6 Comatoast (2)

"I'm afraid, I have some bad news and I have some good news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Holding her husband's hands tightly Brianna Adler said, "I want to hear the bad news first."

The doctor opened the file he was holding, "The bad news is that your son is comatose. We have no idea when or if he will ever wake up. It may be a week, a month, a few months, we do not know. We have staff looking after Kai 24/7 so as soon as we notice a change in his body, we will let you know immediately."

Hearing the news Brianna Adler gripped her husband's hand tighter than before. Her respiratory rate started increasing from slow to fast until she started hyperventilating. Then she laid her head on his abdomen seeking his embrace. Zack Adler let go of her hand and placed his right arm around his wife who was not saying a word.

Seeing the state his wife was in, he took control and asked, "What is the good news?"

The doctor flipped a page on his file, "We noticed that your son was a second generation surpasser who had yet to awaken. I'm not sure if you knew but lightning is his elemental gene. When the toaster electrocuted him, he was forcefully awoken now making him a 3rd generation surpasser. After receiving the lethal dosage, he was forcefully awoken saving his life. However, the issue is the duration in which he had contact with the lethal dosage. In order for a transition from 2nd to 3rd to happen the subject must come in contact with a lethal dosage of an element corresponding to their elemental gene. When this happens the body goes into fight or flight mode which in turn forcefully awakens the elemental gene. Then the body fights off the lethal dosage saving the patient's life. In your son's case, he was lying in a bath so his body could only ward off the electricity for so long until he passed out."

Coming out her daze Brianna Adler asked, "Is there any damage to my son's body?"

The doctor smiled and then flipped his file to another page, "That's the other part of the good news. There is no damage to your son's body whatsoever. In fact, your son's body has never been better. The only issue is that he can't breathe by himself. However, we are 100% sure that if or when he wakes up that problem will be rectified... On the good side, we compared your son's current Physical Index (1) to his graduations. We were shocked to find out that not only is there no damage but your son's constitution is two times better than before. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. He is now twice as strong as when he was a second generation. This is what is so puzzling. Your son has never been in a better condition but he won't wake up..."

When the Adler's were gone the one doctor confronted the other, "We were shocked, really? You couldn't have chosen a better word? You can be glad they never took it the wrong way…"

...

"Honey, I know you love your son but it's been four months and he still hasn't woken up. The bills are piling up and it's becoming overwhelming even for us. We have spent more money these past few months than we have in a year. We can't keep this up, we still have kids of our own that we need to take care of too. What if something bad happens to them and we don't have any money to save them… It's unfair and reckless of us to do that to them... It's already been two months since the doctor called us to tell us that most of the pain receptors in Kai's body are active. Honey, our son is suffering every day in silence. I know how much time and effort we have spent investing in him. I know you wanted to see him grow up and achieve his dreams that he is so proud of. I know you wanted to see him become the King but we cannot put him through this anymore for own selfish reasons. Our boy is suffering in silence. We need to let him go so he can finally rest in peace." Brianna Adler said to Zack Adler.

Zack Adler nodded his head and then wiped away a tear from his left eye.

"You can call the doctor now." Brianna Adler said to the nurse.

The nurse nodded her head and then paged the doctor assigned to Kai. A few minutes later the doctor walked in the room, "Have you made your decision?"

Brianna Adler nodded her head, "Yes, we have. We would like you to take Kai off life support."

"Okay before that I am going to need your signatures here and here." The doctor took two pages out and handed them to Brianna Adler with a pen.

She took a hold of the pen and then read the contents of the page. The title was large and in bold. It said, 'Life Support Termination.' Once she had read the contents and was satisfied she signed where she was asked. Then she turned to her son to say her last goodbye before they took him off life support.

However, before she could the doctor looked at her husband, "As his father, you need to sign the papers too."

