Nivianne’s voice suddenly cracked through the noise, thin and perfected. “W-wilbert, please. I am a doctor. My hands are my life. If my hand is ruined, I’m finished. Please, save me. I’m so sorry, I should have died today, I was lucky to escape.” She sounded like she meant it. She sounded like she was sobbing on cue.

That was all it took. Wilbert’s face snapped into motion. Of course it did. He turned away from me and handed my life over like a trivial expense. “Save her first,” he told the staff, voice flat and decisive. “She can’t lose her hands. Anika, wait a little longer.” He looked at me like I was a problem to schedule.

I wanted to scream. I tried to tell him, “I didn’t do anything, I didn’t—” but my words slurred into nothing. The room spun and his eyes stayed on me for the shortest of seconds, pity or calculation, I couldn’t tell which. Then he was gone, walking after the people who carried Nivianne, like she’d been the real casualty all along.

They wheeled me away anyway, but I heard their footsteps fade toward the other bed. I watched the ceiling tiles blur and thought, How am I supposed to matter when a staged sob and a perfect sobbing voice can buy a man’s entire conscience?

I had no strength left to fight him. Time dragged slow and cruel, and every second I thought my chest would stop rising. I really believed I was going to die on that table, but something in me refused to give up. My body clung to life until the doctors finally wheeled me into the emergency room.

.....

Six hours later, I opened my eyes in the same ward I knew too well. My throat was dry, my voice rough, and the pain still sharp, but I was alive.

The phone by my bed buzzed, and when I answered it, Wilbert’s grandfather’s voice came through, calm and heavy. “Anika, all the papers are ready. This is the last step. You won’t regret it, will you?”

I swallowed hard and whispered, “No. I can’t wait to leave. Book three tickets for me. Once it’s done, I want to disappear immediately.”

I was about to ask him to confirm the plan again when the door flew open. My blood ran cold.

“Anika, where are you going?” Wilbert’s voice cut through the room like a knife. He was leaning against the doorframe, watching me.

I quickly ended the call and set the phone down. My face froze into something cold so he wouldn’t see the panic I felt.