Part 3
I was standing on the plane in the aisle feeling all kinds of awkward - which was dumb since dead people aren't exactly in the way.
Still, people walking through me on the way to the bathroom was very uncomfortable. Like my stomach wanted to gurgle but forgot how.
Bright side, I could stand forever and not get tired - so I just stood near Arthur as he typed on his computer and played on his phone while I grumbled to no one. The flight was obscenely long, so he even drifted off at one point.
It was when he was still rubbing sleep out of his eyes and the sun was just rising over the horizon that he opened his laptop and checked the news.
There it was. Just shy of a week after my death, and it had all finally hit the net.
Took them long enough.
Arthur put on his headphones, but thankfully he left the subtitles on for me so I could get the whole scoop.
A woman who looked every bit the news anchor she was sat behind a desk, her face serious as she spoke through the information I'd sent.
Several days ago, Selena Loyd - youngest daughter of the Loyd Enterprises CEO, Jefferson Loyd - died on the operating table while donating her kidney to her older sister, Jessica Loyd. In preparation for the death she knew was coming, Selena sent out information to the police and several news stations with evidence that the surgery that claimed her life was one she underwent due to blackmail.
The following images have had essential information blurred for legal reasons, however you can clearly see that Selena received text messages outlining that refusing to have the surgery would lead to the destruction of a person's career. Despite having a known heart condition that made such a surgery life threatening, Ms. Loyd ultimately underwent the risky procedure and died during the operation as a result.
Police investigating the matter arrested Mr. Jefferson Loyd, the key suspect at this time. However, additional documents and evidence point to other harassment, fraud, and blackmail pertaining to Ms. Loyd, which may lead to future arrests as the investigation continues.
Included in the materials provided, Ms. Loyd included a farewell video. We will play it now.
And there I was. Taking up the whole screen, sitting in front of the camera the lawyer had set up.
Gosh I looked terrible. Skinny, sickly. Worn down in every way I could see.
"If you're watching this, they finally did it. I'm dead, and it was my own family that killed me.
My name is Selena Loyd, and I am the unwanted daughter tossed aside because I wasn't pretty enough to stand beside my family.
I am recording this video because my father threatened to destroy the life of the only person that ever listened, and it will probably cost me my life. I wanted it on the record that I was forced to donate my kidney to my older sister despite having a known, documented heart problem.
I signed all the forms. I signed every waiver. I agreed to die so he could live without having his career destroyed. I'm doing it because the people that gave me life were willing to destroy a cardiologist's career to control me.
He is my doctor, and the only friend I really had. So, I'm giving in after years of fighting for my freedom, because they finally found the one thing that matters to me... And just like everything I've ever cared about, they threatened to destroy it.
I hope this video does enough damage to the monsters that destroyed me to make that death as miserable for them as it was for me. Partially because I'm petty like that, but also because there are others out there like me. People who don't have a name and don't have support when the monsters come for you.
When someone has money and you don't, or they weaponize the blood meant to mean they love you, they might tell you that you don't matter. That your life doesn't matter. Not when compared with whatever thing it is they've decided they deserve.
They're wrong.
I hope my death and the evidence that I submitted are enough to win justice, for me and the man they threatened to destroy if I didn't die for them. I also hope this helps someone else stand up before it's too late. My ending... I hope it can help weed out others that abuse their power or blood ties. I hope it can make people stand up in anger and question how many others have gone through the same thing?
Maybe, just maybe, my death can at least mean more than my life ever did.
I might be gone... But I hope anyone else out there fighting stands up before you join me in whatever comes next.
Because we all deserve better. He deserved better."
Dramatic? Yes. True? Also yes.
The news broadcast continued, but my eyes had moved back to the man in the seat beside me that didn't know I was there.
"You were worth it," I muttered quietly, studying his face, "A doctor's life for a nobody's... I don't regret it, Arthur."
"Idiot," he whispered, his eyes red.
