Chapter 1 Tired and helpless…

Lila

“Hello, it’s Mia... You have to come to the hospital right away!” The phone call came while I was wiping down a counter at the diner.

I didn’t even wait to hear the full message before running. By the time I reached the hospital, my heart was in my throat while Dr. Patel’s quickly pulled me into his office.

"Lila, I won’t sugarcoat it, Mia doesn’t have much time left. She needs treatment urgently and we have to start in five days or…" he didn’t finish it but I knew what he was going to say.

“Or she dies…” he didn’t respond either.

"How much?" I whispered.

"$500,000. It’s actually $750,000 but since it’s an experimental treatment, we were able to secure some funding which covered $250,000. Now, all you have to pay is half a million dollars." He chimed in while an empty laughed forced its way out of me.

"You might as well be asking for the moon." I muttered under my breath just before leaving his office.

I went straight to Mia’s ICU room, and as I entered, I could already hear her labored breathing from behind the curtain and the doctor’s voice started playing on a loop in my head.

I have only five days or my sister dies, but how on earth am I supposed to get half a million dollars in just five days?

I’d spent the last three years scraping together $12k by working double shifts at the diner, selling sketchy portraits, and mostly eating once a day so Mia could afford the basics. And now she’s got a death sentence wrapped in a price tag?

I slumped at the cold hallway wall, my fingers gripping my jeans so tightly that my knuckles turned white. I had never felt so drained and helpless in my life.

I used to think life was cruel but I later realized it doesn’t even care enough to be cruel, it just takes. It took my parents, my dreams and now trying to take Mia too.

I was only sixteen and Mia had just turned ten when our parents died. We were waiting at home for them to return from their anniversary dinner but they never did.

A drunk truck driver ran a red light, and just like that, they were gone.

Mia didn’t understand at first and she kept asking about them.

"When are Mom and Dad coming home?" She had asked me but I didn’t know how to answer. How do you tell your little sister that everything good in her life has just been ripped away? That the only people who were supposed to keep her safe were never coming back? So I just pulled her close and let her sob into my shirt as I held back my own tears.

I became her everything after that. I was her sister, parent, and protector. I worked odd jobs, made sure she stayed in school, and we got by but then she got sick.

At first, it was just fatigue, then headaches, then something more. The doctors couldn’t find the problem right away, and by the time they did, it had gotten worse.

It was always hospitals after that. We did several tests, had many prescriptions, and treatments and the bills piled up faster than I could keep up.

I took on more shifts at the diner, picked up cleaning jobs, even tried selling some of my paintings. But no matter how much I worked, it was never enough, Mia was slipping away…

After about twenty minutes, I finally forced myself to stand up, and then went home.

I was so lost in my head that I almost didn’t see the eviction notice taped to the door.

We were six months behind on rent and the landlord is now giving seven days to move out.

I stared at the paper so long that my eyes started to ache. After a while, I decided to call the landlord, maybe he’d be nice and give me more time.

“You’re kidding, right? You’re six months behind, Lila. Do you think I’m running a charity here?” He yelled.

“I’ve been more than nice. You either pay up or pack out.” He added and then hung up.

A tear rolled down my face as I crumpled the notice, threw it in the bin and then entered.

I pressed my forehead against the door, my breath shaky. I can’t do this. I can’t keep fighting a battle I was clearly losing.

I soon sank to the floor, knees pulling up to my chest as the sobs finally poured uncontrollably.

I grabbed my phone and managed to dial Jenna’s number.

"Hey, babe! What’s up?” She picked up after two rings.

"I can’t… I can’t do this anymore," I choked out.

"Lila? What’s wrong?" Her voice turned sharp with concern.

I told her everything, the treatment, the eviction, and she listened without interrupting.

“I’ll be right there.” She simply said and hung up.

Jenna is my best friend and the only one I have. We met at the diner and since it was both our first day, we connected right away…

"Lila!" Jenna yelled as the door flung open and she rushed towards me. She took one look at the notice and sighed.

"Jesus… how bad is it?" She asked but I couldn’t even answer. My throat was too tight and my body too weak so she sat beside me and pulled me into a hug.

"You know what? You’re coming with me."

"Where?" I sniffed.

"Work of course, you need a drink… or ten." She replied and I let out a wet laugh, shaking my head.

"I don’t think alcohol can fix this."

"Maybe not, but money can." She nudged me while I frowned, looking at her.

"Jenna, I make minimum wage at the diner. No amount of extra shifts…"

"Not the diner." Something in her tone made me pause, but she stood up and held out a hand.

"Just trust me, okay?" She added and honestly, I didn’t even have the strength to argue so I just went with her.