Chapter 6: How it happened.
"Well…. It happened shortly after my mom and I got involved in a car-crash, on my 16th birthday. I was close to the end of my senior year in High-school—"
"Senior? But kids that age normally are in Sophomore year. How did you manage to skip two complete years?" Amara interrupts Yugi shocked.
"Yeah, well, my mom wanted me to do well in school, she promised me she would pay my driver's licence and buy me a car if I would do good in school, a C on my card was enough to redraw that bargain. I skipped 7th grade in middle school, and during freshman on high-school I was already doing work a sophomore should be doing, so thanks to that, I skipped sophomore and went straight to junior year and from there it was a challenge enough for me not to skip classes anymore, and still I was an A student in almost every class, P.E. was the only class I scored a B-. Soo, that basically explains a bit, I am kinda a nerd since I focussed more on my studies and games than the average kids my age did." Yugi explains.
"I'm impressed, I needed to literally kick Atem to his studies, he managed a B mostly, he only had an A on sports." Amara says softly.
"Well, a nerd or not, you are defiantly the cutest nerd I have ever seen." Atem says with a smirk.
"Hey!" Yugi shouts pouting, but then hangs his head in shame because he scolded a man five years his senior, and is also his boss.
"Atem! Behave." Amara shouts with both a warning but also naughty twinkle in her eyes and turns her attention towards Yugi again. "So, you got involved in a car crash? Did you get the tube during that period?"
"No, I got the tube shortly after I graduated, about three months after the accident." Yugi says softly.
"Then tell me about the accident first please?" Amara asks Yugi and he nods, thinking back to the day before he would turn 16 and then the dreadful day after that.
Flashback: Yugi's pov.
I am walking home from school together with Ryou, my friends and I agreed I would see them on Sunday since mom, grandpa and Ryou most likely would do things with me tomorrow, and when we see the Game-shop in sight, we also see a car I do not recognize as being from one of the neighbours, or one of them must have bought a new car.
I can't help myself but fall in love with this stranger's car, it sure is a beauty, a wonderful royal blue colour paint and what strikes me is the signature on the hood, it spells KOG on the furry coat of Kuribo, it looks like my watermark. I wonder who's that is? I shake it off and take a deep sigh, I hope mom will soon teach me how to drive, maybe with a bit of luck, and this person will become a regular of grandpa's I can ask and drive this beauty one day.
I can't help but smirk, I know I'm usually not one to break rules, but Joey and Honda did secretly allow me a few times to drive in their car. "What are you smirking at, what kind of shenanigans are you up to this time?" I hear the soft amused voice from Ryou say next to me.
"Oh, nothing in special, ready to meet mom but this time as being my boyfriend?" I ask him and reach out to grab his hand while he nods and together, we walk inside take off our shoes and then go to the kitchen.
"Happy 1-day early 16th birthday Yugi!" mom and grandpa shout with a happy smile on their faces. Grandpa standing next to mom, and mom holding a plate with 8 cupcakes on them decorated with my favourite sprinkles two for each to nibble on. On two of them a candle one with the number 1 and the other with the number 6 presenting my upcoming 16th birthday. I'm a little confused to why they celebrate my sweet 16 today and not tomorrow, but… you don't hear me complain.
I close my eyes and make a wish, and while my eyes still are closed, I blow out the candles. While doing so I feel grandpa's wrinkled hand press me a little box in my hand. I smile he always gives me my birthday gift this way. I open my eyes and see a little car in my hand, the same Fort as standing in front of the game-store, the same colour, the same Kuribo with the KOG initials on the hood. I have a feeling and while feeling the box I feel the underside has a strange disturbance.
I look and see it's a small package, I carefully pull off the tape and unwrap the gift, a set of keys and the papers belonging to that beauty outside. I look up towards mom and grandpa, and then point my finger towards the front. "That's mine?!" I yell clearly taken back by such a grand gift.
The smiles on grandpa's and mom's faces fall to a pout. "Yes, we saved a long time to give you a decent car, you worked hard to get your own car as promised. You don't like it?"
