Absolute Zero

Chapter Six

6

The next live feed ran as follows:

Now the view was of Mordecaii in a hospital room, lying in a bed with IVs in his arms. No one was there except for Emilio. But then, a man came rushing into the room; it was Mordecaii's English teacher, Mr. McAvery, or Edmund. The "camera" swiveled about to see his face. Telling by the tearstains on his cheeks and red about his eyes he had been crying, and his expression said that he would be doing so again soon. "Oh my gosh... Mordecaii, my dear boy!" He cried. Falling into the closest chair by the bed, he took Mordecaii's hand- Emilio was on the opposite side of the bed holding the other- and began crying again. Emilio looked up briefly, eyes also red and puffy. It was like this for a while, until the doctor came in. When he did, he was taken aback to see only two people at his patient's bedside. "Hello, I'm Doctor MacMillen," Turning to Edmund, he asked, "are you Mordecaii's father?"

Edmund looked up. "Oh, uh, no, I'm his English teacher, Edmund McAvery,"

Eyebrows raised, he turned to Emilio. "What about you? Are you his brother, cousin?"

"... I'm actually not sure what I am to him, doc. Definitely not a friend," Emilio answered crypticly.

The doctor whispered under his breath with high eyebrows, "Oooookay," as he lowered his head to his charts. "Well, from what it says here, the dosage and amount of medicine he took should have killed him, but I guess he was more tolerant to it somehow and he didn't die. However, he is in a coma, which is strange for suicide attempts of this type-"

"Wait a moment, did you just say 'suicide attempt'?" Edmund interjected.

Dr. MacMillen raised his eyes to him without moving his head. "... Yes, I did. This was a suicide attempt, Mr. McAvery, now may I continue?"

"Ye-yes, of course, terribly sorry,"

Returning to his papers, Dr. MacMillen went on, "However, the coma doesn't appear to be permanent, or to have caused any damage to his brain, so we expect him to make a full recovery in a couple of weeks or so."

Flipping the page up, he frowned, "It's strange, though," He turned the page again, "his DNA is remarkable; he has feline genes in his own, and his brain activity... I've never seen anything like it. His optical center alone... extraordinary,"

He walked out, mumbling to himself as he reread the charts. Edmund and Emilio weren't paying attention; they appeared too absorbed in their own thoughts and sadness.

It was about eleven at night when Edmund started in his chair angrily. "This is absolutely ridiculous; where in the bloody hell are his parents? It is after eleven in the bloody PM!" Taking out his laptop from his bag, Edmund went to his teacher page and searched up contact info for Mordecaii. The camera zoomed in to his face as he dialed Mordecaii's mom's number into his mobile phone. It could be heard ringing. After the fifth ring, it went to voicemail. "Yes, hello, Mrs. Malestoun, this is Mordecaii's English teacher, Mr. McAvery. I don't know if the hospital has left you a message yet, but I am afraid Mordecaii has tried to commit suicide, and I am with him in the hospital now. The hospital is Providence in downtown Everett. Please come at once. Goodnight." Edmund hung up. Next was his stepfather, Andrew. It rang once, and then went to voicemail. "Don't leave me a message because I won't get back to you. I don't care if someone died, I'm in Hawaii." Was Andrew's voicemail message, and it sounded like he meant it. Regardless, Edmund left him a message, the same one as Mrs. Malestoun. The only other contact number was Amber, Mordecaii's sister. Edmund figured this one had to work, since, after all, it was his sister. He called, and on the second ring she answered. "What?" She asked. TV noise was in the background.