The Story
“…mine.”
I read the line three times. The words blurred, then sharpened again—perfect 20/20 vision, a gift I had received two years ago.
“I didn’t leave because I was scared of your blindness, Clara. I left because I was the only match for the transplant. The doctors said it was impossible to do a live donation without blinding the donor. I knew you would never let me do it. So I had to make you hate me. I had to break your heart so I could save your life.”
A photo slid out of the envelope. It was a picture of Mark, taken recently. He was sitting on a park bench, holding a white cane, wearing dark sunglasses. He looked thin, ragged, and utterly alone.
My stomach turned to ice. The man I had spent two years hating, the man I thought was a coward, had spent those two years in total darkness so that I could see the world.
And he was dead. He had ended his life yesterday because, as the letter said, “I’ve seen you happy with him from the shadows, and that’s enough light for one lifetime.”
“Honey?”
I looked up. My husband, Dr. Evans—the brilliant surgeon who had performed my miracle surgery—walked into the room. He was smiling, holding two glasses of wine.
“What’s that box?” he asked, stepping closer.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. For the first time, I noticed how his smile didn’t reach his eyes. I remembered how quickly he had swooped in after the surgery, how he had comforted me about Mark leaving, how he had insisted we keep the donor anonymous.
“You knew,” I whispered.
He froze. “Knew what?”
“You knew who the donor was,” I said, my voice rising to a scream. “You cut the eyes out of the man I loved, let him walk away blind and alone, and then you married me!”
“Clara, he wanted it this way,” Evans stammered, backing away. “He signed the waivers. He wanted you to have a normal life. I gave you that!”
I stood up, clutching the letter against my chest. I looked at my husband with the very eyes Mark had sacrificed for me.
“You didn’t give me a life,” I said, picking up the phone to dial the police. “You stole two.”
