“Could you bring me a glass of water?” asked Caroline, motioning to her empty glass.   

“Alright, Mom,” replied Nickolaus, her son.  Most people just call him Nick, for short. He was twenty four years old and stayed home most of the time. Nick had blackish brown hair like his father (Who had left them years ago).  He wasn’t the tallest person but was pretty average. Nick worked at a local store to pay for the house and groceries, though they usually had to put all the money into paying the rent. Their house had 3 rooms, two bedrooms and one bathroom. The two beds were his and his mother’s, though he lent his room to his friend in times of need. His mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor, but they couldn’t afford the bill. The staff from the hospital said she had less than a year to live, only 8 months.
Nick walked out of the room only to see a barren house. This was no surprise as the only visitors they got were solicitators and the mailman, who never delivered anything but junk mail. Occasionally, he would find crates of soup left at the doorstep for them. This kept them fed for at least two to three weeks per crate.
As he walked into the kitchen, he noticed the bowls from last night’s dinner. He swiftly proceeded to wash them with warm water and soap. While putting away the dishes, he felt a fluffy creature in the cabinet. He darted away like a rabbit chased by a lion only to realize that he had hit a wall and tumbled to the ground. He grabbed a rag and started reaching into the cabinet. Nick found a mouse, a dead one. He felt remorse and went to bury it, but he couldn’t because they didn’t own the land. So, he put it under a mound of dirt writing on a plank of wood, “Do not disturb.”
When he returned with the glass of water, his mother was asleep. Nick noticed a glimmer under her purple and blue quilt. He grabbed it, a glass bottle, just as his mother began to stir. She sat up in bed, half asleep, saying, “Nick! Whaddya want?”
“What’s this?” he replied.
“What’s what?’ said Caroline while rubbing her eyes. She was a woman in her late forties, most of the time keeping to herself. She had golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
“Y’know that in my days, you wouldn’t keep a lady waiting so long,” she said with a sassy tone of voice as if hinting for her water. He handed her the water and asked again, “What’s this?”
“Gimme that!” she screamed lunging over. However she failed and fell to the floor because Nick had lept back. He glance at the label; “BOURBON” it said.
“I thought you stopped drinking!” he yelled.
“I did!”
“Then what’s this? Where did you find it?”
“I can’t tell you that!”
“Well, I’ll stop helping you!”
“You know you can’t do that right. I’m your mother.”
“I know, but I just care about you, so please stop this drinking habit of yours.”
“But, I don’t feel normal without it; give me it back please!” she wailed. Nick left to the kitchen  to pour it out. As he did that, his mother got off the floor and started a slow chase.
“Gimme my alcohol, boy! I demand it!”, she said with rage. Caroline slithered to the kitchen just in time to see Nick pour it out. “No! You moron, I need that!” she shouted as the last of it went down the drain.
“No more alcohol, just promise me that,” replied Nick unhappily.
The next day was Monday; he had to leave to work. He worked at “Larry’s Meats and Cheese.” He had a wage of four dollars per hour and worked twelve hours a day. The only way they really lived was from welfare checks.
“Should I ask him or not…. He might fire me. I think I’ll ask him later for an increase in pay,” Nick thought silently.
“Oi Nick! Gotta extra hand?” said Larry, his employer.
“Oh, sure! Let me finish stacking these cans!” Nick said with energy. He hadn’t been out for the whole weekend except to bury that mouse.
After he finished, he went to the park to eat lunch: soup as always. Though it was cold, it was still tasty. Then, he proceeded back to work and kept on lifting crates and stacking cans. 
There was suddenly a scream from the butchery section of the small store.
“M-My hand! I cut my finger! Help!” yelled a crying voice. Larry and Nick rushed over to see what had happened. Jeremiah, the new butcher (the regular was on vacation), had cut the tip of his index finger off. “C-Call the police! Err, ambulance!” he cried, clearly traumatized.
“B-but, I don’t have a phone!” yelled Nick.
“Ehh, you’ll be fine, mate!” stated Larry, strolling over to his counter. “Hello? Is anyone there?” he muttered into his flip phone. “Hello?” he said once again into his antique phone. It finally picked up.
“911, What’s your emergency?” asked the operator.
“Umm, my employee cut his finger and umm he wants an ambulance,” said Larry blankly.
