Chapter 2
Yvette and I gave up on the rescue mission and requested the System to send us home.
But the System said that since we quit the mission on our own, it wasn't sure whether we could go back home.
It needed to check with its higher-ups first.
Then it just went offline.
After that, no matter how many times we tried to reach out, the System totally ghosted us.
Since the System was so unreliable, Yvette and I just had to get ready to be wiped out in three months.
We decided to go out swinging: eat, drink, and raise hell.
That way, if we went down, we'd go down easy.
But just when we thought we could enjoy our last days in peace, life threw us a curveball.
That morning, right after we got up, Yvette got a nosebleed that just wouldn't stop.
Meanwhile, I just kept feeling dizzy.
Yvette and I dashed to the hospital to get checked out.
And just like that, we both got hit with a brain cancer diagnosis.
The doctor told us we had, at best, three months left. Yvette and I just gave each other a helpless smile.
Even though the System was MIA, the punishment still found us.
Well, it is what it is. If we could tough it out for three more months, we'd finally get to go home.
The death the System had planned for us was nothing but slow torture.
I was doing okay; besides the dizziness, I didn't have any other symptoms.
Yvette had it way worse.
Twelve hours a day, she was down with migraine-level headaches and nonstop vomiting.
The doctor said the malignant tumor in her brain was growing right on the main artery in her head.
As time dragged on, the tumor would keep getting bigger, and her suffering would just keep getting worse and worse.
Just like the doctor warned, within three days, Yvette's headaches got even worse and lasted even longer.
Watching her clutch her head all day, barely able to function from the pain, shattered me.
I begged our doctor, Alex Green, to find some way to help her.
He flipped through Yvette's medical records and said, "Honestly, if we could just remove the tumor pressing on her artery, she wouldn't be suffering so much.
"But the tumor's just way too close to the artery. It's too risky. I can't do the surgery.
"If Dr. Frank Lynn were here, things would be totally different. He's the top brain surgeon; nobody's better than him.
"If he were around, he could definitely help you guys out."
If only Frank were here.
With his skills, he'd have no problem taking out the tumor and easing Yvette's pain.
But Frank wasn't at the hospital anymore. The day Iris came back, he put in for extended leave. Just to spend time with her.
Last time, because of Iris, Frank and I had a huge blowout.
I swore I'd never speak to him again.
But now, for Yvette's sake, I couldn't care less about all that.
Two weeks of silence, and I finally called Frank.
For some reason, the moment the call connected, my eyes welled up.
"Frank, Yvette's sick," I managed to say, my voice trembling.
A woman's voice came through the line. She said, "Is that you, Nora?
"Frank's in the shower right now. If you need anything, just tell me."
The moment I heard her voice, I knew exactly who it was.
It was Iris Jennings, the girl Frank had always pined for.
How far had they gone?
I just couldn't hold back anymore; the tears came pouring out.
I demanded, "Let me talk to Frank, now. I need to speak to him."
Iris replied, "But Frank really is in the shower.
"Nora, you really are just as dramatic as Frank said."
"Fuck off!" I snapped, unable to hold back my anger.
Then, clear as day, a breathy moan came through the line.
Iris whined, "No, Frank, stop it, you're such a tease.
"Come on, I don't want to anymore."
It was like someone socked me right in the chest.
I blurted out, "You cheating bastards. Go screw yourselves!"
The next second, someone else picked up the phone.
Frank, who used to always call me Nora in that soft, gentle voice, now sounded cold as ice. He said, "Nora, if you've got a problem, take it out on me. What gives you the right to go after Iris?
"Weren't you the one who swore you'd never speak to me again? What, can't stand it now?
"You really are just as low as Iris said you were."
My mind went numb, as someone had just flipped a switch in my head.
Then, out of nowhere, a wave of pain crashed over me. My head hurt like it was about to split open, worse than anything I'd ever felt before.
And just like that, I finally got a taste of the agony Yvette had been living with every single day.
It really fucking hurt.
Even as the pain tore me apart, I couldn't stop thinking: after all those years of being there for Frank, never missing a single day, working myself to the bone at eight different jobs just to pay for his treatments.
Whenever he was getting abused at home or bullied at school, even though I was never the brave one, I kept forcing myself to stand up for him, biting back my fear every single time.
I gave him everything I had, and now, just because of a single word from Iris, I was suddenly the one being called low? I just couldn't understand it at all.
The pain was killing me.