A Dysfunctional Family

Chapter 25

Alfred, Matt, and Francis ran through the hospital doors and to the lady at the desk.

"How can I help you?" she asked.

"Our very close friend was brought here. Can you tell us how he is?" Francis asked, being the most calm.

"Name?" the lady said turning to the computer.

"Arthur Kirkland." Alfred whispers.

She typed the name into the computer and waited for the search to come up.

"He was brought here about five minutes before you guys. Right now he's in the emergency room. They're trying to stabilize him." She said sadly.

"Thank you." Francis said.

"No problem. You can go the room over there and wait for a doctor." she said, pointing to an entry way.

Francis nodded and the three of them headed over to the waiting room. Inside were two other families, although none of them looked like they were there for super bad reasons. Francis led the boys to a secluded corner and they sat down. A few minutes later Alistor walked through some doors and looked around. Finally he saw the others and went over, sitting by Matt's side.

"Do you know anything?" Matt asked.

Alistor shook his head sadly, "All I know is that when I left they were stitching him up."

Matt nodded and fell quiet again.

They sat there for about an hour and a half before Matt's stomach rumbled. It was about 11:30 at night.

"Want me to make a vending machine run?" Francis offered.

Matt nodded.

"Alright." Francis said, standing up. 

He went to the other side of the room to the vending machine and bought some bags of chips and two water bottles. Then he went back over and handed out the chips, and sat down. They all opened their chips and started munching on them. 

"Alfred, aren't you hungry?" Alistor asked. 

Al shook his head silently. Matt and Francis were worried. They didn't want Alfred to stop eating again. 

"Come on Al, please." Matt asked.

Alfred just shook his head again. He really wasn't hungry, and he didn't think he could eat even if he had wanted too.

This made the others worry more. Al hadn't said a word since he told the lady Arthur's name, and before that since he called the ambulance. Francis just pulled the boy into his side and held him. Alfred leaned his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes. A minute later, soft snores came from him.

Alistor was confused. He didn't know why the other two were so worried. 

"Is there something going on that I don't know about?" he asked.

Francis and Matthew looked at each other, realizing that no one every told Alistor about Alfred. Francis sighed.

"A while ago we found out that Alfred was anorexic/bulimic. And whenever he's not hungry or doesn't want to eat it worries all of us. We just want to help." he explained.

"I don't want to sound rude, but why would Alfred do that to himself?" Alistor asked quietly.

"Us and the other nations used to make jokes about him and his eating habits. And I guess eventually Alfred just broke. We didn't realized he didn't know we were joking. And trust me, we feel terrible about it." Francis said, looking down.

This saddened Alistor. He couldn't be mad, because even though he wasn't present at all the meeting he had made the random comment sometimes.

"Family of Arthur Kirkland?" A voice called.

They all looked up. A doctor was standing in front of some doors. Francis gently woke up Alfred and they stood up and went to the doctor.

"How is he?" Alfred whispered.

The doctor looked sad. "We managed to stabilize him. He lost a lot of blood by the time he got here. We stopped the bleeding and stitched his arms up. That's the good news."

They all felt their hearts drop. "And the bad?" Alistor asked.

"He's in a coma."