by Jon Davis
Brand said, “Dude, that shouldn’t be a problem. If the doc’s therapy worked on us it should help other victims, right?”
Kirksten nodded slowly and smiled. “I’m happy to say that we’ve disseminated the information about the M-L therapy to everyone we could reach. As of this morning, I received a number of emails saying that it may prove successful on a larger scale. I’m hopeful.”
Hector gave a snort and said, “I had friends affected by that light burst Doc. I hope they got it in time. But, like it or not, Shaw caused deaths.”
Turning to look at me, he went on. “Vaughn, I’m sorry to say that Shaw’s stunt wasn’t the save it seemed like.”
Looking annoyed, Brand waved a hand to get Hector’s attention and said, “Uh, hello! He stopped a giant asteroid! No one else did it. I’ll take the miracle he pulled off anytime over certain death, thank you very much.”
Silence fell in the room for a moment, as that hit home in everyone’s mind. Sinclair shook his head and then turned to Brand. He said, “You’re right. Alex did save the world. If there are consequences, we'll deal with them one way or another. It’s not like we have much of a choice, after all.”
Hector said, “Brand, right now, people consider him a hero. And unfortunately, that means people will come after anyone who called him a friend. Including you two…”
Brand growled, and then said, “So not his friend! The guy was too weird! Vaughn was his bud, not me!”
I shook my head and said, “You two were always on edge with each other; I never figured out why.”
Brand shifted in his bed, sitting up a bit straighter. He said, “I don't know, man. Maybe it was because he was into comic books and science, and not car engines and racing like I am. And to be honest, I like girls, and how they move, and smell, and he liked guys and how they…oh, you get the idea!”
I joked, “Oh, that’s why you always took a shower twice before he came around…”
He flipped me off.
Dr. Kirksten looked at Brand and said, “Shaw was gay? That never came up in any of the stories I’d heard.”
Brand said, “Don’t know why you wouldn’t have heard. Shaw was always open about being gay. Hell, the guy had the hots for half the football team! And they knew it! Gym class with him was not a fun time!”
I gave him a slight shrug as I said, “It’s who he was, Brand. Alex was never ashamed of it."
I also didn't mention that I knew that a couple of the guys in gym class returned the feelings, though I wasn't sure if anything ever happened. It wasn't my business, after all.
I looked at Sinclair as I said, “I guess his entire life is going to be stripped down for public viewing now. They're going to bury us with questions, aren't they? What do we have to look forward to?”
He answered. “You two are going to have to tell people what you know.”
I sighed, “Oh, well…the glowy, fly up into the sky thing is going to be sort of hard to talk about. We don’t exactly know how he did that.”
Hector gave me a speculative look. He asked, “He never showed off, ever?”
I laughed and said, “We were comic fans! That’s it! If he had told me anything of the sort, I would’ve thought he was joking or talking about a comic story! Alex never told me he could fly! Or do anything else for that matter!”
Brand said, “Well, if you want, you could always ask your daughter, Chief.”
I winced. Brand got a hard look from Sinclair for that comment, but Brand went on anyway. He said, “What? I’d heard he was always hanging with Dana at the library. He was seen going into her house a few times with some red-headed guy.”
I had to give Brand kudos for that. He ignored Sinclair’s hard stare and just looked back at him with an equal challenge in his eyes.
After a moment, Chief Sinclair said, “That would be my son, Mr. Houseman. His name is Robert James, but everyone calls him BJ and has since he was two. And he was in California when Yama came. He’s all right, but that’s all I know. And as for my daughter, she didn’t have a clue about Shaw’s powers. Now, do you want to know anything else?”
The tone of the policeman's voice was a warning shot. I began to tell Brand to cool it down, but a cold feeling of dread started in my stomach as I realized that we were about to have worse problems. I looked at Brand. I knew he was going to hate this.
