Fallen Queen

~ C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - T H R E E ~

I roll the stretcher into the emergency ward of Caremark, I drag the attention of one of the doctors as I wave at him. "Please save him," I say with a dolorous accentuation in my voice, "Please," I hold his eyes with mine.

The doctor looks like he's in his forties. Bald and shiny, he nods at me before taking the dead corpse inside the elevator. "Please follow me. This is serious."

I help the woman and her kids have a seat in the waiting room and tell them that I'll be right back. Smiling at the back of the doctor in victory, I follow him. The stretcher is wheeled into the intensive care unit. A few minutes later, he comes out along with another doctor. "Miss, he's serious," he says with a poker face, "His liver is damaged beyond repair and his mortality rate even with corticosteroid treatment, is approximately 40%. Since he's a patient with AH with hepatic encephalopathy, he is also considered to have severe disease irrespective of the DF score. I suggest you pay the bills so that we can start operating on him soon."

I make a horrified expression. "Really?" I gasp, "Okay, doctor. Please do the needful without worrying about the financial expenses. I just need him to survive."

"Sure, miss."

I pay a huge amount of money to the cashier for the treatment expenses and sit down near the family of the deceased person who's actually being used as a method to amass money by the methods of cheating. I laugh mirthlessly as I reach them. "Look at them," I jut my chin out at the hospital, "Using a corpse to exploit innocent people."

The woman sighs, "Maybe this is fate, after all," she wipes a tear and looks at the ceiling, "A corpse, and the greed is so powerful and consuming that even that can be used to live off the back of."

"Don't you worry, ma'am," I smile at her in assurance, "I'll make sure you get justice."

Time ebbs and flows as I sit there. My phone rings sometimes in between- I ignore them. Shooting a quick text to Melian that the job had been handled, I went to meet the doctors again. The shorter one nods with a sad face- I almost think he'll say that the dude died, but he doesn't. "He'll be needing a kidney transplant," he says remorsefully.

"Oh," I reply in a woebegone voice, "I'll arrange for the payments, Doctor. Please go ahead with the transplant."

"Fine," he says with a sanguine face so fake that resisting the urge to punch him square in the face is almost like controlling the urge to pee when you haven't in twenty four hours.

I pay at the counter again and the doctors nod at me and the patient's family sadly. A few minutes later, there is a slight commotion about a kidney being brought from another branch of CareMark Hospitals. I look over at the older sister out of the two girls.

"Yes?" She replies quietly.

"Do you know how to shoot a video?" I ask her. She nods and I smile at her. "Keep recording each time the doctors come up to us." She nods in agreement.

"I'll be heading to my room to get my tablet and will be back in a second," I tell the woman and walk away. After getting my tablet, I sit down at a distance from the family and grin at the screen.

The bitch in me switches personalities.

Hours later, the doctors come again. I nod at Kira, the older girl, to start recording.

"The transplant has been done," the shorter doctor says, "But there is a very less chance of survival, so we'll be calling in an expert to flow in from Oregon," he says quietly, "The fees and payment are sky high. Are you sure you want to go ahead?"

"Obviously!" I snap, half vexed and half crestfallen- both of which are fake as they come. "I'll see to the payments, please go on."

I pay at the counter once again and smile at the receptionist. She looks at me calculatively before deciding to let it go. On my way back, I stopped by the pharmacy on the third floor. As I conversed casually with the chemist, I placed my phone on record at an appropriate angle where it stayed hidden as well. After picking up the packet of medicines and stuff, I leave my phone there and hand over the packet to the doctors. Minutes later, I went back to the chemist.