"Obdoboryte? I thought you said it was an unstable substance," she inquired, watching her husband lift the glass case off its pedestal.
"That was last week. I've secured it now. It's perfectly safe-" Atsuo was interrupted by the explosion. He and Meiko were thrown backwards. Atsuo's head collided with the main counsel, and all he could do was watch Meiko land hard on his tool box. He heard her scream and saw the broken glass propel themselves into her stomach just before the world went black.
Chapter 2: Tadashi/Hospital 1
Tadashi Hamada, eight years old, sat still on his godmother's couch, reading a comic book. From his spot upstairs he could hear the bustle of the café below him. Costumers conversed, the door opened and shut every minute or so, and the phone would ring about once every one or two hours. Currently, it was ringing, and Tadashi put down his comic to listen when Aunt Cass answered it. He hoped it was his parents, calling to say that they would be home soon from his father's lab. He had desperately wanted to go with them to see his father's latest project, but his father had convinced him not to with the new comic book he was now reading.
"Hello, what can I do for you today?" Tadashi heard Aunt Cass answer.
A silence followed. Tadashi inferred that the person on the other end of the line must have been speaking.
After a moment, Aunt Cass replied, "Of course. I'll be there, thank you."
Hearing nothing more, Tadashi went back to reading his comic book. The hour that followed would be one he would never forget.
"Café's closed! Everybody out, we're sorry for the inconvenience, take your food with you, leave now!" Aunt Cass yelled at the customers, and an uproar of angry yells sounded from downstairs. Tadashi stared at the staircase with fear, and anxiety began to rise when he heard the last customer forced out of the shop. The pounding of footsteps up the stairs made his heart rate raise as Aunt Cass clambered upstairs. His godmother hastily grabbed her car keys and her cellphone before turning to a worried Tadashi.
"We're going to the hospital. I need you to stay calm, alright?" she explained hurriedly, staring at Tadashi with wide eyes. Tadashi recognized the emotion in that expression. It was worry.
Being so young and with so little experience with dire situations and emergencies, Tadashi had little knowledge of how to react or what to do when he saw such pure, raw worry and fear emitting from the woman in front of him. It scared him, for one. Adults, in most children's eyes, were strongholds. Someone you could go to for protection, comfort, and compassion. But, when young Tadashi noticed that it was the adult, Aunt Cass, that was afraid, and was not the stronghold he had imagined, he was filled with the very same emotions Aunt Cass was feeling. His eyes, too, went wide eyed.
"Okay," Tadashi answered in soft quivering voice. He was too preoccupied with the brimming anxiety he felt to question the sudden demand.
"Let's go to the car, okay?"
"Okay,"
The pair flew down the stairs, through the back door, in the garage, inside the car, and began their way to an unknown horror waiting for them.
Aunt Cass held Tadashi's hand, leading him through the doors of the ER waiting lounge and to the front desk.
Tadashi didn't hear what Aunt Cass asked the secretary. He was too focused on his inner thoughts. His mind was racing with questions, and the overpowering anxiety was maddening for the eight year old. He did not know why they were at the hospital, or who they were there to see, or if that person was gravely injured or-
Tadashi didn't dare to wonder if something had occurred worse than extreme injury. Aunt Cass finished talking with the secretary quickly, and together they ran down the sterile smelling hallways and past doors and other people. To Tadashi, the world around him seemed to be drastically blurred. Dashes of blue scrubs and streaks of white lined his confused vision as the worries in his brain blinded him. Suddenly, Aunt Cass halted in front of a door. It was an ordinary door, uniform to those before it, but with a shaking realization Tadashi knew that it was behind this door was someone he knew.
He glanced up at Aunt Cass. She was panting from the hurry to arrive at this door, her eyes were shiny, and her face was red. Tadashi watched silently and anxiously as her trembling hand reached for the door, grasped the handle, and in one fluid motion, opened the door.
Tadashi's face contorted into one of horror.
Inside the room was his father, unconscious and sprawled across a hospital bed with all sorts of wires connected to him. Monitors surrounded him displaying medical readings, and one or two were beeping. The sound was awful to Tadashi's innocent ears. Bandages were wrapped along his torso, arms, legs, head, and an oxygen mask was strapped to his face. The sight of it was terrifying.
It was then that Tadashi let out a piercing, and well justified, scream.
