His Obsession

Amani Lewis POV

"Mum, mum, mum, wake up. Mum, you're scaring me." My hands shook her shoulders harder. "Please. Please don't do this."

She did not move.

The room spun around me. I stumbled back, hit the table, then dropped to my knees beside the bed again. Her chest barely moved. Her skin felt cold under my fingers.

"No, no, no."

I looked around wildly for my phone. Blankets covered the floor. A cup had spilled near the door. My breathing came fast as I searched under the chair, under the bed, everywhere except the place it actually was.

My foot kicked something.

I looked down and it was my phone. I quickly grabbed it with trembling hands and nearly dropped it again while dialing.

"Sade." My voice cracked. "Sade, it happened again. I do not know if she is breathing. I do not know what to do."

"Amani, listen to me," Sade said quickly. "I am coming. We are already on the way. Stay with her and do not hang up."

"I am scared."

"I know. Just keep talking to me." She said as I could hear her running.

I pressed the phone against my ear and crawled back beside my mother. "Mum, can you hear me? Please open your eyes."

Nothing moved. Nothing changed.

Outside, a siren cut through the street.

The front door burst open minutes later.

"Amani!"

Sade rushed into the room first. The moment she saw me curled beside the bed, she crossed the room and pulled me up against her.

"Oh, Mani."

The paramedics moved around us quickly. One checked my mother's pulse while another unpacked equipment beside the bed.

"How long has she been like this?" someone asked.

"I do not know," I whispered.

"Pulse is weak."

"Get the oxygen on her now."

The room filled with voices, footsteps, and the sound of metal clanging together. Someone guided me toward the doorway while they lifted my mother onto a stretcher.

"Mum." I grabbed her hand before they rolled her away. "Mum, stay with me."

Her fingers stayed limp in mine.

Sade wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me outside toward the ambulance.

Inside the hospital, everything moved too fast.

Doctors rushed past in blue scrubs. Nurses called out numbers and names. The smell of medicine burned my nose.

"She needs surgery immediately."

Those words followed me all the way to the waiting area.

Then the doors closed in my face.

The red surgery light came on above the doors.

I stood there staring at it.

People walked past me. A child cried somewhere down the hall. A television played softly in the corner. None of it reached me.

"Amani." Sade held out a bottle of water. "Drink."

I shook my head.

"You have been standing here for hours."

"I am fine."

"You are shaking."

I wrapped my arms tighter around myself.

Sade sat beside me and rubbed my back slowly. "She is strong."

I laughed once under my breath. "That is what everyone says before something bad happens."

Sade looked away for a second, then reached for my hand again.

Every time the doors opened, my body jerked forward.

It was never her.

"Amani, eat something."

She pushed a sandwich toward me carefully. "Please."

"How can I possibly think about food right now?"

"Because if you faint too, I will have two patients to deal with."

"I cannot eat."

My eyes burned, but I kept staring at the surgery doors.

The light finally switched off.

I was already standing before the doctor stepped outside.

"How is she?" The words rushed out of me. "Is she alive?"

The doctor looked at me quietly for a moment before giving a small nod. "Yes. She made it through surgery."

My knees nearly gave out.

I grabbed the wall beside me.

"Thank God," Sade whispered behind me.

"But," the doctor continued, "her condition is getting worse."

The air left my lungs again.

"She needs constant monitoring now. Her heart is very weak. If she leaves the hospital in this condition, it will not end well."

I swallowed hard.

"How long does she need to stay?"

"We cannot say yet."

My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag.

Special care. More treatment. More bills. All the thoughts came crashing down.

The doctor kept speaking, but all I heard were numbers piling up inside my head.

Beside me, Sade squeezed my shoulder gently.

"We will figure it out," she said softly.

I nodded even though I had no idea how.

"You can see her soon," the doctor said before walking away.

The recovery room was quiet when I stepped inside.

Machines beeped softly near the bed.

My mother looked smaller somehow. Tubes ran across her arms. Her eyes stayed closed.

I pulled the chair closer and sat beside her.

"Hi, Mum."

My voice came out barely above a whisper.

"You scared me today."

I picked up her hand carefully and pressed my lips against it.

"You always tell me not to cry in hospitals because it makes the nurses panic." A weak laugh slipped out before my throat tightened again. "I almost proved you wrong today."

I brushed my thumb across her knuckles slowly.

"I am going to fix this, okay? I do not know how yet, but I will."

A tear slid down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly before another followed.

"You are not leaving me here alone."

I leaned closer and kissed her forehead.

"You rest. I will handle everything else."

I stayed there a little longer before finally standing up.

My legs felt heavy as I walked out of the room.

The hospital hallway looked brighter now, almost too bright after sitting in that dark room for hours.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

Bills were already waiting for me. Missed calls piled on top of each other. Unopened messages sat heavy on the screen. Reality was already knocking.

I stared at the screen for a long second, then opened my messages and typed quickly.

Meet me at the hospital entrance.

Sade replied almost immediately.

Coming.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket and walked toward the elevator.

If my mother needed this hospital to stay alive, then I needed money.

Fast.