18th Birthday

8 - "A Mischievous Guard"

Ian was shocked with what he heard, but that didn’t satisfy his curiosity and insisted, “Don’t just give me figures dad. I can’t understand that.”

“10% is 10 steps closer to impossible. There are potential donors, but each of them must undergo a screening process.” The doctor explained and showed him a list of patients in a vegetative state confined in the hospital and then he added, “Besides, we also need the permission of the relatives…”

Ian scanned through the list and didn’t read any familiar names. His father sighed in exhaustion and said, “We don’t have much time left, Ian.”

He sighed as he looked up on his father with a serious look in his face and asked, “What can I do, dad?”

His father faintly smirked at him, pats his head, and asked him back, “You really like Evon, don’t you?”

He saw how embarrassed his son looked at that time but saw an unwavering determination brought by his honest love and added, “Convince those families. Have at least two donors for screening.”

Without any further questions, Ian dashed out from the office and began visiting the patients in the list. In the middle of running, he thought, (How am I going to start?)

He ran through the hallway and passed by a vending machine where Dorothy stood and was about to buy a drink. She noticed him, waved her hand and called, “Over here, Ian!”

However, Ian was too focused on his thought to notice her. She was kind of pissed at him for ignoring, but it made more curious of what he was up to. She tried catching up to him, but he was too fast for her, so she wondered, “That guy… how can he run so fast inside a hospital?”

Still clueless about Dorothy following him, Ian reached the fourth floor, looked at the list on his hand and read, “Arnold Newton, huh?”

And then, he stood in front of a deluxe room occupied by that patient he mentioned and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

*knock* knock*

No one seemed to have heard Ian’s knock several times and he noticed the door wasn’t locked.

“That’s strange…” he wondered as he twisted the door knob and saw no other people inside except the patient himself who was properly dressed with the proper equipment to stay alive.

However, just as Ian’s father said, he’s a brain-dead patient. Later at that time, he realized, “Being physically alive means nothing without conscious mind.”

While observing the patient, he heard footsteps coming from the door. It was of a boy of his age. Wondering what Ian was doing, the boy approached him and asked, “What are you doing to gramps?”

Ian scanned through the list again, looked at the boy and said, “You must be his grandson, Rico.”

Rico almost freaked out on how Ian knew his name, and then he pointed out a finger at him and accused, “You’re a stalker, aren’t you?”

Ian tried to explain his side of the situation, “No, no.. I’m no stalker. I’m here to…”

But Rico interrupted and said, “Liar!”

He tried to persuade Rico to listen, but the boy kept insisting not to. He raged as he saw what Ian was holding and added, “You… are you trying to kill gramps?”

Technically, the boy has a point. However, Ian had to explain the details, “You see Rico..I’m asking this patient’s relatives’ permission to have his heart examined for a transplant operation.”

Rico cried and became furious with what he said and scolded him, “First, my parents almost abandoned gramps financially because he had no chance of regaining consciousness. Now you’re asking permission to kill him?!”

He continued ranting until such time that he dragged Ian outside the room, and then slammed the door. Slowly crying, he squat down and leaned on the door and talked to his grandfather, “Why are they like this, gramps? If only you didn’t save me from that time…”

Ian eavesdropped on what the boy said and thought, (I forgot the most important part of convincing Rico. It’s to ask “How did he end up like that?”)

He decided to give Rico some time to cool down and went to see and try convincing the relatives of the other patients. At the end of the day, in his four attempts to ask permission, they all refused to heed his call including Rico.

As he was about to go down through the elevator, he stopped by Mr. Newton’s room and saw a doctor come inside. He grabbed that time as a chance to eavesdrop on the upcoming conversation. Inside the room, Rico asked the doctor about the status of his grandfather.

“Your parents called me a while ago and said they will come to sign the waiver.”

Rico didn’t understand what the doctor meant so he asked, “What waiver, doc?”

The doctor handed out the waiver to Rico and explained, “That’s a waiver containing an option for us, doctors, to not further resuscitate the patient.”

He wasn’t familiar with the term, but he felt uneasy upon hearing it and asked, “Resuscitate?”

So the doctor discussed the term further, “To resuscitate means to revive immediately when the patient is approaching death. However in this situation, your parents are setting Mr. Newton free from being bedridden for 15 years.”

The doctor’s words echoed inside his mind, and then he thought, “That’s right… it’s been 15 years since that time…”

*START OF FLASHBACK*

Rico was with his grandpa all the time since his parents work abroad. At that time, when they were walking at the streets, a young boy carelessly crossed the road.

A car was about to dash through the boy at great speed. It was his grandpa’s habit to save little boys in Rico’s age, so the grandpa warned the boy, “Watch out!”

And then, he dashed forward as if he wasn’t a man of an old age, grabbed the little boy and brought him to safety. The little boy cried and thanked the old man for saving him. The old man checked if he was really alright and asked, “You are not hurt anywhere, are you?”

The little boy nodded and went home. Rico then approached his grandpa and asked, “Gramps, why do you like saving people?”

The old man smiled and answered, “My grandson… I want to show the people around the world that being a hero doesn’t have to bear super powers. It only takes a good heart to be one.”