Hearing he had to sign his son to death, Zack Adler began trembling. Brianna Adler saw his condition, "We are not killing Kai. We are sending him off peacefully. He is currently in a whole lot of pain. We are freeing him of that pain." Then she handed him the pen and papers.

Zack Adler picked up the papers and then the pen. While holding the pen, his hand began shaking irrepressibly as he brought it closer to the page. This was the heaviest pen he had ever picked up, the pen of life and death. Seeing her husband's hand quivering, Brianna clasped both her hands over his, "You are not giving up on him. It's going to be okay. Kai will be okay."

Regaining his composure, he took the pen and signed the papers. Then he handed them over to the doctor.

The doctor gave the papers to a nurse and then she left the room. Once the nurse was gone the doctor walked to the machine that was keeping Kai alive, "I will now switch the machine off in 3, 2, 1-"

"Do not switch off that machine!" A hoarse voice sounded out behind the Adler's.

The Adler's turned around as they wanted to see who was rude enough to interrupt a very emotional part of their life. Turning around they saw a young beautiful girl around the same age as Kai. They also saw an older man with a black beard presumably the girl's father. He wore a snazzy black and white suit.

Seeing the two the doctor walked up to them, "You cannot be here. This is a very emotional time for these two." He pointed to the Adler's.

The man took some papers out of his file and gave them to the doctor, "Yes, I can be here."

The doctor looked at the papers and was startled, "My sincerest apologies what does the former Duke of The Lightning Clan need from me?"

Seeing that he had the doctor's attention, "I want you to keep this boy on life support."

Hearing what the man had to say Brianna Adler flung into a rage, "What?! You want to keep him on life support. Former Duke or whatever, you can't do that! We are his parents and have already signed it off."

The man looked at the Adler's, "I understand you are grieving so I'll try to be as soft as possible. Yes, you are Kai's parents but you are only his foster parents am I right?"

They nodded their head.

"Since he isn't adopted and you are only his foster parents then by law, death decisions such as 'Life Support Termination' are to be made by the hospital when there are two opposing parties." Then he looked at the doctor, "And I'm sure the hospital won't mind keeping him alive if I take over the bill. I've also added an extra inconvenience payment which I will pay at the end of each month for taking up space that the hospital could have used for other patients." He handed a few papers over to the doctor.

After the doctor read the papers, "I'm sure you know I cannot make this decision. I will hand it over to the board and let them decide."

"That's all we ask." He said rubbing his daughter's head who was smiling.

"This is preposterous! You cannot do that we are his parents." Brianna Adler shouted.

The doctor just looked at her and revealed a sympathetic smile and then left the room with the papers.

Seeing that the doctor was gone Brianna Adler looked at the man and furrowed her eyebrows, "Why are you doing this? Why are you keeping my son alive? He is in pain."

The man looked at Brianna Adler who was now in her husband's embrace, "Because of my daughter. She seems to believe that your son has the potential to be King. She wants to be Queen and has been searching for a capable partner for a while now. All of her previous suitors were not to her liking. We were running out of hope until she heard of your son who graduated number one in the world. However, like always problems arose, we didn't know what element he would awaken since you two are passers. But more importantly, it's your son's inadequate educational background. My daughter doesn't seem to mind but I do. You see he was raised in Drauton; a place known for agriculture so no matter how high his Physical Index, his combat prowess is pathetic. It takes more than just a strong body to be successful. It takes swift and decisive movement, weapon mastery, talent, intelligence, control, strategy etc. Yes, Drauton teaches these classes but what do they know about weapons other than how to use a sickle to harvest crops? What do they know about strategy other than the strategy to irrigate all their plants? It's no secret that I'm against this and I have delayed their meeting as much as I could. But after another person I personally selected was not to her liking and we heard that he awakened as a lightning wielder. I conceded to her constant nagging and here we are. I'm sure you as parents of your own can understand the will to give your children what they want. "

The man took a deep breath then looked at Kai, 'Oh what joy came upon my face when I discovered that you were in a coma. Little did I know, I would be the one paying for your hospital bills.' He sighed again, 'When you wake up my daughter will see how much of a waste of time and money you were. Then we can continue on the list of suitors vetted by me… It's funny how 18 years ago I wanted my daughter to choose her own partner but now I want to do it for her. I really am my father's son.'

