A/N : (takes a peek from behind a large boulder) Hum... hi ? (dodges rotten fruits and flying daggers) Okay okay, I know I'm unforgivably late for the update ! Sorry ! (dodges more rotten fruits) Really, I'm sorry ! Look, I won't bore you with a long explanation, since we all agree that I made you wait long enough already, right ? (dodges a few flaming arrows) Yeah, that's what I thought... Let's just say that this story was on hold for a while... alright, a long while. The good news is, it's not anymore, so here comes a new chapter ! (cheers) I hope I haven't lost too many readers, and that I'll gain some new ones !
Raiu : I don't see why anyone else would bother to read this crap.
Just get lost Raiu ! Anyway, don't worry everyone, there will be no more wait like the one I just put you through. I'm officially back to working on this fic, so expect more updates in the future !
Akari : YAY ! (cheers with pink pompoms)
Raiu : You two are hopeless...
Look who's talking... Well folks, here's chapter nine ! Read and enjoy !
IMPORTANT NOTE :
Brace yourselves everyone, cause what's coming below is June's explanation about what happened to Tyson during the five years he was thought dead. It turned out much longer than I expected, so I divided it in 2 parts, as in 2 separate chapters. Hope you don't mind !
'Kay, read on !
.: Sweet tragedy :.
by cherry fantasy
Chapter nine : Miracle explained (part 1)
Mr. Dickinson's office, 2h01 p.m.
"This will be long..." June started with a sigh, "...so I suggest we follow Mr. Dickinson's advice and take a seat"
She walked to one of the chairs disposed before Mr. Dickinson's desk ; the man was already sitting in his own chair behind the said desk, silent. Tyson went to sit beside June, thus forcing Kai, who was still holding his hand, to come and sit beside him. Max, Ray, Kenny and Hilary followed suit, settling on the four remaining chairs. Then everything went silent and all eyes fixed on June... The young woman cast a glance toward Tyson before beginning with a soft voice :
"Alright... So, as Mr. Dickinson told you earlier, I come from North Corea, more specifically from a small town named Sinp'o. My parents have a house there situated close to the beach, which is where I passed my whole childhood. But anyway, five years ago... I must've been around 27 at the time... I was visiting my parents, and one evening I decided to go take a walk along the sea shore like I used to do when I was a kid. The sun was setting and I was about to return to the house when suddenly, something caught my gaze : there was a form washed up on the sand, and it looked awfully like a human body.
I immediately ran to it and discovered that it was indeed a body ; that of a young man with long midnight blue hair. His clothes were torn and he had blood everywhere, the most I could see coming from a wound on his neck. He was breathing weakly though, and for a moment I found myself happy that he was still alive... Then the thought hit me that considering his present state, he probably wouldn't last long if I didn't do something real soon..."
June stopped for an instant to glance at Tyson's friends ; their faces were as pale as snow and they looked like the last thing they wanted was to hear the rest of her story... Nobody said anything though, so she took a deep breath and pursued :
"For a short moment, I just panicked... I was a psychologist, not a doctor, and for a second there I had no idea what to do... But luckily, I was able to calm down quick enough.
First, I knew I couldn't take the risk to move the boy, since I didn't know the nature of his injuries and that chances were I would only make things worse. Instead, I ran to my parents' house and quickly called an ambulance. After that, I ran back to the beach, with my parents following me this time. We waited barely five minutes until the medical team arrived, and in even less time than that they had the young man in the ambulance, riding toward the hospital with their sirens on. I followed them in my car after promising my mom and dad I would call them as soon as I had news.
I didn't know that the boy was Tyson Kinomiya back then. Nobody knew.
I ended up passing the whole night at the hospital. Since I wouldn't stop asking questions about Tyson, not using his name of course since I didn't know what it was, a doctor finally came to see me. He wanted to know if I was one of the boy's relatives ; I had to answer no, then I explained how I had found him on the shore before calling the ambulance. The doctor hesitated for a minute, then decided that considering the situation, he would give me the information I was asking for. He told me that the young man I was worried about had just passed several hours in surgery, and that although his life was no longer in danger, his condition was still critical..."
