On the shores of appearance
Silken fabric darkens
And whatever is gray, turns bright
Sleeping peacefully on the bed was the woman who gave birth to him and his sister, the one who his father loved endlessly through the end of his life, for whom he fought and even became a victim of hatred by his family. The one whose presence was like a shadow of protection in this brutal world.
Silver linings ran through her once-brownish hair like a stream of water. Wrinkles and saggy skin adorned her once plump skin, she wasnt supposed to look this old yet her terminal disease had marked her earlier.
Once again, his eyes precipitated seeing her mother all weak. It was the effect of medicines that kept her sleeping for hours.
Slowly, he went near her bed and sat beside her on the stool holding her frail hands.
"Zander, my son," she whispered softly, glancing at him.
"How do you always get to know its me, mom?" Zander muttered, softly kissing her hand.
"A mother can always feel his child," her soothing voice began to cure the cracks he had endured in the past two days.
"You look tired my son!" She said in a croaked voice, gently caressing his cheeks.
"Its just the double shifts mom, you know I have started to work at a construction company now in the evening,"
A tear cascaded down her eye as she looked at her son with sympathy and fondness. Her young and energetic son looked years old, the bags under his eyes and his lean body.
"I am sorry Zander, because of me you have to suffer this much. First, you had to leave college, then sell our house and now work overtime." the last part lumped her throat more.
"Hey! You dont have to feel guilty mom." Zander immediately gripped both her hands and placed his head on them.
"Whatever I am today is because of you. What I am doing is nothing in front of what you have endured for us."
Agnes smiled weakly, after years she could see the reflection of her husband in his eyes. The same love, devotion, and endurance.
Softly patting his head, "Zander, why dont you go back to…"
"Mom, please!" Zander instantly cut her off.
"They are your family Zander!" She tried to persuade them, not wanting his son to suffer the same fate as his father.
"My family is you and only you. No one else, please mom. I just want to spend time with you, no irrelevant things." He reasoned,
Seeing the frown on his face, Agnes nodded weakly.
" Now, tell me How are you feeling? " he asked, putting his hand in hers.
"I feel tired baby, can you get me something to drink, my throat is sore."
Zander nodded understanding why it was sore, she had been sleeping for the past two days without waking up under the effect of medicines.
"I will go buy you something to drink, what do you want?" he asked
helping her to adjust her pillows behind her back.
"Thank you, son, get me juice if its ok." she eyed him curiously.
"Its okay if you dont have money on you, Zander," she added, making him frown at her.
"Dont worry mom, I have money on me, remember I have two jobs.
Let me go get you that drink. I will be right back." he gave her a kiss on the cheek smiling at her softly.
Exiting the room, he went straight to the elevator checking his pockets to see how much money he had, and grinned when he saw that it was enough for her drink.
After buying the juice, he headed back to the room but before he could get inside. The voice of doctor Mayhew stopped him in his tracks.
"Zander!" the fifty-year-old man greeted him.
"Hey! Dr. Mayhew. I was coming to see you after giving mom her juice. " Zander shook his hands with him. Dr. Mayhew had been treating his mother for two years.
"Yes, there is something I need to enlighten you about. Thats why I came myself!" his face had the same polite smile but the underlying worry in his voice rang some kind of trouble to Zander.
"What is it, Dr. Mayhew?"Zander asked, getting straight to the point. His heart started to palpitate.
"You need to get money for her medicine soon, we need to upgrade
her medication Zander."Doctor Mayhew said as he sighed slowly, taking deep, deep breaths.
"I know this is too much for you, but the medicines she is currently using arent effective anymore," he added, putting his hands behind Zanders back,
Zander looked at him not knowing what to reply to him with, he was saving but still didnt have enough money.
"I will get the money, doctor." he sighed shifting from one leg to
another putting his hands behind his back fumbling with them and the juice bottle.
"How much are we talking about here?" he whispered in a hushed tone.
"Zander, it will be better for your mother to get surgery, the medicine
works as a painkiller. She wont heal if we dont perform that
surgery." he dropped another bomb.
He nodded, biting his lips hard, he had been telling me the same thing for the past few months, its not like he was deaf or something. The surgery was something he couldnt afford, not with the debt he already owed to the hospital.
"I know doctor lets stick with the medicine for now until I get
money for surgery," Zander told him.
The Doctor looked at him confused and curious.
"You know thats a lot of money right, there are other options Zander,
you know that."
Zander looked at him in anger daring him to say it, he got the memo because his shoulders sagged down defeated as he sighed deeply,
"Okay, whatever you want," he said in a whisper.
"I will get the money." with that Zander headed back toward his mothers room. Standing outside for a while and gathering his thoughts.
He really didnt know what to do to get the money for the surgery,
it was the only thing that would make her better. But the money was
too much, and the jobs he had didnt even pay that enough.
He could only afford her medicine but now they wanted to upgrade it so he was really fucked. Zander gripped his hair hard, frustrated.
Think Zander, think! He said to himself,
You cant let her die, she has done so much for you, this is your turn
to do whatever you can but what am I supposed to do?
The ringing of his old phone pulled him out of his thoughts, he took it out and saw that it was Emil.
Images of what happened a few days ago started to crouch his mind.
"What do you want now?" Zander said rudely, picking up the call.
"Zander, please brother. I want to meet you!" came Emils pleading voice.
"Fine, I will send you the location of the construction site I am working at nowadays. You can come by at lunchtime." with that, he dismissed the call without even listening to what the other person was saying.
He would have never agreed to meet him if it wasnt for the pestering nature of Emil and right now he wasnt in the mood for it.
He clutched his phone tightly, blinking away the tears. He couldnt let his mother know about her situation, he would find a way to save her. With that thought in mind, he composed himself as best as he could and went inside the room.
The fate standing at the far end corner smiled weakly, foreseeing a storm that was going to change the course of Zander Sveins life.