Accidental Squip

Chapter Fifteen

Jeremy watched Michael pacing. It was dark outside when a nurse finally stopped Michael and informed the two what happened with Madison.
    "He had a brain aneurysm," said the nurse.
"Don't you usually die from that?" Jeremy asked.
"There is a 30 to 40 percent chance of the individual dying from a brain aneurysm," the nurse corrected. "Madison managed to pull through. Visiting hours have already ended, so you will have to come by tomorrow if you want to see him."
"But we have school tomorrow!" Michael protested. "I don't want to worry about my friend while graphing shit I don't care about."
The nurse chuckled. "I can't do anything about that. Come by tomorrow after school. Have a good night, you two."
Michael watched the nurse walk away before turning to Jeremy.
"That's not fair," he grumbled.
Jeremy, feeling like a responsible parent, patted Michael on the shoulder.
"I know it isn't, but let's not make anything worse by staying," he said. "Let's just go home, sleep, and we'll see Maddie in the afternoon."
Michael huffed but didn't argue any further. The two left the hospital, climbing into Michael's cruiser and drove home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    "Proceed."
    It was day three of the experiment, almost halfway done with the Squip's turning into a human being. He felt no pain, just the chair underneath him. He was surrounded by giant machines that hung from the ceiling. They looked like they would shoot out lasers. That's kind of what they did, but the Squip guessed they were creating nerves and bones instead of injuring him. Red and blue lasers moved slowly, covering every square inch of his body. The Squip was ready to leave, but he wasn't going to stop now. He was doing this for Madison.
    Madison. What was this doing to him? How much was the Squip hurting him right now?
    "Squip C1944?"
    The Squip opened his eyes. He saw Doctor Katsuro standing over him. One of the machines had been pushed aside to make space for her.
    "The process is going smoothly," she informed. "Your nerve and bone creation will be completed soon and we will have to connect you to several more machines to keep you alive."
    The Squip nodded the best he could in his lying down position. Satisfied, the doctor moved away and back to the control board. She directed a few of the other doctors to retrieve the other needed equipment. They nodded and left the lab. Doctor Katsuro turned back to her clipboard and took a deep breath. She prayed nothing went wrong.
    As a half human and half machine, the Squip too hoped nothing would go wrong. He especially hoped it because of Madison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Michael and Jeremy stepped into the hospital just as three nurses and a doctor rushed passed them in the direction of Madison's room. Looking at each other in panic, the two grabbed onto each other's hand and followed them.
    "What's going on?" Michael demanded once they approached Madison's room.
One of the nurses turned around. "You shouldn't be here right now."
Jeremy grabbed onto his boyfriend's shoulders in order to stop him from attacking the nurse just trying to do her job.
"Like hell we can't be here! Madison's our friend!" Michael spat.
"Mikey, calm down," Jeremy murmured.
"I won't calm down until I know what's going on!"
The nurse sighed and held up a finger. She stepped inside the room for a moment before returning to the two boys. She led them away from the room and into a quiet corner.
"I'm not supposed to be sharing this information right this moment, but I've seen you guys here for the past few days and I know how worried you are about your friend." The nurse took a breath before continuing.
"We found something implanted in Madison's brain; it looked like a pill of some sort. The pill appeared to have some sort of machine in it. From an x-ray we took yesterday, this pill exploded, causing the 'brain aneurysm'. Madison might not have even had a brain aneurysm, but was instead affected by this pill exploding."
Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows. A pill in Madison's brain? How could that have been placed there?
Something clicked in Jeremy's mind, but he wasn't sure he wanted to believe it. Madison went through sudden changes with his appearance. Not so much with personality, though there had been slight alterations. The sudden appearance of Eric (but Squip's were invisible to others?) It sounded awfully a lot like a Squip to Jeremy.
"Jerry? Are you okay? Earth to Jeremy."
Jeremy shook his head, clearing his mind. Michael was waving a hand in front of his face. He and the nurse were looking at him in concern.
"Hey, sorry. I'm fine," he said, giving a light smile. "What were you saying?"
The nurse returned the small smile. "I said that Madison will have to undergo surgery to remove the pill. If we don't, he may not survive."
Jeremy nodded grimly and thanked the nurse. The nurse nodded and walked back to the room where the other nurses and doctors were crowding in Madison's room. Michael led Jeremy to the waiting room.
"Hey, what happened back there?" Michael asked.
"Nothing, nothing, just..." Jeremy wasn't sure if he should tell Michael.
"Go on, Jerry," Michael encouraged.
Jeremy sighed and nodded. "I don't want to believe it, but you remember when I had a Squip last year?"
Michael frowned. "I hope you aren't implying-"
"No no no!" Jeremy interrupted. "Well, I might be. But it makes sense, doesn't it? Madison suddenly changed his style of clothing, cut his hair, suddenly came out as male again, not that I'm saying that has anything to do with it. Then there's Eric-"
Michael held up his hands to stop Jeremy from rambling. "Calm down, man. What does Eric have to do with this?"
"Well I'm not saying Eric has anything to do with this but I'm just saying-"
Michael covered Jeremy's mouth with his hand. "Okay. Look. Madison would never get a Squip, we both know that. He is - and was - perfectly fine with himself. Maybe he just decided to change a bit because he felt like it, and you know that he was questioning again. He finally came to terms that he was fine as a male and he just confused for a while. I doubt a Squip has anything to do with that."
Jeremy laid his head on Michael's shoulder. "I thought I was the responsible one that thought realistically."
Michael pet Jeremy's hair, smoothing down any that stuck up. "We can take turns if it makes you feel better. We're both worried about Madison. Let's just let the doctors remove that thing in his brain and we'll have our friend back, okay?"
Jeremy nodded.
"Hey..." he said after a moment.
"Hmm?" Michael responded.
"We haven't called Madison's parents yet."
Michael stopped petting Jeremy's hair. "Shit, you're right."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Doctor Katsuro pulled on a pair of rubber gloves.
"Are all organs prepared?" she asked.
Her assistant nodded in reply.
"Good. Let's start the surgery."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where is my baby!?"
Michael, Jeremy, and George Harper followed Teresa Harper into the hospital, embarrassment clear on their faces from the mother's loud entrance.
The receptionist at the front desk looked up calmly, obviously used to people's worried outbursts when it comes to their family member in the hospital. She seemed to recognize Michael and Jeremy.
"Ah, I'm guessing you're here for Madison Harper?" she asked.
"Yes, we are," Teresa confirmed.
"You're relationship to the patient?"
"I'm his mother, he's his father," she told him, pointing to herself then to her husband standing behind her with Michael and Jeremy.
The receptionist nodded and typed something into her computer.
"Your son is currently undergoing surgery," she told them. "I'm afraid you will have to wait. I would suggest coming back tomorrow or the day after, though he won't be awake."
Mrs. Harper shook her head vigorously. "I'm staying right here until I get to see my son."
The receptionist shrugged. "Go ahead."
Teresa spun on her heel, found a empty seat next to the window and planted herself there. Her husband, Michael, and Jeremy glanced at each other and followed suit, sitting themselves in an empty seat and did what everyone else in the room was doing: wait. 
Twenty minutes or so passed by. Jeremy felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He slipped out the device and checked the screen. He had a text from Rich. Why was Rich texting him?

