Cursed

I woke up in cold sweat, on an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. No windows, green curtains covering the rest of the room leads me to believe the slight possibility that this is a hospital.

Where was I? How did I end up here again? My head hurts...

Oh shit, where's Mr. Anthony?

I pulled off the blanket on me and stood up hurriedly from the bed, only to be stopped on my way out by a stranger emerging from behind the curtains.

"Sit down." He said, he was a middle age man wearing a black trench coat with a cigarette hanging on his mouth, not sure how that's allowed here.

"Who are you?"

"That's not important."

"Where's Mr. Anthony?"

"I'll answer the first question then, I'm the breaker of bad news, Mr. Anthony passed." He didn't seem any troubled by what he had just said, his face remained neutral, while I was devastated.

My legs turned into jelly and I collapsed back onto the bed, condemning myself for all the tragedies to occur around me.

It was once me who had to endure the pain, the second someone tries to pull me out, they're the one getting hurt.

I feel like I'm cursed, the universe doesn't want me to enjoy life, he doesn't want me to have a life even, God has given up on me, I'm a damned soul.

Mr. Anthony, I'm so so so sorry.

My eyes blurred, tears that had stored up for years has finally fallen, and it fell like a waterfall. Fuck it then.

I turned towards the nearest sharp point I can find, in this case the corner of a table next to the bed, and thumped my head onto it with every strength I can still muster up from my body.

"ARGH!!" I screamed in agony of the pain, but it was effective, blood starts flowing down on my forehead, one more and it will all end.

I pulled my head back up, ready for another thump to end it all, but were restrained by the man in the black coat.

"Let go!" I helplessly cried.

The man pushed me onto the bed, immobilizing me by pressing himself against me.

"God why do I always get the annoying ones." He ranted.

"ARGH...GRR, GET OFF!" I struggled.

"Alright alright calm down kid, geez, the world hasn't ended." He pressed his palm on my head against the bed firmly, now I really have no chance of escaping.

"Damn it kid, there's still a future for you. Listen you lost someone near and dear, but in this world, so long as you have money, you can survive. Now breathe slowly and steadily alright? Stop acting as though you're so helpless when there's clearly something you can do."

I followed his instructions and attempted to calm myself, more tears fell when I stopped trying to kill myself, wetting the bedsheets and thus my cheeks that were pressed against it too.

"Alright, you need money now right? I'm here to offer you that."

Huh?

"There you are, all calmed?" He asked and reduced the strength of his palm pressing against my head.

"Kid, your biology scores back in high school were up to our standards, we'd like to hire you as an assistant for our surgeon."

What? Why is the first thing I get after waking up from being knocked out is a guy wishing to hire me, where's my mother?

"What?"

"It's exactly as what I said, we're understaffed. Don't worry about it I don't need any qualifications from you, you will just be handing instruments and stuff to our surgeon while he performs all the hard work." His palm still hadn't left my head. Reasonable, I still feel like ending this nightmare.

"My...my biology scores?" It's only high because I have nothing to do back then but study though, I'm not smart academically at all.

"Yeah, higher ups says that means you would understand what instrument our surgeon wants, it's a very simple task and we have internships too."

I'm obviously still utterly flabbergasted by this current situation, it all feels so odd, so strange. Nonetheless, it's a great offer, and he had a great point, if I do get this fancy job, the wages has got to be good, I'll live on.

But why would I want to live on?

"No..."

"10 thousand dollars to change your mind." He said then drops a stack of cash bundled up neatly in front of my face.

10...10 thounsand?! That's enough to get out of this town, away from this shit hole where everyone resents me.

"Workplace won't be here either, It'd be out of town, you won't seem them again." He further elucidates on the deal.

It's tempting, but what about my mother?

"Your mother has already agreed to my deal, she wants you to live a happy life away from here, far away."

"How...how do you know so much about me?"

"I do my homework."

I still hesitated, but this really does sound like a flawless deal that could once again, save me from myself.

"What's the wages."

"Five thousand a month, plus the ten thousand in advance. We will pay you even if you're still an intern."

I want to question why they chose me, a random 18-year-old who dropped out of high school to work at a cyber cafe. But I don't want to potentially make the man reconsider his decision of hiring me.

Fine, it seems the world still wants me alive to give me such an offer, I'll live on just a little longer.