I only smiled, shaking my head solemnly.
No. Dying for him was probably the smartest thing I ever did.
I followed him off the plane, and watched him unpack in his new apartment in a new city with that same look of frustration on his face.
I teased him in a way I never did while sitting in his office or on the exam table. Poked fun at how bad his pronunciation was when he practiced, pointed out potential in the apartment he hadn't even unpacked yet. I talked like he could hear me, because even now he was the only one I believed would listen.
Even if I knew he couldn't really hear me anymore.
He dove right in, and in no time he was right back to where he had been in his new role - top of his field, helping people fight for a new life. Just like I knew he would be.
His English wasn't perfect, but it was enough - and within a week he was set up in a new country.
I had thought that was it. I was ready to float along beside him until his final days, talking at him as I watched the life I died for flourish.
My brother, however, didn't quiet seem to understand how to give up.
The day he showed up while I was hiding behind my own transparent hands as Arthur helped a patient put their gown back on, I wanted to throw something at him. Thankfully the nurses made quite the commotion before he made it to the exam room, so Arthur had managed to cover the elderly woman properly before Zachary slammed open the door.
He looked ragged in a way that was unfamiliar. Zachary had always taken his appearance very seriously, so it was strange to see him looking so haggard.
It's only been, what... A couple of months since I died? I'm not really sure, time feels strange now.
"Matthews!" Zachary roared, rushing forward to grab Arthur by the collar, "It's all your fault you bastard!"
"Security! He's in here!" A nurse was screaming in the hallway, but Zachary didn't care.
He didn't flinch when I tried to smack him either, my hands and yells simply wisps of air despite being ready to tackle the bastard.
"You killed your own sister," Arthur said calmly, glaring at the man holding him against the wall, "You broke the law to ruin her life, and when it didn't work you came after me... And it's all my fault? Do you have any shame at all, Mr. loyd?"
"We didn't know she was sick!" Zachary grit, "She was always trouble-"
"Straight A student," Arthur said quietly, peeling Zachary's fingers off before pushing him back into the security's arms, ignoring how Zack struggled, "Never got into trouble. Never caused scenes. Bullied endlessly because her family was rich but she wore rags... And she was trouble? You really are scum. Your whole family. Scum. You didn't deserve her as your sister."
I stood ramrod straight, staring at Arthur and feeling a stinging in my eyes that wouldn't lead to tears... Because ghosts don't cry. But I wanted to. I wanted to cry because someone said it. Out loud. Someone saw it and said it, and defended me.
For just a moment, it even felt like Arthur looked right at me - like he wanted me to hear it too.
Why did it have to be after I died that someone good finally cared about me?
Zachary was dragged away, spitting and cursing, but I only glanced his way once. It was barely amusing how he yelled that Arthur was the one that ruined the family and killed me.
Like it wasn't just their own actions finally catching up.
I was still lost in thought as he helped his trembling patient into her wheelchair, and saw her off. He was still a doctor, after all, and a crazed man's tantrum didn't change things.
"I will never regret my decision," I told Arthur quietly as he sank down into his office chair, clearly exhausted despite pretending to be fine before that moment, "Best decision I ever made."
"I wish... Things could have been different, Selena," he murmured quietly, looking out the window beside him, "I wish I could have... Known you. Really known you. Not... Just as a patient."
I chuckled, shaking my head at his quiet musings.
"Nah, I'd have driven you mad, doc," I sighed, following his gaze, "I was always... Too much. More time with me would have just ruined it. This... This was better."
He remained silent, of course. Unable to hear the ghost that only came to care for him more and more as time went on.
Is it possible to fall in love after dying? Hmm, maybe. If it was, well - he'd be the one I fell for.
Not that I'd ever deserve someone like him.
--
Did you know that voting & commenting on the chapter helps writers on the app out a TON? If you liked this chapter and you'd be willing to vote and/or comment, it would mean a lot to me <3
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top