Reborn with the $10M Ticket: Escaping My Toxic Family

My mother shredded my college acceptance letter.

She traded my life for a massive cash payout.

My skull hit the concrete.

......

The freezing winter wind bites my bare skin.

My cousin rips my shirt open on the crowded street.

Her frantic claws hunt for the ten-million-dollar jackpot in my pocket.

My own mother pins my arms back.

I swing my free fist.

My knuckles crack against my cousin's jaw.

Chapter 1

In my past life, I scrambled for the lottery tickets Brittany tossed into the crowd at her wedding reception. One of them hit a ten-million-dollar jackpot.

My heart pounded with wild excitement. I shoved the ticket in my mom's face, screaming that dad was finally saved. We could afford Eugene's surgery in the city right away.

Gladys snatched the slip of paper right out of my trembling hands. Her expression instantly turned cold. She marched straight back to Brittany and handed over my winning ticket. "Your father and I are honest, decent people!" she snapped at me. "We might be broke, but we have morals. We don't steal other people's luck!"

Eugene passed away soon after, robbed of his surgery. Gladys ended up in a horrific car wreck trying to walk the neighbor's slow-witted son, Bubba, back home. The crash left her permanently crippled.

All those hypocritical relatives who constantly praised her golden heart showed up with cheap fruit baskets. Not a single one offered to lend us a dime or pay back what they owed.

Backed into a corner, Gladys locked her sights on me. She shredded my college acceptance letter. Then, she slipped sleeping pills into my dinner, scheming to force me to marry Bubba for a massive cash payout. "A bachelor's degree is basically toilet paper these days!" she cried. "What's the point of college? Just marry Bubba. You can stay right here with your mother."

Tears pooled in her eyes, playing the ultimate victim of a cruel world. "Don't blame me, Juno. Blame this toxic society. You can't survive without money. I have no other choice"

Overwhelmed by the unbearable humiliation, I ended my own life, suffocating under the weight of her betrayal.

My eyes snapped open. I sucked in a sharp, desperate breath.

I was back on the exact day I won the lottery.

"I swear to God! Duane over at the corner store confirmed it. Garrett bought two hundred Powerball tickets right before the wedding." A heavy sigh crackled through the phone speaker. My aunt Nancy. "Ugh, we should have just shoved crisp two-dollar bills into those wedding favors. Now look what happened! Someone hit the ten-million-dollar jackpot. God, I just hope whoever caught it has the common decency to hand it back to Brittany!"

Gladys stood over the sizzling stove, her phone blaring on speaker. She stirred the pot, nodding along to comfort Nancy while violently cursing out the greedy trash who snatched the winning ticket. She ranted about how the person who caught the winning ticket knew the bride and groom were panicking but still hadn't coughed it up.

The lottery ticket?!

My pupils constricted in shock.

The lingering terror of Bubba dragging me away still haunted me.

I plunged from the sixth-floor balcony all over again. The sickening crunch of my skull shattering against the concrete pavement echoed in my ears. The phantom pain of that impact flashed through my body. I convulsed, choking on dry air.

My chest heaved. My right fist clamped shut on pure instinct. I blinked, forcing my gaze downward.

The freezing metal of the bedroom doorknob dug into my palm. A cold reminder of reality. This wasn't a nightmare.

I actually came back. Back to the exact day of Brittany's wedding. The day I snagged the winning numbers.

I originally thought I had the worst luck that afternoon. I tripped on the porch steps coming home from the reception, bruising my tailbone so badly I had to lie face-down on my mattress for hours. But out of the hundreds of tiny foil envelopes Brittany tossed into the cheering crowd, my fingers closed around the golden ticket.

Yet the real kicker hit right after. That ten-million-dollar slip hadn't even warmed up in my pocket before Gladys dragged me by the collar straight to Brittany's doorstep to surrender it.