I said, “Uh, we don’t have to talk to reporters, do we? We only have to talk to the government—am I right? I mean, how pervasive is this whole Avatar thing? If it’s local, maybe Alex’s stunt was something that the government can cover up. I’m sure they don’t like having to explain the idea of a superhuman being existing. It doesn’t fit into their daily schedule. Maybe they can get YouTube to remove the videos, get a campaign to call it all CGI bullshit?”
Looking at Brand, I saw my mention of reporters had soured his expression considerably. Hector and Chief Sinclair laughed for a moment. Then, looking at me, Hector said, “Vaughn, I know you’re kidding, but seriously, it’s too late for anything like that. Even if we had kept our mouths shut, he was seen by what you could call an unimpeachable witness. And that went public five minutes after Shaw blew apart Yama!”
Sinclair sighed, “The International Space Station. The thing was in orbit above us, and the astronauts saw Alex.”
I dropped my head back to my pillow. I said, “Crap. I remember, they were recording where Yama would hit. They got it all didn’t they?”
Chief Sinclair said, “It’s a beautiful shot. In fact, you couldn’t write a better scene for a movie. You can even hear the astronauts tell each other it couldn’t be happening. But, glowing even brighter than what we saw when he took off, Alex flew up from Earth and went directly past the ISS. They followed him as he headed straight into Yama’s flight path. Boom. There’s a bright flash of light that split that damn rock into two pieces, and now we have Yama and Yami, with no sign of Alex.”
I didn’t say anything, but from the way he talked about Alex’s final act, I got the feeling that Chief Sinclair liked the guy. The tone of voice he had left me feeling tense. I didn’t want to deal with Alex’s loss right now.
To distract myself, I said, “Yama, that’s the Hindu God of death. Yami is the name of the Hindu Goddess of Death. And Alex is the Avatar who brings them into full being. Wow, talk about something being aptly named…”
The other three people in the room looked at me. Brand rolled his eyes at me and said, “Geek.”
I gave him a wry look and made a sarcastic comment, “Well it can’t be that he’s big, blue and a hybrid of a human and an alien, or that he’s some kid with an arrow tattoo running down his forehead.”
“Super Geek!” Brand retorted.
Hector laughed. Then, he said, “Vaughn’s right, though. That’s why they gave him the name. Even his father calls him that. Well, after he says how much he’s been devastated, by his son’s death.
Dr. Kirksten coughed. I looked at him, and he nodded towards my monitors. I glanced over and saw that my heart rate had sped up by more than a few beats at the mention of Alex’s father. I couldn’t help what I knew, or how it made me feel. Alex didn’t have a good family life. His mother, Claire, had divorced Brian Shaw some years ago, and then she had died. Alex had been placed with his father. Unfortunately, Brian Shaw remarried. And his second wife hated Alex. And Brian was cold towards Alex because he didn’t want to be reminded of his life with Claire.
Funny, I knew something as personal as that, but I had never had a clue about him being able to fly. Then again, maybe that was why he was so into comics about super heroes. Hmn…something to think about later. Right now, though, I said, “Okay. The government, yes. The news media, um, no. I really don’t want to deal with them anymore than Brand does!”
Dr. Kirksten said, “Indeed! And as long as you two are under my care, I’ll be damned if those vultures will get in! Friends of the Avatar or not, both of you are my patients; not next week’s cable news guests!”
&
nbsp; I winced. Brand was just starting to calm down. If Alex’s flight were that big of an event, the news media would run with this as much as they possibly could. And that was going to be a serious problem. Brand really did not like the news media thanks to how they treated his brother and his family.
When Kyle died in Baghdad, the press treated his death very badly. The reporters embedded in his platoon started off by reporting that Kyle’s fellow soldiers had shot him for trying to desert the platoon in a time of war. That wasn’t even close to reality, but for what seemed like an eternity, it was what his family heard on the news.