June stopped again, her eyes downward, as if telling this part of the tale still pained her... By now Kai was gripping Tyson's hand so tight he was probably cutting all circulation, but the blue-haired youth made no move to pull away. Max and the others just waited worriedly for June to continue, their hearts thumping in their chests... They almost jumped when June started again :
"Tyson's vocal chords had been totally slashed, which was the result of the wound I'd seen on his neck... It's then that I learned he would probably be unable to speak for the rest of his life... But that wasn't the worse ; his left arm was broken as well as a few ribs, and it seemed like his lower body had been crushed. The doctors had succeeded to repair most of the damages, but even there they weren't sure if Tyson would ever be able to use his legs correctly again. And in any case, a re-education would be necessary.
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, I received the final blow : the doctor told me that the boy had suffered from a serious head injury causing internal bleeding, and that although the wound was now under control, the results couldn't be prevented : the patient was now in a coma"
Hilary stopped fighting the new wave of tears burning behind her eyelids, letting them flow silently on her cheeks. Max leaned against Ray, his face pale and drawn... Ray held him tightly, his own eyes shimmering. Kenny kept his gaze downwards, and Kai took a deep breath, trying not to lose it right there and now. Had their friend really went through all that ? Alone, without them, or anyone else he knew, at his side ? God, this was even worse then what they had thought...
June continued her tale, and they braced themselves up for whatever else would come :
"I remember how I felt after hearing all that" June was saying. "Angry, and sad. You see, even though I didn't know Tyson back then, I still couldn't find it in me to accept what had been done to him... No one could possibly deserve to be hurt that badly, especially someone so young. It just seemed so unfair...
It's then that I decided to do everything in my power to help this boy. I don't know why, maybe because I'd been the one to find him, but somehow I felt a responsibility toward him. At the moment he had no one but me, and I couldn't bring myself to abandon him"
June stopped for an instant to regain her breath, then she raised her head and her voice became more firm as she pursued :
"First, I talked to the doctor, who told me they'd found no piece of identification on the boy. It seemed he'd had nothing with him but his torn clothes. That was a problem of course, since because of this we couldn't possibly contact any relatives, supposing the boy even had some. The hospital had no one to call and we had no way to know who the patient was. And since I wasn't related to him, they couldn't just entrust Tyson to me either. The only solution then was to call the police, and that's exactly what we did.
An inspector and two agents came in one hour later. The inspector talked to the doctor first, then he came to me and asked me to tell him how I'd found Tyson. I told him my story in details and answered all his questions. When all that was over, the inspector said he would set up an inquiry. To begin with they would try to discover if the boy was even from Sinp'o or its surroundings ; if yes, they would try to find his family or at least someone who knew him if no relatives were found. If the boy was not from Sinp'o, then they would have to extend the investigation to a larger scale. That meant it would be harder and take longer to find any decent information. Add to that, they had to discover how Tyson had ended up on the sea shore, and what had happened to him.
Of course all of that would've been a lot easier if Tyson himself had been awake and able to tell us his story, but since it wasn't the case the police had to dig up the answers by its own means.
We still had one problem on our hands though, and that was who would be responsible of Tyson until his identity could be found. They needed someone who would take care of his stay in the hospital, someone to call if there were decisions to make or in case of an emergency. I immediately volunteered. The following day Tyson was placed legally under my care, for as long as there would be no one else to take my place. By then I'd called my parents and told them everything, and they supported me in my decision.
I visited Tyson at the hospital every day, and I followed the investigation as closely as I was permitted to. As you can guess, it turned out that Tyson wasn't from Sinp'o at all, nor from any other towns or villages in the vicinity. After being sure of that, the police started looking for any incident that could've happened in the area Tyson had been found, and at a coinciding time. A boat sinking, a plane crashing, any case of disappearance that could've been reported... They looked but found nothing, except the recent crash of a plane bound for Moscow, in Russia. They quickly pushed it aside though, since it had happened many kilometers away from where Tyson had been found. It was way too far, and according to them, Tyson would've drowned or died from his injuries way before reaching the sea shore of Sinp'o"
"But...!" Max interrupted at that moment, frowning in confusion.
