Chapter 10: Time Is On The Line
It had been a couple of hours since Hamtaro had come back from the 'dead', and was now currently laying on the flour in Oxnard's house as the group was sitting around him.
"Hamtaro how do you feel" Oxnard who was to Hamtaro's left asked the boy who was currently being cleaned from head to toe by the girls (He is still wearing his shorts).
"Well I don't exactly feel great, if you ask me, I feel like I could die again" Hamtaro smiled to the group but they could tell that he was in pain.
"When where done cleaning you, we will find out what to do," Pashmina said as she was washing Hamtaro's upper region. "Hamtaro could you please do me a favor and lay forward for a second"
"Sure" Hamtaro said as he moved forward but winced in pain the second he moved. "Ouch, not exactly a good idea".
"Careful now" Pashmina said as she removed his shirt showing all the scars on his chest and the hole where his dad had shot him. "What should we do about the hole?" Bijou who was washing his legs said to the group.
"Does anybody know how to stitch" Maxwell looked around at the group hoping to find an answer.
"I do" Sparkle said as the group looked at her confused. "What, I sometimes have to fix my dresses when I was on stage and there wasn't exactly a stitch quick place around okay, anyone got a problem with that".
"No" half the group said as the rest tried to hold in there laughter.
"Okay then, Sandy"
"Yes" Sandy who was scared at the sight of blood was sitting on the couch away from Hamtaro.
"Can you please get me my purse" Sparkle said as she pointed down the hall. "It's in the hallway, the blue one".
"Okay" Sandy said as she ran down the hall to get away from Hamtaro.
"Well I'm done with his arms" Penelope said as she put her bloody rag in the bucket of cold water.
"Thanks Penelope" Hamtaro said as he turned his head to see her since his eye wouldn't open.
"No problem Hamtaro" She smiled at him, but she still felt bad about Hamtaro's condition.
"Got it" Sandy came running back into the room with Sparkle's purse.
"Thanks" Sparkle said as she open her purse up, pulling out a blue case, no bigger then a pencil case. "Here it is," she said as she opened it up revealing a case full of needles and string.
"Are you sure this will work" Bijou said as the rest of them finished clean off Hamtaro.
"What choice do we have" Pashmina looked around at the group. "He could die again if we don't do anything." Everyone could see that she was holding in tears. "I don't want to lose him again". She was going to cry but stopped as she felt Hamtaro's hand on her face.
"Don't worry Pashy, I'll be fine okay" He smiled at her but she could see the pain in his eyes.
"Okay I trust you" She smiled at him then turned towards Sparkle. "Okay go ahead"
"Are you ready Hamtaro" Sparkle said as she turned to him.
"Ya I'm ready" Hamtaro said as Sparkle moved closer to him, pulling out a needle.
"Wait a second" Panda said just as Sparkle was about to stitch Hamtaro. "Oxnard do you have a belt" Panda asked as he turned to the grey haired boy.
"Ya why?" Oxnard turned to Panda.
"Cause this will probably hurt a lot, so Hamtaro should have something to bite down on".
"Okay I see where you're going with this, let me go check" Oxnard ran out of the room into his room.
"Oh and get some pain killers while your up there". Maxwell yelled up the stairs.
"Got some," Oxnard said as he came down the stairs carrying a needle (pain killers come in needles with a little bit of sleeping pills in there to help people) and a belt.
"Wait is that a needle" Hamtaro asked as his eye scanned the needle.
"Yes it is, sorry but this is all I got, is this okay Maxy". Oxnard showed the needle to Maxwell.
"Ya this should work" Maxwell said as he walked towards Hamtaro. "Okay Hamtaro just relax for a second okay.
"Hey let's hold on for a second okay, maybe we could do something else". Hamtaro said as he tried to move away from Maxwell and the needle but winced whenever he moved.
"Are you afraid of needles Hamtaro" Sandy asked as she tried to hold in her laughter.
