The Contract Omega

len

ing room stopped hurting hours ago

clung to my clothes, mixed with the chemical smell of floor cleaner that never seemed to go away. Somewhere down th

es thin from standing behind counters and registers, and now they betrayed every

ept in thir

offee and too little food. The name tag from the convenience store still hung crooked on my wrink

my mother

made when it hit the kitchen floor. The smell of something burning was because dinner was left u

clumsy and useless as I tried to keep her conscious. I remembered the sirens, the blur of

ines I didn't understand, while I sat in a chair th

er I'd finally graduated. Not when I'd begun

etter. I'd read it so many times that the paper was creased and soft. I started an entry-level posi

showed it to her. A smile

uld be so prou

t apartment that felt too big for just two people. My mother worked herself thin afterward, th

heart was

she spoke: tired and careful, with the kind of kindness

e, rapid deterioration, immediate surgery needed, a tripl

tes, recovery timelines, med

ut they floated past

mentioned

ed to accept it, like it simply didn't belong in the same reality. I grip

ce, even though I alr

d lapsed thre

she told me she'd found another, when she lie

e doctor, though gratitude felt impossible. I watched h

selves up in my head b

five thousand, if I were generous. Student loans amount to sixty tho

ion dollars

phone wouldn't

d think of. Every call ended the same: apologies,

rofessors promised to donate to fundraisers that w

coffee in front of me was cold. I searched for things I'd never thought I

red at the screen, my stomach twi

p and buried my

hen they

er me, their presence filling the space with aggressive pheromones that twisted

like it already

ature at the bottom. A loan taken six months ago. Interest rate

r voices low and amu

e hospital rooms could be and how Omegas like me

, sliding down the cold tile wall, chest heaving, m

dn't s

e her the same way

red and dry, my face hollow. I washed my hands, even

I heard my

was calm and

hospital corridor. He smelled neutral, Beta, safe,

not a loan, not charit

t react. He simply laid out the terms, duration, compensation, and requirements, wit

my stomach dropped.

e like him would n

et certain

d to s

orting: sharp lines, dark eyes that looked straight through

c Fen

an almost fr

ired in twent

tograph, trying to understand what two ye

'd think. I sti

urse calle

her wa

pale, tangled in wires and tubes. She tried to sm

t to ruin my f

n't, even though I

pital parking lot, the

e else arr

quiet power. They told me I was being

aw what kind of world A

my own life

t alone in my apartment, staring at

ll become some

I'd ne

saw me as a

ceiling, knowing my life as

ill tell me whether I