Dire Decisions

“I’m looking for William Dalton”

Elsida says to the front desk Nurse. “Third room on the left, second floor” the nurse replies half-heartedly.

Elsida sprints past the hallway, heart thumping rapidly with trepidation, she suddenly regrets her choice of shoes that hinder her from hastening to her satisfaction.

“Elsidaaaaa” Natasha sobs as Elsida lets herself into the emergency room.

“Shush it’s fine, Dad will be fine,” Elsida says as she rushes to her sister and envelopes her in a hug, as she notices her Father connected to numerous tubes, she’s not quite certain her previous words hold any significance.

“It’s all my fault, If I hadn’t stepped out of his room I would have stopped him from swallowing

those pills, oh if I hadn’t kept them close by we wouldn’t be in this situation” Natasha says as she continues to sob uncontrollably.

“Don’t say that Nat, none of this is your fault, Dad will be fine I promise.”

“Has the doctor said anything yet?” Elsida asks and as if on cue, the door to the room opens, ushering in the doctor.

“Hello girls, may I have a word?” The doctor asks.

Elsida nods her head solemnly, still holding on to Natasha as the doctor approaches them.

“You’re both lucky, the amount of pills your father ingested was life-threatening, if you hadn’t found him when you did, I’m afraid he would have suffered a brain hemorrhage,” the doctor says with an apologetic smile.

Elsida heaves a sigh of relief, feeling the knots in her chest loosen up a bit.

“Thank you so much,” Elsida says, feeling overwhelmed with the emotions surging through her.

“It’s no problem, we’ll keep him under a forty-eight-hour observation, he should have regained consciousness and the effect of the drug should be cleared up by then,” the doctor says as he observes the beep of the heart monitor.

“Elsida, a word please,” the doctor says, as he heads to the door.

As the door closes behind them, he begins to speak.

“Your Father was lucky back there but unfortunately I can’t say the same for his bone marrow cancer”

“What do you mean?” Elsida asks as she starts to feel the knots in her chest contract.

“His cell count has gone abnormally low since his last check-up therefore, we will not be able to perform the stem cell transplant with his cells, he needs a donor or he might not make it to the next year.”

“How do we get one and how much would it cost to get this procedure done?” Elsida asks as she struggles to keep her lips from quivering, she was doing all she could to not slump to the floor and bawl her eyes out.

The doctor sighs apologetically, “I’m at a loss here Elsida, the hospital won’t be able to further your father’s treatment anymore, his insurance is measly and his bills keep piling up”

“Wha.. what?” Elsida sputters, unable to stop her lips from quivering, how she manages to still stand upright, she is not particularly sure of.

“I’m so sorry Elsida, I wish you all the best,” He says and walks away, slitting the last thread of hope she had.

Elsida dashes across the hallway, wiping violently at the onslaught of tears falling from her eyes.

Once she made it to the bathroom and locked herself in a stall, she crumbled to the floor and began to sob wildly.

When her Father’s company crashed, she thought they’d get by fine as long as they had each other but with his health plummeting drastically, it all felt too excruciating she thought.

She couldn’t believe she was going to lose her father, it felt like a bad dream she was plunged into and she couldn’t wake up from.

“I’m so sorry Daddy, I couldn’t do it,” she says to herself as she lets out a whimper.

As she recalls the last three years she spent working as an escort to make sure her father survives, the misery of the situation starts to sink in.

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Elsida stares at her ghostly reflection in the mirror, she notices the splotches of makeup on her face and grimaces.

She tilts the faucet and splashes water on her face, washing away every last bit of makeup from her face.

“I can't watch you die, Daddy,” she says to herself.

As she realizes the gravity of the situation, her mind wanders off to the one person she wishes death to.

“Shit” she curses out loud in disgust as the awareness of what she must do dawns upon her if she must save her father.

With a sudden burst of determination, she makes her way back to her father’s hospital room.

“How’s he doing?” Elsida asks Natasha who is camped right next to her Father.

“Well, he's breathing, Natasha mutters weakly and Elsida offers her what she hopes is an encouraging smile.”

“Are you hungry? I could get something for you from the cafeteria” Elsida asks.

“I'm good,” Natasha says, not taking her eyes off her father.

“You can’t be serious, it’s been a long day, surely you must be hungry, you know what I’ll get us something, starving isn’t going to improve Dad’s situation” Elsida mutters

“Fine, get me some coffee while you’re at it, it’s going to be a long night,” Natasha says weakly.

Elsida walks to her father and places a soft kiss on his head before leaving the room with her newly found determination.

If making a deal with that depraved excuse of a man was the answer to her problems she would not hesitate further she thought.

As she took the elevator to the ground floor, she tried her best to calm her racing thoughts, surely he couldn’t be worse than the devil she thought.

Scurrying across the ground floor, she made it to the entrance beginning her search for a taxi.

“Taxi” she shouted but the bustling streets of New York on a Friday evening were no match for her voice gone raspy from crying. She cleared her throat again for another go, “Taxi” she bellowed at the top of her lungs, simultaneously, as a taxi screeched to a halt in front of her, two tall dark figures moved in on her, blocking her path.