One word stood out. Positive. All the other words before and after were just smudges of ink. They didn't make sense to him. But the one word that did make sense was the word that he had dreaded since he'd found out about his birth mum. When Cal had opened his and found out his results were negative there was a small glimmer of hope that he too would be negative. But, the minute he saw those eight letters the glimmer of hope was snuffed out. Ethan sighed shakily. He had the gene. He had the illness. This was the beginning of the end. Every day would be a day where every small changes in his behaviour could possibly be symptoms of the disease. The disease that would eventually kill him. How could he tell his brother that he had inherited the gene? And so soon after Emilie had finally passed away. Ethan was still lost in his own thoughts but, Cal had noticed that he'd gone quiet and the expression on his face had changed. A slight knot formed into his stomach.
"Eth?" Cal watched his brother.
When Cal didn't get a reply the knot in his stomach tightened.
"Ethan?" He called again. "Positive or negative?"
But, Ethan didn't respond. He just turned around and walked away leaving Cal confused and worried. Cal tried calling after him, but his calls went unanswered. He watched on as he saw Ethan walk off into the distance towards the crashing waves on the sandy beach. It didn't take long before Cal's heart started beating fast and the scene in front of him turned into a nightmare. He saw Ethan walk towards the water as the waves rolled in. He saw his brother enter the sea and carry on wading through the cold water away from the beach. Fear crept up into Cal's heart as Ethan continued to walk out into the sea.
"Ethan!" Cal yelled as he ran towards his brother.
Ethan was too far to hear Cal call him. And then Ethan disappeared into the rolling waves. Cal ran as fast as he could towards where he last saw Ethan. He ran into the water. All he cared about was getting to Ethan.
"Eth!" Cal yelled again as he felt the cold water rush over him. "Ethan!"
Cal took a deep breath and plunged into the water. As the water stung his eyes he could just make out Ethan's body. Wrapping his arms around Ethan's waist Cal managed to pull him out of the water. He had hoped that once they were out from underneath the crashing waves. Ethan would splutter and begin to breathe on his own. But, that didn't happen. Cal dragged Ethan's body back towards the beach and laid him down upon the sand. He tilted his head so he could hear if Ethan was breathing. He wasn't so Cal pulled out his phone dialled 999 before starting chest compressions. By the time the ambulance arrived Cal had done two rounds of 30 compressions.
"Cal?" Iain asked as he and the new paramedic, Jez sprinted over.
But, Iain didn't need Cal to answer him. He saw Cal doing chest compressions and then saw who he was doing them on.
"Ethan." Iain breathed out.
