The Price of Three Fingers Chapter 1

During the hardest, poorest year of my life, I intentionally crushed two of my fingers in a factory machine to pay for my grandmother's $30,000 surgery.

The factory owner frowned, his face etched with genuine pain, and offered me $80,000 in compensation. Guilt-ridden, I only accepted the $30,000 I needed.

Years passed. Grandma has long since left this world.

Then I saw the news trending on X (Twitter). That factory had burned to the ground.

The owner died of a "heart attack." His wife vanished without a trace.

Their twelve-year-old son was sent to foster care.

Looking at the helpless, terrified eyes on my screen, I poured the pills I was about to swallow down the drain.

Fine... let's live one more time.

For the sake of that thirty grand.

* * *

Even after all these years, whenever I look at my severed fingers, a wave of guilt washes over me.

But if I went back, I know I'd do it again.

Because back then, I truly had nowhere else to turn.

Grandma found me by a dumpster in a snowstorm. If not for her, I would have frozen to death on that bitter night.

She got stomach cancer. The doctor said surgery and follow-up treatment would cost at least $80,000.

We sold everything—our dilapidated studio apartment, the worthless furniture—everything we had.

It only amounted to $50,000.

We were still short $30,000.

"Don't treat it, Tara. I've lived long enough. I can't let you sleep on the streets for me," she said.

I shook my head.

"I'd rather sleep on the streets than live without you, Grandma. We... we have to treat it."

Grandma held me in her arms, her sighs mixed with sobs. We cried together.

It was a desperate, freezing night.

We both knew that $30,000 was an astronomical figure for us. Where could we possibly scrape that together?

Grandma had no family. She only had me.

But I... I didn't have the money to save her.

However, at nineteen, I had infinite guts and courage to face any difficulty!

When I shoved my fingers into the rapidly spinning gears, the pain nearly made me black out.

But in the panicked eyes of my coworkers, I saw hope.

Grandma could be saved!

It was the only door I could open for her.