“I NEED an ambulance!” Jeremiah yelled.
“Yeah… he wants an ambulance,” replied Larry.
“Oh, okay? We’ll send one over. What’s you current location?” the operator replied.
“I should be at my store.”
“Where’s that?”
“Right here!”
“Sir, please tell me the address.”
“Alright.”
“So…”
“Umm let me check,” Larry responded. “Hey lady, it’s at 2079 Redroad Avenue. Why do you ask?”
“Because, Your friend is bleeding out! You know what, never mind!”
“Thanks I guess,” Larry replied as he hung up
“Freaking hurry up!” yelled Jeremiah holding his finger with a cloth.
“What should I do?!” asked Nick.
“Eh, go home. You’ve done enough today,” Larry replied.
“O-Okay,” said Nick. He exited the shop and ran into a little girl about half his size. She was of Asian descent and had a small smirk on her face.
“Hey Mister! Got any spare change?” she asked slyly.
“No, sorry,” he responded softly.
“I know you do! Now hand it over!” the girl demanded.
“Why would I? Besides, I already told you that I have none,” Nick responded. The girl started to fake cry.
“Why’re you being so mean to me!” she cried. Many passersby stared as if she was in distress. Nick lunged over and handed her a can of soup. “What’s this?” she asked. “Soup? I don’t need soup, give me your money!” she yelled, crazily attacking Nick.
“Whoa there girly! Don’t be going savage on my employees!” said a familiar voice. Nick turned to see Larry with a bag of vegetables. Larry began sprinting towards the two, grabbing the girl by the arms and legs. As soon as Larry touched her, the girl started screaming.
“Help! He’s robbing me!” she screamed loudly. Some people took notice and started to run towards them but, a nearby shopkeeper quickly ran out and pushed Larry and Nick aside, grabbing the girl.
“Karen, you’re in so much trouble!” he quickly stated. The girl darted off just as he began to speak to Larry and Nick. “I’m so sorry for the-- Hey! Come back here!” he yelled as he chased her down the street.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Nick responded surprised.
“Yeah, didn’t know that you were gonna get mugged by a little girl did ya?” replied
Larry. They walked together for some time until Larry got to his house; then they parted ways.
“So, how was your day?” asked Caroline reading, a week old newspaper with warm soup in her mug instead of coffee.
“Same old, same old. Y’know: getting attacked by little girls and having a coworker chop off his finger,” Nick responded. Caroline immediately spilled her soup and burst out laughing.
“What! Are you kidding me? That’s a normal day for you? I need more time outside then,” she cackled out loud. “Bring me a souvenir next time, maybe even a finger!” she said jokingly.
“Mom!” Nick said embarrassingly.
“Don’t worry! As long as I’m alive I’ll make fun of you!” she shouted happily. The room fell quiet as they both thought about the topic of her death.
“Mom, how are we going to pay the bill?” Nick stated quietly. Caroline put her hand on his.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe it’s my fate to die,” she muttered peacefully.
“Don’t talk like that!” Nick yelled furiously. The house echoed with the rage of his yell. It all fell silent. 
“Well, either way Nickolaus, let’s enjoy our last few months together,” she said with a forced smile.
That night, Nick sat in his bed (really just a mat on the floor) and thought about his day. He started strategizing about ways to earn money for his mother’s surgery. His mind went blurry as he thought about that evening six months ago.

There he and his mother were, in the Rose Hospital’s emergency room. Caroline had been falling at random times and places frequently.  
“It’s probably just nothing, right? Right?!” she exclaimed.
“Caroline Heather! One Caroline Heather,” the announcer yelled. Nick and Caroline stood up. “Go to room One-O-Four,” she told Caroline. Nick looked at Caroline, her hands were shaking. They walked down the brightly lit corridor to the room.
“Alright, Mrs. Heather,” the doctor said. His nametag said Dr. Takamura.
“ Miss, my husband’s gone,” she replied.
“Alright, Miss Heather, what are some of your symptoms?”
“Well, I don’t really know, but sometimes I just have these horrible headaches. Then I sorta fall and blackout. I don’t remember much after that.”
“Hmm, interesting, and you say you’ve been taking Tylenol?”
“Yes.”
“So, has it been helping?”
“No, not really.”
“Alright, we’ll have a CAT scan then. Please follow me.”
