The Surgeon's Five-Year Lie

ina

st one person. A sudden ring pierced the oppressive stillness, making me jump. Gregory. Hi

adox. It used to be my anchor, my only salvation in the stormy sea of

eliberately weak, a perfect portra

skip it, don't try to hide them." His tone was gentle, but the underlyi

Drug." For five years, I had swallowed those pills, believing they were my lifeline. Now, t

sgust. "Gregory," I whispered, letting my voice crack, "will I ever truly get

ate panic. "Alaina! Don't scare me like that. You can't give up. I... I can't live without you. You're stron

lmost. He was terrified of losing his pu

new therapies, Alaina. Experimental ones from Switzerland. You'll beat this. I promis

o save me; he was trying to keep me. To keep me in this gilded cage, dependent and grateful. My t

y a whisper, devoid of any gen

n an old wooden box tucked under the bed, almost forgotten. It h

tionship – from the awkward scrawls of a teenage boy to the confident strokes of a mature man. Each letter, a decl

lled it, a testament to his eternal devotion. It stated, in flowing script, that if he ever fundamentally betrayed me, this letter would serve as a contra

I could recite every word, recall the warmth of his hand as he wrote them. The

ho promised me forever... that image collided with the monster who had just confessed to orchestrating five years of medical tor

picked up the letters, each a testament to a love that never truly existed. One by one, I cut them into confetti. The paper fluttered to the ground,

ow a blueprint for my freedom. He had signed his ow