Lance:
I couldn’t stand the sight of my own face that day. I knew that the surgery would burden my family forever. I knew that the cost of a new heart would put us in poverty. I knew it, but I wanted to live. My mum however, didn't feel the same way. When I was in the hospital room sleeping, she came to wake me up with a hug. I hug that tight around my neck. I couldn’t breathe so I just kept crying. “Don’t!” I tried to scream but it wouldn’t come out. I remember my mum’s expression, so punished. So guilty. And yet, she wouldn’t stop. And it hurt, it really hurt. “Why?” Even though I knew why. “Lance, baby. Don’t talk. It’ll be over soon.” She said, smiling.
Was that what you called putting someone out of their misery? Was I just like a pet to her? How could she convince herself she was doing right? It hurts. Her hands were around my throat. My tears were stinging against my face. And the blood was being sucked from my head. I just wanted it to stop. I didn’t want her to die.
It was my dad that saved me, when he ran in she leapt from the window. My dad screamed. “She killed my son!”
He thought I was dead and hugged me so tight. Wailing into my clothes.
I was able to get the surgery the next week. Maybe if my mum had succeeded in killing me that day then none of this…
The debt we were in was extreme. We owed money to many dangerous people. But my dad was just so happy I was alive. He wanted to protect me with everything he had. And I wanted to be able to live for him.
He left me that afternoon. I knew it was for my safety, but it hurt like hell. “Lance,” he said. “Even in the harshest of environments, there’s life. If you just keep living, everything will be okay. So wipe those tears off your face.”
He gave me an envelope. “Don’t open it until you have enough money. Even if that takes decades. It has bank account numbers for you to transfer the money into, and a way to find me. Promise me you won’t open it until you have the money.”
“I can’t promise that!” I howled.
“Promise me.”
“I- I can’t.”
He sat down next to me on my bed. The mattress sunk around him. He took his suit jacket off and wrapped it around me. We stayed like that in silence for hours.
I looked out the window, at him walking away. “I promise.”
I clutched the envelope tight in my hands. I’ll live, I thought. And I’ll get the money.
Riley:
“So that’s why you did all this?” I asked. “For your… dad?”
Lance looked down and nodded. I collapsed into him and wrapped my arms around him. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” I cried. He was stunned.
“Why are you sorry? You idiot.” He hugged me back. “I’m the one that hijacked a plane.”
“Would you…” I paused and held him tighter. “Would you really have killed all those people?”
“No.” He giggled a bit. “…Maybe.”
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