Survivor | T. Drake

[01]

TW: This chapter contains content that might be upsetting, including mentions of suicidal thoughts, depression, and similar themes. Read at your own discretion.

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Jack Drake had been in a coma for five months, two weeks and four days to be precise. 

He was unaware of how much the world had changed in that time period. He was unaware that he had lost his wife as she had died the day they had been attacked and he was unaware that their son was struggling after that accident.

In Jack's absence, his company Drake Corporate had disintegrated and Timothy was left to deal with the mess of bankruptcy and defamation. It certainly didn't help that the boy was too young to handle such troubles on his own and was still reeling from the loss of his mother.

The associate partners of Drake Corporate had been discussing splitting up the company and dividing the shares to avoid further increments of debt. In that way, they wouldn't have to bear the financial risks that came with keeping the company afloat and all the debris would fall on the Drakes or rather on Tim instead.

It was a cruel decision, really, considering that Jack was in a coma and Tim had no experience nor authority to deal with the mess that he would be left with.

But in the business world that runs solely on profit and loss, the partners could see their loss in staying connected to Drake Corporate so they were slowly drifting away one by one.

As a result, the company was drowning in debt and there seemed no way to keep it running. 

Tim visited his father very often, hoping each day that the man would give him a sign that he was still there and would recover. That day too he was sitting beside his father's bed, feeling downcast after a board meeting with the rest of the partners of Drake Corporate.

As he was the only living and responsive member of the Drake family, he had been made aware of the decision taken by the partners. His father's lawyer had been with him and explained everything in much simpler words so that the boy would understand what was going to happen.

But even if he hadn't done so, Tim knew that meeting spelled doom for him and his family. The company was bankrupt and there was no way to repay the debts. He also knew that meant all of their assets would get compromised one by one.

So that day as he sat beside his unresponsive father, he recounted everything that had happened in the meeting, hoping he would hear him and come to his senses.

But his hopes were crushed as there wasn't even a single stir in that stiff body. The vitals shown on the screen indicated that Jack Drake was alive but Tim could see that he was no different from a corpse that was still able to breathe.

And breathing was the only thing Jack could do at the moment. He could not take any action to prevent the demise of the company he had built from scratch. He could not even open his eyes to see his son almost in tears beside him.

Tim had forgotten how many times he had come to the hospital just to be met with the same sight over and over again. He would sit by his father's bed and try to talk to him, tell him about everything he was going through but would be met with no answer.

And it was tragic because Jack Drake was the only person Tim talked to those days. Otherwise, he would be silent all the time, only listening to things he was told, mostly dreadful things about the company and his future.

Just like his father was a breathing corpse, he too wasn't much different. It seemed as if he was a corpse who was seemingly alive, walking and breathing but slowly edging to his own destruction.