At Miami Baptist Hospital, the on-duty nurse sized up the delicate-looking boy in front of her, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a subtle smile that flickered across his face, causing her heart to skip a beat.
With her years of professional experience, she knew that such a smile usually belonged to patients who had received terminal diagnoses and had decided to forsake treatment.
Thinking this, the nurse asked with deep sympathy, "Hello, how can I help you?"
Kate, still smiling, said, "Hello, I was wondering if there are patients here who, you know, could be saved but have to give up treatment due to financial reasons?"
The nurse immediately understood Kate's intention. Having encountered many such cases throughout her career, she knew it was either about seeking organ donations from those who had to abandon treatment due to financial issues or wanting to donate one's own organs.
Regardless of the scenario, the nurse felt it was something she could not ignore.
"I'm sorry, but we don't support private organ donation agreements here."
After a brief silence, Kate responded, "I'm not looking to buy organs. I just want to know if there are such patients here? I want to help them."
Hearing this, the nurse's eyes filled with even more sympathy.
"Why would you give up on treatment at such a young age? Believe in the hospital, trust the doctors, you can surely overcome your illness! Keep your organs for yourself, please listen to me!"
Kate, taken aback, said, "..."
"Um, nurse, I'm not selling my organs. What I mean is, I want to financially support a patient, to help them continue living!"
Kate's words moved the nurse to tears.
"This handsome young patient, you should keep your money for yourself, focus on getting better first, then think about supporting others."
Kate, slightly frustrated, clarified, "Sorry, I'm not sick!"
The nurse's expression changed abruptly, "Did you escape from the psychiatric ward?"
Kate: "..."
In reality, Kate could have used his spiritual doll to resolve the situation.
But this was a hospital!!
Recklessly using the spiritual doll's power could easily affect some patients on the brink of death, so Kate wanted to obtain the information he needed from the nurse. However, given the current situation...
Seeing the nurse's pitying look, Kate felt his plan might not work.
He looked up at the hospital's ceiling and muttered, "Does this mean I can't send her off today?"
Throughout the day, he had already sent away his entire family, leaving her alone. Could a person really do such a thing?
He had to complete the task!
A family should be together in entirety!
With a determined heart, Kate left the hospital and hailed a taxi, saying to the driver, "To the crematorium!"
The taxi driver, who had been busy all afternoon without a minute's rest, shuddered at the thought of going to the crematorium at night.
"Why not go at dawn? That would be even more fitting!"
Thinking this, the driver said, "Alright!"
He glanced at the young man who had just boarded through the rearview mirror and realized it was the same white-clothed young man he had picked up from the airport that afternoon.
The peculiar young man who had predicted the exact two hours and twenty minutes it would take from the airport to the destination, and who had shortchanged him by 16 dollars in fare, now made the driver uneasy.
Seeing the boy hadn't buckled up, he hinted, "Hey, look at how many taxis there are right now!"
"Click"
Kate buckled up immediately, saying, "Shall we go? Strange, you look familiar."
"No, sir, I have a very common face, resembling many others!"
The driver, now wearing a mask and sunglasses to the point of being unrecognizable to himself, started the car and headed towards the destination.
As they embarked, the driver couldn't help but glance at the rearview mirror, wondering how long this trip would take.
After the third glance, Kate casually mentioned, "This trip should take about thirty-five minutes."
Thirty-five minutes? To the crematorium in the suburbs, from the city center, during rush hour, in thirty-five minutes?
It would be a miracle to arrive in an hour!
Doubting his own skepticism, the driver dared not voice his thoughts.
He failed to notice that despite the heavy traffic, the flow was unusually smooth, without any congestion!
Half an hour later, the taxi stopped at the entrance of the Florida State Crematorium.
The driver checked his watch and found it had been thirty-four minutes.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and awkwardly smiled at Kate in the backseat, "You were spot on, just a minute off!"
Kate, yawning, asked, "How much?"
The fare on the meter read sixty-five dollars.
As the driver was about to speak, Kate handed him a fifty-dollar bill, saying, "Keep the change."