Eventually, the truth did come out. The truth was he’d gone into a neighborhood to save a couple kids he’d seen about to be killed. Kyle died to save them, but the news crew hadn’t seen that. They thought he had run away from his Humvee convoy. And when his friends had fired at whoever had killed him, the crews reported it as his platoon shooting him for abandoning his post in a wartime situation.
But not one person in the media had apologized for the heartache they’d caused. It ultimately left the Housemans with a strong hate for anything having to do with reporters.
It didn’t surprise me, then, when Brand said, “Hey, keep ‘em away from me, no problem. But if they get too close to me—no safety for ‘em! I promise you that!”
Hector winced. Then, he walked over to the window next to Brand’s bed and looked out. After a moment he said, “Yeah, no sniper rifle for you young man.”
What he said didn’t connect in my mind until I heard van doors closing from outside. Then I heard people talking, giving orders about where to set up cameras. I started to get out of bed, and with a look for help, Dr. Kirksten came and supported me to the window.
Funny thing, though. Once I was on my feet, I began to feel stronger. But as I reached the window, I felt this flash of fire run through my nerves. It passed quickly, though, and I put it aside as I heard someone outside say something about interviews.
Hector helped Brand to the window and we looked out to see news vans parked in a snow-filled parking lot. I said, “Oh, fun. We’re the new story.”
Brand looked at me. “I’m gonna hate the word, Avatar.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Avatar.
Brand was right about hating the word. The meaning itself didn’t bother me. Since the asteroid was named Yama, it followed that the word ‘Avatar’ would come up. In the Hindu religion, the Avatar is the manifestation of a given deity in the form of a human being, capable of controlling great power. I didn’t have a problem with the concept, though; it was just the word itself that bothered me. Everyone was using it.
However, as annoying as it was, we had to focus on our recovery. Physical therapy helped our muscles, a diet helped us regain our weight, and Dr. Kirksten had us constantly tested to make sure that we didn’t get sick again. As time passed, he became confident that we would remain healthy. Brand seemed fine. I just wasn’t too sure I really was.
I didn’t know what it was, but while I did start to feel better, I also felt the ‘buzz’ in my nerves. I felt as though there were wires vibrating beneath my skin. Eventually, I got used to it. But just to be safe, I told Dr. Kirksten. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come up with any explanation. The MRI and CAT scan showed nothing beyond some nerve hyperactivity. From that, he conjectured that it was a likely side effect of the therapy. To my relief, he said that it would eventually go away.
It never went away, but since it didn’t seem to affect anything else, I decided to let it go. I started getting used to it as a background thing in the same way that sufferers of tinnitus have done. I once read that for some sufferers of tinnitus, the high pitch squeal and hiss became a constant background noise, which could be ignored unless the sound changed.
Besides, as much as I tried to focus on getting better, the insanity about the Avatar distracted me. My fault, really—mom kept bringing newspapers. It might have been easier if we could’ve watched a television or used a laptop. We could have kept ourselves entertained with movies or shows we liked. But Dr. Kirksten was a truly evil, maniacal man who believed in torturing kids who’d grown up in the Internet age. He denied us any chance to get to it! Bah! Evil doctor!
Okay, that was a bit over the top. But because of the possibility that we could have seizures, anything that flashed in various bright colors could potentially set it off. And it was a rule reinforced by the new doctor who showed up soon after the incident with the Jessup family. And she always made sure that people didn’t sneak in with a laptop or tablet. The lady made sure that the entire floor was clear of them, whether it belonged to a volunteer or a patient.
This very determined doctor was Rao Kular, and she was a stiff acting woman of around forty who had come here from India. Possessing an average height with dark olive skin, she always had her raven-black hair pulled up in a tight bun. When we met her, she told us that others in her country had the same kind of symptoms as we did but that was about all she said about her country. The woman was always focused too much on her work for any real small talk.
But Kular did say that she’d been almost overwhelmed by the number of sick people until she’d found out about our recovery. Once Kular had seen that the therapy had worked, she had come here to consult with Kirksten further about the remedy to see if they could refine it for the worst cases. The doctor had stayed when she found that the place had so few doctors.