Rich: Hey, ur probably wondering why im texting you
Jeremy: Yes, very much so
Rich: Ya well jake noticed that you and micheal keep driving to the hospital and since madison hasn't been at school we were thinking he was there. Is that tru?

    Michael leaned over to see who Jeremy was texting.
    "He spelled my name wrong," he murmured.
    Jeremy gave Michael a light nudge. "He doesn't know how to spell his own last name, cut him some slack."

    Jeremy: yea, madison is in the hospital. Why do you care?
    Rich: hey! Im just being a nice friend and checking up on my own friends
    Jeremy: since when were we friends?
    Rich: come on now Jerry. Just enjoy this once in a lifetim moment

    Jeremy rolled his eyes.

    Jeremy: whatever. If you were for some reason thinking about visiting madison, he's undergoing surgery right now. Come back another time
    Rich: well thats kind of to bad bc me and jake are already here

    Jeremy and Michael looked up and saw Rich with his rooster hair and Jake the Giant with his crutches. They waved from the door and walked over to them. Rich helped Jake sit down before plopping down next to him.
    "Heya, Boyf and Riends," Rich greeted. 
    Jeremy and Michael glared at the smaller boy. Jake gave him a shove and Rich put up his hands in surrender.
    "Aight, I'm sorry," he apologized, grinning at the same time. "How's Madison doing, since that's why we're here anyways."
    "Well, the doctors thought that he had a brain aneurysm, but it turns out he had some kind of pill with a machine in it implanted in his brain which exploded," Michael explained.
    Rich frowned and made eye contact with Jeremy. Jeremy knew he was thinking the same thing.
    "Oh. That's weird," Rich said quietly. "A pill, huh?"
Michael nodded. Rich ran a hand over his arm where one of his burn scars were. Jake took notice and placed a hand on Rich's shoulder.
The four boys went silent; Rich leaning into Jake, Michael and Jeremy sitting awkwardly, not wanting to ruin the moment for the other couple. After a little bit, Rich whispered in Jake's ear, to which Jake nodded.
"Do you guys mind if we stay with you guys while you wait?" Rich asked. "We can always move somewhere else if you don't want us next to you-"
Jeremy interrupted. "No, you're fine. We appreciate the company."
Rich grinned. "Cool."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The surgeon snipped the thread of the last stitch and placed the bloody tools on the table. She carefully slipped off her gloves and sat back in her chair. Doctor Katsuro stood beside the surgeon, watching intently.
"The procedure is complete," said the surgeon.
Doctor Katsuro nodded seriously. "No complications?"
"No."
The doctor grinned. "Fantastic. Thank you."
"Of course." The surgeon stood up and bowed her head, then turned on her heel to wash herself and change out of her now messy uniform.
Doctor Katsuro checked over the body of the once-Squip-now-human body, taking a few notes on her clipboard. She turned around to announce to the other doctors that everything had been a success, but she was interrupted by a long beep from behind her. The doctor turned in horror to see that on the heart monitor was a single line, indicating the new heart placed in the Squip's body had stopped beating.