And then it klicks, KOG, I'm known the King Of Games ever since I am 14 years old, and although I'm a dark magician user, Kuribo is the first monster I found in my deck when I started building it at age 10 and use it as my watermark since then, KOG I added when I got the title, and this is their way of telling me the car belongs to me, yeah it's not a Jaguar or even a Mercedes, but hey, if I am taught one important thing during my almost 16 years, then it is never judge the price-tag, and be happy with what you get.
Still, I can't help to tease them a bit. I form my angriest face and with a disappointed tone "No mom, I don't like it." I say and hear Ryou gasp next to me and feel him looking disappointed towards me. I look towards mom and grandpa and see their faces turn in a deeply discouraged look I never seen before. "But…" I say and keep waiting for a bit more, and then relax my face. "I sure as hell love it! Thanks for the awesome gift!" I squeal and jump into their stunned forms.
"I knew that sparkle in your eyes meant a joke." Grandpa says with obvious relief in his voice. "I'm so glad you never were a spoiled brat." He goes on hugging me deeply.
"You never allowed me to be a spoiled brat, and for that I'm grateful. Thank you, mama, grandpa." I whisper to them both.
Ryou feeling left out simply joins us in the hug and then I remember I needed to introduce him as my boyfriend since a week ago. After the introduction mom says there are some things, I need to be aware off and I look with a pout how grandpa claims the keys till I have my driver's licence.
"Now you have your own car, it does not mean you can drive it tomorrow, I teach you in my car, and we start tomorrow 9 AM sharp." Ah that explains why they celebrate my party tonight, she wants to give me a crash course, I'm behind the wheel tomorrow until the end of the day and probably have my licence before the next week is over.
"When you have your licence, I want you to help me with grandpa's needs, and helping me when I need to do grocery shopping. Also, you need to learn how to spend your allowance better now, because when you get a ticket, it's for your own wallet, grandpa and I will pitch by with gas if you need to drive for us, otherwise also that is on yours completely." Mom says sternly and I nod. "Good now that is cleared. Take two cupcakes each and go to your homework, we leave in three hours."
She shoos me and Ryou to my room and we do our homework together, after that we go to a restaurant for dinner. This is how we always celebrate birthday parties going for dinner together and the next day is for friends and other family to come over.
Thirza-1984:
Next morning 9 AM, mom and I sit in the car and she first she helps me setting the chair in the right angle so I can reach everything without any trouble, then she shows me how I must place the mirrors correctly so I can look in every angle, and finally I am allowed to start the engine and start to drive.
Mom clearly is beaming with pride. "Yugi? Are you certain you didn't cheat with your friends?" she asks me suspiciously.
Carefully I smirk. "No mom this is the very first time I have driven a car, or you must include the video games Joey and I play." I say sweety knowing that she totally will whack my head if I tell her my little secret, not caring I'm a birthday boy today.
"The video games taught you well then, with the way you are driving, I strongly believe you will pass first time." She says exited before I suddenly see a different car speeding in towards us, and before I even can turn the wheel and dodge, I hear the crash from metal into metal, the other car hit the nose of the hood and with the force it maintained it forced us towards a pole crashing mom's side into that, I feel more than I see the metal bend around the pole.
Splinters of glass scratch my face and I feel my shoulder making an angry twist. My world turns black for a moment, but when I come too, I carefully turn my face towards mom ignoring the pain shooting up my shoulder while knowing it's better not to move. She lays there her face in a strange angle, her face covered with blood, her mouth open, as if in a scream, but what scares me are her eyes. Her eyes are open with a vacant and scared look in them…. No not vacant, deathly is more of a fitting way to describe them, I guess.
I try to move my arm in the hope I can shake her, but as soon as I lift it, a flaring pain shoots from my right side to my left. I drop my arm realising I can't move and won't even try. "Mom?" I ask and hear how scratchy my voice sounds but ignore it for now. "Mommy?" I call out again and I feel panic raising inside of me, tears stream down my cheeks. "MAMA!" I yell out desperately and while I see the blue and red flashes nearing us, I keep yelling for my "Mom." Who does not respond at all?
A knock on the window makes me turn my face, not caring about the flaring pain shooting through my shoulders, but I turn back to mom and keep yelling and calling her mama. The door at my side opens. "Hey son. Are you okay?" the paramedic asks me to try and get my attention.