“‘K,” she said as they walked out into the corridor. The little group went through a maze of rooms and nurses.
“Here we are,” said Dr. Takamura. “Now if you would remove anything metal and put this on.” He handed her a gown. After she was ready, she was laid down on the machine. “One last question: have you eaten or drank anything within the past twelve hours?”
“I may have. How will it affect me?,” Caroline responded.
“How long ago was this?”
“Around noon.”
“You should be fine. Alright, time to start! Also hold your breath please!”
“Alright,” she said gasping for air. The machine started moving, positioning itself. The table started slowly sliding through the scanner. When they finished, they were asked to wait a bit. About a half hour later, they were called into a room.
“So, you see this? This is your brain, there’s a gap inside of it. You have a tumor,” he said. Caroline started crying and laid in Nick’s lap. The doctor handed Nick a bill, the first thing he saw was “$73,000.” Then everything went blurry.

It had been six months since that day.  Nickolaus began to feel very tired, his night spent thinking about his mother’s dilemma. He began to slowly fall asleep.
The next day, he went to work; the rookie butcher had gotten a bandage on his finger and kept on cutting meat, just more carefully this time. His boss as usual kept counting the beers in the shop and debating if he should buy from his own store or not. This was how the rest of the month was spent, working and questioning his mom about her drinking.
“Oi Nick!” Larry yelled across the store.
“Yes?” Nick replied.
“Got yer paycheck!”
“Oh, alright,” Nick yelled. He walked over to Larry and found a small bag with money inside. He opened it up; it was ten thousand dollars. Larry walked out of the door. “Wait, Larry!” he yelled.
“Consider it a present from us, for yer Mum’s… problem.” he said, waving his arm back towards him. Nick squeezed his hand in a fist. He had saved sixty thousand dollars just for his mother’s treatment and nothing else. With this extra ten thousand, his mother finally had a chance. He ran home with the bag, passing the mischievous girl  and her father, him being busy tending to some plants..
“Mister! Wait!” She yelled. Nick stopped right there.
“Yes?” he replied.
“I-I” she stuttered as she started turning red with embarrassment. “I’m sorry!” she shouted.
“I accept your apology,” Nick responded.
“W-What? You do?”
“Yes,” he said as he started to shake her hand. She leaned in close and placed something in his hand.
“Don’t tell my daddy that I gave you this!” she whispered.
“I won’t.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Pinky promise?”
“I pinky promise, too,” he said as he glanced at the small object in his hand. It was a golden ring with a topaz embedded in it. “W-Where’d you get this?!”
“Hey! You pinky promised!” she yelled.
“Fine! But I’ll tell if you don’t tell me where you found this.”
“I found it at… a store. That’s all I’m telling you.”
“Ok?”
“Now go!” she yelled. “And don’t tell my daddy!” Nick resumed his running but paused.
“You know what? Keep it.”
“What?”
“Keep it. I’ll find a way to get the rest of it.”
“The rest of what?”
“Oh, nothing you need to know about.” he responded confidently and returned home. When he finally returned home, Nick was gasping for air; he opened the door.
“Mom, I’m home! I’ve got good news! Mom?” he said as he look around the house. Nick took a step towards their narrow hallway and saw his mother, laying on the floor. “Mom!” he yelled.
“Wha...? Is that you Nicky?” came a voice.
“M-M-Mom! Don’t scare me like that!” he cried, bursting in tears.
“It’s okay, Nicky! I’m not going anywhere yet!” she boasted loudly.
“Mom, do you have any idea how much you scared me!”
“Nah, it’s okay.”
“No it isn’t!”
“Yeah it is.”
“I-I have a present.”
“Ooh, how sweet!”
“I can find a way to afford your treatment.
“Wait, what?!” she exclaimed. Nick later explained the whole situation to her. “I-I don’t know what to say!” she yelled.
“I have sixty thousand in savings, Larry gave me ten thousand and I can get the last three thousand soon probably.”
“Wait, you had that much! What the heck, and you didn’t tell me?!”
“Yeah… sorry for not telling you,” Nick murmured quietly. “Now, all I can do is hope that you’ll recover.”
“I do too, but we can only hope for the best…,” responded Caroline. Nick quietly gazed off into the window on this warm summer night, wondering what the future held for them.