by Lola StVil
“Ask your teammate, she’s a Healer.”
We all turn to face Key. She nods sadly and her eyes fill with tears.
“So what happens if we don’t give him the Gayle and he doesn’t wake up within an hour?” Aaden asks.
“He won’t wake up at all,” the Healer says.
Aaden looks over at me desperately. East and Swoop exchange frantic looks. The Healer addresses us with a kind but urgent voice.
“I’m sorry, but we need to know right now, should we give your father the Gayle or take a chance that he will wake up on his own within the next hour?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: LIFE-SCAN
“You have to let him take the Gayle,” Key argues.
“What? He can’t be without his power, Key. Do you have any idea how many demons would line up to kill him if they know he’s helpless?” Swoop says.
“So what? We would have to find a way to protect him but at least he’d be alive,” Key counters.
“That’s crazy! You can’t take your father’s powers away, Silver,” East says.
“It’s better to be powerless than dead,” Key says.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Randy replies.
“What does that mean?” Key asks.
“You were born with powers. You have no idea what it will be like for Rage. He won’t be able to live in your world anymore. Seriously, what’s a demon gonna do without powers? Work at the mini-mart?” Randy pushes.
“Why are you so power hungry, Randy? Power isn’t everything,” Key says.
“Yeah, because you twins have it. You’re like super powered and have like a million abilities. Take it from someone who has no power at all, it sucks,” Randy replies.
“This is just stupid. We can’t let him die. We have to give him the Gayle,” Key says.
“You can’t make that decision for him,” Randy insists.
“There’s no decision to be made. When you love someone you do whatever it takes to keep them alive,” Key reminds us.
“You’d probably make a stronger argument if you didn’t try to kill your boyfriend,” East jokes.
“Really, Easton? This isn’t the time!” Key says.
“He’s just trying to lighten the mood, Key, chill,” Swoop replies.
“Everything is always a joke to you two,” Keys says.
“We don’t need a lecture now. Why don’t we postpone it for when East and I start to care what you think,” Swoop counters.
“Guys, we need to be focused here. Rage can’t function without his powers,” Randy adds.
“He was a human before he became a demon. He can go back to being a regular being,” Key says.
“Are you on something? Rage can’t just go back to a normal life,” East says.
“Why are you and Randy so sure that having no power is a bad thing?” Key asks.
“The Healer said it’s a side effect. Have you ever heard of a ‘good’ side effect?” East asks.
The team continues to bicker among each other. They argue passionately because they all care so much about Uncle Rage. Even Randy, who doesn’t know him that well, wants him to be okay. Uncle Rage is like that relative that will always tell you the truth. He’s brutally honest and never holds back.
Surprisingly enough, the angel that has the most to lose in all of this hasn’t said anything. I look over at Aaden. We don’t speak or join in the argument. We simply look over at each other and exchange a look of utter sadness. There is no good option here.
“I hate to interrupt at this most sensitive time but we really do need a decision, Mr. Case,” the Healer says to Aaden.
We all turn to look at him. The room crackles with tension and anticipation. The Healer calls out Aaden’s name, but he doesn’t reply. He just looks over at me with a tortured look on his face as he rakes his hand through his hair.
“Mr. Case, what’s it going to be? We really are running out of time,” the Healer implores.
Aaden doesn’t say anything; instead he rushes out the back door.
“Just give us a few minutes,” I tell the Healer as I run out after Aaden.
******
I find him out back leaning against the hood of a supply truck with his hands shoved inside his pockets. I walk over to him slowly without the slightest idea of what to say. He looks at me and shakes his head before I say anything.
“I can’t go back in there, Pry, I can’t.”
“Aaden—”
“No! I can’t make this decision; I won’t,” he swears.
“I can’t begin to understand what you’re feeling, but Aaden, you don’t have a choice.”
“The last time I talked to him, I hung up on him. He was getting on me about coming home and I hung up on him. That’s the last moment I had with him. What kind of asshole would do that to his own father?”
“Our parents expect us to mess up; it’s the circle of life. They drove their parents crazy and now it’s our turn. You don’t have to worry about that. Uncle Rage knows you love him.”
“I’m not ready to let him go; I’m not.”
“I know and you may not have to,” I remind him.
“I can’t let him take the Gayle,” Aaden replies.
“You think he’d be too vulnerable without his powers?” I ask.
“It’s not that. If the mixture just took away his powers, that I could deal with. I would spend my whole life protecting him if that’s what it takes. The problem is the mixture takes away memory. The only thing my father has left is memories of my mom. And if that goes away it’s like he lost her twice, and he can’t survive that.”
