Demitris

September 23, Part 2
He left. He just left. And I feel like the biggest fool.
Lizzie warned me this would happen. He even tried to warn me himself.
I arrived home completely distraught. I was grateful that Iris wasn’t home at that hour because I would hate for her to see me in such a state.
I went straight to the office, where I knew I’d find my mother. Screw whether she wanted to avoid the past or talk about it. I had urgent questions to ask.
However, as soon as I opened the door, I found her lying on the floor.
I rushed to her.
"Mom!" I called, shaking her. "Mom, talk to me!"
She mumbled something and moved, still with her eyes closed. Only then did I notice a bottle of tranquilizers next to her and, on the table, a half-empty bottle of tequila.
"I think I got a little dizzy..." I finally managed to understand what she was saying.
"A little?" I retorted. "What were you trying to do? Commit suicide?"
"Stop being so dramatic, Dimitris..."
She pushed my hands away, starting to get up, still completely dizzy. When she managed to get to her knees on the floor, she grabbed the bottle of pills before struggling to stand up.
"Mom... You need to stop this..." I said.
"It’s just my tranquilizers, nothing serious."
"And half a bottle of alcohol? And it’s not even ten in the morning."
"I told you not to exaggerate..." She went to her armchair and sat down as if nothing had happened. She looked sleepy and her speech was slurred. "What do you want from me? Be quick, because I need to work."
"Do you think you’re in any condition to work?"

"I think it's what I need to do. That company would have gone under if I weren't in control of everything. You need to finish this college so you can take over. You know that's what your father would have wanted."
Sometimes I felt that keeping the company running was the only thing keeping her alive, and she was just waiting for the day I took over to finally give up on everything.
"Speaking of my father... I have something to ask you."
"Close the door after you leave, Dimitris."
"I'm not leaving, Mom. I said I need to ask you something about—"
"I don’t have time for conversations; I need to analyze a bunch of reports."
"I need to know something about Thales's death."
She stopped what she was doing and looked at me.
"Dimitris, please, leave me alone."
"Not until you answer if—"
"Get out of here!" she yelled. Then, like a child, she covered her ears, as if that would keep her from hearing any questions I might ask.
But that gesture alone was enough to make me realize I should stop. The little sanity my mother still had was entirely devoted to her work. I couldn’t risk making her lose what little she had left to stay minimally alive.
So, I left the office and went upstairs to my room. I began pacing the room, trying to organize my thoughts.
I was ten years old when all of that happened. Old enough to remember the main facts. But everything was so traumatic that my days in the hospital were nothing but a blur in my mind.
But some things remained intact.
The accident happened on the afternoon of September 23. My father died on the spot. Thales and I were taken to a hospital, but I only had a few fractured bones and minor scrapes, while he was in critical condition.
My brother's death was confirmed only a few hours later. In fact, the next day, September 24, in the middle of the night. And he was kept on life support until the family's authorization to—
My uncle, my mother’s brother, was there. He took care of everything and gave the necessary authorizations.
I took my phone and searched for his contact in my address book, making the call. It had been a long time since we last spoke, so when he answered, it was with concern.
"Dimitris? Is something wrong?"
He already knew that this was a complicated date. But generally, I dealt with all its issues alone.
"I need you to answer something, Uncle."
"Of course. If I know the answer."
"When Thales had his brain death, I vaguely remember hearing something about authorization for organ donation."

I heard him sigh on the other end of the line. It hadn’t been an easy time for him either.
“Yes. I had to discuss it with your mother. She had to sign some paperwork, but honestly, I don’t think she even fully understood what it was about. In practice, the decision ended up being mine. But someone had to decide, and… It was a tragedy, Dimitris, but I thought it could be a slightly lighter burden if the organs could save the lives of other children.”
Children...
Of course! It made sense that organs from one child would go to others of similar age.
But then, it could still be just one more morbid and bizarre coincidence.
“Do you know who received the organs?” I asked.
“I had too much on my mind to even think to ask that, Dimitris. And even if I had asked, I don’t know if it’s the kind of information they usually share with the family.”
“Anything said? Anything at all?”
“About the organs? Well, of course—” he stopped, seeming to reconsider. “Wait... I remember briefly speaking with one of the doctors who would transport some of the organs. …But no, he didn’t give me any information.”
“None? Not even where they were being transported?”
“Not all of them. They were sent to different places. The ones this doctor was taking were going to Athens. It was about two... maybe three. I remember the heart and two others that I didn’t process. But, it’s true, I remember the heart because he mentioned something like ‘Your nephew is leaving as a hero. This heart will save the life of a little girl in Athens.’”
A little girl in Athens...
That was all I needed to know.
Without saying another word, I ended the call.
I let myself fall onto the bed, my mind still struggling to understand everything as a set of coincidences. But I knew it couldn’t be. It was the same date. Eleven years ago. Aris was only seven... one year younger than my brother.
A little girl in Athens...
“This can’t be true...” I whispered to myself.
The idea that my deceased brother’s heart was now beating in Aris's chest was...
It was something I definitely couldn’t handle.
Suddenly, without even thinking about it, I began searching through my closets and drawers for something, anything, that could take me away from myself at that moment. I didn’t usually use drugs at home, but I knew if I looked hard enough, I’d find something somewhere.
I needed to find something.
After turning everything upside down, I decided to look in the most obvious place, which was my wallet. There, I found a small strip of LSD. It was all I needed at that moment.
However, the effect wasn’t immediate, and I couldn’t bear to stay in the house for another minute. So, I left again, getting into the car and driving aimlessly through the city.

In a few minutes, the verses of "Free Bird" started playing in my ears. I reached for the car radio, trying to change the station, but nothing happened.
Because the radio wasn’t even on. I knew what I was hearing wasn’t real but the onset of the acid. But knowing that didn’t make it stop.
Then, other voices came, singing along with the music. My father’s voice and two children’s voices. I tried to focus on the road and accelerated even more, but it was pointless. It was as if I were reliving that damn day exactly eleven years ago.
I began weaving through the cars in front of me, as if I were late or in a hurry to get somewhere, even though I was going nowhere. The voices kept singing, until one of the little boys stopped to ask:
“Can I sit in the front seat today? Just today, Dimi, please!”