Inside the white room, a skinny patient lay bare on the bed, counting the time.
A nurse in a blue dress asked in a soft voice, "Do you really have no money left?"
James barely turned to her, as even taking a single breath stung.
Even though he had not gotten used to the pain, this time the intensity was too much.
His lips just twitched as he tried to form a smile, but failed even at this simple action.
The inability to even form an expression on his face stung him more, but deadliest were those eyes.
The way she looked at him, her eyes had the same pity as theirs.
James turned his eyes up to the blank white ceiling, desperately clinging to the last bit of life, not allowing it to leave his body.
The familiar white ceiling suddenly reminded him of the dream he had seen before.
He mentally chuckled, 'Hehe, so I can still have such vivid dreams.'
After lying in the same room for the past six months, he thought even his dreams had dried out, as for the past few days, all he saw was death.
He still could not believe how life had played such a big prank on him.
For the first 24 years of his life, he did his best to achieve success.
He was the topper of his school, ranked among the top 10 in university, and even performed best in the last internship, finally landing himself the dream job.
Those around him all called him a genius.
It was only he who knew how much he had to grind and sacrifice to achieve those things.
However, the years of hard work had paid off. That day, he landed the job.
Not only that, but he finally gained the confidence to propose to his childhood sweetheart.
When he thought about that, he could not help but chuckle. "Hehe."
This instantly flared up his lungs as he felt like thousands of pins stabbing his lungs from inside.
It was like someone had lit up a fire within his body.
He clenched his teeth to control the urge to scream, knowing that would only make the pain worse.
Just barely uttering a word was already bad. If he screamed, he might die.
The nurse beside him panicked. "Wait, are you having another attack?"
He just clenched his teeth and tried to calm himself down.
The nurse stood up.
He saw her going through the cabinet, but he knew it was no use. He had already used the last meds.
The nurse shouted, "Shit, there's nothing here."
She looked at him for a few seconds and then rushed out. "Endure it for a moment. I'll buy the medicine. You can't die on my money. No!"
With that, she rushed out.
But James did not care as the last six months started flashing through his eyes.
That day had been so perfect. Everyone around him was so happy.
All the grind was over, and from then on, he should have enjoyed his life, but instead, he started having that cursed coughing.
And before he could understand, he started coughing blood.
All of that was so surreal that when he opened his eyes again, he was in a hospital bed surrounded by the same faces.
But this time, the way they looked at him changed.
All of them had pity in their eyes.
It was only then that he came to learn he had an incurable terminal illness with less than a 5 percent chance of survival.
Now that he thought of it, it was really like one of those fake lottery pranks. Only this time, it was the world that initiated the prank on him.
It waited for him to grind for his whole life, and just when he earned it, the world revealed how all his life had no meaning.
He felt like laughing again, but controlled himself. It might be funny now, but at that time, it was so shocking.
After all, he was someone who avoided alcohol, never smoked, nor did he do any drugs, but then why was it he who contracted that disease?
The only answer the doctor could give him was a pat on the back, full of sympathy.
He hated that, but what could he even do?
Everything after that was a blur.
It was the start of the journey for him and others around him, where everyone hoped for him to fight and become part of the 5 percent survival group.
It's just six months in, and he was left alone on this journey.
The last six months taught him more about life than his first 24 years.
He learned just how miserable he was. The love he cherished from childhood did not even last a month.
The closest friends he believed in did not bother to show up.
The one who even showed up came only because he had become the new boyfriend of his childhood sweetheart.
The family he wanted to make proud left him one after another.
The dream job he worked hard for did not even wait for a moment before they hired one of his college colleagues.
It was like the world train just moved on, dropping him on this hospital bed.
Still, he didn't scramble.
A little selfish, but he did not want to submit.
He wanted to have an all-in-the-last battle.
Just then, the door snapped open as the nurse rushed in while screaming, "Those people were really demons. You should not leave them like that."
James just glanced at her, not even bothering to nod at her.
He knew the only reason she was here was because she still hoped to rip more out of him.
Like any war, his war was also fought with money.
For his treatment, he poured in his minuscule life's worth of savings. It was barely enough to last this war.
It was only halfway through the journey that he came to find that someone had stolen everything out of his bank.
For the past two days, he has tried to reach out to everyone.
Those he was close to did not even bother to answer him, and those who were not so close to him only had pity and sympathy to offer.
These past two days, even he himself felt pity at his condition for a moment.
He felt so wronged that the world did not even bother to give him that last fighting chance.
For the first time in a long time, he took a deep breath. It flared his lungs, but now he did not care.
In just a little time, he had been exposed to so much bitter truth that the physical pain stopped hurting him.
It looked like the nurse noticed his chest movement as she screamed, "Wait, give me a few seconds. I am preparing the injection!"
But he did not stop, as he was really tired now. The fight against the disease, the fight against those he knew, and the fight against the world.
All of this was just so tiresome.
He wanted to rest now.
Just then, he felt the nurse's strong grip on his hand as the metal injection moved inches closer to his arm.
Even this injection started to feel like a drag to him.
Just as the needle poked through his arm, things froze for a moment, and then thousands of cracks appeared all around him.
Before he could react, the world around him started to crumble down in pieces as he found himself floating in the darkness.
'Is this death?'
Just then, James snapped open his eyes as an unfamiliar voice came.
"Knock knock! Young sir, have you woken up?"