"Ya why do you ask…OUCH" Hamtaro screamed as he turned his head to notice that Maxwell had placed the needle in his arm on the side with his bad eye.
"There we go… now Hamtaro in a couple of seconds you won't feel anything but this could still hurt so where going to have to hold you down while Sparkle stitches you okay" Maxwell said as Hamtaro continued to look at the needle.
"Okay" He turned to look at Maxwell.
"Great… now Oxnard, me, Panda and Howdy will hold down a leg or an arm while someone else will make sure Hamtaro bites down on the belt"
"I'll do it" Pashmina raised her hand. "His heads still on my lap so why not" Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Good the pain killers should have taken effect by now, so everybody take your place" Maxwell said as he gave Pashmina the belt.
"Ready" the five of them said.
"Good, get ready Hamtaro, this should be over in a couple of seconds" Maxwell looked at Hamtaro as he gave him a thumbs up sign.
"Okay were good to go Sparkle" Maxwell turned his attention towards the girl as she got ready to put the needle in Hamtaro's skin.
"Ready" she said to them.
"Ready" they all said as Sparkle pushed the needle in his skin causing Hamtaro to bite the belt as his body started to jerk around as the needle went deeper into his skin.
"God he's strong" Oxnard said as he tried to hold Hamtaro's left hand down, but Hamtaro was putting up a good fight.
"It's okay Hamtaro" Pashmina looked down at Hamtaro as she held down to the belt.
"Okay I'm half way done" Sparkle said as the group looked at the half closed hole.
"Good job Sparkle keep going" Howdy said as she held down on Hamtaro's left leg with Dexter since they weren't that strong. 'Can't we just knock him out"
"No!" everyone said
Meanwhile
Ham-Ham falls train station was an empty place, almost never used at all but was still open in case of rouge trains, but most of the time it was normally empty. As the rain continued to fall two men could be seen walking back and forth down the station, and judging by there uniforms you could tell they where conductors.
"I'm telling you Mike, Paranormal Activity 2 was better then the first one. The conductor called Mike looked at him.
"No way Joe, the first one was better, and besides there almost the same movie just with a different plot" The man called Joe looked confused at him. "That was the worst 10 dollars I ever spent".
"Well I though it was money well spent". Joe said to Mike.
"It was not' Mike yelled back.
"Was to" Joe yelled as well.
"Was no…" Mike stopped as he turned around.
"What is it Mike" Joe turned towards to his friend.
"Shhh" Mike put his finger up to his mouth and listened to the darkness.
"I don't hear anything," Joe said.
"You don't hear that, it sounds like a train" Mike put his hand up to his ear.
"A train at this time of night" Joe said but stopped as a light could be seen coming from the tunnel. "Hey look your right a trains coming"
As the train came to a stop, the conductors got up to get a better look at the train.
"What a weird train, I've never seen one like this" Mike said as put his hand up to the train to touch it. But his hand went right through it. "What the heck"
"What is it Mike" Joe ran up to him.
"I can't touch it" Mike said.
"What are you talking about, of course you can touch it" Joe said as he put his hand to the train but just like Mike his hand went through it. "What the hell"
"That's weird" Mike pointed out.
"What's up with this trai…?" Joe said but stopped when one of the doors opened letting a figure walk onto the platform.
"Hey you" Mike said as he rang up to the figure, but when he got up to the figure he noticed that the figure was a girl, only a couple of feet tall, about six years old and was carrying a stuffed bunny.
"Little girl should you be ridding a train by yourself" Joe said as he rang up to the figure as well.
"Yes my mom and dad said it was okay," The little girl said in a sweet innocent tone.
"Okay then where are you headed to little girl?" Mike said as he bent down to eye level with the girl.
"I'm looking for my someone special sir". The girl said as she looked around the station.
"Oh and who is this special someone" Joe looked at the girl.
"Hamtaro Haruna" the girl said as she looked up at the men showing them her crimson colored eyes.