“He won’t know that he loved her,” I reply.
“But I’ll know. I’ll know what he lost and I can’t do that to him, Pry. I can’t take her away from him. I just…I can’t.”
I take both his hands in mine and look into his eyes. I put aside my own fears of how this will turn out and speak to Aaden in a reassuring and certain tone.
“Then don’t give him the Gayle. Let your father fight to stay alive. He can do it. He’s faced death many times and he can do it again. Your father loves you more than anything in the world--that much I know. And if dying means leaving you alone, he’ll fight like hell to stay. Give him a chance. Have faith in him.”
“What if he doesn’t make it? Pry, what if…”
“Stop it! Your father’s a damn Akon. He’ll make it through this. Your father fought my dad and nearly killed him. He’s a strong, stubborn, pigheaded demon, and he will not die,” I promise Aaden.
“He is stubborn. I wanted to go to this summer flight program a few years back and they didn’t let demons enter. He threatened to incinerate everyone and everything if they didn’t let me in. Still they refused to let me in. So every day he stood outside the arena with a fireball ready to launch. He didn’t fire so they couldn’t restrain him, but having a demon standing outside was really bad PR. They thought he’d get tired of it, but my dad went to the arena for six weeks straight until they finally let me in.”
“My mom told me about the times they used to go on missions together. She said he was extremely powerful. And even though he could be a tool, he always had her back.,” I reply, smiling.
“On my first day of school, I got in trouble. My teacher called my dad and said, ‘Mr. Case, your son was caught cursing in class.’ My dad replied, “Damn it, where the fuck did he get that shit from?”
We both burst out laughing for several minutes. It felt so good to release some of the tension from the past few hours. We then grow quiet and slip into our own thoughts. When Aaden speaks a moment later, it’s more to himself than to me.
“He’s going to be okay. My dad will be okay,” he says quietly.
“Yes, he will be just fine,” I confirm.
“Tell me something, Pry,” he says, looking at me.
“Tell you what?”
“Something, anything. Better yet, tell me something I don’t know about you. Something I missed the year I was away,”
he requests.
“Um…okay…”
He patiently waits for my reply. I’m not sure why he’s asking, but my guess is he just wants a few seconds away from the torture of the current predicament.
“Okay, I’m only telling you this because you need a laugh but if you repeat this to anyone I will kill you,” I warn him seriously.
He nods, growing more curious by the second. I take a dramatic pause and make a painful confession.
“The first week I got to human school…I wanted to fit in…I mean it’s hard, you know?” I say to him.
“Stop stalling, what did you do?” he pushes.
“I tried out for cheerleading.”
I have never heard anyone laugh so loudly and so wholeheartedly before. I smile despite myself.
“I learned the routine but at the last minute I chickened out.”
He looks at me and flashes me a devious smile.
“No! I am not going to show you the routine,” I assure him.
“Please?”
“Aaden, no!”
He gives me these sad puppy eyes and I have no choice. I perform the quick routine as if I’m being forced to at gunpoint. He literally doubles over with laughter. I playfully push him and we embrace warmly—at first. Suddenly we realize just how close our bodies are and once again the sparks between us start to ignite. I take a step back; we both do.
We head back inside and find everyone waiting for us. Aaden goes over to the Healer and says he does not want his father to have the mixture. The Healer says it’s understandable and that we will now wait to see if the Akon can make it on his own…
*******
The Healer takes us into Uncle Rage’s room. He’s lying on the bed with different mixtures orbiting around him. They enter his body through his arms, legs, and wings.
“These mixtures are to monitor his progress. It feeds information to the Life-Scan,” the Healer says.
“What’s a Life-Scan?” Randy asks.
The Healer points to the purple football-sized orb that rotates just above Uncle Rage’s head. There’s a spark that spins throughout the orb in a complex pattern.
“The thing that’s spinning is called the Point. The faster it spins, the stronger the patient is getting,” the Healer says.
“It’s spinning now, so does that mean he’s getting better?” Swoop asks.
“No. On a healthy patient the Point spins so fast we can’t see it. The very fact that we can lay eyes on it means the patient is very ill.”
“But he can get better; it can speed up, right?” I ask.
“We hope so,” the Healer replies.
“Why is the color changing?” Randy asks.
“The Point in a Life-Scan judges the strength of the patient and the color of the Life-Scan denotes time remaining. When the hour is up, the color will be completely gone from the orb. We need the Point to start spinning around faster, before the orb turns completely grey.”
“So the Point tells us how strong Rage is and the color tells us how much time he has left?” Randy asks.
“Exactly.”
