You may listen to the audio teaser below or if you would enjoy reading it yourself, you'll find it beneath the YouTube file.

It dazzled. The fleeting glances of angled blues, reds, and yellows radiated each time it passed under a highway light. Michelle couldn’t but look at it with spellbound awe, and her smile was unyielding. Happiness enveloped her, as she knew whom she would be spending the rest of her life with: Michael. She peeked up at him as he drove, admiring his clear jaw line and how his black hair gently swooped over his right ear. His hands were steady on the steering wheel, as she nestled into the leather seat. He was gently humming, exuding the same sense of happiness he showed when she said “yes.” She smiled again and looked down at the diamond ring, when the entire windshield became engulfed in a white light. She felt the car swerve. Michael’s arm came across her chest as she let out a scream, before everything went black.

Beep. This was followed by another faint beep.

A blurry pinhole of light pierced the darkness that muffled any sound, but only for a moment. Then a sliver of light crept in, and faint, audible voices clumsily tumbled through the dark void, and the beep echoed within. There was something beyond the sliver of light. “Michelle,” she thought she heard. She needed to see. There was something to see, and she tried harder. Beyond the blurriness, she saw the movement of ghostly silhouettes. A few struggled blinks were enough to begin to ward off the blurriness, but the light hurt her eyes. Slowly, she could make out the images of her parents on her right and a couple of other people on her left. She wanted to say something, but found that she couldn’t. She blinked a few more times and could hear her parents calling out her name. She turned to their familiar voices. She blinked a few more times until finally, her eyes adjusted to the light. She felt tightness across her chest as she struggled to take a deeper breath. “What’s going on?” she thought.

Someone clasped her right hand.

“Mom? Dad?” she finally mumbled.

“Yes, yes! Michelle, we’re here,” said her mother soothingly.

She tried to pull herself up but the soreness across her chest held her at bay and she relented as her body fell back into the bed. “Where… am… I?” she asked as her mind was still in a fog.

“You’re in the hospital, Michelle. Doctor, how is she?” she heard her father say.

An unfamiliar man’s voice came from her left, and she strained toward that direction while she gently felt her bed being inclined.

She pursed her lips and tried to clear her parched throat.

“Hello Michelle. I’m Doctor Murphy. I’m sure you must have a lot of questions…”

“Michael?” asked Michelle suddenly as she felt a panic in her heart.

There was silence as Dr. Murphy looked at her parents’ grimacing faces. He then looked back at Michelle, and all she felt was a sudden void that filled the room.

“Where’s Michael?” asked Michelle as her chest began to tighten. She took in a deeper breath as she could feel something amiss.

“Michelle. You and Michael were involved in head-on collision from a driver who crossed the median,” said the doctor. “Michael suffered a head injury. Despite everything we tried, he unfortunately did not make it.”

The void collapsed in on itself and burst open in heavy sorrow, followed by pooling tears around her lower eyelids. “What?” she asked incredulously as her heart raced trying to comprehend what she just heard. “What do you mean?”

She felt her father’s hand clasp on top of hers and her mother’s. Her left hand found the strength to cover her grief-stricken face. Tears fell forth from her glistening eyes as they began to stream down her face.

“Michael did not survive the accident. I’m sorry,” the doctor said remorsefully.

“No!” she uttered as her parents suddenly tried to console her distressed mind.

“Michelle,” said the doctor. “I also need to inform you that you suffered an injury as well.” Michelle suddenly turned to the doctor: What was she about to hear next?

“Your chest was pierced by a metal object from the oncoming car. Your heart was damaged beyond repair. You were minutes away from dying yourself, but we had one chance to save you,” said the doctor gravely before he paused.

Michelle’s frozen expression of disbelief fell over her as she continued listening.

“In order to save your life,” began the doctor. “We had to perform a life-saving transplant of Michael’s heart into you. He was the perfect match for you.”

The tears seemed frozen on her cheeks. She looked at the doctor’s grim expression, and the nurse behind him looked stupefied. She broke the clasp of her parents’ hands, and pulled down the flimsy hospital nightgown to see the clear medical tape and white gauze running down her chest. Suddenly, she felt her hands pulled away from her as she sank back into the bed and started to shake in grief.

“No! Michael!” she yelled out as her vision became watery as heartache so deep within her chest welled up. “No! No!” was all she remembered saying as Michael’s heart pounded furiously within her chest.