Chapter 6 - Tomorrow's Gonna Come too Soon
Ah, forget the notes (don't have anything to say). Here comes the action.
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It was Friday, and the day the Rocket gang dreaded was only 24 hours away. Reggie was definitely not getting any better; her sore throat continued to bother her. The pain medication the doctor had given her helped a little, but not completely. Fortunately, a little chloraseptic spray helped dull the pain enough that she could fall asleep, although she still had difficulty as she was naturally a little nervous about her upcoming surgery.
Otto and Twister did not sleep as peacefully the past night. Both tossed and turned all night; neither could stop thinking about Reggie and their impending loss of a sister and friend. Both had nightmares about Reggie being snatched from their presence.
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Otto's dream placed him in a hospital. The scene seemed very familiar. It should have been, as it was the same hospital that his mother had been in very frequently. He faced a long corridor lined with bare white walls, plastic chair rail (used as a support for those who are having difficulty walking), and white tile floors. It seemed to stretch on forever. Otto kept walking down the hall when he heard screams. Otto would know that tone of voice from a mile away: it was his sister's. He started running towards the source of the noise, but it seemed that he was never getting any closer. Finally, he arrived at Room 241. Upon reading the numbers, Otto's face turned pale; it was the same room number that his mother had been in during her last visit to the hospital. Otto forced the door open and froze in horror. There were two doctors standing there, trying to insert an IV in to her arm. Reggie was fighting vigorously to avoid the needle; Otto quickly figured out that the IV contained the drugs that would put her out of her misery. On the other side of the bed was Ray, just standing there in a black suit, encouraging Reggie to relax. "It'll all be over soon. I can't bear to see you suffer any more. Let the doctors do their job and there will be no more pain," he encouraged her. Finally, the doctors restrained her arm and inserted the needle.
"No!!!!!!!!!!" Otto cried. The doctors and Ray turned their heads toward Otto with looks of disapproval. One doctor snapped his fingers and a large man appeared behind Otto. He grabbed the boy by the arm and dragged him out of the room.
"Come on, son. This is no place for a child to be. Let's go out to the waiting room," the man replied.
"Let go! Reggie! Rocket Girl! Don't leave me!" Otto yelled. Suddenly, he could hear a loud and rhythmic beat and a series of electronic "beeps". It was the sound of Reggie's heartbeat and the heart-rate monitor attached to her. Otto helplessly heard the pulse and beeping gradually slow down until the thumping stopped and he heard a steady "beeeeeeeeeeeeepppppppppp" sound--an indication of a "flat-line" heartbeat. Then, a voice announced over the loudspeaker, "Code Blue. Room 241."
"She's gone! She's gone!" Otto screamed as the man nudged him through a door marked "Waiting Room." However, what awaited Otto was a black and floorless abyss. Suddenly, Otto lost his balance and began to fall down a bottomless pit.
Finally, Otto snapped out of the dream. He was very pale and his pajamas were soaked in sweat. Slowly, Otto got out of bed, changed his clothes, and then laid back down. He eventually cried himself back to sleep, realizing that the dream he had would be coming true in a little more than a day.
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Twister's nightmare was a little different.
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Twister was seven years old and was playing inside his room when his mother entered. "Mi hijo, ¿dónde está Luna?" (TRANSLATION: My son, where is Luna?).
For a second, the young Twister looked at his mother in confusion. Then she began to yell at him "Maurice, you mean you haven't seen our puppy?" The boy shrugged his shoulders. Mrs. Rodriguez then realized the inevitable: the dog had escaped from the backyard, where it had been an hour earlier. The boys obviously hadn't checked on the young dog as she had asked.
In response, Mrs. Rodriguez dragged Twister out of his room and in to the kitchen. She called the police to report the lost dog and then called her husband at work, who arrived a few minutes later. After yelling at Twister and Lars for neglecting their responsibility for the dog, he went to the family computer. Several minutes later he emerged with a stack of fliers. "Let's go, boys" he ordered.
They walked up and down the streets of Ocean Shores, yelling "Luna, ven aquí!" (TRANSLATION: Come here). After about an hour, Mr. Rodriguez handed his boys a roll of tape each and several fliers. "OK, since you lost her, you guys get to help find her. Put these posters up. If you're lucky, someone will find her!"
Twister curiously looked at the poster. There was something familiar about the dog, especially its face. The eyes, hair, nose, and mouth reminded Twister of something...or someone. Then it hit him: they were the exact same facial features Reggie had. Twister gasped as reality set in. Somehow, his dog was Reggie.
After the three had placed all their posters in shop windows and on telephone poles, they met together by the Pier. All of a sudden, Mr. Rodriguez's cell phone rang. It was his wife. She had good news and bad news. The good news: the police had called and said they found the dog. The bad news: it had been hit by a car near City Hall. Upon hearing this, Mr. Rodriguez grabbed the two boys and they ran toward the accident scene.
The driver of the car had had no time to react to the small dog that quickly darted out in front of his car. He was very upset about what had happened. The dog had sailed about 40 feet in the air and landed on the sidewalk. The dog tried to get up but couldn't--the pain was too great and her legs were broken.