At this time, the doctor came back, 'That was quick.' The man thought.

Once the doctor was in the room he looked at the Adlers and pursed his lips then he turned to the former Duke, "The hospital has voted in your favour. We will now be moving Kai to the private wing. But before we are going to need you to sign some papers. Head over to the reception when you can."

"Of course," He said and then the doctor left the room.

The Adlers didn't know what to do. It had taken everything out of them to come to the hospital today. But now their son was not going to go away peacefully but continue to sleep in pain and there was nothing they could do about it. The hospital is a business after all and they were making a profit by keeping Kai alive. They had no reason to decline. Coming to terms with it they decided to leave.

Before they could go Zack Adler swiped his hand over Kai leaving behind short fizzes of visible electrical charges, "I can understand how you must be feeling. You must think I'm a monster but I am not. I am actually saving your son's life. Your son will wake up in 1-2 months. Currently, he is going through a change. A metamorphosis if you will. While this is happening his body is being restructured hence the reason his pain receptors are active. Once the metamorphosis is over he will wake up."

They listened to him and then they left without saying a word. When they left he went to the reception to sign the papers he was asked to. Once he was done the lady at the reception asked him,

"What is your name again?"

He smiled at her and said, "Jacques, Jacques Montreal…"

...

One month later, in the private wing, a red light flashed. It's in Kai's room, a nurse rushed as fast as she could to get to his room. Once she saw the red light she gasped. Then she took out her device and messaged the doctor assigned to Kai. Because of the amount of money Jacques Montreal was paying to keep Kai alive. He was bumped up to a priority one patient. So anything regarding Kai was regarded as the top priority. The doctor was still on break when he got the message. He took one big bite out of his sandwich and then ran as fast as he could to Kai's room.

Seeing the nurse the doctor asked, "What's wrong?!"

The nurse pursed her lips and then pointed towards Kai, "He is waking up?"

The doctor wrinkled his eyebrows. He wondered if he heard correctly because the way she conveyed the news made it sound like it was a bad thing, taking a bet he said, "That's fantastic call his parents and tell them their son is gaining consciousness."

The nurse shook her head, "The Adler's were removed from first notice when they stopped paying the bill. The people we should be calling are the Montreal's. However, do we really want to do that? There are only three days left until the end of the month. Remember what happened last month? The money we received because we are the staff on duty. The deal was that Mr Montreal pays the inconvenience bonus every end of the month. However, if Kai wakes up before the end of the month, Mr Montreal doesn't need to pay the inconvenience bonus. Instead, he just has to pay the hospital the general fee. If that happens we do not get paid anything extra, we just get our standard salary. That is so unfair, we keep an eye on him for almost a full month and then we don't even get rewarded for it. I was finally able to breathe at the end of the month because of it. I was able to buy things I have wanted for a very long time. I want the same sense of freedom this month too."

The doctor looked at the nurse, "So what are you suggesting we do?"

"We sedate him. Just till the end of the month, until we get our bonus and then he can wake up. We only do it once."

The doctor was swayed by this plan. As the doctor, he got a bigger portion of the inconvenience bonus than the nurse did. So he too was looking forward to a bigger paycheck this month, 'You know what, I deserve this, I've worked hard this month. It's not as if what I'm doing is a major crime... If I get the extra money this month I can buy my wife a few expensive gifts. Maybe then things can go back to the way it was when I was earning twice my salary at the private hospital. Maybe things can go bump in the night again.

Convinced by the nurses words the doctor said, "Go get 30 ml of Dihelathide. That should knock him out for three days. Plus it's untraceable."

