The Gardner's were a small family of four which included Chris and Jessica and their two sons 12 year old David and 8 year old Micheal.
They were in the middle class level in the society but they still lived happily and contentedly,other families always tried to emulate their ways of living because they represented the typical happy family.
Chris and Jessica always carved out time from their daily jobs to spend quality time with their children,they went to amusement parks,picnics and various other places where they could have fun and spend quality time with each other.
But they were far from the perfect family, Micheal their second son was autistic and he always required help and assistance every second of the day.
Fortunately for Chris and Jessica,their first son David did that job for them,he always made sure Micheal was happy,he bathed him,did his laundry,feed him,taught him many things,took him to school and protected him against bullies.He even got suspended one time for fighting a boy who made fun of his brother.
It wasn't always like that though,when they were much younger(3 and 7 years of age)Micheal was diagnosed with autism. Chris and Jessica had to explain to a 7 year old Micheal what autism was and how he had to help his brother do some stuff which Micheal could not.David took the news badly,he wanted nothing to do with his brother because he felt that his friends would laugh at him.
But all that negative mindset changed one day when he saw his younger brother drawing a beautiful portrait of him,he fell in love with his brother immediately and from that day he vowed to protect him and care for him.
18 years later the two boys were now full grown men but their relationship was the same as before,David(who lived in a separate apartment)worked in a vast telecommunications company where he was a manager, in general he was doing very well for himself but he still visited his family occasionally and spent time with his brother.
Micheal had to drop out of school when the bullying became too much,his parents had to withdraw him from every school he enrolled in due to bullying from his peers.
He instead became a full time artist who painted portraits of people who patronized him,he could not get a full time job because every company he applied to rejected him because of his alleged "DISABILITY".He still lived in his parents home and they still took care of him and showered him with love.
Everything started going downhill when David met Monica,it was love at first sight for David and before anyone knew what was happening they were already engaged.
David took Monica to his family home and introduced her to his parents and only brother.
Monica was disgusted with the way Micheal hovered around David as if he was still a little boy,at one point when they were eating together David had to wipe drool of Michael's mouth.She concluded that she would have nothing to do with David's family except he cuts them off and she made her feelings clear to him when they went home.
"Listen to me Micheal i know you love your brother a lot but you are a full grown man now, you don't need to keep visiting him all the time you will soon start your own family and have your own children you need to cut him off,in fact you need to cut your parents off too if you want our relationship to work" she said boldly
"But how can i cut my own family off just like that, you know how much i love my family please don't do this" David pleaded
"I won't repeat myself David, cut them off or i leave you" Monica said with finality
David tried to reason with her but she already made up her mind so he had no choice but to cut his family off his life because he loved Monica and really wanted to get married to her.
He stopped calling, texting or visiting them and to make matters worse Monica insisted that relocated to another place so as to avoid unwanted visits from his family and he he had no choice but to oblige.
Michael missed David so much that he spent most of his days crying but after a while he got used to it.
One day while at work David had a heart attack,he was rushed to the hospital and was it was discovered that he had a huge tumor in his heart which required emergency transplant or else he would loose his life.
The search for a new heart began doctors used their resources to search all over the world to see if a heart donor would be found but all was to no avail, time was running out.
He was in deep thoughts on his hospital bed when a letter arrived for him, the contents and the sender was clear MONICA HAD LEFT HIM.
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She ran away because she did not want the responsibility of taking care of anybody.
David was devastated he had nobody to support him during his final moments on earth and to make matters worse he had cut all ties with his family.
One day as David lay down on his hospital bed waiting for his end,the doctor in charge of finding a donor busted into the room where he was staying and shouted WE HAVE A DONOR!!!!.David could not believe his ears
"How? Where? When and Who?" Were the words that came out of his mouth
"We don't know Mr Gardner, we just received an anonymous call from someone saying that he would like to donate his heart to you" the doctor said excitedly
"Wow it all sounds all unbelievable to be true" David said with shock
"We are going to perform the transplant tomorrow Mr Gardner so you will have to sleep well and relax your mind ok?
"Ok doctor thank you so much for everything"
"You're welcome now get some rest see you tomorrow"
David could hardly sleep because he was still in shock
" God bless the donor, if this transplant is successful the first thing i would do when am fit is go to family and apologize for everything i have done to them especially my only brother" he said before falling asleep
The next day the transplant began as the doctor said, it took about 10 hours of tireless work from the doctor and his but at the end it was a successful transplant.
David had been given a second chance to live again.
When he finally woke up from the next day he looked around and surprisingly saw his parents sitting near him, his mother was crying and his father was looking very sad.
He was surprised to see them
"Mum? Dad? how did you know? what's going on? where's Micheal?" He asked alarmingly
His mom burst into uncontrollable tears and his dad narrated everything
"When you stopped calling or visiting Micheal was devastated, he couldn't stop crying but he soon got used to it. One day Monica showed up to our house crying she said that you were in the hospital and you were going to die if a new heart is not found for you, she then confessed that she was the one that forced you into cutting all ties with us. Michael then requested that his heart should be transplanted to you so you could live again, we refused initially but Michael insisted on it so we had no choice but to give in. I then called the hospital with the number Monica gave to me and informed them. Before the transplant began Micheal gave me this letter to give you............" Chris said and broke down completely
David took the letter shakingly and opened it
"Dear David if you are reading this it means that the transplant was successful and you are still alive. I know that you did not intentionally abandon me that was why i stopped crying when you left. When i heard about your condition i knew that i had to be the one to donate my heart to you as a way of thanking you for taking care of me all these years and being the best brother ever. Thank you for defending me against bullies and bad people, i know my heart is in beating in a good place now. I love you so much my brother and in my next world you will always be my brother" before David could finish reading it the letter was soaked with tears.
He cried uncontrollably and his parents had to come and comfort him
"His heart is in the right place my dear son" Jessica said lovingly.
Years later Michael's heart was still beating in David's body.
David was married to another lady(a nurse who worked in the hospital he was admitted in) who loved him and his family unconditionally,David had met her in the hospital when people had gathered to console his family, she showed compassion and care towards David and many months after recovering fully he got married to her and together they had 4 children (two boys and two girls) and she made sure that David's parents lived with them.
He named his first son Micheal in remembrance of his beloved brother and he always told his kids thier story occasionally.
NB: Autism is not a disability, it is only a chemical imbalance of the brain and autistic people should be loved and cared for at all times ♥️.
Thank you for sharing this complex and emotional story in The Ink Well, @emeka002. Please be sure to read the work of other writers in The Ink Well community and provide quality comments on their work. Thank you!
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Interesting story, @emeka002. I liked the relationship of the two brothers, and the conflict you created when David's wife came between them. In real life, of course, no one would ever give their heart to another by choice. Heart transplants only happen when someone dies from other causes. Otherwise a doctor would have to kill the donor to save another person. Other than that, it's a good story!
Thank you
Family is the first point of call when anything happens. There's no greater love, than the love shared in a family.