Shape Shifter

Chapter 8- Vanish

Kevin lays trembling on the operating table. The surgeons bustle around, preparing for the task ahead.

“Dad, I can’t do this.” He gasps.

Tyrus looks down at his terrified son and sees the terror in his eyes.

“I need you to be brave for me.” He squeezes his hand.

Kevin shakes his head in something that is neither a nod or a refusal. Sweat beads on his forehead.

“We are ready for the procedure. Please leave the room.”

Tyrus smiles sadly and walks away.

“Don’t let them do this!” Kevin screams from behind him.

“I need you to relax.” A nurse says in a soothing tone of voice.

“No!”

Tyrus keeps his shoulders squared and doesn’t look back. The door closes behind him.

Kevin’s screams reverberate through the silent halls. Tyrus walks quickly, knowing he cannot allow himself to turn around. Soon the yelling stops altogether.

He keeps walking.

Hours later he sits in the small room that has been converted to a waiting room just for this purpose. He stares at his clasped hands. The silence weighs on him as heavy as the thoughts on his mind.

Forcing Kevin to undergo the operation was the only choice he could have made considering the circumstances. The world is quickly becoming a dangerous place for those who have been touched by the disease. Protecting Kevin is the most important thing, no matter how either of them feel.

It is worth the risk of the operation failing.

No matter how he tries to convince himself of that, a deep uneasiness fills his chest. Being a potential target because of his work has honed instincts of knowing when things are not right.

Tyrus tells himself it is simply worry. A good sign, if you look at in from the angle of a concerned parent.

He checks his watch. Sighs. Looks up at the blank ceiling. The building bears a silence that is almost suffocating. For such an important research facility, there didn’t seem to be much going on within it’s concrete walls.

What kind of father would risk the death of their child to get rid of a defect?

No. It was not a defect. It was a curse. Living with the burden of such a heavy secret was not fair to ask of anyone.

It wasn’t selfish of him to ask this of Kevin. It was selfless. They were both sacrificing for a better future.

Thoughts travel in endless circles, taunting him, making him doubt his decision over and again. He checks his watch. An hour has passed when it felt like days. He wonders if they have forgotten about him.

Then a doctor walks into the room. His face is solemn. Tyrus rises to greet him.

“Mr. Starskye, I’m afraid we have some bad news. The operation was not successful. Your boy is dead.”

Tyrus looks at him with an empty stare.

“I’m sorry.” The doctor bows his head.

“D-dead? No, that can’t-”

“We did everything we could possibly to do save him.”

Tyrus clenches his hand into a fist and stares at it. Never once had he thought of what would happen if the operation failed. Either Kevin was dead or the man was lying.