Tom Daley: Mr. Perfect

Chapter 18: Going in where? Operating how?

I curled up on my uncomfortable chair in the police station for a little while, until Tom didn't come back for 10 minutes... And I panicked.

The tears came back. Where is he?

I stood up. "What are you doing?" Kris asked.

"He's been gone too long. We have no idea what they're doing to him right now." I answered.

As hard as I could, I pulled on the doorknob, but they locked us in. Rachel came up and hugged me, then Kris joined.

"It will be okay." Kris whispered, in a way that surprisingly reminded me of Tom.

Out of no where, the door opened. "You all may be excused." A different police man said.

"WHERE'S TOM!" I yelled.

"He requires further examination, and won't be out for a while."

I stared at him in unbelief.

Rachel nudged me out the door.

"TOM?" I yelled. It was quite for a minute. Everyone was staring at me. "TOM??" I yelled again.

"ZOEY!!" Came a faint reply. I sprinted after the sound of his voice.

"STOP!" Kris yelled. PSH, why listen to him!!

I practically crashed into the door where Tom was still yelling my name. I swung open the door, and didn't' even see inside before the police grabbed me.

When I looked back, I saw a glimpse of him laying on a counter with a mask over his face, as he went unconscious.

"Stop!! What are they doing!!!!" I screamed.

Then I was pushed out the door and told not to come back.

****

Later that day I found myself in my dorm. There was a pile of homework next to me, but I decided to stare at the ceiling instead and think.

Thinking is good.

No, thinking isn't good. It just made me sad.

Because all I could think about was Tom.

I was thinking so deeply that I almost didn't notice my phone was ringing.

"Hello?" I said in a monotone voice.

"Zoey!" My mom's voice answered. "I need to tell you something... Wait, you don't sound very good, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I replied.

"No you're not. Tell me what happened."

I sighed. It felt like I had told this story a hundred times. Since she was my mom, I started with the fight, and proceeded to explain generic engendering and the fight and the lab and the police.

"I'm so sorry honey!" My mom replied. It was so sweet to hear her voice. She really cared about my problems.

I heard her take a deep breath. "Well it's interesting that both of our problems have to do with each other... There's something going on with Olivia."

My heart started pounding. "Mom, what happened?!?"

"You know we're running low on money because of college... I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were so against genetic engineering. They offered us a lot of money!"

"Just tell me what happened to Olivia!" I interrupted.

"They're trying to get rid of her autism using stem cells from embryos." She said quickly.

I paused for a minute. "Mom, I love you. I know this isn't your fault, okay? But do you know where she is right now? Do you know exactly what they're going to do to her!"

"She's at home!" My mom answered, and I sighed with relief. "Tomorrow she's going in. They're going to operate on her brain."

"Going in where? Operating how?" I said. "I want all the details!"

"The same hospital where we went after her appendix burst."

I made a horrible gasping/sobbing noise.

"Zoey?"

"Sorry mom... It's just..." I decided to simply tell her the truth. "That's where I met Tom."

"Oh! I'm so sorry!!" She stammered. "But they didn't explain the details about the surgery. Just that they're doing a small part of her brain to get rid of some of her autism, and if that works well they're do a larger part."

"Do you really want their to change? I love Olivia just the way that she is." I snapped.

"Well we need the money now more than ever. And she has always wanted to be normal. But I promise you I love Olivia so much!"

I sighed again. "I'll be over in an hour. Love you!"