Rags To Riches: The Riveting Tale Of Jason Smith

Chapter 0004

RUBY CITY HOSPITAL,

It seemed Jason was late because when he arrived at the hospital, he saw that his sick bedridden mother was now in the corridor. Her room had been evacuated for paying patients. Jason had to restrain himself from crying out in pain, he quickly accosted the nurse in charge of his mother and began to question her.

"Why's my mother no longer in her room? Why's she lying in the corridor?"

"Is that supposed to be a question?" The nurse shot back impatiently at him, Jason seemed to be disturbing her "You and 'your wife' haven't paid the bills."

"I know..." Jason replied, purposely ignoring the jibe at him using his wife, "..but you can't just leave an old helpless woman in the corridor to die like that?"

"We just did, didn't we?" The nurse replied, and for a moment, Jason wondered whether she learned wickedness from the hands of the devil himself. "I'm sorry, Mr. Smith, but our policy here is no payment, no treatment. So you have to either take your mother home or you pay up and allow us to continue treatment."

"B..but.." she walked away before Jason could finish stuttering, who could only sigh dejectedly and went to his mother's side.

"You're.... doing... your... best... son," Eleanor, Jason's mother said weakly., she had heard the not-so-subtle exchange between her son and the nurse and she tried her best to motivate her dejected son.

"No mama..." He gritted his teeth, fighting back the tears that stung his eyes, "...my best isn't good enough. Look at how weak you are, and I can't even source enough money to pay the hospital to take care of you."

"That's... enough...Jay.." she coughed weakly, "even...if...you...paid...the...bills...I... won't...make...it..."

"Don't talk like that ma, you're going to make it, I'm going to find a way to get some money..."

Eleanor smiled weakly and said, "I... appreciate...the...effort... Jay...but...you...have....to...let...me...go."

"No Mom, don't talk like that," Jason said firmly, "in fact, I'm going out to search for money– even if I have to steal it."

"No...Jay... don't...leave...me.." she coughed again, "my...time...is...near."

At the sound of this, Jason's expression softened and he drew closer to his mother, kneeling beside her body in the corridor. "Okay ma, I'll stay with you but please stop saying that your time is near, please be positive."

"There's...a...gold... pendant...in...my...bag," she said,

"Gold pendant?" Jason exclaimed, "Ma you had a gold pendant all these while and you were suffering? Why didn't you tell me to sell it and get some money for your treatment ?"

"No...you... can't...sell...that... pendant," Eleanor said with a firm but weak expression in her eyes,

"Huh? Why?"

"That... pendant...is... your...key...to...a...better...life."

"My key to a better life, how? Explain ma."

She seemed to have over-exerted herself while speaking because as soon as she finished talking, she started to cough and Jason patted her till she stopped and slept off. None of the nurses even attempted to help him to pacify his mother.

The next morning, Jason began to sift through his mother's belongings, and true to her words, he saw a real gold pendant there.

'I don't care about what mom says... If the proceeds of this pendant can foot her bills for the meantime then what's the harm in selling?'

'But this pendant...' Jason thought, there was something very familiar about it, he had seen it somewhere, but where?

Suddenly, he remembered that he had seen it in that flashing memory when he was beaten by the gangsters. It was the pendant that the man was giving him, but he didn't pay any mind to that, it must've been a trick of his imagination. On closer inspection, he discovered that it had the sigil of the Pendragon family inscribed on its back.

'Wow... This is a valuable pendant, it even has the authentic sigil of the Pendragon family.'

The Pendragon family was the richest in the whole of Ruby City. They commanded over seventy percent of all business dealings inside the city and they had countless connections around the world. They were easily one of the world's most formidable business families.

'Mother luck has finally shone on me...' Jason thought with glee as he made sure his mother was comfortable in the corridor before taking off for the Pendragon company building. '..Instead of selling this for some measly sum, I can return this and get a very handsome reward in return.'

On his way to the Pendragon company building, he had been so engrossed in his thoughts of returning the pendant that he was sharply brought back to reality by the screeching of car tires. He quickly looked up only to see a big red bus coming towards him. His eyes widened in fear and he tried to jump out of the way but luckily for him, the driver had already matched his brakes so the bus came to a stop just a few inches from where he stood. It was only then that Jason managed to move his quaking legs out of the way.

"Fool! Aren't you watching the road?!" The driver leaned out of the window and yelled furiously, "Do you want to get yourself killed?!"

"No. I'm sorry sir!" Jason managed to mutter as he quickly left the scene, he didn't want to get into trouble with anyone – especially not a ranting bus driver.

PENDRAGON INC. HQ.

The HQ surroundings was a sort of open place so it was easy for Jason to gain access to the main building but not after he had attracted a lot of stares because of his shabby clothes.

He didn't mind all that though, he had a goal that day and it was to recover some monetary gain from the pendant– his dressing didn't matter to him, after all, he would be out of there in a few minutes if everything went well.

He went straight to the receptionist– a prim and proper lady in glasses and greeted her. The first thing she did was frown at the unkempt and shabby man before her.

"How may I help you?" Her voice had a condescending tone to it as if she was talking to a lower life form.

"Excuse me but I'm here to see Mr. Pendragon." He said, ignoring the disparaging tone she used to address him.

"You're here to see who?" She retorted and assessed his again with her eyes. This time taking more time to allow her condescending gaze to linger more on him, making him feel very insecure and small.

"I...I said I'm here to see..." Jason stuttered,

"I heard you the first time!" The receptionist snapped, "What I don't seem to understand is why a low-life like you will be searching for our esteemed manager. Judging from your 'outrageous' dressing, you must probably be one of these jobless men who go around begging for a free buck or two, but I'm sorry to tell you this, we don't run a charity organization here so please leave while you still have the chance to avoid being embarrassed."

Jason felt anger rise inside him as heard the receptionist assume him to be a beggar. "Hey!" he snapped, "what gives you the right to call me a beggar? Is that how a good receptionist behaves on duty?"

"And what gives you the right to yell at me in my own office?" She asked cooly, "If you don't leave now, I'll be tempted to call security and I'm sure you won't like that."

"But you have to let me see Mr Pendragon! It's a matter of life and death." Jason maintained his stand,

"Life and death indeed," she scoffed and pressed a button on her table alerting one of the security men outside. "Get ready to be whisked out of this premises and never return."

She had barely finished speaking when the security man– a tall bald man dressed in a suit and wearing dark sunshades walked in and tackled Jason, lifting him with ease. Jason began to yell and trash around, causing a serious commotion there, different people who came to the company for one thing or the other left their businesses and began to watch the shabbily dressed man make a scene in the reception room.

"What's going on here?" A calm but firm voice brought everybody to attention. Even without any pointers from anyone, Jason instantly knew that this was the manager.

At the sound of the man's voice, some of the workers who had gathered to watch the scene quickly scurried away leaving only the clients– no one even expected him to be down here by that time, he was usually always busy in his office.

"I'm sorry sir..." The receptionist spoke first, "But this man came here asking for your attention..."

"And what did you tell him?" The middle-aged man dressed in a well-fitting suit with black hair and a shaped jawline asked,

The receptionist smiled inwardly, 'Another chance to gain points in the manager's favor...'

"I told him that a man like him has no business here in our company."

The manager smirked and nodded gently.

As if that was a go-ahead order to carry Jason away, the security man began to pull Jason towards the door, out of the building.

"Wait.. wait, sir," Jason said desperately, "I have a pendant with the Pendragon family sigil on it!"

At the mention of the word, "Pendant," the manager turned his head and looked at Jason, a new curiosity was burning in them.

"Wait a minute there," he ordered, "what did you just say?"