Chapter 3

After that day, I went back to school as usual. But my heart condition had not improved.

One evening during self-study, as I looked at the densely packed geometric figures on my test paper, they began to spin and distort before my eyes.

My vision went black for a moment. The pen in my hand clattered to the floor.

I bent down to pick it up, only to find my fingers were so stiff they would not obey me.

That suffocating, near-death sensation struck again. It was more intense than ever before.

I decided to go downstairs to the snack shop to buy a pack of cookies and get some fresh air.

As I reached the corner of the staircase, a sudden, excruciating griping pain seized my heart like nothing I had ever felt before.

The pain was so intense. It felt as if a dull knife had been thrust deep into my chest and then twisted violently.

I could not help but let out a short, muffled groan.

The next second, my left knee buckled, I lost my balance, and I tumbled down the stairs.

My forehead slammed hard against the sharp corner of the staircase. Warm liquid instantly streamed down, blurring my left eye.

It was pure, excruciating pain.

My whole body was in pain.

But I could not focus on the physical pain. The cramping pain in my heart made it almost impossible to breathe.

Screams rang out around me.

“Ah! Someone fell!”

“Oh my God, there’s so much blood!”

“It’s Teleus! Quick, call a teacher!”

The students’ cries of shock came and went. They sounded as if they were coming from underwater.

I lay on the cold concrete floor, curled up into a ball. I wanted to scream for help, but all that came out of my throat was a broken, raspy sound.

During such moments, people would instinctively think of the person they trusted the most.

My blood-soaked hand was trembling as I mustered my last ounce of strength and pressed the emergency contact button on my smartwatch.

The call connected. I heard my dad’s steady yet slightly surprised voice on the other end. The background was very quiet. It sounded like he was in a car.

“Teleus? Why are you calling at this hour? You still have one more evening study session left. Are you trying to slack off?”

The moment I heard my dad’s voice; tears mixed with blood streamed down my face.

“Dad…” I struggled to open my mouth. My voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, punctuated by gasps. “I had an episode and fell. I might have hit my head. Dad, I need to go to the hospital…”

On the other end of the line, my dad let out an anxious cry.

“You fell? How could you be so careless! Is it serious? Can you move? Teleus, listen to me. Don’t panic, take a deep breath. There are only forty minutes left until school lets out.

“Have a classmate help you to the infirmary for now. Ask the doctor to bandage it up to stop the bleeding.”

I stared at the ceiling in despair as my vision began to blur. “Dad… I can’t get up… I really can’t get up…”

My dad’s voice grew even more urgent. It had an air of authority and sincerity that left me with no place to argue.

“Oh no, what are we going to do…? This is a crucial time for catching up on what you’ve missed. If you leave now, you’ll derail it all. Do as I say. Go to the infirmary and rest for a bit.

“Even if you just sit there and listen to the teacher, that’s fine! You’re a big boy. You can handle a little pain, right?”

“Dad… I really…”

“All right, Teleus, just hang in there for these last forty minutes, okay? I’m heading out right now to wait for you at the school gate with some warm soup. I’m hanging up now. Hurry up and go to class.

“Beep—”

The call ended.

In that moment, I heard the sound of something inside me shatter completely.

It was not my heart. It was something deeper than my heart.

It was not that he did not love me.

He just felt that my pain, my bleeding, and even my sense of impending death was all bearable in the face of the SATs.

He thought he was encouraging me and helping me overcome my difficulties.

But he did not know that his harsh encouragement had become the final straw that broke me.

The chaotic footsteps of my classmates surged around me. Some were calling my name, others were crying.

But to my ears, it all grew fainter and faded into the distance.

All I could feel was the cold.

A bone-chilling cold.

Exhaustion washed over me like a tide. I was so tired. I just wanted to rest.

The light before my eyes grew blurry, and I slowly closed my eyes.