The Death Clock: chapter 11

 

Isaac

11

I stayed awake until Cat was asleep, breathing slowly. She was restless, moving slightly in her sleep. She must have been having a bad dream. It made me sad that I couldn’t make her happy all the time. She acted happy during the day, but I could tell she was in pain. That’s why she tired so easily.

I sighed, looped my arm around her waist, and moved her off my chest. I laid her head on the thick, soft pillow and covered her with the warm blanket. I got up and walked out of Cat’s room, leaving the door slightly open. I walked down the stairs without turning on the lights and went to the large living room.

I picked up the phone and dialed Dr. Bram’s number. It rang three times before he answered. "Hello, Bram. It’s Isaac. I’m sorry, doctor. I didn’t want to call this late but I don’t want Cat to hear this conversation. She’s not doing too well and I don’t stress her more."

"Hello, Isaac. What could be so stressful that you don’t wish for her to hear?" It sounded as if he was awaiting my call.

"Two things. The first is that you said I have four or more abilities. What is it you meant by that?"

"Hmm. I figured you wanted to know about that. You see, your DNA is strange. It’s adjusting to the powers and I’m unable to read what they say. The words aren’t deep enough to see well and it is just blurry. What else did you want?"

"This is why I didn’t want Cat to listen. I want to know why she’s so easily tired. Is it a problem with her health?"

"I thought she would have told you. This is also part of our powers. It is a form of muscular dystrophy. With our cases, and you will have this too, it makes us weak, unable to exert ourselves for more than a few hours. The stress on our bodies is the thing that bleaches our hair, causing it to be our unique and pale colors. Thankfully, it isn’t bad enough were we need help moving around and, it’s only enough to make us tire.

"But, I believe I know something else. Isaac, you absolutely need to promise not to speak a word of this to anyone, not even Cat. Promise on her life, if you must."

"I promise, doctor. What is it you know?"

"I’m not certain of it. I may just be imagining it, but I believe I found something exceedingly rare in Cat’s blood. I only found partial evidence about it, but I believe she has a blood virus. If I’m correct, it is a virus that unbalances blood flow to muscles. This wouldn’t be a problem if Cat didn’t have dystrophy, but because she does, it would cause her muscles to receive even less blood and they would die.
Consequentially, she would die after the muscles of her heart and brain die. If she had this, she would almost definitely know about it because evidence of this virus only appears in the last two stages of the virus, when it is untreatable. But I do not know if she has it. As I said, it is extremely rare, but I am not usually wrong about these things. If Cat is more tired than usually or passes out in the next two weeks, bring her directly to me. Do not mention this to Cat, Isaac. If she didn’t say anything about it, she either doesn’t have it or doesn’t want you to know. I have to go, Isaac. I’m sorry for telling you, I just thought it would be best to let someone else know what I think. Goodbye." He hung up without waiting for me to say anything.

I dropped the phone. I couldn’t believe what he said. Who tells a person that someone close to him would die? I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak. I just fell to my knees on the floor, my legs unable to support me.

Cat could die? She could be dying? At the thought of losing her, the one good thing in my life, I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks. Cat could die and there was nothing I could do about it. I sat there for almost an hour, unable to stand and just feeling empty, before I realized something.

The doctor said it was a blood virus. Could this mean I would get the virus? Would I die? I could handle me dying, living on the streets prepared me for it, but I couldn’t handle Cat dying. What should I do, I thought to myself. Can I do anything?

I sat on the floor staring at the ground, my mind numb, for hours.

Cat found me like that in the morning, still staring at the floor in disbelief. She probably freaked out. I didn’t know. I just couldn’t take anything in. Nothing seemed real. Not the cold sweat I was covered in, not Cat running around and talking rapidly on the phone. Not the sirens coming to the house, not the medics rushing into the room. Neither was being put on a stretcher, the medics talking in loud voices to each other. The ride to the hospital was just as unreal. Even among the unreal I heard one word, the people said it enough, the word "Shock."

I saw people go into shock when I was on the streets. Some people crack, others never truly go back to normal. But even the fact I had gone into shock wasn’t real. Only three syllables were real. They rung in my ears like an echo, ‘We will die.’

None of it mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. So I let myself fade into a bright light.

Cat

"Doctor! What’s wrong with him? He looks terrible," I said to Dr. Bram and his colleague, Dr. Mar.

"It seems his body is letting itself shut down. It’s not that he gave up. His body just couldn’t handle the stress. I double checked the blood work and I know that you have a blood virus. It appears it was passed onto him. His body is trying to reject it but it appears that something else happened," He turned to the female doctor, "Can you excuse us for a moment?"

"Sure thing, I have some patients to check on."

Dr. Bram continued, "I think one of his powers may have risen when the virus struck. What happens now is iffy. Not even I know the full extent of this virus, or even Isaac for that matter. Come with me, Cat. You need to leave Isaac for just a moment."

I weighed the odds. I couldn’t leave Isaac but so far all Bram did was be nice. I decided I would follow him but return to Isaac in a while.

He led me to his office and looked at different medical tubes full of strange chemicals. He picked up a heavy needle full of a black liquid. "You have to take this. It’ll hurt when the vaccine takes effect and you be out cold for a short. But everything will be fine when you wake up and you can see Isaac. Ok." Bram stuck the heavy needle into my arm. It felt like liquid fire coursing through my veins. My vision blacked out.

Bram

"Emergency! She passed out. I don’t know what happened. Take her to the east end. Put her on an IV until I get there. Stat!" Dr. Bram felt bad about tricking Cat. It would cure the virus, but he also pumped her full of a highly potent sleeping agent.
She wouldn’t wake up until he cured Isaac. If she worried over him, Bram would need to cure her as well. The things he did for his patients, Dr. Bram thought as he began to run to the room with Isaac. He prayed that he could cure Isaac. All he could do was pray.