Tedros Moore Rises To The Top

Chapter 5:

A day later,

Tedros walked through the hospital’s hallways with a heavy heart, every step felt like a lump in his throat. After getting that call from the doctor about coming over, he was a shadow of himself. Sleeping his sorrows away was never an option, so he picked up more shifts and buried himself in work, even if the pay barely made a difference to the hospital bills.

The smell of medications wafted into his nose, making his stomach nauseous a bit. The sound of machines beeping did a great job in distracting his mind for a while, until he met the doctor. The well-built man was in his overall white coat, a stethoscope hung around his neck and a clipboard and pen in his right hand.

He flashed a smile at Tedros, his complete white set of teeth became visible. “Right this way,” the doctor pointed towards his father’s ward, and Tedros’ heart skipped a beat. He had only been here once, but the memory of entering this room and meeting his frail father gave him the chills.

He stepped in gently, his eyes scanning the room for a brief second and landed on his father, who laid there without moving a limb. His legs became weak and his eyes spinned, as if the doctor knew what he was going through. He gestured to the chair behind him, “You can have a seat, Mr. Moore, this is going to be a lot to take in.”

As if being controlled, he didn’t say a word, instead he just sat on the chair, eyes on the doctor.

“His condition is deteriorating by the day,” he began, eyes on Tedros, then continued, “We need to do something about it fast." When can we expect the payment?”

Tedros was quiet for a while, trying to process what the doctor said. Earlier, he was relieved that the hospital bills would soon be sorted out since Haley promised him, but now, he was unsure if his father would even make it till next week.

“My girlfriend wanted to support me with the bills, so maybe next week, when she-” Tedros paused for a bit when he noticed the sour look on the doctor’s face, his heart raced.

“Mr. Moore, the chances of your father living to next week is ten percent, he is in stage three, a very dangerous stage. Delay won't do him any good.”

Tedros just sat there, short of words. He couldn’t imagine his father dying so early. He promised to make money and take care of him, but now, he wasn’t even sure if his father would make it to his next birthday.

“I know you can do it, you are a very hardworking young man.” The doctor flashed his clean set of teeth, but it wasn't Tedros’ problem, he just wanted to leave here as soon as he could. He didn’t know how much more he could keep in his tears.

He nodded slowly, his lips pursed into a thin line, “I’ll be back, I want to get some toiletries for him.” Without waiting for the doctor’s response, he scurried away.

In the supermarket down the street, Tedros stood at a corner, staring into nothing, gentle tears slipping down his cheek every second. He felt like he had failed his father. He couldn’t save his own father. His heart tugged at the thought of it. Right now, he just wanted to disappear, but then, his father was going to be as good as dead if he did.

The cashier noticed the tall man with raven black hair walking in some minutes ago. He didn't seem like he was shopping, he just stood at a corner. Her eyes were on him even when she couldn’t fathom what he was doing there exactly.

After sometime, she heard faint whimpering and rough breaths. Curiosity was eating her up. “What in the hell was happening over there?” She thought inwardly and didn’t think twice when she walked over to him.

For three minutes, she stood behind him, contemplating whether to disturb his moment since she was sure he was crying, but still, she needed to know if he was okay.

As if making up her mind, she touched his back gently, which resulted in him jolting his attention. She stared at his ocean-blue eyes for a while. They were all swollen and his eyes were filled with sadness. She couldn’t even imagine what was going on with him.

“Young man, are you okay?” She fell silent for a while, trying to read his void-less expression, then she continued when he gave her no response, “You have been standing here for quite some time without buying anything.” Her gentle eyes tried searching for him but it was still nothing but sadness with a little hint of shock.

Almost immediately she finished her statement, he grabbed the nearest toiletry he could find and forced a smile.

Standing in front of her to check out, Tedros stared at his middle-aged woman who typed slowly into the register with a slight smile on her face, then to the mini TV above her that eased the atmosphere.

She noticed and smiled widely, “The lottery is going to end in a few minutes. It seems like you’re interested. I noticed your eyes light up as you stared at the announcer.”

Tedros wasn’t interested in it, but if she thought it lit up his eyes, then so be it.

As if not giving up, she continued, “Would you like to buy some tickets?”

He scoffed, “Lottery tickets? "I don’t have enough money for that, but thank you.” He knew she was just trying to make some money, but this was not a good time.

She laughed shortly, “It’s in the house,” without waiting for his affirmation. She shoved two tickets into his shopping bag alongside his toiletries, then continued, “You can repay me when you have enough. I don’t know what you’re going through, but I think this could help you.”

Tedros didn’t want to come off as rude, so he accepted it. He wanted to leave. He heard the woman’s voice again, “Leaving so quickly? The numbers will be announced in a few minutes. "Why don’t you wait and see?”

As if on cue, the announcer cleared his throat, holding up a ceramic bowl filled with neatly folded paper slips. Silence washed over the unknown crowd that arrived a minute ago.

“Welcome to another edition of Lottery wins, good luck.” The announcer smiled and dipped his hands into the bowl, bringing out a folded paper slip, a deep smile on his face.

“The winning number is...” he paused for a while, trying to impose fear on the viewers, “one, five, seven, two!”

Tedros’ heart skipped, his fingers flew across the first ticket in his hand, and it was one, five, seven, six. He groaned, it was too close. If the six had just been replaced with a two, he would have won the lottery ticket.

His chest tightened in disappointment, but then he realized he wouldn’t have won anyway. He just did it to please the cashier. He almost crumpled the ticket in frustration, but then he remembered the second slip still in his palm.

With little hope and hands trembling, he unfolded it, eyes on the paper as the announcer repeated the numbers.

“One, five, seven and two.”

For a moment, he stood still. He couldn’t breathe. He still stared at the paper in disbelief, staring at the paper as if it might vanish if he blinked. The voices of the people around him blurred into meaningless noise.

Coming back slowly into realization, he whispered, “That’s me.”

He repeated, but this time, louder and more audible, “That’s me.”

All eyes slowly settled on him, and as if sensing his disbelief, the announcer’s voice boomed louder, “If you have one, five, seven and two, you are tonight’s lottery winner with the prize of a hundred million dollars.”

“I have it!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, knowing for sure he wasn’t hallucinating.