Chapter 3
642 Words
A strange number flashed on the screen. Bianca answered, and the moment the voice on the other end spoke, her whole body convulsed.
"Grandma!" Her scream ripped through the corridor. "Hold on... Doctor, please, you have to save her!"
Students in the hallway stopped dead and turned to stare. The office door slammed open, and Graham burst out.
"Bianca, what's going on?"
Her trembling body collapsed against him. "Graham, the hospital issued a critical condition notice!" Tears poured down her face and soaked into his shirt.
Graham's eyes went red. He spun around and fixed his glare on me. "Iris, look at what you've done! Are you happy now? Do you have to push someone to the edge before you're satisfied?"
Accusations swelled around me like a tide. I ignored every voice and let my fingers move across the screen, dialing the main line at Westbridge Medical Center. I hit speakerphone without hesitation.
"Westbridge Medical Center, how can I help you?" The receptionist's voice rang out crisp and clear in the dead silence of the corridor. Bianca's sobs cut off instantly.
"I'm calling to check on a patient in the ICU. The name is Doris Sterling."
The sound of typing clicked through the speaker, each second stretching unbearably long. "I'm not finding any patient by that name in our system."
The air solidified. Graham stood frozen, still holding Bianca up.
"That's impossible!" Bianca's voice pitched high and frantic. "She must be... she must be in the ER! Yes, they just brought her in!"
I leaned toward the phone. "Could you check the emergency department as well?"
More keystrokes. "There is no patient named Doris Sterling in the ER either." The nurse's voice was certain. "No one by that name has been admitted in the past week."
The call ended. The dial tone hummed through the hallway. Every pair of eyes locked onto the swaying figure pressed against the wall.
"The system must not have updated yet!" Her defense was so pale it was practically transparent. "My grandmother is in the hospital, I swear!"
I stepped forward and closed the distance between us, staring into her bloodless face. "Which hospital? What's the attending physician's name? Room number?"
The rapid-fire questions drove her backward. "I... I can't remember exactly..."
"You can't remember which hospital your own grandmother is supposedly fighting for her life in? Then that fundraiser you launched in the class group yesterday, what exactly was that for?" My cold laugh held nothing back. "You're quite the devoted granddaughter."
Graham's face had turned the color of raw liver. "Bianca, what is the meaning of this?"
"Graham, please, let me explain. The hospital made a mistake..." Her incoherent excuses only drew more whispers. The students who had looked at her with sympathy now stared with open suspicion.
"Enough!" Graham waved his hand in agitation. "The selection meeting is this afternoon. Bring your documentation, complete documentation!"
He turned, threw open his office door, and slammed it shut behind him.
The person who had lost her support sagged against the wall, gulping air. When she lifted her eyes to me, they were soaked in venom. "Iris, do you have to destroy me completely?"
"I'm only stating facts." I straightened my collar. "No evidence, no emotional appeals."
I turned and walked toward the lecture hall.
At three o'clock, the financial aid selection meeting convened in the lecture hall. The dean sat in the front row. Graham clutched the roster with sweaty palms. When our class came up for review, he forced himself to read Bianca's name aloud.
"Bianca's family has suffered a sudden crisis. Her circumstances are exceptional..."
I stood and walked to the podium. "Mr. Holt, I have supplementary materials to submit."
I pushed the USB drive into the computer and pulled up the projector. The massive screen filled with dozens of screenshots. The hall erupted.
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