"We might be poor, but we have our pride!" she had proclaimed, puffing out her chest. "We don't covet other people's valuables. Returning it is just basic human decency!"

Bullshit.

The clacking of cheap heels against linoleum snapped me back to the present. Gladys suddenly stopped stirring the pot. Footsteps stomped aggressively toward my bedroom door.

The tragic memories of my previous life rushed into my mind, solidifying a single, unbreakable vow.

Gladys could never, ever find out I held that jackpot ticket.

I twisted the deadbolt. A quiet click secured the room. I jammed my hand into my dress pocket and yanked out the crumpled handful of foil envelopes. My trembling fingers sifted through them until I pinched the exact one that ruined my last life.

Fists pounded violently against my bedroom door. I ignored the racket, swiping my phone screen awake. I pulled up the official Powerball results. My eyes darted between the glowing screen and the printed numbers.

A perfect match.

I traced the numbers three times just to be absolutely certain, then slid the slip deep inside the pages of a battered, dusty textbook on my bottom shelf. I smoothed out my messy clothes. Taking a slow, measured breath, I finally swung the door open.

Gladys practically fell into the room, a deep scowl etched across her face.

I rubbed my eyes, feigning a massive yawn. "Jesus, Mom, what's your problem? You trying to bust the door off its hinges?"

Her razor-sharp gaze swept over my disheveled hair and groggy expression. The harsh lines around her mouth relaxed slightly, quickly replaced by a sneer of pure disgust. "Locking your door in the middle of the afternoon to nap? You're unbelievable," she scoffed, crossing her arms. "Lazy as always. I swear, I can't count on you for a damn thing."

Her eagle eyes immediately zeroed in on my desk. They locked onto the small pile of wedding mints and torn foil envelopes I left scattered as a decoy. She leaned in, her voice dropping into a probing whisper. "Did you win anything off those?"

I picked up a plastic hairbrush and dragged it through my tangles, totally unbothered. "Haven't checked yet."

"Well, check them right now!" she demanded, jabbing a finger at the pile. "Nancy just told me one of the lotto tickets from Brittany's wedding favors hit the jackpot. Brittany and Garrett are literally standing outside Duane's corner store waiting for whoever caught it. If you have the winning numbers, you need to march over there and hand it back immediately. Don't make your cousin panic over this!"

Chapter 2

In the past, I would have fought her on this. Those scratch-offs were party favors. Tossed into the crowd for good vibes. Whoever scratched a winner owed Brittany exactly zero cents.

But now? The exhaustion sank deep into my bones. I didn't have a single drop of energy left to argue.

I just spun around, snatched the decoy envelopes off my desk, and headed for the door.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Gladys barked.

I waved the foil packets in the air. "To Duane's! Gonna see if I won anything!"

Gladys had never bought a lotto ticket in her life. She had no clue you could just check the Powerball numbers online. She definitely didn't know a rinky-dink corner store in our dead-end town couldn't cash out a ten-million-dollar jackpot.

She just yelled her final warnings down the hallway. If I won, I had better hand it straight over to Brittany. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you! We keep our pride intact, Juno! Return what isn't yours and don't be a greedy snake!"

Outside Duane's, the newlyweds were impossible to miss. Brittany still wore her reception dressa blinding crimson silk slip paired with a fluffy white shawl. She looked very conspicuous standing in the crowd. She lunged at a passing wedding guest, literally snatching a scratch-off right out of the poor guy's hand to inspect it. Then, she spotted me.

Brittany's eyes lit up like high beams. She quickly rushed to my side, grabbing my hand tightly. "Juno! What are you doing here?" Her voice pitched up, tight and desperate. "Did you win?! Tell me you caught the jackpot!"

I carefully pried my hand out of her grip, pasting on a wide, innocent smile. "Yeah! I won, so I came to cash it in."

Among the handful of tickets I brought, one actually did hit a minor prizea flat hundred bucks. The ten-million-dollar slip was safely hidden in my bedroom.

