“Well, Sarah Booker, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Doctor Lively, and I’m here to take a look at those eyes of yours.”
Of course his name is Lively. This all seems like a sick joke at this point.
“My demon-eyes, you mean?”
Jeremy squeezes my hand and whispers near my ear. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“I have bionic ears now.” I frown in his direction.
Doctor Lively is leaning in too. His breath is more minty than anything else, thank goodness. “I’m going to put my hands on your face and lift your lids, okay?”
“Knock yourself out.” Having him here has dried my tears. His happy tone isn’t annoying like I would have expected it to be. It makes me think maybe my situation isn’t as terrible as I’d imagined.
“Well, well, well, let’s see what we see,” he says, his cool fingers prying my eyelids open, first on the left and then the right. “Tell me, Sarah, did you have any symptoms involving your vision before today?”
“Maybe. I guess I saw some ghosts out of the corner of my eyes a few times. I’ve had some headaches.”
“Ghosts, hmmm?” He’s opening my left eye wider now.
“Yes. And then a black thing, like a curtain came over me.” I laugh self-consciously. “I thought it was the Grim Reaper coming to get me.”
“I can imagine.” His hands fall away. “So, I have a diagnosis for you, which we’ll verify with some tests, but unless you’ve experienced blunt force trauma to your eyes that you’ve neglected to mention…”
I shake my head. “Nope. I was talking on the phone when it happened. I’ve done nothing physical in ages.” My face goes a little pink when I realize that I almost did something physical with Jeremy. Talk about a lost opportunity. Now I’ll never get the chance.
“Okay, then I suspect your retinas have detached.”
“Holy shit,” I whisper. Hearing the big boss say those words drives the point home like a stake to my heart. I’m blind. I’ll never see again. My life is over.
Chapter Thirty-Four
JEREMY’S VOICE FILTERS THROUGH MY fog of pain and confusion. Doctor Lively has shared a crap ton of information with me, but none of it makes any sense to me. All I can think is how crazy this is whole situation is. I’ve never heard of detached retinas before. No one has. This is nuts.
“Doctor Lively, my brother is a physician in Manhattan, and he asked that I give him a call when you got here so you two could talk.”
“Absolutely. And when we’re done, you’re going to need to fill out some paperwork for Sarah before we can get her into surgery.”
“Surgery? You mean now? I need surgery today?” I sound like a frightened mouse the way I’m squeaking, and I believe I feel like one too. There’s some big cat out there, just waiting to pounce and end my life.
“As I mentioned earlier, retinal detachment is when the lining at the back of your eye starts to pull away from the blood vessels.”
“But why would it do that?” What the hell! This sounds like a horror movie, not my life!
“No one knows for sure. As I said, there are factors that make it more likely, but based on your age, some of them don’t apply to you. You said you’ve never seen floaters or spots in your eyes before, right? Other than the ghost?”
“Not that I can remember.”
“Okay, well, those blood vessels are what supply your eyes with oxygen and nutrients, so we need to get your retina back to where it should be before there’s any permanent damage.”
“Permanent damage?” I hope that means I’m not blind forever. “Will you do the surgery?”
“No. We have an eye specialist who’s on his way in now. He’s one of the best trauma surgeons in the tri-state area, so don’t worry. You’ll be in good hands. You’re lucky. He comes up to this area to ski every year. You caught him as he was coming off the slopes.”
I picture this big, burly guy with a puffy snowsuit on and awkward boots. “Won’t he be too tired to work?”
“No, he’s in great shape. I promise.” He pats me on the hand. “I have other patients to visit, but I’m here if you have any more questions. Just call for the nurse if you need anything.”
“Doc, can you talk to my brother now?” Jeremy was talking in a low voice the whole time I was panicking, and I’m just realizing it now. I’m filled with gratitude that his brother would call and have a conversation about me with my doctor. Maybe it means I’ll get better service. Normally, I’d be against that kind of special treatment, but when it comes to my eyesight, I’m going to go ahead and put that self-righteousness to the side. I need all the help I can get. Me and my demon eyes.