Chapter 1 Mirabel's POV

I walked through the front door of ST Andrews hospital holding a bouquet of beautiful flowers. I made way for a woman pushing a wheelchair that her husband sat on. I waved at them silently as I continued my journey.

"Good morning Mirabel. It's a pleasant morning, isn't it?" Angela, the nurse at the front desk asked when I approached her.

I smiled as I nodded in response to her question. Other nurses around proceeded to greet me too and I kept on my usual charade of pretending to be happy.

Truthfully, I hated coming to this depressing hospital, but I had no other choice. My mother had been admitted here six months ago after an accident which caused her to go into a coma, and my father with my brother died on the spot. In few few minutes, my life changed.

I entered my mother's room and glanced at how sickly she looked. A tear almost escaped my eyes but I strengthened myself to do what I wanted to do then leave to get to my work.

I replaced the flowers I had brought before with fresh ones and opened the curtains to bring in more lightning to the room. I took a chair and placed it beside my mother's bed then held her hand.

"Mum, please come back to me" I said to myself admist sobs.

The door opened and Dr. Sullivan entered with a smile on his face when he saw me.

"Mirabel, I'm happy you came today. I was even about to give you a call" He said then went on to check my mother's vitas among other things.

"How is she looking, doc?" I asked, deeply concerned.

I had been praying that one of these days, when I got to the hospital, I would get good news of my mother's health, but things haven't been like that.

"Not good, Mirabel, especially now that we're not giving her the usual medication" Dr. Sullivan replied.

I bowed my head. Due to the fact that my new boss had authorized a slash in the salaries of most workers, me inclusive, I had not been able to afford the usual medication as I used to. I had tried to appeal to him but I've never even had the chance to meet him.

Several times I had gone to his office, his secretary and bodyguards always turned me back. I don't know if this was his way of laughing at his employees who are unable to afford certain things like him, but I couldn't help but hate him for not enabling me give my mother the medication she needs.

"Is there anything we can do? I mean something we can come up with? Like a test drug?" I asked.

Dr. Sullivan shook his head.

"I don't think there is any of such currently" Dr. Sullivan moved closer to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know things are really hard for you, but you need to come up with the finances as soon as possible or you risk your mother never waking up again."

With that, Dr. Sullivan walked out of the room, leaving me to my thoughts. I didn't know what to do anymore. I contemplated going to meet my ex boyfriend, Anthony, and ask if he could offer financial aid, but I removed that thought from my head because he would surely ask me to come back to him, and I wasn't going to do that.

Another thought crossed my mind. I wondered if I should try my luck in going to ask my boss again for him to please put my salary back to the way it was so I could give my mother the proper medication.

Things were going well in the company at first until we go news that the ownership was transfered to the CEO's son. No one had see him since he came into the company but his policy about slashing employees salaries made his presence known.

Although several employees left because they were angered at the salary slash, I stayed because I didn't have any other choice. I thought If I stuck with the job despite the uncomfortable circumstances, my boss might return things to the way they originally were.

My phone buzzed, bringing me out of my thoughts. It was a text from my coworker telling me to quickly come back to work. Judging from the urgency in her text, I felt there was an emergency and I needed to be there as soon as possible.

"Mum, I'll be back" I kissed my mother on her forehead then exited the room.

* * * * * *

I walked inside the reception and was startled at the commotion happening. Several employees were complaining about something I couldn't quite make out. I moved closer to get more information on what was the cause of their unrest.

"Mirabel, you won't believe it" I turned to see my friend walking towards me holding an envelope.

"What? What is it?" I asked impatiently.

I was anxious to know what was the cause of the entire ruckus.

"The boss is letting a lot of us go so he could bring in new workers" She replied.

I couldn't believe my ears. I walked away from her and made my way to where one of the guards stood.

I prayed internally that I wasn't fired because I really needed my job so I could cater for my mother's needs. If I wasn't employed anymore and I had no way to bring money for her treatment, she could never wake up, or worse, die.

"Please I need to get inside" I told the guard then tried to pass through, but he stopped me immediately.

"Let me check if you're among the fired employees" he said.

As the guard looked through his tablet containing names of fired employees, I prayed once again. I hoped I wasn't among those names, if not, I wouldn't know my next course of action.

"I'm sorry but your name is here. You will receive your sack letter shortly" he said.

It felt like my entire world had burnt into ashes. I stared blankly at him, willing myself to say something but I couldn't. My life, and that of my mother, was over.