Trash to trillions

FRAMED

The next time Caelum woke up, he was beside a refuse dump in front of his school and people were taking pictures and videos of him.

His eyes felt as heavy as lead, making it hard to open. Blood matted his face and eyes, gumming them together. Voices from multiple people drifted into his ears, adding to the chaos going on in his mind.

“Isn't he that famous trash collector from our school? The one in the business and finance department's final year class.”

“Mmm, he's so pitiful. Who beat him to this extent? Should we call the police?”

“I think he's still alive, his fingers just moved.”

“He probably got mobbed by people he was owing, I heard he’s dirt poor.”

“Damn, the smell oozing out of that place...”

Caelum finally managed to lift his hand and rub off the blood clots in his nearly blind eyes. He slowly opened them, surprised to see that the day was almost coming to an end.

His heart skipped multiple beats. The doctor said that grandma only had an hour, and the shadows around the spectators indicate that it should be at least three in the afternoon. That was way more than an hour which he told them to give him.

Adrenaline gave strength to his feet and he jumped up. The spectators screamed and ran away, thinking that he had lost his sanity. He ran all the way to the hospital but the security immediately blocked him at the gates.

“Sorry, you can't enter the hospital like this to avoid affecting the health of patients. This place is not a mental institution.”

“I'm not mad, I just need to see my grandma who was hospitalized.” He screamed, struggling against them. But all his shouts and struggles did was reinforce their initial assumptions.

“Please, let me in, time is running out.”

“Sorry, we cannot disobey the hospital rules. Please, kindly leave, or we would be forced to use violence to move you out.”

The frustrated Caelum quickly checked his body. Luckily, his wallet was still on him. It seemed that those who beat him didn't see it since he had a peculiar location for hiding his wallet. He rushed to a nearby thrift store, bought second hand clothes, found a nearby public restroom and cleaned up. In ten minutes, he was back in new presentable clothes after washing the filth out.

This time, the security guards didn't take notice of him, and he rushed back to the ward where Mrs. Marlowe was admitted. He met a nurse changing the bedsheets, and his heart sank.

Suddenly, his legs felt too heavy, and he couldn't move an inch forward. His body began to shake, and fear induced tremors shook him down to his spine.

“N..nurse, please, t..the woman that was in this room…”

A voice interrupted from behind him.

“Nurse Mary, has the woman's son returned?”

Caelum turned to see the doctor in charge of his grandma's case and exhaled in relief. He quickly turned to him, his eyes red with unshed tears.

“Where's my grandma?”

The doctor looked at him. He had numerous bruises on his body, one of his eyes was half blinded from being beaten and the other was teary and red, exposing the kind of ordeal he went through in the past few hours. The doctor sighed and shook his head.

“I'm sorry young man, we couldn't save her in time. She has been transported to the morgue.”

Caelum staggered back a few steps, till his back collided against a metal barrier. He collapsed to his knees as his limbs gave out under him, unable to support his weight anymore.

He exhaled a huge shuddering breath, and the first streaks of tears rolled down his cheeks. His lips were trembling, and his hands were quivering in terror. Caelum crawled to the doctor who was about to leave, holding his legs tightly.

The doctor looked down at him, he was shaking his head frantically, unable to speak. Tears kept rolling down his cheeks as he opened his mouth and closed it, unable to make a sound.

“Please save my grandma, please…”

“There's nothing we can do, her vitals are gone, her body has gone cold. We told you she only had an hour, look at the time, four hours had gone by…she died in the second hour. There's nothing we can do at this point, just prepare for her burial. Accept my condolences.”

Caelum let out an ear piercing scream that went straight to the heart, holding him tightly.

“No, you can't go anywhere, you said you can save her, you said…”

“You came too late!” The doctor snapped, getting angry at him. “I know you're going through grief, but mauling me like this won't change anything. It's already too late. Damn it! These crazy patients.”

