a few more minutes before Annabelle told her, “I need to go tell Landon.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later,” Lily told her, a smile on her face.

Annabelle walked to Landon’s room, surprised to still see Andrew standing inside. She slowly opened the door, and Andrew turned around. “He just fell asleep,” he told her.

Annabelle nodded her head. “He’s had a pretty exciting day. I mean, he got to meet his favorite player ever, his idol,” she said with a smile, looking over at Landon who lay peacefully in his bed. She could feel the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes as she thought about how just a few hours ago, she was wondering if Landon was going to live, and now he was having surgery that was going to save his life the following day.

Andrew looked over at her and saw the tears falling down her face. “Hey, is everything okay?” he asked, concerned, as he walked over to her.

Annabelle nodded her head. “We got a donor,” she told him.

“What? You did?” Andrew asked excitedly. He had only known Landon for a few hours, and yet he had grown so attached to the little boy. It was hard not to, when Landon had such an infectious personality.

“Yeah,” Annabelle told him, the tears falling faster down her face. “He’s having surgery tomorrow.”

“That’s great news!” Landon said, engulfing her in a hug. Annabelle looked up at him, surprised by the feelings that were suddenly going through her body. She couldn’t possibly be feeling something for Andrew Ladd, could she?