"Mama." I cry out hoarsely and tiredly.
"She is your mother?" the paramedic asks me, and I finally manage to snap my attention towards him. I nod feeling again a flare of pain shooting through my body, I hiss in pain. "Okay, my colleague is going to look at her, okay? Try not to move." he asks me now he realises he has my attention. "My name is Koji, What's your name son?"
"Y…Yugi."
"Hello Yugi, what's your mother's name?"
"Akiko."
He gives the info to his co-worker and then turns his attention back to me. "Were does it hurt son?" he asks me, calming me down in a fatherly way.
"My shoulders…. Can't move." I slur out in a daze.
"Good, I'm going to place a mask over your face okay, don't panic this gives you air even if you don't need it right now it will also help you to relax." He says while showing me a mask that will go over my mouth and nose. Carefully he slides an elastic band behind my head and then covers my face. "Okay you can talk normally we don't have to take the mask off for that." He says and I gently nod. "Good, I'm going to bring in an ivy, it has painkillers that will course directly into your bloodstream it probably will make you drowsy, but I need you to stay awake for as long as possible okay? Any other places that hurt?" he asks me. And I try to focus on the pain I have coursing through my body.
"My shoulders." I slur out since the pain there is the most prominent. I feel him cutting the safety belt free and sliding off me then he hovers over me as if he is trying to figure something out.
"Do you know how heavy you are?"
"mmm…. Around… 40 or 45 kilos… I think."
"Good, Yugi listens to me, okay? My colleague is here with the stretcher, what I see is that I can easily lift you out. It will hurt but I need you to bite down on this cloth as hard as you can." He says holding a cloth in front of my mouth after removing the mask. I open and feel the cloth placed gently inside. "I'm going count, and on three I lift you out and place you on the stretcher." He says while sliding an arm under my legs and the other behind my shoulders, I feel how he takes a firm grip on them and then. "1…2…3" he says and in a swift moment he lifts me out.
I bite down hard on the cloth almost till the point I fear I will break my teeth after all. And then suddenly I'm buckled up on the stretcher and I hear the doors from the ambulance close. When did that happen? I wonder and see Koji in my vision again. "Open your mouth, then I can take this out." He says softly taking the cloth and when he feels I have opened my mouth and the tension is off it takes the cloth away. Next, he places the mask back on my face.
"You did amazing son, is there someone we can call?"
"Gra…grandpa…Kame Game." I slur out feeling fatigued hitting me fast.
"I know that shop, we will make sure your grandfather is informed. Where were you two going to?"
"Driving, first lesson."
"First? You know you need to be at least 16 for that huh?" he says with a caring chuckle
"Today. 16." I manage to bring out with a smile.
"Stay awake Yugi, I know it's hard to do so, but I need you to stay awake a bit longer, okay?" he says gently but with an urge in his voice. I nod, seizing the action quickly because it is making me nauseous and hurt in my shoulders. Koji must have seen my discomfort and takes a spittoon keeping it in front of me, luckily the nauseous feeling drifts off. "Good, so 16 today? Happy birthday, did you have a fun morning so far?"
"Mmm got my own car, grandpa, mama, Ryou and I went to dinner last night."
"Your own car… that one?" he asks me with clear shock.
"No, mama wanted me to learn in her car." I say feeling it's getting tough to stay awake. "M'tired."
"We are almost there as soon as you are in the hospital you can sleep. Who is Ryou? Your brother?" he asks me clearly to keep me awake.
"Boyfriend… so tired…"
"Alm… There Yu…" Koji says but I only catch broken words, the exhaustion is winning this game, and my world turns black.
Thirza-1984:
When I wake up white walls are greeting me and making me moan loudly, wondering which idiot decided to use crystal white walls in a bedroom combined with the bright lights overhead. Two voices gently call out my name, after I blinked my eyes a few times I look to the left and see Ryou standing next to me and grandpa at the other side of the bed. "Yugi, thank gods you are awake." Grandpa says with tears in his eyes and his wrinkled hand finds his way to my cheek. I can see the worry and fear he desperately is trying to hide. Ra he must have been worried like hell.
"What's wrong with me?" I ask when I realise, I'm in a hospital bed.
