It was late into the day, she had just finished another job and was heading to the hospital on her daily visit, the usual vibey music playing from her headphones as she walked. Suddenly, the music stopped because her phone started ringing.

*Badum*

Her heart couldn’t be contained. She tried to think of any reason whatsoever to why the hospital was calling her that might not be the worst case scenario.

“Hello, Ms. Garner?”

It was the nurse that would always greet her. Incidentally, she's also the nurse that usually takes care of Alice.

“It's about Alice. The doctors did everything they could and managed to stabilize her, but her condition is worsening at a fast rate. It would be best for you to make sure you can visit today as she may not be able to hold on for much longer.”

“Y-yes, thank you!”

She immediately hung up and started her sprint. In no time at all she was at the hospital. The nurse could barely stand up before her silhouette had already sprinted past her.

“W-wait, Ms. Garner! Your mother was moved to a different room. I'll take you there but please calm down.”

With a deep breath she calmed her nerve and followed the nurse.

In front of Alice's hospital room she could see her mother laying on the bed. Many more machines than the usual were connected to Alice and she was noticeably weaker than before.

“We've done everything we can, but at this point we can only make her as comfortable as possible.”

“H-how’d this happed? She was fine yesterday.”

“We had informed you of her deterioration and the speed of it too. But yesterday it sped up drastically, because of this too many organs shut down and her body can barely maintain itself.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“… You said she didn't have long, but… h-how little time does she have?”

“We're not entirely sure… a day at best. I know you don't like us giving you false hope, so I called you earlier than I was supposed to because she honestly might not make it to tomorrow. So you should at least get to say something before the time comes.”

“... may I have some time alone with her?”

“Yes, go in. Take as much time as you need.”

She simply nodded and headed in, her crumbled face never letting Alice leave its sight. She took a chair and sat down next to Alice. There was nothing but the sound of the heart monitor ‘s beeping for a few dozen minutes. A sound that seemed to get louder as time passed by, so much so she felt it threatened to burst her eardrums. But then the silence was broken.

“Why?... I worked tirelessly, I was ganna have enough to get the proper treatment for you. I was so close. But you couldn't-…”

She had to swallow her words when she couldn't hold back her tears anymore.

“I waited for you!...”

“sniff”

“When that piece of trash you loved made my life hell, I saw you try to defend me so I endured. When you where doped out of your mind, when you came back drunk with him I saw you try to reduce those habits so I made sure you'd be ok. Do you know how many times I've saved you both from light overdose or doing something stupid while you were drunk?”

She paused noticing her hand trembling.

“Do-… do you have any idea how many chances I had to get rid of that bastard for both of us? But I knew you loved him too much… always saying you could change him like you were doing with yourself, so I just kept on… I never ran away and kept on living in that god forsaken place because even though it’s an awful neighborhood and you yourself had shit for parents, you still tried to raise me as best as you could.”

At this point the few tears on her face had turned to small waterfalls, but still, a small smile crept on her face.

“Even now, when I need money so desperately, I didn't sell myself or did anything illegal because I didn't want you to be disappointed in me when you woke up… you always knew I wasn't the most morally inclined person, probably got it from dad, so you made sure to drill that the most into my head.”

The faint smile was quickly replaced with an expression of anger.

*tank*

As she stood up the chair she sat on fell.

“So why? Even after I left school and fucked my chances at a proper life… why couldn't you repay the favor and just wait a bit longer?!”

As if life was mocking her enraged energy, the ear piercing beeping from the heart monitor came back to focus along with the deafening silence in between.

“…”

She picked up the chair and sat back down.

“I know it's unfair to blame you, and I'm honestly not, I just-… I just wish I could've done something more…”

With this she had nothing more to say and simply sobbed quietly, waiting for the inevitable.