Denial

It was more than just discomfort now, she needed to see the doctor fast. Ignoring the other people waiting before her, she barged in. “Doc, the pain is unbearable I can’t wait anymore,” the doctor looked at his current patient and then looked at her “what seems to be the problem?”

She took a deep breath and tried to explain. “It started as a little pinch a few months ago, I couldn’t understand why so I turned to a friend. We spent a long time trying to figure it out. She even massaged the area that was hurting. But slowly the pain started to increase. I complained about the growing pain but soon that friend disappeared. So I turned to another one. The same thing happened and soon she disappeared too. This series of events repeated itself a couple of times till it reached this stage. I can barely walk, the pain is so immense. I don’t know what to do, doc would you have a look?”

He nodded and waved her in. It was when she turned to close the door did he see the protruding plastic. The patient in the room gasped. She turned to look at him but couldn’t understand the reason for his exclamation of shock. The doctor shook his head at the patient and returned his attention to her. 

“My dear, your friends seem to have been so helpful. Surely a sweet girl as yourself gave them something in return for their kindness?”

She smiled, “I gave them the only thing that I could, a little piece of my heart.” 

There was silence. The doctor looked at her fondly and asked “as priceless as your heart is, it holds little value in the real world. Do you realize that?” 

She looked down and sighed “but it’s all I have to give.”

He walked towards her and pulled on one of the numerous plastic handles sticking out of her back. She yelped in pain. “You gave your heart to those who left a knife in return. My dear each person you turned to stabbed you once in the back.” 

The doctor held out the knife for her to see, but she shook her head in denial. “That’s impossible, there has to be another logical explanation for this! They would never do this to me.” 

He pulled out another and again she shrieked in pain. “Can you count the number of people you turned to?”

“Five,” she answered after a brief moment of thought.

Again the doctor pulled out a knife and he did so two more times. Once she had stopped screaming, the doctor lay the five knives before her. 

“One from each friend,” he whispered.