Trickster of the Butterfly

Chapter 12- Lots of Shock, A Little Awe

"Michael! Anak, anong problema?" Michael's mother ran outside. "Nurse! Nurse! Ezekiel tawagin mo yung nurse!" she shouted down the hallway.

The heart monitor was beeping at short intervals.

Michael was in shock, his heart was pounding and his sight was really blurry. He looked like he was going mad, scratching his dextrose injection, raking his fingers on the blankets and shaking his head wildly. His eyes darted from left to right across the room, frantically trying to see something through the haze that seemed to be blocking his vision.

A doctor and a nurse barged in to the room. They both attended to the panicking boy. The nurse stood at the ready with her syringe loaded with a sedative if it was necessary. His mother and brother Ezekiel went in and worriedly watched the doctor handle Michael.

"Michael, Michael," the doctor called out calmly and put one hand on Michael's shoulder and another lightly grasping his arm. "Look at me, look at me," Michael looked at him with wild eyes. "Good Michael. You are in a hospital right now. You are being treated and resting. You need to calm down," the doctor gently laid down Michael's head on his pillow.

Gradually, the heart monitor began to slow down, Michael's vision cleared, then he calmed down.

"Good, you're doing good, Michael," he gave a nod to the nurse and let go of Michael. "Mrs. Randelo," he turned to Michael's mother. "He's alright now. He might want to talk to you Ma'am, but take it slowly. We'll check back on him later. Just call if there's another emergency." The nurse and the doctor went out of the room.

Michael's father went in and his family comforted the boy.

"Ughhhhh..." Michael groaned. "Anong... Anong nayari?" he spoke groggily.

"Dinala ka ng mga kaklase mo sa school mo ng duguan, tapos sinugod ka sa ospital," Mr. Randelo said. "Binugbog at binaril ka raw ng isang gang, pero hinuli na sila. Buti na lang tinawagan kami ng mga kaklase mo kaagad, sumugod kami dito. Dalawang araw ka nang nasa coma."

"DALAWANG ARAW?!" Michael shouted in shock. He tried to get up but groaned in pain as he felt something sting in his left shoulder. Only then did he realize that under his hospital gown, he had bandages wrapped around his shoulder.

"Ingat anak, bagong opera ka pa lang," Mrs. Randelo helped Michael lie back down again.

Ezekiel, Michael's youngest brother, just sat on the chair beside the bed, staring at his injured older brother like he was a scary specimen.

"Pray muna tayo," Mrs. Randelo bowed her head and the rest followed.

"Lord, thank You so much that Michael is safe and recovering. Thank You for his friends who got him to safety and carried him all the way to the school. Bless them as they are in school today. Lord, Your healing and sovereignty over the incident are all by Your grace, and Your love is the reason why Michael had survived. May there be full healing upon Michael and may he not miss any big quiz as he misses school for today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen," she looked at Michael and smiled warmly.

"I-hug natin si kuya Michael," she pulled Ezekiel and Mr. Randelo to a group hug.

"Ow ow ow! Guys, guys!" Michael whimpered.

"Ay sorry, yung sugat mo pala," Mr. Randelo said then they broke the hug.

Michael saw a mirror at the table by the bed and took it. He saw that his face had bruises and an abrasion on his left cheek.

"Tapang nga ng kaklase mo eh. 'Alora' ba 'yun? Kuwento nga niya binalikan ka pa niya tapos kinalaban pa niya yung mga gangster," Mrs. Randelo praised.

Michael recalled that night. He remembered Alora trying to fight off the goons with her kung fu skills.

"Dang, that girl's got guts," Michael said.

"Pero mas-cool si kuya Michael!" Ezekiel cut in. "Sinolo mo yung mga gangsters para makaalis si ate Hera at ate Alora!"

That terrifying night's events flashed before Michael's eyes. He saw the six goons being lifted in the air with his light tentacles, then smashing their heads to the ground. Michael remembered all the burning rage he had that night.

"Pero Mike ha," his father gently put his hand on Michael's shoulder, "wag mong susubukang lumaban sa gangster ulit ha. Di namin alam papano mo man sila natalo, pero dapat tumakbo ka na lang."

That got Michael thinking. He was running, but those guys were just too fast. And he couldn't just sit back while his friend was in trouble, he let his anger get the best of him. For a moment, Michael felt a little guilty for knocking out the goons, but then he remembered they wounded Alora.

"Gutom ka na ba Michael? Baba muna kami, bili kami ng pagkain para sa 'yo. Pahinga ka lang diyan ha," Mrs. Randelo said.

The three of them left Michael to buy from Mcdonald's at the ground floor.

Michael was left to wonder about his dream.

Three scenes.

The first one looked like him, in the strangely slow-falling rain, mourning and regretting hurting a friend or something. The Voice had said something about misusing his gift. Why was he in the middle of the street that looked like the one where his house was? That vision bothered him.

The second scene was with the boy and girl with the obscured faces. The boy's voice sounded like his own, but he wasn't sure since the boy's voice broke as he spoke, like he was on the brink of crying. The clothes, though, were definitely his. The girl was even harder to figure out. She was crying as she spoke, making it really hard to identify. He knew a couple of girls with a thin frame and snow white skin, so those didn't narrow down who she was. He didn't know anybody with that kind of fashion style either.

It couldn't be his girlfriend, no, he firmly decided he wasn't going to get into that level of relationship until he was finished with his studies and he was mature enough to support the right girl and marry her.

Whoever that girl was, he wondered in guilt why in the world would he ask her to stay away from him without a single explanation. He considered himself a ginormous jerk for doing that. He would also be a jerk for somehow ruining that girl's life.

Now there was the third disturbing scene. The deep and sinister voice who threatened to rip the sun apart. Michael has read enough comics and manga to figure that there is a supervillain out there, with powers like him. This guy apparently has the means to wipe out the entire solar system... now that could be bad.

That last scene made him shudder. How could he beat that smoky giant? Snap his fingers and blow him away with rainbow blasts? Maybe those could work, but he'll need more than one Super Rainbow Fluffy Power Shockwave to take a guy like that down, and that would exhaust him. He may also consider that the guy might be in outer space... yep, he's doomed.

However these visions will come to be, he had to be prepared.

Michael prayed for God's wisdom and strength to face these things soon.

Then his family came back, this time with his older brother and younger brother with them.

"Uyy Michael! You done cutting classes?" Dane, his older brother, teased.

"Ay, injured ka diba? Hindi muna siya pwede kumain ng cheesebuger, so sakin na lang!" Shane, his younger brother, joked.

"Anong connect nun?" Ezekiel said to Shane.

Michael grinned.
"Please guys, this is nothing. I'm Superman remember?"

Then they all ate and had fun.

"Maybe my brothers could annoy that guy to death," he thought.