"Your left wrist is broken, your shoulder was dislocated, your right wrist is sprained, and your stomach got a serious blow, but they could see no bleeding wounds there, you have a concussion and was out for a day." Ryou says placing his hand on my casted wrist. "When your grandfather called me yesterday, I rushed over to get him and take him here."
"Mama?" I ask only using that affection name towards her when I'm upset, and feel the tears already stream down my cheeks terrified for the news they are going to give me.
"Your mother was still alive when they arrived here, but the damage she took were to severe, she is declared brain dead Yugi." Grandpa says tears now freely streaming down his cheeks. "They keep her on life support until you would wake so you can say goodbye."
"But she must live." I sob out. "Grandpa, please, don't take her?" I beg.
"Yugi, my dear boy, she never wanted this and you know it." He reasons with me. "She never wanted to end on life support and made that perfectly clear to the both of us. She loves you till death, remember, you are the favourite mistake she ever made." He says with a smile and Ryou looks up confused, but grandpa doesn't give him the chance to ask. "Your mother always hated how people would lay there still in that bed, or sitting in that wheelchair looking only to the walls and roof, not knowing if their son or daughter came to visit them, not knowing how the world would change over the years. She never wanted to have that burden placed upon us, so she wrote in her will to pull the plug if she ever would end up in any kind of vegetated state."
I nod, she told me many times about how she worked as a volunteer in the hospital before I was born, she told me many times about how pity she felt for those people in that state, how bad she felt when their children started their own families and never visited them. And I know by keeping her alive right now, they go against her wishes.
"I asked them to patch her up, and to keep her alive so you could say goodbye to her one last time, they agreed, it's something they do for relatives who are survivals of a crash like you had." Grandpa explains. "I call a nurse and we go and see her and say goodbye." He says walking out the room leaving me and Ryou alone.
"I'm so sorry Yugi." Ryou says softly while scooting closer and allowing me to cuddle into him. And by the time grandpa came back with a nurse I already had fallen asleep again, to exhausted to be moved to a different room and back to my own room.
Thirza-1984:
Next day I'm okay enough to sit up for a while, so the nurse takes me and grandpa to the ward they keep mama in, because I need to sit in the wheelchair, they lower her bed so I can see her properly. I stroke her face; she feels so cold. My sweet loving and caring mom.
Last night when I was calmed down enough, I explained Ryou that she got me when she was barely 16, my father ran away when he figured he impregnated her and realised he was still too young to be a dad. In the hope he would turn around, mom stayed a single mom.
Flashback ends:
"My grandparents never blamed me for her mistake, and we often joked I was the favourite mistake she had ever made when growing up. Grandpa and grandma helped mom raising me, and only a few months after my 7th birthday I faced death for the first time. I was the one finding grandma since I always was the one waking her and begging her to make me my favourite pancakes when she was done napping. It still haunts me.
"I hated the fact grandpa needed to take the job of father instead of grandfather. He could never spoil me like a grandfather would spoil their grandchild with when visiting because I saw him 24/7. Don't get me wrong, I love my grandpa, and I hope to have many more years with him, but there were days I needed a modern-day father, not an old-fashioned grandfather. And now with loosing mom, I'm an orphan. Grandpa geot full custody over me until I turned 18.
"I went to see mom, and when we entered the room she was in, the doctor told me he needed to unplug her, it could take a while before her heart would stop and she would go to join grandma. Her heart stopped an hour after they unplugged her." Yugi sniffles and wipes a tear away. "I needed to stay a week in the hospital, and when I came out grandpa and I went directly towards her funeral. After that I stayed home for one more week and then went back to school, my friends kept a close eye on me since I started to eat less and lesser."
Atem sees at Amara's face that Yugi's pain is deep, and she already is making plans on how to help Yugi. "How did you eventually get your driver's licence? A crash like how you described normally makes someone never wanting to drive ever again, let alone step in a car." Atem says.
"When I returned to school Joey made it his mission to overcome my fear, for as long as I was wearing a cast, he forced me to sit behind the wheel in his car, place the seat in the correct angle and fixing the mirrors to my liking, he forced me to play with the pedals and shortly before the cast came off, he wanted me to start the car. By then that fear was gone for the biggest part.