Brittany snatched the envelopes from my fingers, her eyes gleaming with greed. She tore through them frantically. When she only found the hundred-dollar winner, she looked disappointed. "This is it?" she snapped, flashing the ticket in my face. "This is the prize you're talking about?!"

"Yeah! A hundred bucks!" I beamed, playing the naive cousin to perfection. I plucked the winning ticket back from her shaking hands and casually tossed the losing slips into the nearby trash can. I tilted my head, blinking cluelessly. "Why are you guys hanging out at the gas station in your wedding clothes?"

Brittany's face visibly dropped in disappointment. She muttered some dismissive excuse and immediately pivoted, hunting down another guest crossing the street.

I clutched the crisp hundred-dollar bill Duane handed me. My palms were slightly damp.

Phase one complete. Brittany wouldn't suspect me anytime soon.

I walked home, my mind racing. I mapped out every fatal mistake I made in my past life, plotting my escape to the state capital to claim the real prize.

A heavy hand suddenly dropped onto my shoulder.

I jolted in surprise. I whipped around. Eugene stood there. My dad.

His skin carried that sickening, jaundiced yellow hue. His pale, bloodless lips stretched into a warm, apologetic smile for startling me. He gently patted my shoulder to soothe my racing pulse. My gaze tracked his downward glance.

A pastel pink suitcase sat on the cracked pavement. The metallic finish gleamed under the streetlights. Smooth. Expensive. Premium quality.

My heart ached.

He had a massive tumor rotting inside his abdomen. The diagnosis hit us almost a month ago. We hadn't even scraped together half the cash needed to cut it out of him. Yet he spent his money on a graduation gift for me.

I stared into the crinkles around his kind, exhausted eyes. Hot tears instantly blurred my vision.

Brittany's sickeningly sweet, fake-reluctant voice from my past life violently echoed in my ears. "Aunt Gladys, are you sure? Uncle Eugene needs the surgery money so badly. If you give this jackpot back to me"

Gladys had immediately waved her off, her spine painfully straight. "Everyone has their own fate, Brittany. Eugene and I are reasonable people. We'd never exploit our younger relatives just because we hit a rough patch."

Brittany hadn't hesitated. She shoved the multi-million-dollar ticket deep into her designer clutch, showering my mother with endless praise. She called Gladys a saint. She promised, with her hand on her heart, that if our family ever needed a single dime, she would be there.

Chapter 3

But the day Eugene's condition worsened, the day we went to her for a loan she just stared at us with this fake, pitiful pout.

"Uncle Eugene, it's not that I don't want to help." She sighed, twisting her diamond ring. "Don't hate me for being blunt, but look at your situation. Aunt Gladys doesn't work. Juno is starting college. If I hand over my cash, I might as well set it on fire. I'd never see a dime of it again"

That was the first time I ever saw this rock-solid man break. He scrubbed at his eyes, walked through our front door with bloodshot vision, and choked out three words to me and Gladys. "I'm done fighting."

Eugene froze in front of me now. Panic flared in his hollow, jaundiced eyes. He rubbed his calloused hands together, shifting his weight like a scolded child. "II didn't waste our savings, Juno," he stammered. "I still have enough for my meds. I promise."

A sharp pang hit my chest. I had to get him to a real hospital in the city. Now.

I blinked back the burn in my eyes. Reaching out, I wrapped my fingers firmly around the suitcase handle. This time, I didn't scold him for wasting pennies. I just hooked my free arm through his. "Come on, Dad. Let's go home."

His tense shoulders finally dropped. A genuine, relieved smile broke across his face as he let me take the bag.

"What a stupid waste of cash." Gladys glared at the shiny pink luggage sitting in our cramped kitchen. "When I helped Nancy move, she gave me Brittany's old black duffel bag! Sure, it's beat up, but it doesn't have holes. I could've just slapped a new zipper on it. Why the hell would you blow money on a whole new suitcase?"