Smiling that her gamble had succeeded, " Yes, sir." She left the room skipping with joy. Where she went to the inventory and took a syringe and 30 ml of Dihelathide. Later she would report the use was for a patient that used it regularly. The nurse got to the room and the doctor was gone. The doctor had to explain to the hospital staff that the red beeping was a false alarm. Seeing that she was alone in the room she closed the door. Then she took the syringe and held it toward the light to make sure exactly 30 ml was going to be injected. Once she was certain she walked up to Kai and removed the white blanket covering him. Then she took a hold of his arm. As she did Kai opened his eyes but he couldn't see clearly yet, everything was still woozy and blurry. Seeing Kai's eyes open the nurse pierced the needle into Kai's vein, "Go back to sleep my little money tree." Then as she was about to push on the thumb press of the syringe, the door opened.

As the door opened, the nurse heard a voice she had never heard before, "How is my potential King doing?"

The nurse got such a fright that she dropped the syringe on the floor. Immediately the nurse bent down and picked up the syringe. Then she looked at the person who walked in. To her surprise, she saw a young girl. She was clearly only 18 or 19 but the way she held herself was clear she came from wealth so instead of shouting at her she replied, "He is doing well actually, I was just about to give him an injection that should wake him up. If it instead makes him sleep then his body isn't ready yet."

The nurse held the syringe in her hands and showed the girl. The girl walked to Kai's side and saw his eyes were open and smiled. She also noticed despite his eyes being open he wasn't exactly conscious.

Now that the situation had calmed down the nurse smiled, 'Great the plan is still on. She doesn't doubt me and neither does she know what is in the syringe. It's the same colour as Adrenozen which wakes a person just like I said. If I inject this into the boy he will go back to sleep and he will be all yours in three days. And the bonus will be all mine.'

The nurse looked at the girl by Kai's bedside, "Excuse me but I need to inject him quickly."

Lexi Montreal moved away and let the nurse do her thing but she never took her eye off the nurse.

The nurse was feeling awkward being stared at so intently but she shrugged it off when she thought of the money. The nurse held the syringe to the light and then she flicked it to seem professional. Then she held Kai's arm in place and took the syringe and was about to inject it into him when she felt eyes glaring at her from behind. The nurse stopped what she was doing and looked at the girl's face. Her face was red, her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyelids were lower than normal as the girl stared at the nurse.

Confused by the reaction she was receiving, 'It can't be… There is no way she knows what I'm doing.' But the possibility of being caught made the nurse's heart palpate. She gulped and then said, "Is something the matter?"

Lexi Montreal still had her angry face on but now she was tapping the floor with her right shoe. Tap, tap, tap was the only sound until she spoke, "I can't believe you were just about to put that unsterilized needle into him. I just saw you drop it when I came in. I should have your license revoked!"

Realizing her mistake and relieved she wasn't busted, "I'm so sorry I had a long shift and I am so tired. It won't happen again I promise. " Then the nurse left the room to go get a new syringe or at least make it look like it.

That's when Lexi Montreal returned to Kai's side. As she did, her dad walked in the room and saw Kai's eyes were open, "Just like I said one to two months."

"No, dad look he is awake but he isn't conscious. The nurse went to get some stuff to inject him with that will wake up him fully."

Moving to the bed Kai was sleeping on, "No need. I got this." Jacques took hold of Kai's hand and then released electricity into his body. Then he let go.

That is when Kai's consciousness returned. He looked to the left and saw an older man in a suit. He looked familiar but Kai couldn't quite recall who he was looking at. Giving up he looked to the right and saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Kai gasped when she returned the look increasing her beauty a hundredfold. 'An old man and a girl. What are they doing here?' Puzzled by what was going on Kai furrowed his eyebrows. But it only got weirder from here.

The man looked at Kai intently and then said, "Here is my daughter. Marry her please!"

"What?!"

1- Physical Index- The strength of the body put into numbers. The average human has a Physical Index of 100. Often used in short as PI.