Back with Hamtaro
"God how long does it take to stitch up a body" Sandy who with everyone minus Sparkle, Maxwell and Pashmina was sitting in Oxnard's hallway waiting for Sparkle to finish.
"Well he did have a lot of cuts, so it might take some time" Oxnard said as they could hear the sound of rain hitting the roof.
"At least he's asleep now," Dexter who was cleaning his glasses said. "I thought he was going to knock me out that one time" he pointed to a bruise on his left cheek where Hamtaro had kicked him.
"Ya that was pretty funny" Bijou started to laugh as everyone joined in.
"It was not," Dexter yelled at the group, causing the group to laugh again.
" Ya but you know a lot has happened since Hamtaro got here" Sandy said as she looked out the window.
"True" everyone said.
"Maybe when this is all over we should do something nice for Hamtaro" Bijou said. "Like make him a cake or take him out somewhere"
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea" Howdy said as Sparkle, Pashmina and Maxwell walked out of the room.
"Hey, look who just finished" Oxnard pointed at the three as they sat down on the floor. "So how did it go"?
"Well it was touch and go a couple of times there but I think I did a good job" Sparkle wiped the sweat forming on her brow. "He's resting now," she pointed to the room behind her.
"Great so everything's going to be okay" Bijou smiled at everyone.
"…" The three of them just remained quiet and looked at the ground.
"Right" She looked at the three of them. "What's the matter"?
"…Well" Sparkle said as she looked at the group. "While I did fix him up, it wasn't a great job but it should do the job. But he did sustain great blood loss and his eye is damaged, his throat was cut, plus with the broking rib cage and leg he might not survive the night".
"What!" Bijou screamed so loud Oxnard could swear the neighbors would be waking up. "Isn't there anything we can do"?
"If we took him to the hospital, his chances of survival would go up but it's not a definite" Maxwell said as he looked out the window.
"The hospital at this time of night, none of us can drive, and the weathers too bad to walk him there" Sandy looked at the window to see the rain coming down.
"That's all we can do right now" Oxnard said. "Will have to do it, if we want him to survive"
"Will never make it" Dexter pointed at Oxnard. "The weathers too bad, and is getting worse"
"That's…never…stopped…us…before" A voice came from behind them, and as they turned around they came face to face with Hamtaro as he was leaning against the doorframe.
"Hamtaro how are you up" Sparkle said as she rang to Hamtaro and put his hand around her shoulder.
"You…kidding…me…that...can't…put...me…to…sleep" Even after resting the group winced at his rough voice.
"So I'm guessing you heard our argument" Bijou looked at Hamtaro as he nodded to confirm what she said. "So what do you think we should do".
"Well…let's…go…to…the…hospital" Hamtaro said as he pushed his arm off of Sparkle and took a couple of steps, but as he started to walk, his bad leg gave way causing him to fall.
"Hamtaro!" Sparkle said before he was caught by Oxnard.
"Thanks…man" Hamtaro looked up to the smiling face of his best friend.
"No problem just sit there while we take you to the hospital okay" Oxnard placed Hamtaro on his back.
"Thanks" Hamtaro said
"Just try not to bleed on me okay". Oxnard laughed at his joke.
"Okay" Hamtaro said weakly as he closed his eyes.
"Well it looks like the pain killers finally kicked in huh" Panda poked Hamtaro to make sure he was asleep.
"Are we really going to take him to the hospital". Dexter said as he looked out the window. "Can't we just wait for Oxnard's parents to get home so they can take him"?
"They might not make it back in time" Oxnard turned to look at Dexter. "And Hamtaro would do they same for you if you where in this situation with him"
"Quick, before he wakes up lets get him to the hospital". Howdy said as he opened the door.
"Okay" They said as they walked out and down the street towards the hospital except for Dexter.
"Dexter?" Penelope said as she walked back into Oxnard's house. "Are you coming?"
Dexter just looked at the ground before looking at Penelope and said. "Ya let's go". He said as he ran out of the house and towards the group.