Eugene kept that soft, apologetic smile plastered on his face. "It wasn't expensive, Glad. Just sixty bucks. All the kids heading off to college use these hardshell ones now. The guy at the store said it'll last her for years."

Gladys flinched like he had physically slapped her with the price tag. But the money was already gone. She settled for shooting us a lethal glare.

Eugene just brushed off the hostility. He cheerfully grabbed a spatula and stepped up to the stove to help her cook.

We sat down for dinner. I stabbed a piece of broccoli with my fork, keeping my voice painfully casual. "Dad, can you drive me to campus tomorrow? It's my freshman year. Everyone else has their parents there to help move into the dorms." I paused, chewing slowly. "Plus, the city is sketchy as hell right now. Crime rates are spiking. Human trafficking is a real thing. It's not safe for a girl my age to wander around alone."

Eugene chewed on the thought for a second before nodding firmly. "You're right. State U is a long drive, and that city is a concrete jungle. You need someone watching your back."

Gladys slammed her spoon into her bowl of soup. She smacked my fork with her chopsticks, knocking the broccoli back onto my plate. "You're an adult!" she snapped. "When are you going to stop acting like a helpless baby?" She narrowed her eyes, her jaw working as she chewed. "Why the sudden rush to leave tomorrow? Classes don't start for another three weeks."

My stomach dropped.

In my past life, I waited those three weeks. But Eugene's tumor was a ticking time bomb. If I delayed this any longer, ten million dollars wouldn't be enough to buy him a gravestone.

I set my bowl down. I pulled up a fake college group chat on my phone and showed her the screen, forcing my voice to stay level. "Classes start later, yeah. But freshman orientation and early move-in start this week. They sent the email days ago, and I just saw it!"

I watched her quietly, afraid she might get suspicious. Last time, I had begged my academic advisor for an extension so I could stay home and nurse Eugene. Gladys stared at the text for a few agonizing seconds before leaning back. She didn't press the issue.

A massive breath released from my lungs.

But then she dropped her chopsticks onto the table with a loud clatter. "Your dad is sick. Maybe I should drive you instead," she announced. "I've never been to the state capital anyway." She shot Eugene a look of pure venom. "God, I have the worst luck," she muttered bitterly. "Married a useless man and doomed myself to a miserable life."

Chapter 4

Eugene flinched at the sudden jab. Guilt washed over his pallid features, but he was utterly powerless to fight back. He just ducked his head and aggressively shoveled food into his mouth.

I kept a placid smile plastered on my face, but my mind was racing. I stared at Gladys for a beat, then scooped a tender piece of pot roast onto her plate. "Mom, I really want you to take me. But Bubba has been wandering over to that guitar plant where you pick up shifts. You know he can't find his way back. What if he gets lost?"

A few days ago, Josephine, a widow working the assembly line, mistook Gertrude's boy for a homeless vagrant and handed him a sandwich. Ever since that morning, Bubba started telling anyone who would listen that Josephine was his wife.

He threw daily tantrums, demanding to go to the plant to see his bride. His exhausted parents eventually gave up and let him wander. But he had zero sense of direction. He got completely lost last week, and Gladys stayed up all night trekking through the dark to drag him home.

Ever since then, my mother practically knighted herself as his personal savior. Rain or shine, whenever Bubba got the sudden urge to hunt down his imaginary wife, Gladys chauffeured him back and forth.

She didn't even skip a beat on the day of Eugene's funeral. By the time she finally rushed back to the cemetery, his casket was already in the dirt. She threw herself onto his fresh grave, wailing and beating her chest, screaming at him for not waiting for her to say a final goodbye.

Gladys froze. Her chopsticks hovered mid-air. Her eyes darted instinctively toward the fresh garden tomatoes and homemade casseroles Gertrude had dropped off yesterday as a thank-you. A smug glint flashed in her eyes as she remembered Gertrude loudly bragging to the local church ladies about what an absolute saint Gladys was.

