“Natalie, do you think they’ll really break Steven’s legs? My parents value his life over their own, so they’ll definitely lose their minds if anything happens to him!”
Natalie gave me a pat on the shoulder as she comforted me, “I think he should be fine. I mean, what else can they do if your family doesn’t pay up? Kill him? Don’t worry, Anna. Your parents aren’t dumb, so I’m sure they’ll know to call the police if those men try to hurt him.”
What Natalie said made sense, and I felt a lot better after hearing it.
“It’s getting late, you should get some sleep. I’ll wait and see if my mom calls again. She said those men would be collecting the money in an hour, so I’m really scared that something bad might happen.”
“Nah, I’m not tired. Besides, I can’t possibly fall asleep knowing how anxious you are. I’ll wait here with you,” Natalie said as she sat down beside me and put an arm around my shoulder.
Time ticked by, and two hours soon came to pass with no call nor text from Mom whatsoever. I felt somewhat uneasy as I glanced at the time on my phone.
Why hasn’t Mom called me yet? Did those men really let them off the hook so easily?
“Why hasn’t my mom called? It’s been so long now…” I mumbled to myself worriedly as I gripped the phone tightly in my sweaty palms.
“Maybe you should try calling her to find out what’s going on over there. Who knows, maybe those men left after realizing they wouldn’t be getting any money!”
Natalie grew anxious as well when she saw me panicking.
I nodded and dialed my mom’s number on the phone, but it just kept ringing until I got to her voicemail.
That gave me a bad feeling in my gut, so I tried calling her a second time.
The call got through right as I thought it would go to voicemail again, and I could hear Mom’s voice on the other line.
“Hello, Mom! How are things over there? Did those men leave?” I asked anxiously before she could say anything.
The next thing I knew, Mom was wailing loudly into the phone.
“What’s wrong, Mom? What happened? Talk to me!”
Mom went silent for a brief moment all of a sudden, and the bad feeling in my gut intensified as I waited in suspense.
“They broke your brother’s legs, and it’s all your fault! Are you happy now, you f*cking ingrate? You’re no longer my daughter!”
My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an iron grip when I heard Steven’s legs were broken.
Oh, god… My parents must be devastated!
“Mom, how is Steven right now? Is he okay?” I asked frantically after regaining my composure, but Mom hung up on me without saying a word.
My phone slipped out of my hand and fell to the floor with a soft thud as my tears flowed uncontrollably.
Natalie had heard the whole conversation on the phone and gave me a distressed look as she asked, “Hey, Anna! What happened? Are you okay?”
“What do I do now, Nat? They broke Steven’s legs! What am I going to do now?”
My mind went blank, and I grabbed Natalie’s hand while my body trembled all over.
“Calm down, Anna! Whatever happened has happened, and panicking isn’t going to help. We should focus on figuring out our next course of action.”
Natalie patted me on the back of my hand as she tried to comfort me.
“No… The hospital… I have to go see him at the hospital!” I mumbled while reaching for my handbag and putting on my shoes.
We don’t have any decent medical facilities in the village, so Steven must be in the city’s hospital if his legs are broken!
“In that case, I’ll go with you!”
Natalie tagged along out of concern for my well-being, and the two of us took a cab to the hospital.
“Sir, could you please go faster?”
I kept urging the taxi driver to go faster even though he was already speeding.
“Why are you in such a hurry, miss? I can’t go any faster or I’ll exceed the speed limit, and that’s very dangerous here in the city!” said the taxi driver while glancing at me through the rear-view mirror.
“But I have to get to the hospital urgently! It’s an emergency!”
I knew it was unreasonable of me to keep urging the taxi driver like that, but I just couldn’t help it.
“Calm down, Anna. We’re almost at the hospital, so it won’t be long now.”
Natalie grabbed me by the hand and motioned at me to calm down.
It wasn’t easy, but I managed to keep my emotions in check, and we soon arrived at the hospital.
Having lost all sense of rationality from the fear and panic, I began checking all the wards in the orthopedic department one after another for my brother.
Fortunately for me, Natalie was smart enough to ask the front desk which ward Steven was in.
“Stop looking, Anna! Your brother is in ward 1201! Come on, let’s go!”
The door to ward 1201 was shut tight, but I could hear Mom’s cries coming from inside and hesitated to open the door as I was afraid of finding Steven in worse condition than I imagined.
“Go on in, Anna. You’ll feel a lot less worried that way,” Natalie said when she saw me stop in my tracks.
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Mom’s cries sounded much clearer as I entered, and I felt my heart ache when I heard her cry her heart out like that.