June smiled at him and answered his unfinished question, seeing that the others were just as disturbed by her last statement :
"I know" she said. "We all know that Tyson was indeed on that flight, this he can now confirm himself. And when I learned it later on, I was just as confused as you are now. But we never quite figured out how it was possible... Tyson himself doesn't have any idea how he managed to survive, nor does he know how he ended up on our beach. He told me so"
All eyes turned to the blue-haired boy at that. Tyson shrugged and nodded, giving them a resigned smile. June pursued, startling them into looking toward her once again :
"The inquiry continued for a few months, but since nothing of importance had yet to be found, it was finally put on hold. I did try to get the police to continue searching, but to be honest, it's true that they had other things to do, and couldn't place all their focus on an investigation that didn't seem to be moving quite fast anyway. They hadn't abandoned the case, they'd merely pushed it aside until something concrete was discovered.
Meanwhile, I had been visiting Tyson at the hospital every day, taking at least half an hour to go see him after my work. He was getting better, but didn't show any sign of waking up. I decided to be patient though, and so I waited... Finally, Tyson ended up passing two whole years in a coma..."
Max gasped, along with Kenny and Hilary. Ray merely gazed sorrowfully toward Tyson, and Kai... well, Kai was way passed the point of having any visible reaction. Aside the fact that his hand was still gripping Tyson's, he showed absolutely no exterior sign of having heard June. Inwardly though, a war was raging...
"Fortunately" June continued, "I can be a very patient person. I never lost hope, and so I waited. I visited Tyson daily and I kept an eye on the police's investigation for any progress. My parents supported me all the way in my self-assigned task, and by then I'd also gotten a boyfriend who helped me just as much. Len, that's his name, was living in Sinp'o himself, so I had relocated there permanently.
Strangely enough, it's Len who was present when Tyson first woke up after nearly two years of slumber. My boyfriend had been quite moved by Tyson's story when I'd first told it to him, and he had quickly become as determined as me to help the boy. He visited him almost as often as me, and so his presence when Tyson woke up wasn't that odd.
Anyhow, on that day I was supposed to be there as well, but I had a lecture to give at Sinp'o's University, and consequently I ended up late at the hospital. I arrived in a rush around nine o'clock, Len having reached me earlier on my cellphone. As soon as I was there he filled me in, telling me that yes he'd told the nurses that the boy was awake, but that as soon as the doctor had arrived the man had kicked him out of the room. No one had gotten out since then, and Len was still waiting for any news on the boy's condition. Nobody was allowed in the room until further notice.
Luckily we didn't have to wait long, and about half an hour after my arrival the doctor finally exited Tyson's room. Len and me were on him immediately of course, and he made us sit in his office before answering our questions.
The doctor told us that Tyson was awake and aware, and as healthy as possible after what he'd went through. According to him, the patient's physical condition was satisfying : although his vocal chords were now forever unusable, the initial wound had healed quite nicely. As for his legs, a re-education was definitely in order, but if it was done correctly then there was a very good chance Tyson would be able to walk normally again. All of that was a great relief to us, but sadly the doctor wasn't done..."
June paused, then breathed out :
"Apparently, the patient had woken up amnesiac"
The others' eyes widened. All they could do was stare at June, then at Tyson, then back at June when she started up again :
"It took a lot out of me not to scream in frustration when I heard the news. By luck Len was there to calm me down... The thing is, I had hoped - we'd ALL hoped - that when Tyson woke up we would finally get to know who he was and what had happened to him, but obviously we wouldn't get our wish. I remember wondering if some unknown forces were at work, intent on forcing us along the hardest path whether we liked it or not.
We were then allowed to see Tyson, and one look at him was all it took to make my frustration disappear. I had never seen someone look so lost and afraid. He was trying to hide it of course, but the hand he kept on his throat self-consciously and the frightened confusion in his eyes were a dead give away. I remember thinking he looked so fragile in the big hospital bed, and I barely resisted the urge to go embrace him and tell him everything would be okay. Instead I just went to sit beside his bed and I talked to him, telling him who I was, why I was there and how I had found him two years prior. At the end of my tale he was quite distressed, but he surprisingly didn't panic. It's then that I understood what a strong person he really was, and even more when he got that determined expression on his face.
The following days were a bit of a rush ; first, the police inspector came back. He interrogated Tyson, of course not getting much more information. He said he'd take another look into things anyway, to see if anything important had been discovered. Then a few weeks later Tyson had to leave the hospital, and Len and me offered to take him in until his identity was revealed. Frankly, I didn't want him to be placed in some kind of institution. Anyhow, after a long discussion, the police once again agreed to our terms while we agreed to theirs. They told us we would be Tyson's temporary tutors, for lack of a better term, and that we'd have to take care of him and of his re-education. An official from the social services would visit us monthly to see how things were going.