She let out a heavy, self-important sigh, a proud smirk tugging at her lips. "Ugh, you're right. If that idiot wanders off into traffic, Gertrude would have a heart attack. The whole neighborhood knows I'm the one keeping an eye on him now. If I suddenly skip town right after he went missing, God knows what those gossips would say about me" She waved her hand dismissively, radiating toxic martyrdom. "Fine, fine. Let your father drive you. I swear, I was just born to carry everyone else's burdens."

The November chill bit into the morning air. I stared down the highway at the passing cars, my palms slick with cold sweat. I was both nervous and full of anticipation.

Once I survived today, I would claim that jackpot in the city. I would pay for Eugene's surgery. He would survive, and I would brutally rewrite our doomed fate.

But before the Greyhound even crested the hill, two painfully familiar silhouettes marched straight toward the bus stop. Brittany and Nancy.

From a distance, they wore tight, forced smiles. But their legs were moving frantically, practically breaking into a desperate jog.

My stomach plummeted. My knuckles turned white as I death-gripped the handle of my luggage.

"Juno! Heading out so early?" Nancy chirped. She forced a stiff smile, but her greedy gaze was glued to my pink suitcase.

My chest tightened, but I forced my posture to stay relaxed. "Yeah. It's a ten-hour drive to campus. I want to beat the sunset, so I had to get a head start. Brittany, shouldn't you be packing for your honeymoon? Why are you guys out here roaming the streets?" I dropped my gaze, catching the dark, bruised bags under Brittany's eyes. She clearly hadn't slept a wink. She looked completely unhinged, her eyes glazed over like she wasn't even processing my words.

Without warning, she lunged forward. She violently grabbed my suitcase handle and yanked it toward her chest. "We aren't going anywhere," she panted, her voice cracking with manic desperation. "We just heard you were leaving for college today We wanted to see you off."

I dug my heels into the concrete and wrenched the luggage back. "No thanks, Brittany. I'm fine waiting right here."

Chapter 5

Since I didn't cooperate, Brittany dropped the act entirely. Her tone sharpened into a furious interrogation. "You were at the store last night cashing in a ticket. I shouldn't have suspected you, but Gladys just told us you're skipping town today. Are you making a run for it? Did you steal my jackpot?!"

My pulse hammered against my ribs. I forced a cold, dismissive sneer. "I don't set the academic calendar, Brittany. You want to gaslight me over a coincidence? Go ahead and call the university. See if freshman orientation starts tomorrow or not."

That shut her up for a second. But her knuckles remained white around the handle of my luggage. Ten million dollars was enough to shatter an ordinary person's politeness and decency.

She set her jaw, her eyes burning with a manic obsession. "If you're so innocent, then you won't mind a search!" She violently jerked the suitcase out of my grip. It slammed onto the concrete. She ripped the zipper open and clawed through my belongings. Her frantic fingers squeezed every single pocket. She tore through the inner lining three separate times.

My neatly folded clothes spilled onto the dirty pavement. A faded, threadbare nude bra tumbled out, lying exposed under the harsh morning light.

Holden and another tall teenager strolling down the block openly stared at my underwear. "Damn," Holden snickered, nudging his buddy. "Didn't know the TSA was running random strip searches on the sidewalk now."

Hot anger flashed behind my eyes. I lunged forward to shove Brittany away. A heavy hand slammed into my spine, pinning me in place. Gladys.

"Knock it off!" my mother barked, her grip like a vise on my shoulder. "I told them to search you! The person who caught the winning ticket has been dodging them all day. You suddenly packing up and running off looks guilty as hell. I called Nancy and Brittany over to clear your name. We don't do shady things, Juno. This is for your own good!"

Gladys nodded at Brittany, giving her the green light to keep destroying my things. Nancy hovered nearby, spewing empty apologies. She begged me to understand Brittany's stress, subtly shifting her weight to physically block me from reaching my suitcase.