By this time, a crowd had gathered in the corridor, watching him. The noise attracted them to the spot, his heart wrenching scream to be precise.

Caelum forced himself to stand, gasping continuously. He felt the environment spinning around, and he couldn't see clearly. The pounding in his chest and head, the sorrow threatening to strangulate him, and the pain spreading through his entire body all formed a terrifying mix, causing him immense agony.

He barely registered the movement as two male nurses led him to the morgue, he only saw himself standing before her with tears gathering in his eyes. Her face had turned pale, her lips purple, and she lay there, unmoving. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks and he dropped to his knees before her, crying bitterly.

Caelum knew that the Marlowe family's greatest wish had come to pass. They intentionally knocked him unconscious a few times, making him unable to make it in time to save her. He took her hand in his and brought it to his cheeks which were wet with tears.

“Grandma, it's all my fault. It's all my fault…I couldn't save you. You've done a lot for me, and this one time I was supposed to return the favor, I failed you

…like I always do. I'm so useless and incompetent, it's all my fault. I'm so sorry.”

Caelum was crying as he held her, sniffing and hiccuping, his chest tight with immense agony.

“Grandma, I caused this. If only I accepted the appointment you prepared, if I didn't chicken out because I was afraid of offending Arianna, you would still be alive. Because of pride, I didn't want to be called a gold di..digger, I refused the shares you gave me, I didn't even take the car.”

Regret washed over him. The Marlowe family had never made a secret of their resentment towards him, and was afraid he would take some of the property. Due to this reason, he always refused expensive gifts from the old woman, yet they were never happy. Just last year, he was appointed as the CEO of the construction company under Zenith group, but because of Arianna’s threats, and the attacks orchestrated by the family, he refused the appointment, afraid of offending her. He thought he could continue managing on his own, and slowly build his own wealth himself. But tragedy struck before he got around to it.

“Had I known they would abandon us at a time like this, I would have taken the company and endured the shame. Because of my stupid pride, I didn't have the means to save you. I thought…oh…I never knew… grandma… ah… I'm so sorry, I should have believed you when you told me that none of them cared. I should have kept the money you gave me instead of giving it back to Arianna each time. I'm the one who killed you, I was so incompetent...”

****

Caelum's heart was filled with bitterness as he stood before the Marlowe estate with the urn containing the ashes of the late Rita Marlowe. Ariana's cousin, Getrude, was throwing a party at their part of the estate, at a time they should have been mourning their late matriarch, the founder of Zenith group and Marlowe family empire.

“They seem pretty happy that she's gone, those bastards.”

He clenched his fists tightly, his eyes red with tears. He bit down on his trembling lips and took deep breaths to control himself. Breaking down before them couldn't be allowed, utmost composure must be maintained.

When he called them to arrange the burial, none of them showed up. With the last thousand dollars remaining from the pawned jade, he arranged for cremation. The burial plot he wanted to buy was too expensive, and the Marlowe family didn't even attend the burial, talk more of paying for the plot.

“Grandma, don't worry, just stay here for a while. Once I make some money, I will come back to take you away and bury you at the place you like.”

He wiped his tears and entered. Arianna met him at the staircase. One look at his red eyes which were hollow and sunken from stress and crying, she could immediately tell what happened. She scoffed and shifted away, knowing that if she dared to cause problems, he might beat her mercilessly because he was looking for who to take out his grief on.

He made his way to the old woman's room and set up a burial altar for her.

“Give me one year, just one year. Before your one year anniversary, I will come to take you away.”

The moment Caelum got downstairs, he was surrounded by the police. “What the hell are you doing?” He frowned, looking up at them.

“You have been reported for the theft of Mrs. Marlowe’s jade pieces, and…”

Another policeman cut in, stepping forward with handcuffs.

“You're under arrest for the murder of late Mrs. Rita Marlowe.”

Caelum’s eyes went wide with shock as he looked at them, his ears ringing from the accusation

“What did you just say? Murder?”