"When the cast came off, he took it as his responsibility to teach me to drive, and only a week after that I was the proud owner of my own driver's licence and car. And when graduating I drove to and from school grandpa sitting next to me in the car, I was gifted on my 16th birthday and the same car I still drive in to this day. That was the last birthday I ever celebrated; the memories hurt too much. And because there was so much going on with me, I decided to break things off with Ryou, he insisted we stayed friends, and until today I'm happy I agreed to that. Because a better friend then him I could not wish for."
Atem well known as a man of affections towards those he cares deeply for, pulls Yugi out the chair he occupies, sits down, and pulls Yugi in his lap allowing the younger to cry and soak his shirt rubbing soothing circles over the youngers back and with his other hand he runs his fingers through the think crown of hair when suddenly it stops. "How did you get this scar?" he asks.
Yugi feels the hand from the elder is just above his eyebrow. "This one I got when I collapsed during the last tournament I had entered. That hospital stay, also gave me this one." Yugi says pointing to the tube on his left cheek. "I was still hurting allot from mom's death.
"It was closely after graduation that Pegasus suddenly stood at the door with an invitation for me and Joey to participate his newest tournament, I didn't feel like going, I was still suffering the loss of my mother. But Joey, grandpa and Pegasus convinced me to go, it would set my mind off the pain I was feeling. With hesitation I agreed and took off towards the island Pegasus was holding his tournament on that would last a weak.
"With Joey, we both made it to the finals, and although it looked like I was a normal teen by day, at night I was sick and threw up till the point of waking Joey and him nearly calling a medic for me, but I was stubborn and kept going and kept ignoring the pain in my stomach not knowing I was nearly killing myself by doing so.
"In the finals, I stood in front of Joey, I can't remember much of that match, but I do remember I had 3000 LP left and Joey had 500 LP. It was my turn and when I drew my card my stomach protested heavily, I could not stop the bile from raising, threw up and collapsed.
"Originally, I had lost the game by default, but Joey would not have it he said he had less life points so it was more than normal I would keep the title since I always fought so hard for it to keep it mine. Pegasus however said since the match wasn't officially decided we would resume the game with the same life points we left at. It never came to that point though."
"I remember that match, it was broadcasted, I was ill that week otherwise I also would have participated. I followed it on TV and saw how the broadcast suddenly fell black, I thought it was a power shortage on Pegasus his end. But how did you got that scar?"
"I apparently fell with my head against the counter of the duel system and made this wound doing so, they realised I had a raging fever and apparently what I did throw up was blood with little food I had consumed that morning.
"They transferred me with a helicopter and I was in the hospital again, they told me I had an emergency surgery on my stomach, apparently during the accident three months early they had overseen an open wound in my stomach that grew bigger and bigger overtime bringing me in grave danger, they told me it would take a while to eat solid foods again but because I was lacking important nutrition's, they offered me a choice, a feeding tube in my stomach, or this one. They could not guarantee I would ever eat solid food ever again; it was a chance of 50/50 but still; I chose this tube to feed me in the hope one day I was able to feed myself again." Yugi says.
"Why this one? Why not the stomach tube invisible for the naked eye? It probably would have helped you sooner to find a job?" Atem asks confused.
Yugi smirks and Amara sees it. "Because my name means game. ever since I was born, I made a game out of life, and to win a game you need to overcome obstacles that sometimes are impossible if you pick the obvious. I wanted to prove that one day I was able to eat solid food again without having one more unnecessary scar on my body."
"Yeah, your probably are right, but it took you half a year to find a job."
"And it's a job I enjoy greatly, Atem, I strongly believe if I truly picked the tube in my stomach, I probably would be looking for a new job repeatedly since I would not be the happy and content man I am today. And you know why?" Yugi reasons and Atem shakes his head. "Because I enjoy working in a place with a bunch of misfits of co-workers, and having a baby-boss wining for coffee three times a day, every day over the intercom making Mana growl but winking at me all the while she walks out to get it." he says making Amara snicker in her hand while he continues. "then have a tight ass boss and work in a company that only allows 'normal people' and can't take a joke. Yes, it was a gamble to take, but I don't regret this gamble one bit." He says while looking Atem deeply in the eyes, just as long till he sees the joyful man he secretly fell in love with.