My wardrobe was completely gutted. Brittany was fully unhinged now. With bloodshot eyes, she carelessly tossed my clothes onto the dirt. "Where is it? Why isn't it here?" she muttered. "Give my ticket back" Her voice was a dry, raspy wheeze, repeating the words like a broken record in despair. Every last item lay in the dirt. Still no ticket. She remained half-kneeling on the concrete, her face draining of color as panic set in.

Then, her frantic gaze locked onto the oversized beige coat wrapped around my shoulders.

She jumped up and rushed toward me. "You hid it on your body! You shameless bitch, give it back!" Her claws snagged the fabric of my coat. Her other hand aggressively dug into my pockets.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I shrieked, batting her hands away. "I told you I don't have your damn ticket!"

I grabbed a fistful of her expensive silk dress, and we violently slammed into each other.

Chapter 6

Gladys and Nancy rushed in, loudly playing the peacemakers. But their hands clamped down on my wrists and shoulders. Vise grips. They pinned me in place, entirely stripping away my leverage.

Brittany dug her manicured claws into my pockets. Fabric ripped. My white undershirt tore open, exposing my bare shoulder to the freezing morning air.

"Enough!"

Eugene roared. Seeing me manhandled completely vaporized his usual timid nature. He lunged forward, desperately prying Nancy and Gladys off me. But Nancy violently shoved him back.

His cancer-ridden body couldn't take the hit. He staggered backward, his boots skidding on the concrete. The plastic pharmacy bag slipped from his grasp. Prescription bottles hit the pavement. The cap popped off his painkillers. Tiny white pills scattered across the damp dirt.

"What is wrong with you people?!" he gasped, dropping to his knees. "I just refilled these at the county clinic! Gas money alone was eighty bucks!" All the color drained from his jaundiced face. His shaking fingers scrambled to gather the spilled medication. He picked up a pill coated in wet grit, blew on it frantically, and dropped it back into the amber bottle.

A heavy lump formed in my throat. I stared at his frail, shaking spine bowed over the dirt. The entire street froze, staring at the pathetic display.

I violently shoved Brittany away. My knees hit the pavement beside him. I scooped up the remaining bottles and shoved them securely against his chest. "Hold on to these," I rasped. "They can treat me like trash, but they don't get to touch you."

I stood up, my nails digging into my palms as I marched right up to Brittany. I ripped off my ruined coat and let it drop. Then, my torn shirt. I stood freezing on the sidewalk in nothing but my bra and jeans. My gaze locked onto hers, filled with the deep despair and anger of being betrayed by family. "Are you satisfied now, Brittany? If I hit a ten-million-dollar jackpot, do you really think I'd be scavenging for a hundred bucks at a gas station? I said I don't have it. If you still think I do, let's call the cops right now and let them strip-search me!"

For the first time, the arrogant sneer melted off Brittany's face. Pure panic flickered in her eyes. She instinctively flinched, her gaze darting erratically around the crowd of shocked onlookers. "Fine, you don't have it," she stammered, crossing her arms defensively. "I didn't say it was definitely you. And I didn't tell you to strip!"

The harsh judgment of passing strangers finally snapped her back to reality. She leaned toward Nancy, whispering frantically. "She's right. I'm just losing my mind. Whoever caught that ten million would've taken an Uber straight to the state lottery office last night."

Nancy scanned the whispering crowd. Her brief flash of guilt instantly hardened into a scowl. "Jesus, Juno," she snapped. "We're family. Why do you have to be so dramatic? Look at the scene you're causing! You're embarrassing us in front of the whole town!"

Gladys flushed crimson. The public spectacle was a direct strike against her perfect neighborhood reputation. Her face darkened with rage as she stomped toward me to deliver a brutal lecture.

But the massive red interstate bus pulled up to the curb, hissing loudly as the air brakes engaged.