When Raul Rodriguez and his sons arrived at the scene, Lars and Twister burst in to tears as they knelt beside their injured friend. A nearby vet had been called to the scene to examine the dog. Upon examination, he determined that the dog would never function normally again. The best option was to put it to sleep. He gave his findings to Raul, who broke the news to the boys. They were heartbroken. The best bet was to euthanize the dog on the spot to minimize her pain. Before that happened, however, the boys got a chance to say goodbye. Twister knelt down to the dog and stared at her face with tears in his eyes. There was no doubt about it: he saw Reggie in the dog's face. He put his face next to hers, allowing her to lick his face one last time. Finally, the doctor began to administer the final injections. The boys watched sadly as the dog's labored breathing and movements eventually ceased. When the dog ceased to breathe anymore, Twister burst in to nonstop tears. As the vet carried the lifeless animal away, Twister cried out "Come back!" and then fell back in to reality, finding himself in his own bed.
Twister's initial response was "I had a puppy?" A few minutes later, his sluggish memory kicked in and he realized that some of that had, in fact, actually happened many years ago. While his dog wasn't hit by a car, he did lose his family's puppy. Like Luna, Twister was about to lose Reggie in a matter of hours.. Like Otto, Twister had a hard time falling back asleep, as his mind filled with memories about Reggie. No matter how much he tried to clear those thoughts from his head, anything he thought about led to Reggie.
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Around 9:30 that morning, Sam called both Otto and Twister, requesting their immediate presence in his room. He had been up for several hours, waiting for the right moment to call both of them--after all, he didn't want to wake them up, as he knew they would be upset if he did. As soon as they were ready, both arrived at Sam's front door about the same time.
"What's up, Squid?" Twister asked as he yawned. Obviously he had not gotten much sleep.
"Better make this quick. We're going out with Reggie today, since this is the last day we will ever see her again," Otto added.
"Actually, this is about Reggie. I was thinking last night, and well, I analyzed her condition using the best medical databases on the Internet. I determined that Reggie is suffering from an acute and recurring case of strep throat and..."
As he was talking, Otto cut him off, sounding impatient: "English, please, Dr. Squid!"
"Otto, your sister isn't dying. In fact, she's only going to the hospital tomorrow to have her tonsils taken out."
Otto and Twister stared at each other in disbelief for a second. Suddenly, Otto snapped, "I don't believe you. I think you're just denying the obvious"
Twister furthered his best friend's argument: "Yeah. What about all that stuff Reggie was saying about being put to sleep? She confirmed it when we asked!"
Sam tried to explain the surgical procedure to them, but both refused. "I'm not listening. I'm not listening. I'm not listening," Otto yelled as Sam was trying to talk.
"Well, if you don't think she's dying, then you don't have to come with us today, since she'll be 'all right' tomorrow!" Twister exclaimed sarcastically. With that, he and Otto stormed out of the house.
Sam sighed and returned to his room. He decided that he wouldn't join them as he didn't want to bother Reggie at the time. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he thought to himself. Then an idea popped in to his head. If he didn't tell Reggie about Otto and Twister's false assumptions until the next day, they could turn this in to a little game. As he thought about his plans, he decided to take a walk down to the local supermarket. He wanted to surprise Reggie after her surgery.
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Later that evening, Reggie, Twister, and Otto returned to the Rockets' house. They had just finished an exciting day of skating and surfing. When Reggie initially asked why Sammy wasn't joining them, Otto and Twister quickly fabricated the excuse that his mom made him go with her to Santa Monica to buy clothes. They didn't want to tell Reggie that Sam was in denial, and, thankfully, Reggie bought their story.
Twister and Reggie were sitting out on the deck and admiring the stars while Otto was upstairs searching for a board game for them to play. Twister looked at Reggie sadly, thinking that this would be the last time he would ever see her. He had known her forever and, surprisingly, as he grew, he felt strangely close to her. Sure, she was like a surrogate sister to him since they hung out so much, but he felt like there was an even stronger bond between them, one he could not explain.
"This is pretty cool, huh, Reg?" Twister inquired. Reggie nodded her head. He then continued, "Are you thinking about tomorrow?" Again, she nodded her head as he responded, "I want to let you know that you are one of the strongest people I know, but that in this situation, I think it's OK to be scared." Reggie turned toward him and smiled.
Without thinking, Twister removed the shark-tooth necklace that he had always worn and handed it to Reggie. "Here, Reg. This has always been special to me. I want you to wear this tomorrow so you know that we'll always be friends no matter what."
Reggie managed to respond, "Thanks Twist, but I don't know if they'll let me wear this tomorrow," as she attempted to hand it back to Twister. However, he pushed her hand away: "No, I insist. Hold on to it."
Again, Reggie smiled, leaning over to Twister and giving him a firm hug. Twister felt very good for two reasons: one, he was being hugged by a girl; two, he had just done something to ease the emotional trauma of someone who had been suffering.
After playing the board game, Ray came out to the deck. He said that Reggie should get some sleep since the next day would be long for her. Twister and Reggie hugged one last time as he left. As he closed the door, nobody noticed his subtle sniffling sounds and the tears forming in his eyes. In fact, one could find the same expression from Otto as he was saying "Good night" to his sister. As he tried to fall asleep a song on the radio made him wish that he was the one dying instead of his sister.
I want to lay you on a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed on nails
I want to be just as close as the holy ghost is
And lay you down on bed of roses
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Sorry this chapter was so pessimistic (not to mention weird), but I thought the nightmares would add something to the story.
Only a few more chapters to go. If I don't finish another one in time,
Happy New Year :)