Chapter 2: You Don't Wanna Know

It was a beautiful house. Large windows were welcoming the daylight, natural-toned decoration was spreading peace. But Matthew was far from taking it in.

He was lying down on the couch in the huge living room. It was so big that he almost looked like a little boy. His mind was wandering in different places from his life. He was visiting his childhood, college and birthday memories. All of them hurt him in a different way.

“You need to take your medicine. They will help you sleep.”

Cathy had slept in the living room the night before, on the opposite couch. She checked on Matthew a few times when she woke up, he was also sleeping in the living room. He didn’t even want to go upstairs, he was extremely tired. In his sleep, Cathy heard him murmuring with an anxious tone. He was having nightmares for sure.

After he woke up in the hospital, they had been talking to different doctors from across the country. The more he heard the crackling voices and saw the head shakes, the more he got confused. Matthew could understand the fact that he was sick. But having no treatment for it? He couldn’t accept it.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Reed, but this is a very rare disease. We don’t seem to have a definite cure for it,” said one of the doctors. He seemed sincerely sad.

“They gave me a year. Can you make it a few?” Matthew put an artificial smile on his pale face.

“I’m afraid my colleagues are correct... I’m so sorry.”

Cathy saw the doctor at the door and came back to the room.

“Everything will be yours. The company, the house, the car. And Juno,” said Matthew with a cold tone.

Cathy was caught off guard. She looked at Matthew’s face, eyes wide open. Her chin was shaking. She burst into tears, stood up and went by the door.

“You shouldn’t be talking like this.”

“I should be. There’s not much to talk about other than that.”

“Matthew. You have to take care of yourself.”

“How, Cathy? Please tell me how. I have no future. I am literally dying!” He shouted so loud that Juno got scared and left the room.

“Matthew, sweetie. You are right to feel like this. But I don’t want you to be hard on yourself.”

“Does it really matter what YOU want, Cathy? I should do it just because you asked me to? You can never understand how I feel. And believe me, you don’t want to know!”

“Don’t be childish. And if you want to blow off some steam you can come to work, maybe?” Cathy asked with a scared voice.

"What's the point, Cathy?! I'm dying anyway." Matthew threw the x-ray results in the air with anger. He regretted it immediately. What kind of person was he becoming?

Cathy was desperate. She was handling everything during chaos, as Matthew asked. The sickness ruined him. He didn’t answer phone calls, he didn’t question anything and he just let go of that part of his life. But the chaos was getting bigger, each client started leaving after the news was spreaded. How could they stay when the head of the company was dying? Their money wasn’t safe. When Cathy realized the upcoming calamity for the company, she paid the salaries and let almost everyone go. She knew the end for the company was really close.

Mr. Sulkin left before Cathy. He was always a man of duty. And his duty was finished here.

She wasn’t doing well at handling Matthew's psychology, and since he didn’t want to speak to anybody, she was the only one there for him.

But nothing seemed to go better for him. He had several aches, dark circles under his eyes, sleepless nights and an empty stomach because he refused to eat.

It was saddening for anyone who knew and heard about him. “The young prince of real estate fell into the clutches of a deadly disease.” “Poor Matthew Reed is trying to find support and accept the bad news.” “How unfair and unlucky for a charming and bright man like him.”

The newspapers and internet were forbidden in the house. They were nothing but gibberish. They would either pity him or glorify his disease. Good thing that Matthew never read them.

The medicines were working enough, so it was his confused mind that Matthew had to work on. But he couldn’t think straight. And anyone beside Cathy didn’t seem like much of a help.

After a few days, he wanted to go near the ocean. He couldn’t remember the last time he was there. It was a calm beach where people just hang out and watch the waves rather than actually swimming. He watched the water waving for half an hour without thinking about anything. How beautiful it was! It felt so peaceful walking away from those poisonous thoughts for a while.

“It will be cold soon! You should wear something ticker, eh.” An old woman was walking to him slowly. Yet, she looked pretty strong.

“I guess,” said Matthew. His voice wasn’t lively.

“Look at me now! I can’t go out without taking this heavy blanket anywhere!” she said with a smile.

“Yeah, it looks heavy.” His blue eyes met the ocean again.

“To be young again. That’s what I miss. I was a nurse. I Did it for 35 years. You couldn’t find anyone better than me. But saving all those lives didn’t stretch mine.” She sat near him on the bench. Matthew looked at her carelessly.

“You served your purpose in the world,” he thought. “But that’s taken away from me.”

He didn’t want to bother explaining to her. But he realized, no amount of life would be enough. She was at least 80 years old, but she didn't want to die. And he certainly didn't either, he thought to himself. Maybe if the chance to live is or will be taken from you, you just want it back like a child crying over a spilt ice cream.

He knew he had a lot to think about life. How it works. How it ends. How it starts again.

Matthew was playing with Juno that evening. He was advised not to turn on the TV or read the papers. But he knew something was going on.

He heard Oksana talking on the phone in despair. He knew it wasn’t about the maid’s family business.

“Who was it, Oksana?” he asked directly.

“Oh, nothing Matthew.” Oksana was startled so much that she immediately tried to put the phone in the wardrobe.

“I asked who. Not what.” Matthew was getting annoyed. No one seemed to give him good answers these days.

“Oh, no one. It was my little daughter. She will stay at her friend’s house.” She took the phone and put it in her bag.

“Then why are you like this?”

“Like what Matthew?” she tried to smile.

“You’re keeping things from me, like everyone these days.”

He walked to the study room and got his laptop. He searched for the company on the internet. Matthew saw dozens of pages telling how his company was going down.

“What?” His voice was crackling. “How can this happen?” He read the whole thing in seconds until the tears wouldn’t let him.

Everything his father worked for was gone. Everything that was sacrificed was nothing. And Matthew Reed, former millionaire, was sitting on the floor, crying over his deceased father and mother, his loneliness, his disease, his lost future and his life he could never have.

***

At the same time, a friend Matthew almost forgot about, was reading the same pages in his balcony near the beach, while drinking his scotch. It was the first time in a while Robin Sorokin, Matthew’s friend from college, heard about Matthew. He couldn’t believe what he just read.

“My friend, who helped me so much in one of the darkest days in my life, you don’t deserve this ending. This time, I will help you if God allows me.”

Robin Sorokin put the newspaper on his marble table and took his phone in his hands to make a very important phone call.