Strings Attached
The hospital walls echoed with noises from within, and broken by the rhythmic beeping of machines monitoring her mother’s frail heartbeat. Tessa sat beside the bed, holding her mother’s cold hand. Camille sat in the corner, staring blankly at her phone, while Lyla, the youngest, rested her head on her lap, asleep.
“Doctor says it’s urgent,” Camille said, her voice cracking. “We don’t have much time Tessa.”
Tessa nodded, as if she couldn’t breathe. Her eyes were red and swollen from sleepless nights and tears she could not hide anymore. The surgery cost was far beyond what she could afford. And Blake… had made her understand that: there’s no help, no compromise. Only the contract.
She closed her eyes and let out a trembling breath, guilt choking in her gut like acid.
