Chapter 3; A Great Loss
980 Words
Berry’s eyes trembled with tears as he stared at Caleb, the same boy who strutted through PHU like a crowned prince. Berry’s knees hit the hospital floor with a thud. His palms pressed against the cold tiles. He grabbed Caleb’s leg, desperate, trembling, broken.
“Please,” Berry cried out. “Save my aunt. I will do anything. Anything. I will even become your slave.”
Caleb Stone watched him with the expression of a man stepping over a puddle. Skye tilted her head, a wicked smile curling on her lips. In her manicured fingers was a half–empty plastic cup filled with crimson drink.
“Oh please,” Skye sneered. “If he wants help, he should show he deserves it.”
Before Berry could react, Skye flipped the cup and poured the red drink onto the white tiles. It splattered over Berry’s hands, diluted with his tears. She pointed at it with her heel.
“Clean it,” she said sharply. “With your tongue. Since you’re so desperate.”
The spectators around them burst into laughter. The mockery struck Berry’s ears like lightning. But none of that mattered. His heart was beating only for one thing.
Aunt Trisha.
If licking the ground would save her, then he would do it. Without hesitation Berry bent down, pressing his tongue against the cold tiles. The sour taste of the drink mixed with dirt coated his mouth. He felt humiliation slice through his pride, but he pushed through it. The crowd roared with laughter.
“Look at him,” Aiden jeered. “A real street rat.”
Jaxon slapped his thigh as he laughed. “I’ve seen dogs with more dignity.”
Berry kept licking. He had no choice.
Caleb crouched low enough that Berry could hear every breath he took.
“You think this will save your aunt?” Caleb whispered coldly. “You think this is enough?”
Berry froze. His tongue stopped against the tile.
Caleb straightened and brushed imaginary dust off his designer jacket.
“I was going to help,” he said casually. “But unfortunately I don’t have the money. I’m buying a new dog chain for my Doberman. A hundred thousand dollars.”
He smirked as he emphasized it.
“One hundred thousand. Your aunt isn’t even worth the price of a dog accessory.”
Berry felt his chest twist with agony.
Skye scoffed. “Just discharge the patient. What’s the point wasting medical knowledge on a woman like her?”
Caleb nodded toward Dr. Kenneth with arrogant reassurance. “Her kind is no use to society. You know that.”
Dr. Kenneth did not object. His eyes flicked between Caleb and Berry with a sickening understanding. Caleb’s father was a major investor in Grayson Ellis Hospital. The Stone family donated equipment, funded surgeries, and practically owned half the emergency wing.
If Caleb wanted someone discharged, the hospital made it happen.
The group chuckled and turned away, their footsteps echoing down the hallway. One by one, they disappeared around the corner, leaving Berry alone in a puddle of spilled drink and despair.
Berry dragged himself up and stumbled toward Dr. Kenneth.
“Please,” he begged. “I will pay double. Anything. She is all I have.”
Just then a nurse rushed to Dr. Kenneth and whispered something into his ear. The doctor’s face twitched, then slowly spread into a chilling grin.
“Well,” Dr. Kenneth said, lightly tapping his clipboard. “Mr Alon, it is with great joy that I inform you that another cycle of life has ended. And another nutrient will be added to the soil.”
Berry’s skin turned cold.
“In simpler terms,” the doctor added, “your aunt just passed away.”
The words shattered Berry’s world. His knees buckled. He stumbled into the room where nurses had already covered Aunt Trisha’s body.
“No. No. No!” Berry screamed as he tore the sheet back.
He grabbed her hand. It was limp, cooling by the second. He held her against him, burying his face into her shoulder. Her frail, quiet presence—the only warmth he had ever known—was slipping away entirely.
“Auntie,” he whispered. “Please don’t leave me. Please.”
But silence was his only answer.
Dr. Kenneth stood at the doorway unfazed.
“You now owe additional charges,” he said. “There is a death protocol fee. Bed usage fee. Emergency care attempt fee. Storage fee.”
Berry blinked through his tears. He could barely hear.
“The total is now one hundred and ten thousand dollars,” Dr. Kenneth continued. “You have twenty four hours to pay.”
“Or what?” Berry whispered.
The doctor smiled, tightening his gloves.
“Or her body will be sold to organ harvesters. She will at least fetch that amount, so consider it a win.”
Berry’s heart stopped. He felt dizzy. His breath came out in ragged gasps. He wanted to scream, to tear the doctor apart, to destroy something—anything.
But nothing came.
He staggered out of the hospital, numb, broken, soaked in grief and blood and humiliation. The night rain beat down. Every drop struck like a blade. His girlfriend’s betrayal. His school debt. His club fines. His aunt’s death.
Everything at once.
He was collapsing under it.
There was nothing left to fight for. No one left to care if he lived or died. Even God, Berry thought, must have turned his back on him long ago.
The streets blurred as he walked. Rain streamed down his face, mixing with tears and blood. He wandered blindly until he reached the road.
What was the point of living?
He stepped forward.
A flash of headlights swept
across his vision.
Screeching tires.
A deafening horn.
The world tilted.
Then everything went black.
- Writer
