If you throw yourself on the floor again to ruin the Christmas photo, I swear we will leave you there until you learn how to behave,\u201d Dr. Mary Mulligan snapped, her voice striking Agustin like another stab.<\/p>\n
He was huddled by the massive tree in the living room, clutching the back of his neck with one hand while dragging his fingernails across the cold marble floor. The white lights of the nativity scene doubled before his blurred vision as a sharp pain drilled directly into his skull.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, I cannot see well,\u201d Agustin gasped, struggling to catch his breath.<\/p>\n
His father, Dr. Edmund Mulligan, head of Neurology at Saint Mary Medical Center, did not bother to kneel down and check on him. Instead, he pulled out his phone and stepped back to capture the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust look at him,\u201d Edmund said, focusing the lens on his son from above. \u201cHe even went pale just to make his little act look completely real.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary let out a short, cold laugh while she carefully arranged the crystal glasses on the dining table. \u201cPost it in the family group chat, Edmund. Write that the award for best actor goes to our lazy son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agustin heard the camera shutter click again, and a few seconds later, his phone vibrated inside his pocket. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents instantly responded with laughing emojis, applause, and comments that hurt far more than his physical headache.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat boy needs a good wake up call,\u201d one aunt wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow creative of someone who just does not want to study for his exams,\u201d a cousin added.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo wonder he will never get into medical school with that attitude,\u201d his grandfather commented.<\/p>\n
Edmund leaned over his son, the sharp reflection of his gold wristwatch blinding Agustin\u2019s eye. \u201cYou have three seconds to get up and go to your room to study. One\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, please, I feel like something is squeezing my head from the inside,\u201d Agustin pleaded, his voice trembling.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo\u2026\u201d Edmund continued without a shred of sympathy.<\/p>\n
Agustin gathered all his remaining strength, grabbed the armrest of the nearest chair, and managed to pull himself up. The entire room spun violently around him as his left leg failed to respond, though his parents did not even bother to look twice.<\/p>\n
In that grand mansion in Pacific Heights, illness was treated strictly as a moral failure. For Edmund and Mary, the human body obeyed willpower alone, meaning that if Agustin vomited it was just anxiety, if he fainted it was manipulation, and if he forgot a word it was a lack of discipline.<\/p>\n
What nobody in the family knew was that six months earlier, his parents had ordered an MRI scan for him. That very night, behind a gilded family portrait in Edmund\u2019s locked office, the official report remained hidden away from the world.<\/p>\n
The next morning, Mary barged into the room and ripped the heavy blankets off Agustin\u2019s bed. \u201cGet up right now because we are going to Mount Tamalpais, and a twelve mile hike will shake off that disgusting laziness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agustin had spent the early morning hours vomiting into the toilet, his left hand was completely numb, and the bright morning sunlight made him violently nauseous. \u201cPlease take me to the emergency room, I am just asking for a single test.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmund grabbed his jaw firmly, forcing Agustin to look him in the eye. \u201cI am a neurologist and your mother is an endocrinologist, so we are not going to make an embarrassing scene in front of our esteemed colleagues just because our son cannot handle the pressure of an entrance exam.\u201d<\/p>\n
They confiscated his phone, forced him into the SUV, and drove toward the mountain trails. During the steep climb, Agustin tripped over roots multiple times, while his parents walked behind him taking photos for social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmile for the camera,\u201d Mary ordered sharply. \u201cThis post will be titled Sunday of Health and Self Improvement as a Family.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the five mile mark, a sudden explosion of agony erupted at the base of Agustin\u2019s neck, and the green forest instantly disappeared behind a pitch black curtain. \u201cDad, I cannot see anything anymore,\u201d Agustin screamed in panic.<\/p>\n
Edmund completely lost his patience and threw his hands up in frustration. \u201cYou can stay right here by yourself, and when you finally get scared, you will miraculously regain your vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary hesitated for a second, looking back at her struggling son. \u201cWhat if he is actually telling the truth this time?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a master manipulator, so let us just keep walking,\u201d Edmund replied coldly.<\/p>\n
Agustin heard their heavy footsteps receding into the distance, and though he tried to scream for help, his heavy tongue refused to move. He fell sideways onto the damp dirt, feeling a strange tingling sensation creep up his arm and across his chest before his body burst into a violent seizure.<\/p>\n
His parents kept walking up the trail without turning around even once. As he slowly faded away among the towering pine trees, a hidden folder back at his house contained the absolute proof that they knew exactly what was happening inside his brain.<\/p>\n
PART 2<\/strong><\/p>\n Agustin woke up to the strong smell of antiseptic and the steady, rhythmic sound of a heart monitor ticking near his bed. A young nurse sitting beside him gently held his hand to comfort him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are at Highland General Hospital,\u201d the nurse explained softly. \u201cSome local hikers found you having a severe seizure on the trail and immediately called emergency services.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Agustin could answer, the door swung open, and his parents walked in with furious expressions rather than relief.<\/p>\n \u201cA cheap public hospital?\u201d Mary blurted out, disgusted as she scanned the crowded room. \u201cIf someone recognizes our family here, this will turn into an absolute public scandal.\u201d<\/p>\n Edmund grabbed the medical chart from the end of the bed. \u201cYou have received enough attention for one day, so we are signing the voluntary release form and taking you home immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had a massive seizure, Dad,\u201d Agustin whispered weakly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just an anxiety spasm caused by hyperventilation,\u201d his father replied without bothering to touch him. \u201cThese are completely nonspecific symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are not nonspecific at all, Doctor Mulligan,\u201d a calm voice interrupted from the doorway.<\/p>\n The man who entered was Dr. Raymond Pruett, a senior neurosurgeon who had previously worked with Edmund and was one of the few doctors willing to question his authority. He placed a set of brain scans onto the illuminated light board.<\/p>\n \u201cThis tumor is almost four inches long, and it is severely compressing the occipital lobe and part of the brainstem,\u201d Dr. Raymond Pruett stated firmly. \u201cIf those hikers had taken twenty more minutes to find him, your son would be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n Mary turned pale as she stared at the glowing images. \u201cThat must be a mistake from your lab.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Raymond Pruett pulled out another file and placed it next to the new scan. \u201cIt is no mistake, because I also found a previous study from six months ago in our system where the tumor measured less than an inch, and that report was sent directly to both of your personal email addresses, so why did you not operate?\u201d<\/p>\n The heavy silence in the room provided the answer long before anyone spoke a word.<\/p>\n Edmund gritted his teeth in irritation. \u201cThe complex surgery would leave a massive scar, and back then we had an important clinic promotional campaign, a magazine cover, and the annual winter gala coming up, so I thought we could manage the inflammation with heavy steroids and wait.\u201d<\/p>\n Agustin felt his physical pain vanish behind the crushing weight of that sudden confession. \u201cYou left me on that mountain knowing I had a tumor in my head?\u201d<\/p>\n Mary tried to step closer to his bedside. \u201cWe were going to schedule the procedure right after your entrance exams, because we only wanted to protect your future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you throw yourself on the floor again to ruin the Christmas photo, I swear we will leave you there until you learn how to behave,\u201d Dr. Mary Mulligan snapped, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-drama-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":514,"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions\/514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truenewsus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}