Meanwhile, In Another Part Of The Town
"So you're looking for this Hamtaro person, right," A trucker said to the little girl who was sitting across from him at the table.
"Yes that's right mister, could you please give me a ride to Ham-Ham Hospital please" she said in an innocent tone.
"Okay I will give you a ride" he smiled at her, and how could he not, she just came out of nowhere and sat down in his booth and asked for a ride.
"And Mr. Bunny" She said.
"Pardon" the Trucker looked at the girl confused.
"Mr. Bunny" She pointed to the bunny sitting next to her.
"Hah hah and Mr. Bunny" The trucker laughed at the girl. "But first can I finish my coffee" he pointed to the steaming cup in front of him.
"Okay but can I have a piece of cake" She pointed at the piece of cake on the shelf and gave him a puppy dog look, as the trucker looked at her before bursting into a laugh.
"Hah okay you can have a piece of cake" he said as he looked at the girl. "Waitress can I have that last piece of cake".
"Coming up hunny," the waitress said as she put the cake in front of the little girl.
"Thank you," the girl said to the waitress and the trucker, before digging into the cake.
"Before we go let me ask you, what's your name," the trucker said as he took a sip of his coffee. "Mines Sabu, and the name of my truck is Françoise," he pointed to the big truck parked right outside the window.
"I don't have a name but I go by my mother's names," She said as she took another bite out of her cake.
"Oh really and what's her name" Sabu looked at the girl with a curious eye.
"My name is…"
Back With Hamtaro
"Thank god the hospital isn't far away" Oxnard said as the group walked down the street, ignoring the rain.
"I just hope they can help Hamtaro" Bijou said as they turned another corner.
"Don't worry Bijou" Oxnard said as everyone looked at him. "If it's one thing I know about Hamtaro, it's that he never gives up on himself…or us" He pointed to the sleeping Hamtaro on his back.
"I guess your right". Bijou looked at the rest of them. "Let's hurry up"
Ya" Everyone said as they turned another corner and came face to face with Ham-Ham hospital.
"Thank god, finally some shade" Dexter said as they walked into the Hospital, being greeted by warm air.
"Well at least it's empty" Sparkle looked around the room to see that there was nobody around, except for the nurse sitting at the desk.
"Ya there isn't usually a lot of people here at this time of night" Panda said as they walked up to the desk.
"Excuse me" Maxwell rang the bell greeting the attention of the nurse.
"Yes, how can I help you" the nurse said as she looked at the group.
"We need a doctor to look at our friend, here," Oxnard said as he turned around to show her Hamtaro.
"Oh my gosh, what happened to him" The nurse said as she moved from the desk and looked at Hamtaro.
"He got beat up, and we need somebody to look at him" Dexter said to the nurse.
"Yes right away" She said as she picked up a phone and dialed some numbers. "We need Doctor Smith and nurse Flora at the front room pronto". Just as soon as she put the phone down 2 people came threw the front door.
"What seems to be the problem nurse?" a man in his late thirty's said as he came running down the hall. He had black hair and a small beard and was wearing a doctor's coat; he was also currently holding a cigarette in his mouth so they must have just bothered him.
"Doctor Smith this boy need some medical attention now" The nurse said as she pointed the Doctor to Hamtaro.
"MY god this is serious," he said a she looked over Hamtaro." Nurse Flora please get me a gurney now".
"Right away Doctor". A girl dressed in a nurse's outfit said as she pulled a gurney from around the corner, and pushed it towards Oxnard. "Where going to have to take him from you for awhile."
"What about us" Bijou walked up to the doctor as she watched nurse Flora push Hamtaro threw some doors.
"Well you will just have to wait till were done". Doctor Smith said as he looked down to the sad face of Bijou. "But don't worry he'll be fine, I promise" he put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.
"Thank you" Bijou said as she wiped away a tear with her sleeve.
"No problem" Smith said as he walked threw the doors, and the sign EMERGENCY lit up.