Of course we had not forgotten to ask for Tyson's own opinion. We didn't want to force him to come with us if he didn't want to... Thankfully he agreed, and I was happy to think that maybe we'd earned his trust. Together we'd chosen a name for him, so that Len and me could have something to call him until his memories got back. That's how Tyson temporarily became Tao.
The first year was the hardest, where Tyson had to learn how to walk again. It was hard and exhausting work, for us but most of all for him. Nonetheless, we managed. Tyson's own perseverance was contagious, and he faced every difficulty with a sort of courage I'd rarely seen. His will was unbreakable, and during that year Tyson gained not only mine and Len's affection, but also our admiration and respect. By then my parents had met him too and were just as taken with him, readily offering their help whenever we asked for it.
And so our first year together went by, with Tyson slowly but surely getting back on his legs. It was also the time where Tyson, Len and me started to learn sign language, so that we'd be able to communicate more easily. Until then, Tyson had used to go around with a little notebook so he could write down what he wanted to say. He was writing in japanese, which thankfully both Len and me understood well enough. But it wasn't telling much ; in our region a lot of people knew japanese, and they didn't necessarily come from Japan. Add to that, we had no way to know if it was Tyson's first language or if he'd learned it as a second one. All in all, that new information wasn't much help.
Unfortunately, no memories came back to him during that year. He often had dreams about places and people, but would forget them as soon as he woke up. I recall him being very annoyed by this. He was desperate to remember, but nothing concrete was happening. Out of everything else, I think that's what got him the most upset. Len and I encouraged him the best we could and told him not to give up, that it would all come back to him eventually. Secretly, we were both praying for that every night.
Our second year with Tyson started, and after only a few weeks into it he was officially out of re-education, having passed the final test with flying colors. He was told to keep exercising regularly though, or else the muscles and joints in his legs would ' rust ' and decrease in their efficacy, thus bringing him back to square one. If that happened, their was a risk that his legs would never work properly again. Tyson took the advice very seriously, and started doing three hours of strenuous work out every day.
It was during that second year, after about half of it had passed I'd say, that Tyson started to have flashbacks. The first ones he got gave him terrible headaches and even put him in bed for a few days sometimes. The doctor we called told us it was because of the stress on his brain, caused by the memories trying to come back. He then said not to panic, that it wasn't dangerous and that all we had to do was let Tyson rest when the headaches became too violent. The return of his memories was a natural process and we had to let it happen at its own rhythm. Thank God Tyson was allowed Aspirins !
The flashbacks, according to what Tyson told us, gradually became more regular and less painful. They became a little clearer each time, and by the end of the second year he could remember faces, buildings, events, places... Sadly the information was too vague. What we needed most were actual names, and Tyson could give none of that. Nothing he described gave any precise clue about where he came from or who he was. All he was telling us about could've been anywhere in China, Japan or North and South Corea. Nonetheless, we told the police the few things we knew, and they promised us to look into it"
June paused again for a moment and observed Tyson's friends. All their attention was on her and her words. She could read sadness on their features, as well as regret and disbelief. She couldn't pretend to understand how they were feeling at the moment... Helpless, probably. They would've wanted to be there for Tyson, but it hadn't been possible... They had thought him dead... Now there was no going back. June would've liked to help them too, but she knew that all she could really do was tell her story... Tyson's story. The rest would be up to them.
Looking at Tyson's own peaceful expression though, as the boy stared almost reverently at his and Kai's joined hands, June couldn't help but smile. It looked like things would be alright after all...
A/N : Okay, part one done. Don't worry, part two is already finished. I'll post it sometime tonight. I'd like to get a few reviews first...
Raiu : Not as if you deserve them.
Don't you ever shut up ? ...Anyhow folks, don't fret, you'll get the rest of this tonight (Tuesday, May 22, for those who want to be situated). I promise, no more long wait. This story is back on track !
Raiu : Yipee...
See, even Raiu's happy about it ! ...sort of...
Akari : Please review, we love reviews ! See you soon guys !
