The Trials
“Get out! You deceitful woman.”
The large living room suddenly fell to a quiet hush. Allison stood still, almost lifeless. Hands clammed tightly to the hem of her dress as her lips quivered.
“Mrs Barry, I can explain… He came into the room…and…and…I promise I didn’t do anything.” Allison pointed to the middle-aged man dressed in a robe, calmly hiding behind his wife as he peeped out.
Allison had been working for a year as a babysitter. Her first few months were great until Mr Barry started making advances at her. She had turned him down politely several times despite his threats to cut her pay.
“Pack your things and leave!”
“Can I at least get my pay…I…I need the money urgently.” She begged.
“You want your pay? You must be shameless.” Mrs Barry spat out.
“I really need that money. I promise never to return, just pay me for the last three months, and a few weeks I have worked.” Allison went on her knees, clutching Mrs Barry’s knees.
“Get her out of here, and make sure she never enters this house.” Mrs Barry called out to one of the guards.
The guard pulled Allison from her feet, dragging her out as she begged and screamed for her pay. Despite her hoarse voice, she didn’t stop begging for her pay.
Allison stood outside the house, sprawled on the floor, helpless. She was still deciding where to go when her phone rang.
“You need to come to the hospital now…” She didn’t wait to hear the rest before picking herself up and taking to her heels.
The hospital hallway felt narrower as Allison rushed to the ward, gasping hard. A middle-aged man soon walked out of a ward, adjusting the stethoscope around his neck.
“ Where is he?” Allison could barely catch her breath. She held on to Dr. Sam, who stood outside the ward.
“His breathing suddenly became unstable. We have stabilized him now, but…” Allison suddenly burst into tears.
She had held it in all week, through the insults, the embarrassment, the fatigue, but hearing that her son was still battling for his life broke her down.
“You need to calm down. Did you bring the money?” He asked as he brought Allison to take a seat.
“I…I… need some more time.”
“He doesn’t have that much time; he needs surgery soon.” Dr Sam paused for a second as he noticed how dazed Allison looked. She was wearing the same dress she had worn 6 months ago when she rushed her 4-year-old son to the E.R.
For six months, she had been living in the ICU with her son, who battled leukemia.
Heavy eye bags sat under her eyes. Her forehead now had a few wrinkles from stress and fatigue. Her lips were chapped, but she still looked undoubtedly beautiful.
“Your son really needs the $3000, or he will die.”
“I don’t know what to do, Doctor, I… I… tried really hard.”
Dr. Sam brought out a sheet of paper and scribbled on it. “Take this. Tell him you are from Doctor Sam Grant. He owes me one…”
Allison took the sheet of paper and glanced at it, holding it intently as her life depended on it. Her heart pounded with grief and anxiety.
Watching her, something twisted inside Dr Sam.
Pain?
Pity?
But whatever it was, Allison had to raise $3000 soon or lose her son.
The wait outside the office was the longest in six months. Allison had dressed up in the most modest way she could. She wasn’t sure what position she was interviewing for, but she knew she could do anything.
Her legs wouldn’t stop tapping frantically as she held on tightly to her resume. There were still 3 other ladies after her. A middle-aged woman sat next to her, biting her nails slowly.
“Out!”
A young woman rushed out of the office in tears. She looked at the rest of them and ran out of the house. Her face was tear-stained, and her mascara had smeared from rubbing her eyelids.
Allison trembled; a part of her wanted to run with the woman, to avoid whatever was in the office that had her running out in tears.
“Next!”
She stood up calmly, took a deep breath, and walked slowly into the office. There was a man and a little girl seated; they had their chairs turned away, facing the window.
The office was large, with files well arranged on a shelf. The man turned his chair around.
“Daddy, she is pretty.” The little girl said.
Allison froze in place as the room suddenly became smaller.
“Miss Allison Parker, right?”
Allison couldn’t believe her eyes. Reece Martin. The same man who had ruined her life four years ago now sat before her, with a little girl calling him daddy.
How cruel could fate be to bring the one man she had loathed for four years before her? The man who had left her while she was pregnant. The man who had called her shameless and accused her of sleeping around.
She wanted to run out of the room, but remembered that her son was battling leukemia in the hospital and his chance of survival depended on her getting the job.
“Yes, I’m Allison Parker.” She waited a bit, hoping at least the name would ring a bell with him, but instead, he stared back at her with a stinging unfamiliarity.
“Is he just pretending not to remember me, or does he really still believe I betrayed him all these years?” Allison thought within her, as she slowly handed the piece of paper Dr. Sam had given to her, to him.
“Take a seat.”
