Chapter two

How does he know my name? He wondered as he felt his body go limp in fear.

“How?” The question paused on his lips.

He smiled with a satisfied look on his face. He was enjoying every moment of it and he wanted West to know.

“You’re wondering how I know your name, where you live, where you work, your ridiculously dreary morning routine, and how you go to the hospital every day to see your mother. It's my job to know these things, West.” He said, cooly but West's flesh sizzled feverishly.

“Relax now.” He said yawning with a bored look. “I'm mostly harmless. How much do you want?”

Fear had snatched West's voice rendering him unable to use it but he managed to tell the thin man what had brought him there. He listened silently until West was done and then he said, “How do you intend to pay back? We both know you're poor and have nothing except for that cute little house. “

“I don't know yet but I'll do everything I can to make sure I pay you back.” He said, helplessly. “But the house is off the table."

“Call me, Cross.” He said with a sinister smile. “Anyone who thinks they can double cross me and get away with it easy gets the cross treatment.” He rubbed his greasy fingers on the crucifix he wore.

He gestured to one of his goons and whispered something inaudible to the man. He disappeared into the darkness and some moments later he returned with a file.

“Sign here.” He said to West.

West blinked, unable to believe what was happening. “I don't understand.”

“Sign there,” Cross said calmly. “And the money is yours.”

He hesitated long enough to start a new civilization in an alien nation. So many things were going through his head at that moment but he thought about his mother, picked the pen, and scribbled his signature on the document.

West left the alley and just before he got home, to his greatest surprise, the money he asked for entered his account.

***

The next day, his mother was prepped for surgery and within the hour she was taken into the theater. West never left the hospital’s chapel as he prayed without end asking for the safety of his mother above all else.

The procedure lasted longer than it should and just when West thought he was going to lose his mind, he received a call that his mom was out of surgery and she should recover in a day or two.

West rushed as fast as his exhausted body would let him to the room but the nurse stopped him. The nurse told him that his mother needed all the rest she could get and West understood.

“It was a close one.” The surgeon said with a cheerful smile.

West smiled at him and thanked him for saving his mother. He was so grateful that the surgeon wondered if such love for one's parents still exists in the current Gen Z era.

The surgeon managed to convince West to run home, change into fresh clothes and have a little nap. He hesitated for a long time but decided he was right. he gave into the worried look on his kind eyes as he spoke to him. He didn't want his mother to wake up only to look at him with such eyes.

West left the hospital, went home and had a much needed cold shower. He got out feeling more relaxed than he'd felt in weeks. He was about to put on fresh clothes when his exhaustion gave way to sleep. The sounds of deep vibration woke him up some hours later and he jerked back to consciousness to see the caller was Dr. Elsa.

West answered the phone still feeling groggy as he said, “Hello.”

His voice was a sleepy drawl. Dr. Elsa was speaking too fast for him to understand what she was saying. Something about the way she sounded made West jerk upright and he became fully conscious.

“Slow down, doc. I can barely understand what you're saying.” he pulled the phone closer to his ear.

“— she was fine one minute and,” Her voice broke off. “Oh my god, West. I'm so sorry.”

West's heart raced in panic as he tried to make sense of what Dr. Elsa was saying. It didn't make any sense to him but whatever it was had to be serious to affect Dr. Elsa so much.

“Where is my mom?” West asked the one question that mattered.

Dr. Elsa broke into a jerking sobs and that was when West knew something had gone terribly wrong.

He wore the shirt he had set aside inside out and rushed into the busy street. His mind was in a frenzy and he remembered how he had been so occupied with the madness going on in his head that he had forgotten his phone on the bed.

West met the nurse as he tried to enter the room. The nurse stopped him but through the glass door he could see his Mother's body on the bed with the sheet pulled over her face.

It was as if he had been slammed with a sledgehammer full force in his gut and he could feel the air leave his lungs as his innards tightened in a sick vice grip. He tried to make sense of what was happening but there was no making sense of it. They had to be wrong. His mother was okay. The surgeon had told him that himself.

“I'm so sorry. You can't go in.” The nurse repeated over and over.

***

The burial was a small occasion just as his mother would have wanted it. She was made to rest in the family crypt and West tried to focus on getting his life back on track but he knew it was never going to be the same as it was before.

The following week he got emails about debts he knew nothing about. As if that wasn't enough he had to find a way to pay off the scary looking loan shark that referred to himself as Cross and he wasn't sure he wanted to know how it felt getting the cross treatment he had told him about.

West quit his job at the library and tried getting a better job but it was harder than he thought. He took his small resume to some of the well known companies but they weren't interested in hiring a nobody with limited experience.

A month passed and West lived in seclusion, afraid to interact with the outside world.

Mr. Gerard , one of his father’s friends who had taken it upon himself to handle his family’s finances without being paid, showed up to the house. His eyes were sad and he seemed worried about West's well being.

“Are you alright, West?” He asked, studying him through his rimmed glasses.

“I'm fine,” he replied, smiling.

Mr. Gerard wasn't convinced about his response but he knew better than to press the girl. He told him about the reason he was there. The debts he had taken responsibility for upon his mother’s death needed to be settled.

“I'd advise you to sell the house and you can keep the little you make for it.” He said, his sad eyes watching him for a reaction.

His expression remained calm and he seemed unaffected by what he had said. West was struggling to come to terms with the pain of his mother’s death.

“I'll leave you to handle the necessary procedure.” He said,

Mr. Gerard admired West's strength. He couldn't bring himself to imagine what the poor girl must have been going through. That night, West packed up a small duffel bag and left the house he had grown up in with his parents. The tears in his eyes dropped freely as he turned to spare one look at his family home and he realized he had lost everything now.