Hot tears spilled over my lashes. I snatched my coat off the ground and shoved my arms through the sleeves. I threw my scattered clothes back into the suitcase and slammed the zipper shut. Grabbing the handle, I shoved past Gladys before she could utter a single word.

One foot on the bus steps, I turned back. I nailed Gladys with a stare completely devoid of warmth. "Will you only be happy when your precious family finally puts me and Dad in the ground?"

All the blood vanished from Gladys's face. She stood paralyzed on the curb, completely forgetting to wave goodbye.

Chapter 7

I booked two hotel rooms near campus for the night. Eugene immediately panicked over the price tag, insisting he'd check out at dawn to save a few bucks.

I had to walk him through the hotel policy like a toddler. I explained that checkout wasn't until 2 PM. He was paying for the full night whether he slept in the bed or hit the highway. He finally caved, agreeing to stay for dinner tomorrow before driving back.

Later that night, I sorted through his pharmacy bags.

My fingers closed around a brand-new, unopened bottle of painkillers. If anyone looked closely, they'd spot the microscopic smear of clear superglue sealing the cap. I cracked the fake seal. I pulled out the folded medication pamphlet, slipped the ten-million-dollar lottery ticket out from between the glossy pages, and buried it deep in my coat pocket.

The city was a completely different universe compared to our dead-end hometown. Traffic roared past my hotel window. Neon signs bled vibrant colors into the midnight sky. The relentless, thrumming chaos of the state capital actually grounded me.

I collapsed onto the crisp, white hotel sheets. I stared blankly at the ceiling.

The whole day felt like a psychotic fever dream. But the nightmare was finally over. We were never going back to the slaughterhouse of my past life.

One massive hurdle remained. How the hell was I going to convince Eugene to get the surgery?

Tell him I hit the jackpot? Confess that I literally clawed my way back from the dead? Both sounded clinically insane. He wouldn't believe me. And if he knew about the money, Gladys would eventually sniff it out.

Exhaustion dragged me under before I could map out a lie.

Freshman orientation spanned three days. I had a window. The second the sun came up, I ditched the hotel and sprinted straight to the State Lottery Commission.

Ten million dollars. Two million bled out to federal and state taxes. Eight million dollars clear.

I held the bank card tightly in my hand. I gripped it so hard my knuckles popped. It felt like crushing the weight of my doomed past life. Tears of overwhelming relief welled up in my eyes.

By noon, I had successfully dragged Eugene to the state hospital under the guise of a routine freshman physical.

Dr. Gavin clipped the fresh CT scans to the lightbox. His brow furrowed. He turned to us, his expression dead serious. "The mass is substantial, Eugene. It's eclipsing almost a third of your kidney. I can't rule out a malignant tumor. I strongly recommend immediate surgical removal."

Gavin had clearly delivered this death sentence a thousand times. He caught the sheer panic flashing across Eugene's face. "Even if a biopsy comes back benign, a mass this size requires immediate extraction," he added firmly.

Eugene's calloused hands trembled on his knees. The gravity of the diagnosis completely crushed the air out of the room. He swallowed hard, plastering on a pathetic, fake smile. "Thanks, Doc. We'll head home and think about"

"Surgery." I cut him off, stepping directly into Gavin's line of sight. "Book the OR, Dr. Gavin. We're doing it immediately."

Gavin locked eyes with me. He gave a sharp, validating nod and immediately started hammering away on his keyboard. "Head down to the first-floor admissions desk to clear the deposit. We'll admit him today, run the pre-op labs tomorrow morning, and get him on the surgical schedule."

Out in the sterile hallway, Eugene violently yanked my arm. His face was a mask of pure agony. "Juno, let's just go home. I don't have the cash for an operation like this!"

"I do."

Eugene froze. His eyes instantly pooled with panicked tears. "Don't do anything stupid, Juno! That's your college tuition! You are not throwing your future away on a dying man