Chapter 106 - Revelations - IV

"These two will live, at worst they've got second degree burns. The lichtenberg figures should disappear in a day or two, we're administering pain medication for everything else. We're keeping them under observation, but they should be fine." Doctor Hudson started explaining the patient's conditions.

"And the third?" Arthur's father asked with a sullen voice.

"She's still in surgery, she got the worst of it." Doctor Hudson spoke in a sad tone. "We're doing everything we can, but we fear it's not going to be enough."

Arthur watched as his father's fists tightened. He clearly wanted to throw something, but he knew everything in the room was too expensive to destroy, so he contained his rage.

"She was hit in the head. Even if she does survive, she wont be able to live a regular life." Doctor Hudson tried explaining her condition, being as respectful as he could to not set Arthur's father off on another burst of rage. "It is very likely that she'll develop neurological, physiological or optical impairments. That is, if she wakes up at all."

"God damn it." His father snapped. Fortunately he had the state of mind to punch the wall instead of the nearby machinery. "Those useless government b--"

"Stop it." Doctor Hudson spoke with a stern voice. "We cant afford to deal with another heart attack, we've got too much on our plate already. A broken fist won't help either."

"I should just topple that damn government." His father threatened, "I'll sue them for all they're worth."

Doctor Hudson took Arthur's father to his office to help him calm down. The nurses and doctors nearby all went back to their tasks, and Anna made her way to the other room to check up on the other reactor victim.

Arthur left the room and slowly followed his father to Doctor Hudson's office. He waited outside as the two spoke. A little while later, Arthur's father came out of the room, and Doctor Hudson requested that he entered. The two talked for a while, and Arthur began explaining his symptoms.

"No shortness of breath? A tight feeling in your chest? A fast heartbeat or shaking?" Doctor Hudson began listing off more symptoms, some of which Arthur said yes to. "I'm thinking it may have been an anxiety attack, but it's sounding like a balance disorder. But we'll run some tests."

Over the next few hours Doctor Hudson began running a whole slew of physical tests, he also drew blood and sent it into the lab for testing, just in case. But as far as Doctor Hudson was concerned, Arthur was the healthiest he had ever been.

"Arthur, would you humour me for a moment." Doctor Hudson seemed to have thought of something. "I'd like to use the EEG once more."

After Arthur agreed, Doctor Hudson prepared a private room for him. And after a little bit of setting up, Arthur was back in a hospital bed with the metal discs stuck to his head. As soon as the machine was turned on, Doctor Hudson showed a face that insinuated he was correct.

"Your brain activity, it's higher than the day you were caught in the accident." He rambled, "These sudden episodes you've been having, I wonder if they coincide with the elevated brain activity."

"Arthur, do you mind sleeping here for the night? I'd like to collect some more data, it may help us find out what's going on." Doctor Hudson asked.

Arthur responded with a yes. He needed the sleep, and his own bed required a wash, so he decided to stay the night.

Doctor Hudson turned the light off as he left, he closed the door, allowing Arthur to comfortably fall asleep without much noise from outside.

Arthur was anxious that he'd have another nightmare, or perhaps it was more appropriate to call them visions now. But his worries were unfounded, and he managed to get a good nights sleep. What was left of the night at that point anyway.

Arthur was woken up in the morning by Doctor Hudson. Arthur noticed that he had dark bags under his eyes, and he looked incredibly haggard.

"Your brain activity has returned back to normal again." Doctor Hudson explained before disconnecting the EEG from Arthur. "Unfortunately I don't have a concrete diagnosis for you, yet. But hopefully this data will help us figure it out."

Doctor Hudson handed Arthur a box of medication, "If you start feeling nauseous, chew on one of these. Hopefully it'll help treat the symptoms."

Arthur took the box of medicine and thanked Doctor Hudson, who left the room to give Arthur some privacy. Arthur got dressed before leaving the hospital room.

As Arthur began making his way out of the laboratory, he overheard some rumours regarding the third victim of the reactor. Apparently the surgery was considered a success, she hadn't woken up yet. The woman was considered comatose, but for some strange reason the EEG showed that her brain activity was extremely high, to an unnatural degree. This was unusual, especially for someone who was supposed to be in a comatose state, so there were plenty of people gossiping about it.

Arthur made his way down the stairs, he reached level one but continued down further to the ground floor. On his way down he happened to pass the government agent his father insulted the day beforehand, his face was rather pale and he was carrying a briefcase that seemed to be awfully heavy.

Arthur made his way out the back door and entered his house. He noticed that Anna's shoes were haphazardly thrown near the door, and her keys were left on the kitchen counter. It seemed she was too tired to bother by the time she got home.

Arthur ran up to check on her, and as he suspected, she was passed out on her bed. She hadn't even bothered changing into her pyjamas. 

After remembering a couple things from last night, he sent Maria a text asking if it was alright if she picked him up later that day on the way to the facility. She said it was fine, so he sent her his address.

Arthur made his way to his room to do his routine as usual. A few hours passed and he saw an exhausted looking Anna crawl her way up the stairs into his room, she asked if he wanted breakfast, to which Arthur responded yes.

Arthur  made his way downstairs a few minutes after, where he saw his sister rummaging through the fridge.

"Damn, we need more eggs." She mumbled to herself as she pulled an egg carton out of the fridge. She pulled out the last remaining egg, placing it on the kitchen counter. "We need to go shopping."

"Hey Art, I'm going to go walk to the shops, do you want anything?" Anna asked as she closed the fridge and turned to him.

Arthur could feel his heartbeat speed up when he saw this scene, even though it was different, he couldn't shake the bad feeling he got.

"You know what, I think I'll tag along." Arthur responded, he didn't want to let her go alone, just in case.

"I thought you said you hated shopping." Anna remarked as she grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter.

"I need the exercise." Arthur retorted.

"Alright, let me go grab my wallet." Anna said before disappearing up the stairs.

Arthur ran up to his room and quickly got prepared as well, and eventually the two left the house and began their walk to the store.

Arthur felt tense, and it seemed Anna noticed it as she commented on it. "You feeling okay buddy?"

"Yeah, I'm doing alright." Arthur responded, shaking the terrible thoughts out of his head. "How about you? It sounded like a rough night."

"Honestly. I don't know. I haven't had time to process everything yet." She mumbled. "But I can't imagine the stress father is under right now. A lab accident on that scale, the three casualties, and apparently he even picked a fight with a government official."

"I just hope his heart doesn't give out again." Anna said with a gloomy tone. She seemed rather upset, so Arthur tried to pull the topic back.

"Well, he'll be fine. He's our father after all." Arthur said with a more cheerful tone. "I'll bet you that by the time you go back in the lab, the government would have folded and paid out. Lets say a hundred?"

"Oh, gambling at your age?" Anna jokingly asked, "You're on."

The two shook on it and continued walking down the street, it seemed that brought her mind away from the lab somewhat, and her mood improved.

The two eventually made it to the shopping centre, Anna grabbed a trolley and they made their way into the store. The two travelled to where the eggs were.

"Do you think maybe we should get a couple of cartons?" Anna asked.

"I guess. Do you plan on baking more cakes soon?" Arthur responded.

"You know what. I might..." Anna thought about it, and then she decided she was. "In that case, make it three." 

With three cartons of eggs in the trolley, Arthur knew exactly where he'd be led to next, the confectionery and snack aisles.

Arthur trailed behind his sister as she excitedly ran between the aisles, looking at all the snacks they had in stock. She picked up two boxes and her facial expression showed that she was having trouble deciding which one she wanted more.

"You already know that you're just going to pick both." Arthur remarked with a slight laugh.. "Just throw them both in the trolley."