Unfortunately, Kular was one of those people who regularly used the word ‘Avatar’ for Alex. And more and more, she would ask us about Alex. It was bad enough that the doctors were doing it, but then people from the federal government came in repeatedly to interrogate—oh sorry, ‘interview’—us about him.
It didn’t help that one up-and-coming hotshot FBI agent, Dane Eisenhawk, kept pushing at me about Alex’s abilities. I suppose he wanted to prove how good he was to the older agents accompanying him. But I got more than a bit tired of his questioning by the time he was done. Of course, outside every entrance, there stood the worst of all, reporters.
It was bad enough that reporters were yelling out questions every time they saw someone even remotely connected to us. But it became ridiculous when a couple reporters ambushed Brand in the patient’s shower room. When he went in, they were already in the room.
Brand went ballistic. They followed him out into the hallway, yelling questions. Trying to escape, Brand went into the nearest restroom and they followed him. Even after a police officer showed up, Brand still got into pushing fight with one reporter ended up with one foot in a toilet. It hadn’t been flushed after its last use.
Unfortunately, as funny as it seemed then, the fight had its consequences. A fever confined Brand to his bed the next day. Later on, his parents showed up talking about the possibility of the reporter suing them for Brand’s actions. But that threat ended when Kirksten went on television to talk about the ‘horrible’ attack by the media on his patients. After that announcement, Brand’s dad said he hadn’t seen that reporter since.
But because of that, Kirksten warned us that we both had a ways to go. He had found that aside from the nerve issues, we had continuing problems with maintaining normal levels of magnesium in our bodies. We were burning it up faster than normal, and he couldn’t figure out why. To compensate for the magnesium deficiency, he could only prescribe an increased dosage of the magnesium solution until things settled down enough to have in-depth testing done.
Dr. Kular backed his notion and added that we would have to maintain regular dietary intake of the mineral after we left the hospital. They had been sending blood samples out to Ryan Tech because they had a better equipped lab. From the results of the tests, they knew enough to be able to deal with it. Oh well, it would be just one more thing to add to my diet of potato chips and soda.
Unfortunately, while we were getting better, we still had to get through even more antics by reporters. Brand had had his ‘reporter from hell’ encounter, and I soon had my own. It happened one night
when I was relaxing and reading a newspaper.
I looked up from the paper as a female orderly came in and started to change the bedding. She caught her breath when she saw me in the chair near the window next to my bed. She said, “Oh, sorry! I thought the room was empty.”
I found myself unable to say anything. She was petite, and the way her wavy blond hair framed her face caught my eye. She had a gentle chin and a pert nose. And I could see twinkling in her bright blue eyes.
After looking long enough to make her blush, I finally managed to say, “Um, sure, that’s fine. Go ahead and do what you need to do.”
I went back to reading—really, I did. I didn’t pay any attention to the curves of her medical smock, or the way her light-blue pants followed the curve of her waist. And what page was I reading? Oh, never mind, I forgot the paper in my hand when she looked over at me with a slight smile on her lips.
She asked, “Was there something you needed?”
“Um, no. Sorry,” I said quickly. I opened the paper to a random page and began ‘reading.’
She smiled and said, “That’s okay. I’ve wanted to meet you anyway. I’m Angela.”
“I’m Vaughn. Are you new here?” I asked. Since we had come out of our comas, the place had finally started getting busier. People were returning. Patients were in the other rooms, and Kirksten wasn’t the only doctor around. In fact, we had the federal government helping us out speeding up their efforts to get back home.
Angela nodded and said, “Yes. But Riverlite isn’t home for me. I ran out of money trying to get back to Toronto. Since the hospital was hiring, here I am. At least until get the cash built up to head home, and once things calm down.”
I gave her a look of sympathy. “I take it things were bad up there?”
Her curly hair shook slightly on her shoulders as she said, “Oh yes! But it hasn’t been easy for any one!”