"And why are you still not eating if you have this thing for the past 5 years now?" Amara asks.
A sigh escapes Yugi's lips. "I tried, several times, but the idea of throwing up and maybe burst the scar in my stomach scared me I think, grandpa and I tried multiple times to get me a shrink, but the doctors I saw all told the same, I needed a good kick under my ass and man up and become the grown man I am, because it was all between my ears and I'm making a habit to use my status as king of games as an excuse. I can't even remember how many doctors told us the same, we stopped asking shortly before I got the job and tried it ourselves with not an ounce of luck."
"Did you enter college?" Amara asks taking Yugi in a short loop for a moment.
"Eventually, yes, as I had promised grandpa I would attend it, I entered college a month after the school year already had started, and the first semester I had double the workload to catch up on that, the tube never held me back during my classes, as I said, I made a game out of it. I also was lucky Ryou was there with me sharing the same classes. Because I attended college in Domino, I didn't have a dorm, I slept at home."
"How did you start the inspiration of making a game of your life?"
"I blame grandpa, mom got a pregnancy illness, uh I believe they call it Hellp syndrome? But I'm not sure. Anyway, I was born in the 28th week of pregnancy, and they didn't want to name me until I proved I was well enough to leave the hospital. According to grandpa I started to make a game there to win every obstacle I faced. And after three months grandpa was honoured by mom to name me. When out of the hospital I kept making a game out of everything, homework, chores, life, I always kept comparing it as it was a game."
"That explains the interactions between you and Ryou." Atem states remembering the first meeting Yugi attended in.
"How inspiring, so, how about we make a game out of this, I figure out a game-plan, and you come to my clinic for a little while. We make a wager you have that tube out within 12 months?" Amara says.
"Then I wager 18 months." Atem says with a cocky smirk.
Yugi looks at them, they are serious about this. "You think I can do this?" he asks them.
"No Yugi, I don't think, I know you can do this." Amara says.
"Then I would say… 10 months." Yugi places his wager with a smile. "But my work here? And grandpa?"
"Already taken care off, Ryou goes check on your grandfather every other day and when necessary, your grandfather knows to call me or Ryou, you will leave to my mother's clinic tomorrow morning. I'm sure Mana and I are capable enough not to make a mess out of the system yet and if so, Ryou already can help us out. Also, since I also placed in on the bet, mom sends me on daily base an update be it positive or negative. I promise I make sure your grandfather stays updated too. And all expenses are paid" Atem says.
Amara turns to Yugi who has tears streaming down his cheeks out of cheer happiness. "Ready to win this game?" she asks him.
Yugi looks to Amara, then to Atem, and then he says with newfound determination. "Let's duel."
The three set up an contract with the wager they have made, and when they signed it, they leave the office, and go their way. Next morning Atem arrives at the Muto household to see Yugi saying goodbye to his grandfather with a big hug, his suitcase already standing ready to be placed in the car. He will drive Yugi towards the clinic to make sure he arrives okay and is ready to start his next adventure.
When arriving the clinic an hour later, Yugi feels anxious but a simple hand from Atem on his leg calms him down.
They get out and while rolling his suitcase inside he goes to the desk to sign himself in. Amara who has a place close by the clinic for when she is called in for a specific patient, is called out and she greets Yugi warmly and shows him his room, a single room with a wonderful view. After he is settled, he says his goodbyes to Atem. And Amara explains him the rules while showing him around.
"No matter what disorder the patients have, this is mainly group effort, we try to help each other and learn from each other. It's rare when a patient walks out without the desired result, it happened one time in the 30 years I work here and that was only in my first year. You have group sessions, but also private sessions. The group session is with a regular psychiatrist, they change with every session. The private session is with the psychiatrist you are signed up to, in your case you are my patient, so I do the private sessions with you."
"Are there more like me?"
"Currently? No, you are the only one with eating difficulties, but do we allow us to stop that?" she says seeing Yugi looks exhausted and guides him back to his room, she tugs him in like a mom would do and before he drifts off.
"No, lets Duel."
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