The opening

MARGA

This is me. Frustrated, broken, and out of ideas!! 

What more do I need to do to raise $2M?!!! (*whines in frustration*) “ugh!!!”  

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“Hi Mom”, I walked into the hospital ward and met my mother trying to stand up from her chair. “Let me help you with that”  I bent over to help her stand up but then she kept on resisting, “Just let me be, I really don’t need your help” she grunted.

My mom has always blamed me for her misfortune since my birth. She claims I remind her of my father her late ex-boyfriend who got her pregnant and ran away with all her money. Can’t even blame her, cause I’d do worse if it were me. 

“Mom, let me help you okay? You really can’t do anything by yourself you need a hand”  

“Yeah sure I need a hand but not yours so let me be.” She snapped at me again leaving me confused. 

“Oh well I just wanted to let you know that I’ll soon be moving out of the house when I get a job, and I’ll bring a stay-in nanny for you since you do not want me around” I shrugged and moved past her quietly to sit down on the bedside chair. 

“Yeah, you should move out I’m tired of your constant nags. I wish Denis were here so he could take care of me I couldn’t care less about you, you know”  

Denis is my older brother, 29 years old, and still living in misery with hard drugs in downtown Dallas. He came home whenever he felt like it, ate up all the food, and never bothered to contribute to his mom’s treatment. But somehow, he was always in Mom’s favor and to be honest, I don’t understand why. 

“Okay, mom.” I sighed quietly and continued to gaze through the window into thin air when the doctor walked in on us, with a look on his face which didn’t seem to be very happy.  

“Hi Miss Jackson, Hi Mrs Jackson. I hope y’all are well today. I didn’t come with very happy news” 

Shock started to build on our faces; more because we hadn’t paid the bills yet and we were long overdue at the hospital  

“ Well Mrs Jackson, I'm sorry but the hospital will have to discharge you immediately. You have a pending debt of $5000 which is equally long overdue. The hospital has decided to cancel your debt but you must leave at this instant.” Doctor Jake pitifully handed over the discharge letter to me and walked out of the room. 

We had less than one hour to vacate the premises. 

I didn’t know how I was going to manage the hospital bills. I used to work as a waitress in a small restaurant but I was laid off because the restaurant couldn’t pay staff anymore. I tried looking for other waitress jobs but I guess I wasn’t as qualified. The ones I managed to get interviews for needed me to work 16 hours a day. I mean I didn’t have so many options left but 16 hours? I had my Mom to take care of and I couldn’t afford a nanny yet. I didn’t have 16 hours to give for a job. I was going to figure out all of this. I just needed to be in a better headspace.

“Let me pack up all this stuff Mom and can you please just relax? Thank you” 

My mom can barely walk but she never misses a chance to disorganize places she won’t even fix. 

We left the hospital and headed back to our small cottage house in the woods.  

“What’re we having for lunch honey?” Mom called me honey. She hasn’t called me honey in years! Could this be a start to something good?  

“Dunno yet Mom, I’ll just quickly rush over to the grocery store. Maybe I’ll find something there.”  

“Alright hon” she answered back. 

Walking downtown, all I can think of is how to get at least $1M so Mom’s surgery can kick start. 

My mom is suffering from a brain tumor which has affected the way she reasons, sees people, and even her composure. I feel so bad for her. One day we're like two peas in a pod, the next day we're at each others necks. I wish there was more I could do to help, but right now I'm just as helpless. 

"Sally! Sally could help", I thought to myself. 

Sally was my bestie back in Yale and we did almost everything together down to the silliest of things.

"She's well off now I think she can help me." 

Sally Monroe was my best friend in Yale but for some reason, she almost always gets me in trouble, and I end up taking the fall for her crimes. It was just after Summer, fall time for the semester, when the most popular guy in school, Denis Trot had a pool party. Sally came to me and tried to convince me to go with her which I greatly declined; the school will never let us out after 10pm. But she didn’t budge. When it was time for the party she made follow her on grounds that I had to keep watch for security. We went to this party which I didn’t want to attend, she got drunk, just when I tried to take her home, the police raided the place and we got caught. Good grades and a good reputation were all that saved me then. I had to fill in for Sally and plead her case with the Chancellor Ms. Taylor. It wasn’t a very pretty situation back then. 

Right after graduation, she left for Missouri forgetting about me and all that we went through and I never texted her again for 6 months. But right now wasn’t the time to play rusty. I needed her help with my mom, I had no choice.

Just then I bumped into someone in front of the grocery store and lost track of myself as I was drowning in thought. 

"Oh I'm so sorry sir, I'm so sorry. Let me help you with that." I had bumped into this huge looking guy about six foot two and appts spilled his coffee all over myself (*sighs in frustration*)  

"You never really focus Marga!", the little voice in my head snapped back at me.  

"No no it's okay I got this. Are you good?", the man asked me, showing a bit of concern with a grin on his face. 

"Wish I was", I murmured under my breath. 

"pardon?" , he asked looking confused

"Oh nothing, I just said I'm fine, thanks for asking." 

"Paul by the way", he said slightly chuckling. And I realized he has such a cute little laugh. 

"uhhm, hii, hi Paul, I'm uhmm, I'm Marga", I answered in a rather cheesy tone,ignoring my cracked voice underneath. 

"Was nice meeting you Marga although in a very weird way", he chuckled again. 

"Same here", I nodded and walked into the store. 

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