No one said anything for a couple of minutes before Oxnard cleared his throat. "Well all we can do now is wait" he sat down on the bench while the others followed suit.
"They say waiting is the hardest part," Panda said as he looked at the doors.
"Hamtaro please make it" Pashmina, Sandy, Bijou, Penelope and Sparkle said as they sat on the bench waiting for time to go by.
(90 Min Later) Right Outside The Hospital
"Here you go miss, Ham-Ham hospital." Sabu said as he pulled his truck right up to the sidewalk.
"Thank you Mr. Sabu" The girl said as she opened the door and jumped out onto the sidewalk. "And thanks for the cake."
"Ha ha, no problem, and I hope you find your friend soon" He said as she closed the door and the truck took off.
"Oh don't worry I'll be finding him soon" She said as she smiled at the hospital and started walking inside. "Here I come…Hamtaro".
Inside the Hospital
"How much longer are they going to take in there?" Howdy said as he sat on the floor waiting for the light to go off.
"Relax Howdy it's only been an hour and a half anyways" Dexter who was busy cleaning his glasses again failed to notice Howdy. "Besides this is probably a very delicate operation so it may take awhile"
"So what, that was so longggggggggg ago" Howdy made sure to put emphasis on the word 'long'.
"Well then go home, no ones keeping you hear anyway," Pashmina said a bit angrily.
"Okay, okay calm down Pashy I was just joking" Howdy said as he moved behind Oxnard. "Save Me," he whispered to Oxnard.
"Sorry, no can do guy" Oxnard paid no attention to Howdy as well, as he looked at the sign.
"I wish they would hurry up," Sparkle who was filling her nails said as she continued as well to look at the door.
"Me too" Bijou said, as suddenly the light went off as Doctor Smith and Nurse Flora walked out of the room.
"Doctor how is he," Half the group said as the rushed over to Doctor Smith.
"Hold on, hold on, one at a time" Smith said as he put his hands up to block the kids from asking him any more questions.
"Is Hamtaro going to be okay Doctor" Oxnard asked.
"Phew" Smith said as he put his hand behind his neck, rubbing it. "Well I don't know what happened to him, but he must have got beaten up pretty bad" Smith stopped as he put another smoke in his mouth. "We did everything we could but some of his body was far beyond repair, but whoever did the stitching was really good at it, was it one of you guys".
"That was me," Sparkle said as she raised her hand.
"Well I have to say you did a really good job, did you ever think about a career in health?"
"No" Sparkle said.
"Excuse me, can we talk about Hamtaro. You said there were some of his body parts that couldn't be fixed. Panda said to Smith.
"Yes, I believe I did" Smith said as he looked at Panda.
"Like what" Maxwell asked as he looked at the door Smith came threw hopping Hamtaro would come out soon.
"His eye was beyond repair, there was nothing we can do. He will never be able to see threw it again, I'm sorry. We managed to fix his ribs, leg and arms, his throat was badly damaged but we managed to fix it before any damage could happen".
"What about the bullet hole" Maxwell looked at the Doctor.
"Luckily it went right threw him, just missing his heart, so it wasn't that bad"
"So he's going to make it right" Penelope said.
"Well, we did fix him, but he has suffered internal bleeding and his muscles where torn all over his body, even with all of the surgery we gave him, his chances is only 37%".
"No" Pashmina said as the group could see that she was crying. "Isn't there anything we can do for him?"
"Well if there was someone from His family that could donate some of their body parts, there might be a chance to increase his chances and fix his eyes" Smith said as he looked at the group. "Is there anyone in his family that could do it?".
'No…His mother and father are dead, and we don't know if he had any other family or if there even alive". Oxnard said.
"Well if that's the case, then there isn't anything we can do for him, we will just have to hope he can survive on his own". Smith said as he pulled out a cigarette.
"Can we at least go and see him?" Bijou said.