“So when the hour is up, if the orb is grey and the Point stops spinning, then…”
“Then it means my dad is dead,” Aaden replies, sounding exhausted and broken.
We make our way back out to the waiting room. The hour-long wait is unbearable. We all want to help Aaden, but we don’t know how. We just try and help in whatever little ways we can.
Swoop curls herself into a ball and rests on his lap. She reminds me of a cat sitting on her owner to reassure them that things will be okay. East brings Aaden a bottle of Coy, and for his demon side, Coy Dark. But Aaden isn’t in the mood to drink. Key keeps telling him facts about survival rates. She points out that demons tend to live really long lives and that Akons can outlive many angels.
Randy keeps getting him coffee even though he can’t drink it. He tells the team that bringing coffee is what humans do in a hospital room to keep themselves awake and also to have something to do.
Me, I don’t do anything. By that, I mean I just sit across from him and watch him. I could reach out and comfort him, but I think he knows he’s on my mind. Every once in a while he looks over at me and it’s as if everyone and everything else around us disappears.
Then he’ll break eye contact and look towards his father’s room. The Life-Scan continues to slow down and the purple is now fading to a soft lilac color. Uncle Rage is losing strength and running out of time.
Omnis has mercy on us in the middle of all the drama. The Healer comes out of Bex’s room and tells us that he is awake and will make a full recovery. We’re all relieved. Key looks over at Aaden. He signals to her that it’s okay if she goes to check on him. She says she doesn’t want to leave him, but he assures her that it’s okay for her to go.
All of us take turns visiting Bex. He can’t get out of bed but he makes us promise to tell Aaden that he doesn’t care what the Healer says; he’ll get out of bed if Aaden needs him.
Key relays the message and Aaden gives her a small smile.
Soon, however, the only thing Aaden sees is the orb. He is now fixated on it. It is still losing color and slowing down. I can tell nothing else exists in his world right now but that orb. He’s doing what I did when I lost my little brother—wondering what could have been done to save them. It’s a torture like no other thinking you failed the ones you love.
I go over and kneel down beside him, blocking his view of the Life-Scan. I place my hand on the side of his face and look deeply into his eyes.
“Hey, don’t look at the Life-Scan. Look at me. Look at me,” I say gently.
He looks into my eyes. And for the first time in a very long time, I see the boy I grew up with, the kid who laughed loudly and often. The angel who could win over the room with nothing more than his easy smile. I see the angel he was and should have been allowed to continue being.
“Mr. Case, we only have a few minutes left,” the Healer says, entering the waiting room.
“Is it too late to give him the Gayle?” Swoop asks.
“Yes, at this point it’s best to go in and say your good-byes. I’m sorry.”
Aaden slowly gets up and looks around at us. He then looks at his father through the window. The mighty Akon looks frail and weak in the midst of the various mixtures that surround him.
We all stand up beside Aaden and tell him we will go with him if he wants. He shakes his head “No.” Then he lowers his head and whispers something in my ear.
“Will you stay close?” he asks.
“Always,” I reply.
He reaches for the door handle but pauses. He looks back at me and I smile. I want to cry, but that would not help him right now. So I give him my most reassuring smile. He braces himself and enters his father’s room.
******
I enter the room just after Aaden in case he needs me, but I stay near the door so they can talk. I feel strange being here. They should be alone, but at the same time, I don’t know that I could say good-bye to my mom or dad alone. I would need someone there with me. No, not “someone,” I would need him…
Aaden pulls up a chair and sits beside his father. He looks around the room, hopeful that somehow he’ll know what to say, that the words will flow out of him freely and make things better. But no words come, at least not for a while. When Aaden finally speaks he sounds pained, and lost.
“Okay, so um…I guess I’m supposed to come here and say good-bye to you. I’m supposed to tell you that I love you and that I need you. Well, I’m not gonna say that.”
Aaden gasps as if the words are physically hurting him. He closes his eyes for a few moments then opens them again and continues.
“The truth is I am really pissed at you. You showed me that demons could love and be loved. Then you go and get hurt. How am I supposed to do this without you? You do not have my permission to go. So you better figure it out, Dad, you hear me, because I am not ready to lose you.”
; He looks over at the Life-Scan. The speed has reduced considerably and the color is steadily being drained from it. He then looks back at Uncle Rage’s still body with desperation.
“The thing is I owe you an apology--a really big one. I watched you grieve for my mom every second of every day and I thought ‘why can’t he just let her go?’ That’s because I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand that loving someone meant that you laughed when they laughed and that you hurt when they hurt. But Dad, I get it now. I found her. She’s…everything. If I lose her…I get it now.
