Whenever he couldn't win an argument, he resorted to violence.
"But isn't it just a small surgery? Does it matter if it's a man or a woman?" I argued.
That was how he tricked my mom back then. "It's just a minor surgery, nothing to be dramatic about. We're short on hands during the busy farming season, so stop pretending."
My grandma, who had been silently watching from the bed next to us, finally broke her silence. "Candace, what did your mom say to make you ask all this?"
My tears of joy from seeing my mom again were still on my face. But when I saw the hint of disdain in my grandma's eyes as she looked at my mom, I remembered how she had changed after the kidney donation.
I was about to speak, but she continued. "Lydia, I've been through a lot more than you. I wouldn't harm you.
"Donate the kidney, and you'll be my savior. I'll never treat you badly. Besides, after surgery, I'll only have one kidney too, and I'll still live well, won't I?"
My mom, who had been reluctantly resisting, was completely brainwashed by my grandma. She promised that she would offer up her kidney the next day.
I was 13 years old, and in this same hospital room, my grandma brainwashed me too. It wasn't until My mom collapsed from exhaustion in the fields that I realized I had been hiding under her wings, unwittingly becoming an accomplice to her death.
Now before my mom could finish her words, I ran up and grabbed my grandma's chubby arm, crying, "Grandma, I don't want you to die. I want you to live a long life."
"Come on. Don't say something so unlucky before the surgery?" snapped my dad.
He slapped me on the head, making me dizzy.
"Grandma, I just dreamt that after you got my mom's kidney, there was a strong rejection, and you didn't make it through the week.
"Grandma, the doctor who operated on you was Dr. Pugh. The surgery was successful, but your body didn't accept my mom's kidney. It was so painful when you passed."
Seeing the fear in my grandma's eyes, I knew she believed me.
There was no way I should have known the doctor's name at that time.
They had kept it a secret from my mom and spent all the family's money to book the surgeon.
In my previous life, the surgery had gone well. my grandma even outlived me. But this time, I wouldn't let them take my mom's kidney or her life.
"What else did you dream?" my grandma asked urgently.