Aphelion

Yike. When you ask what's the worst that can happen, there's supposed to be a limit ...

Yes, it's quite well done ... just awfully dismal.

You've done the most important thing, which is to make the reader care about the character. And, with your countdown, you've gotten the reader to hope that this character can escape his predicament and find his way to a better life--

--and then, he loses it all, and degrades himself in the process.

No happy ending here, but it's a good piece of work.