stockholm syndrome

chapter 3.) 438.52 $

friday, november 21st, 2008

"another day, another slay." luke says, dropping the contents of the drawstring of the coffee table before us.
he picks up a wad of cash, fondling it slightly before he begins counting precisely.
once he realized i was sitting on the loveseat, doing absolutely nothing but staring, he spoke up.
"mike? are you going to help me count, or not?"
"i'd love for you to stop using that phrase, it's annoying." i shook my head.
"why? we totally just winged that, we kicked some, major." he says, grabbing another stack of cash with his free hand and tossing it in my direction.
"because luke," i begin counting, "you're supposed to be a criminal." i repeat, glaring at him once more before i fold the money in my hands and begin to recount.
"another day, another slay." he mumbles again.
"you really need to stop." i laugh.
"damn," luke starts, "someone pissed in your cheerios this morning." figuring it's best to drop the argument, i bundle up the money i have just collected, finally.
"whaddya got?"
"four thirty eight, fifty two. you?"
"three seventy six, thirty eight."
"not too bad. about eight hundred fifteen bucks... shit. do you know what this means?" i watch as the color drains out of his already pale figure.
"hell, we have ten grand now, don't we?"

"we sure do."

i hear the beeps reaching out from the machine above, unaware if something was wrong, or not. i watched as the lines stretched throughout the screen, while she lay there in bed.
compared to her normal state, in which i hardly remember, she seemed thin and white as a sheet, fragile as a porcelain doll. but, even in this state, i knew she could handle me.
i peer over at luke, tears brimming in his eyes. at this point i couldn't fucking imagine what was going through his mind. i can't imagine having to watch the person you loved the most in the world go through something so painful. i snapped out of my thoughts as i heard rustling throughout the bed, she was awake now.

"liz!" i cry, feeling empathic towards her.
"mum.." luke wanders in her direction slowly, hugging her loosely.
"hi boys," she said weakly, "i've missed you two. you don't come around much anymore. what's keeping you away?"
before luke or i could speak, she interrupts us. "nevermind that," she said, "give me some love?"

we both scooted closer and gave her a slight hug, luke a kiss on the cheek. we were both anxious and careful to not bother the monitors and her intravenous tubes. whilst stepping back, i noticed that luke had been crying, but i cannot deny that i shed a tear or two as well.                                                            

"we're going to get you that proper treatment you need mum, we promise." luke spoke shakily, delicately treating his words as if they were broken glass.
"love, they're going to cost you thousands of dollars. there's no way, i appreciate your effort. i can't even afford it with the health  insurance i have at the moment."
i tried to speak, but my words were confined in my throat, closing tightly, as my stomach dropped.
"i will mum," he sobbed, "i will get the money."
liz looked at me gently. all i could give in return is a blank nod, consisting of little to no emotion. i didn't understand her circumstances; she was ill one day, and damn near ready to jump a train across the country the next. we assumed it was the common cold, the air was getting crisp and the leaves fell from their branches; allergy season was creeping on us faster than we could prepare for it. things got worse since then. she could barely stand on her own, always drained no matter what she did. we admitted her to the hospital after a pretty nasty fall. her legs gave out. turns out, she has pericardial tamponade, which then caused a threat for her organs to fail. the poor woman has nothing to rely on, besides a tricky and a forty four percent chance of success operation, very dangerous at that. one, that would cost her ten grand. ten grand, that she did not have.