Hesitantly, the driver accepted the money and managed a grateful smile, "Thank you, drive safely!"
Kate replied, "Yeah, you too, drive slowly."
The driver felt slightly irritated by the comment, having been extremely busy all afternoon.
He hadn't rested at all since reaching each destination, there was always a passenger waiting!
His earnings for the half-day were equivalent to what he usually made in two or three days!
It felt as if he had encountered a ghost!"
After Kate disembarked, the driver reset the meter, only to find that the thirty-four minutes had now turned to thirty-five.
"Gulp——"
Swallowing his fear, the driver quickly drove away!
...
Outside the crematorium, cries and sobs filled the air.
Some wailed loudly, others huddled in small groups, crying and burning paper money, and there were fresh arrivals ready for cremation.
Kate found a secluded corner to sit down, taking out a paper resembling a cutout from his bag, folding it into a lantern shape and setting it before him. With a swipe of his hand, a bright red flame ignited within the paper lantern.
Under the night sky, the flickering flame cast a slightly ominous glow on Kate's handsome face, giving it a somewhat sinister appearance.
His eyes, as if piercing through the veil of life and death, scanned each coffin being brought into the crematorium, murmuring to himself about the deceased's circumstances.
Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a freshly arrived refrigerated coffin.
"Hmm, this case is special. Her death leaves her son without care, risking his life. Saving her not only saves her life but also her son's. Such a deed saves two lives, allowing me to... oh, end two more evil souls, accumulating more good karma. Quite a bargain, haha!"
Near the refrigerated coffin were several people and a little boy, all keeping their distance, even from the boy when he wandered away.
Drawn by the flickering flame of Kate's paper lantern, the boy approached and asked, "Sir, do you have family here too?"
Kate: "..."
The boy, seeing Kate's silence, extended his fist in comfort, "Sir, don't worry, my mom is over there too. They told me she'll be back soon."
Kate smiled faintly, bumping fists with the boy, who then opened his hand to reveal two chocolate candies.
"I love these candies. My mom only bought them for me occasionally. Today, someone gave me a lot, and I've eaten several. I'll give these two to you."
Accepting the candies, Kate ruffled the boy's hair and asked, "Do you wish for your mom to come back from there?"
The boy looked towards the crematorium and nodded slowly, "Yes, even though my mom didn't buy me these candies, I really don't want her to leave me, even for just a few days..."
As the people accompanying the boy noticed his absence and began searching for him, Kate nodded and advised, "They're looking for you. Go back, and from now on, listen to your mom, be a good boy, and study hard!"
The boy stared at Kate for a moment, nodded vigorously, and said, "Okay! Goodbye, sir!"
"Goodbye."
After the boy left, Kate popped the candies into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. He then took out five thick white candles from his bag, placing them around the paper lantern and lighting each one.
With a sharp knife, he cut his left index finger, allowing a drop of blood to fall onto the paper lantern. As he flicked his finger, sending the blood droplet onto the lantern, six tall flames shot up from it and the surrounding candles.
But as Kate pressed down with his hand, the flames calmed down, returning to six flickering fires.
In the momentary rise and fall of the flames, it seemed as if whispers and shadows flitted above the lantern.
...
Moments later, inside the crematorium's service hall.
Orr watched as his mother was lifted from the crystal coffin onto the conveyor belt, covered with flowers and coins.
Although he was told his mother would return in a few days, five-year-old Orr understood much more.
He realized that once his mother left, she would never return.
The thought of no one cooking for him, growing up without her, or buying him candy saddened him. Even though others might buy him candy, they weren't as reliable as his mother.
As he saw his cold mother moving away on the conveyor belt, Orr suddenly felt the absence of his mother's presence.
Without his mother, how could he grow up?
Even if he grew up, achieved great things, and earned a lot of money, the one person who could share his joys was gone.
Suddenly, Orr, with surprising strength for his small frame, leapt onto the conveyor belt and rushed forward, shouting, "Mom—"
"Mom, come back!!"
...