"Transfusion" by Adrienne Rex

Alice knew they didn’t want her there, but she didn’t let go of Mark’s hand.

Their parents had gone to ask the ICU nurse to make her leave. She’d come to donate blood. They didn’t want it.

Mark was still unconscious. She couldn’t stop looking at him. She hadn’t seen him since Dad threw her out of the house years ago. He must have gotten that motorcycle he’d always wanted. The road rash was bad.

Mark’s eyes fluttered open, and she squeezed his hand.

“Hey, I’m here,” she whispered. She wondered if he’d recognize her with her long hair. With laugh lines.

His bloodied lips moved, and she leaned in. These would be the first words he said to her since she came out. Since she decided to live as his sister instead of his brother.

His voice was hoarse in the shell of her ear. “Go… away.”

Adrienne Rex is an aspiring author from Houston, Texas. Her stories take after their author, meaning they’re usually imaginative and offbeat. When she’s not making her daydreams pay rent (otherwise known as writing), she’s drawing, reading, or being dragged around by her dog on what may charitably be called a walk. Her work has been published by the Moonstone Arts Center, Gabby and Min’s Literary Review, and Dug Up Magazine.