"Ya you can, he is in room 238, but he is asleep right now so please don't try and wake him" Smith said as he walked to a different door, while the group walked down the hall to Hamtaro's room. What the group didn't know was that a little girl holding a bunny was listening to the conversation this whole time.
"Room 238 huh" She said as she walked down the hall fallowing the group.
"Well here it is, room 238" Oxnard said as the group had just made it down the hall to Hamtaro's room. "Yup it says right her Haruna Hamtaro," he pointed to the sign next to the door as they walked in.
"Hamtaro?" Bijou asked as they had entered the room.
"Shh, he's sleeping, did you forget" Sparkle said as she playfully slapped Bijou behind the head.
"Sorry, I forgot" Bijou said as she rubbed her head.
"No…it's…okay…I'm…right…here" they heard Hamtaro's voice coming from behind a green wall. As they threw open the wall they could see what Hamtaro had gone threw. He was covered in new stitch's, replacing Sparkle's old ones, his neck had a cloth wrapped around it probably covering up the stitches on his neck. His arm looked a little better as it was covered in a cloth as well, the hole in his chest was closed up and his bad eye had a cloth wrapped around it. "How...you guys…doing" even in the condition he was in he still smiled.
"Well better then you, by the looks of it" Hamtaro smiled at Howdy's comment. "How about you"
"Well thanks to this painkillers" Hamtaro pointed to the needle in his arm. "I can't feel anything… I'm not even sure you guys are here right now," Everyone laughed. "Thanks for bringing me here"
"No problem". The group said but Hamtaro noticed that they weren't looking at him.
"Guys what's the matter" Hamtaro looked around the room at each of his friends.
"Hamtaro listen…" Bijou started to say but was cut off as Hamtaro raised his hand.
"Bijou stop, listen I heard the doctor and the nurse talking, I know about my condition and I know about how long I have to live" Hamtaro lowered his head as he said this.
"Hamtaro… the doctor said you will make it" Sparkle tried to say but was having a hard time saying anything.
"No… he said my chances of survival was only 30-40%" Hamtaro, looked at the group.
"Hamtaro" Oxnard said as Hamtaro laid down on the bed.
"Please guys can I have a minute alone" Hamtaro said as he looked out the window waiting for them to leave.
"Okay we will be right outside if you need us okay" Pashmina and the rest of the group left the room, closing the door, leaving Hamtaro alone in the room.
"Hah, what to do, what to do" Hamtaro said to himself as he lifted his hand and touched his bandaged eye. "I guess I could start wearing an eye patch, although I don't think that pirates are cool this time of year. Hamtaro smiled at himself. "…You can come out now, you know," He said as he continued to look out the window.
"…" Nothing came from the room except for the sounds of Hamtaro's machine going beep, beep and the occasional sound of Hamtaro's breathing.
"I know you are out there, I might not be able to see out of this eye, but I can still feel you near me, so you might as well come out". Hamtaro said as he looked out the window still.
"So how long did you know I was here?" A voice said coming from a dark corner in the room.
"Since the group left the room" Hamtaro said as he turned his head towards the corner of the room. "You might as well show yourself now, no point in hiding if I know your there."
"Okay then". The voice said as it stepped out of the corner, revealing a little girl holding a stuffed rabbit.
"What do you want?" Hamtaro asked the girl, completely unfazed by her appearance.
"What I want…" she said as she opened her eyes, showing Hamtaro her crimson eyes. "Is you Hamtaro Haruna".
Chapter 10 Closed
Well, another chapter done, and more questions that are still unanswered but don't worry the next chapter will explain a lot of things and I should mention that I will be going away for a trip for a couple of weeks so there will be no chapters for a while but I will put up the next chapter before I go.
Next Time On: This Is Not How High school Is Supposed to be
Who is this mysterious girl that is here in Hamtaro's room with him, and what does she want with Hamtaro. Will the group be able to help him in time or will Hamtaro not make it. These will be answered in.
Chapter 11: Why Does Saying Goodbye Have To Be So Hard