THIRTY-EIGHT

DYLAN'S POV

"Oh noooooo! Liam!! Liam please, you cannot die now!! Liam!!", Anisha screamed in agony, while I held the child face down. Then suddenly we heard footsteps of men running, and Terror's came in.

"What is it!!" He asked, gasping for air.

"The child is dying, I don't know how many more minutes we have with him!!!" I told him.

He quickly dialed a number and spoke, then said to us, "the boss is nearby, he will be here in a minute"

Sure enough, Eden ran into the room in a short while.

"The boss is here!" Terror announced.

Anisha screamed even louder, "Liam, Liam please stay with me!"

"Is he still alive?", Eden asked me, breathing heavily as if he was about to explode.

"There is a bit of hope. The child is dying", I said.

"There is a bit of hope? What hope!! I want him to live!! I don't want any talk of hope! I want him to live! Save him!" demanded Eden.

"Please save him, Dylan! Please save him!! I cannot lose him!!" Anisha cried out. For a moment I almost forgot that we were acting, and my heart almost tore into pieces as I watched her crying. Then I reminded myself that we were acting.

Eden pushed Anisha off, forcing his way forward and declared, "the child doesn't look that bad to me!"

"The child is about to die!!" I screamed.

"But he looks goo…."

"I am the doctor here!" I shrieked angrily.

"Then save him!!" Eden shouted at me.

"I can't work a miracle!! I need this child in a hospital as soon as can be!" I yelled back.

Eden remained standing and then said "write down a damn prescription. I will bring some medicine! If that child dies, you also die, de Milo!!"

From the day that he kidnapped me, Eden took with him everything that was in my car, including a hospital prescription booklet. All the items were in the room, thrown in a corner, so quickly I took out my the booklet and he handed over a pen to me.

He scanned the papers and, picking my practice number scribbled on one of the papers, he warned me not to write it anywhere.

At the de Milo Group of Hospitals, we all had employee numbers whose suffix was given depending on where one worked at. For example, if someone worked in Yellowleaf, their number would be Y445116: the letter Y standing for Yellowleaf. Or P491251 for an employee who worked in Pamuti. As such, I clearly wrote my number, with the S for Southrain clearly shown. My employee number was unique and well known by most of the staff members. Everyone's staff number started with a 4, while for myself and my parents and siblings, our staff numbers started with triple zero. It was our own signature as the de Milos. I prayed earnestly that someone would pick that, as I wrote my employment number, S000324. I signed on the prescription.

Inwardly I prayed earnestly to God for the person who was going to receive the prescription to please be able to see this and pick at least one of the hints. I was sure we were not in Southrain, so the letter 'S' was my first hint. The pharmacist was probably used to codes starting with the letter 'Y'. Since I believed we were in Yellowleaf, the pharmacist had to pick that the prescription was not written in Yellowleaf but in Southrain. My code with triple zero was surely not to be missed; and then my usual signature. I prayed over and over again for Eden to go to one of the pharmacies under the de Milo Group. The chances of him going there were already high, but it was not guaranteed. If he chose to go to any other pharmacy, then it was all going to be in vain. I handed over the prescription to Eden.

"No!" he barked furiously. "Don't sign it! You want someone to recognise that signature of yours!. No signature!" he took the prescription and crumpled it in his hand, and threw the paper on the floor.

Feeling dejected, I picked up yet another prescription and filled it out. Then I quickly remembered something. As a child, my family had given me the nickname Bubbles. I was told that I used to cry to play with bubbles each and every day, thus earning me that nickname. I signed the prescription "Bubbles". It was a long shot, I knew. What were the chances of a pharmacist in Yellowleaf knowing that I was nicknamed Bubbles? Even one in Southrain, I mean, who besides my family and close friends would have known about a nickname that I used as a toddler? But I just needed to do something. I had to try anything. Placing my hope on the staff code, I rubbed my hands together in immense anxiety.

"You need to hurry! This child will die in my hands!", I said. My intention was to prevent him from scrutinizing the prescription.

He gave me a cold stare and spoke with gritted teeth, "if he dies, I promise you, de Milo, you too will die. You're alive only because of this boy. If you let him die, I will kill you with my own hands!"

"Then go get me the medicine!" I spoke back.

He looked at the paper in his hands and frowned. What now? Why the frown?

"Why Bubbles?", Eden asked with his eyes fixed on the prescription.

"Because we have a doctor Bubbles here in Yellowleaf. I figured it's best for me to use his name. It wouldn't be wise to use a completely new name, as it might raise suspicion." I lied.

He seemed to think about it for a while then, "is his name really Bubbles? Is the person male or female?"

"It's a man. His name is really Bubbles. It's his family name." I continued with the lie.

Eden looked at me from head to toe, then he left without saying anything more.

***.

"I pray that someone picks the hints" I said once I was sure that we were all alone.

"What?" Anisha asked.

I explained to her once again. Anisha knew the whole plan summarized, so I went on to explain it in greater detail. We both agreed that it was a long shot. And again we both agreed that it was worth trying.

"Let's pray that someone picks it", Anisha said with a glint of hope.

I picked up the many plastic papers which were in the room. Most of them came with fruits inside. The fruits were always for Liam, obviously. We used to pile them in a corner. I stuffed all of them into one bigger paper.

"What are you doing?" Anisha seemed to find it funny that I was playing around with the papers.

"Trying to make a ball," I smiled. "I need something to keep my mind off Eden. What we've done is a huge risk. The matter now lies solely in the hands of the person who is going to receive that prescription."

Anisha blinked fearfully and looked straight into my eyes. "Do you think the person may blow our cover?"

"It's possible. The person might do so unintentionally. I really don't know what to think!" I calmed myself down, because I felt like punching something in anger. I continued to stuff the bigger plastic bag with more smaller ones.

"Let's just hope this will work," Anisha's voice was struggling to sound hopeful.

"It has to work," I said with confidence; not that I was confident, but I had to sound that way. Sometimes when confidence runs away, one just needs to force it back into their mind and soul, and act in the required confident manner.

"Here, catch!" I moved a few steps away from Anisha and threw the plastic ball at her. She giggled and caught it mid-air, before throwing it back at me playfully.

Liam, who all the while was standing and playing with some bottle lids, immediately jumped excitedly.

"Catch, Liam!" I threw, or rather handed, the ball over to him. He held it, and when both his arms were focusing on the ball, he lost balance and fell to the floor. Both of us expected him to cry, for it was a hard fall. Yet he simply opened wide his little eyes and placed the ball on the floor next to his little feet. He reached out for it and picked it up again. He was about to lick it when Anisha quickly stopped him, "no Liam, it's dirty! You chew on everything!" she laughed.

She began to play with the child, ruffling up his hair. I looked at her and wondered why life was so unfair. Why on earth did her parents leave her at the home? Who would abandon such a beautiful soul, beautiful inside and out. The way she loved and cared for Liam, it was as if the boy was her own biological child.

The sound of an opening door made us all jump into position. Anisha pressed Liam on to her chest and, as if acting along with us, the latter groaned.

"How is he?" Terror asked without much care.

"The way he looks, we might not have much time left with him. Ask your boss to hurry." I used the most serious tone that my voice could manage.