CHAPTER 5

Atlas paced the hallway of the hospital waiting for news of his mother's condition, his heart  beating faster than a gym rat on a treadmill.

He'd been here for almost an hour now and had still not gotten a response from the doctor and it worried him.

The smell of disinfectant and other chemicals used to clean the hospital wasn't helping with his anxiety either.

If the doctor did not come out from the emergency room to give him some news,  he was fucking sure he'd  collapse from a panic attack.

The last thing Atlas  had expected to see when he  had arrived at his mom's hours ago was his mother lying face down on the kitchen floor with a bloody nose.  After the shitty day he'd had, he'd wanted only to sleep but of course the universe was conspiring against him as always.

Two nurses rolled a patient past Atlas that appeared to have a knife embedded in his arm and Atlas quickly stopped them, his intentions to ask about his  mother's condition. He recognized them as the paramedics that had brought him and his mother here.

"Please miss, where is the doctor, what's going on with my mom?" He asked, a look of fear in his eyes.

"Stay calm sir, the doctor will be out shortly." One of the paramedics stated  and almost continued to roll the patient towards the emergency room where my mother had been taken to before now.

The paramedic's words had done nothing to alleviate his fear, only worsened it. In fact, with every minute that passed by, he grew more and more agitated.

Tired of waiting, Atlas walked down to the door of the emergency room and was about to push the door open to demand for answers  when the doctor stepped out.

Fuckingfinally! He exclaimed.

"Doctor, what's wrong? Is my mother okay? Is she conscious?"

Atlas words came out rapidly and out of breath.

"Your mother is stable for now." The doctor said, pushing his glasses back to the bridge of his nose.

"What does that mean?" Atlas inquired, his brows furrowed in confusion.

The doctor gave him  a look that made his stomach twist in panic.

Why the hell was he looking at him like that?

"Talk to me doctor!" Atlas pressed, not liking the doctor's somber expression.

With a sigh, the doctor invited Atlas to join him in his office.

"Come on over to my office and we'll talk more."

****

"We will need what?" Atlas exclaimed, hoping he had heard wrong.

"Ten thousand dollars to proceed with the treatment." The doctor repeated, his hands clasped together on top of his desk, staring at him.

He'd just been telling him that the mother's kidney was failing and that in order to proceed with treatment, he had to cough up ten thousand dollars.

"Doctor, I don't have that kind of money." Atlas explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that but  that's the only way we can proceed with treatment. Seeing as your mother does not have health insurance."

"That's not true, she does have health insurance."  Atlas said with conviction, remembering all those times his  mom would pay the insurance company as a teenager.

"Not since four years ago, unfortunately."

The doctor replied, a sympathetic look etched on his face.

There was only so much a person could take before he ran mad and Atlas  was dancing dangerously at the edge of that line.

Where the fuck was he going to get ten thousand dollars from? He could barely afford to be alive and even though he worked for six months straight in five different jobs, he  wouldn't still  be able to come up with that much money.

Abruptly, Atlas stood up from the chair he was sitting on and began to pace the doctors office.

There had to be something he could do, to find the money. At least for her first treatment. He was not going to lose the only woman that still had his back.

****

The next morning, Atlas marched up to his  bosses office, determined to beg him for an advance of his  paycheck.

He didn't care what he had to do to get it, he was going to do it for his mother.

As soon as he got to his boss's door, he Knocked on the door twice before opening and poking his head into the office.

His boss looked up at him from his computer, an irritated look on his face and waved me in.

"What can I do for you, Atlas?" He asked, his tone impatient and his eyes barely focusing on him.

"Well, s…sir, like it said in the email I sent you last night,  I need your help. You see, my mother is seriously Ill and is in need of immediate medical attention…"

"Okay, what does that have to do with me?" His boss snapped, his brows raised in question.

"Well sir, I need an advance on my salary, I promise to pay back in any way I can, I'd work and pick up extra shifts if I have to, please sir. The treatment will cost about ten thousand dollars.

I said, practically shaking under his scrutiny.

"I see. Well, as much as I would like to help, I can't really give an advance to someone that doesn't work in this company."

Atlas blinked at the man's words

"I beg your pardon sir?"

What did he mean by that? Atlas wondered as he waited for an answer that seemed to be taking too long.

He  had worked in the factory for almost eight years now. Had his  boss suddenly lost his memory or was he mistaken?

"You heard me Atlas, as from today, you've been dismissed from the  Willow company. Your services are no longer needed. We'll be expecting your resignation letter by the end of the day."

Atlas blinked at him, certain that he  was hearing wrong. There was no way he had just gotten fired from his job at a time like this.. There was just no way.

"I don't understand sir, I didn't do anything, why am I getting fired? This doesn't make any sense…"

I complained.

"A word of advice, Atlas boy, when a powerful man says he wants something from you, you better not say no."

"What? What are you talking about?" Atlas asked even more confused than before.

His boss let out an irritated sigh before speaking again.

"Fine, if you want me to spell it out for you then I will. Remember the day a man stopped you on your way home and offered to pay you to leave your girlfriend?"

Atlas frowned, remembering the incident but still confused on what that had to do with why he was getting fired?

It wasn't the first time a man was trying to get him to leave his wife  or even pay me off to leave her. So, why did it matter and why was he bringing it up and how had he found out?

"Yes sir."

"Well, that man is the new owner of this company. He is responsible for your dismissal."

"But sir, that doesn't make any sense, you can't fire me because I refused to leave my wife for another man,  that's a crime!"

Atlas protested.

"A crime, huh?" He chuckled darkly.

"You naive boy. Crimes are meant for the poor, the rich do not commit crimes, they make rules and you have just broken a rule."

"Sir please!" I began to beg as the realization that I wouldn't be getting the money for my mother's treatment kicked in.

"I need this job, without it, my mother is going to die."

"You best get a new job then." The man said.

"Sir, that's impossible… "

"You are dismissed, Atlas."

"But sir…" Atlas began but was quickly cut off by the angry voice of his boss.

"Leave my office boy before I call security to kick you out."

"Sir, please. Don't do this. This is my only source of living."

"Well, you should have thought of that before refusing the boss."

The man  said as he pressed a button on his desk.

Less than five seconds later, two security men barged into the office and pulled Atlas  by the shoulders, ignoring his plea to be given a second chance.

"I'm sorry to have to do this to you,Atlas,"

Anthony, one of the security details that had carried me out said to me once we were a good distance away from the factory.

"Fuck!" Atlas yelled out in pain, ignoring Anthony who was still standing beside him, staring down at him