Following behind the hurried doctor who was walking faster than usual, Danny and Unity walked side by side as their expressions spew out of concern and worry in their friend's mind. The hospital hallway stretching endlessly in front of them, their footsteps echoing ominously with each passing second as the clock ticks away relentlessly of the time they spent following him.
Neither know what is going on with Hansel, but one thing is for certain: both of them, however, had silently agreed that their compassionate friend is suffering from within this horrible news revealed to him.
Glancing at the man's trembling fists, Danny could get a guess at what the head doctor is feeling right now, and it isn't happiness or tranquility.
"Hansel..."
Whispering his name in low volume, he wanted to place his hand gently upon the doctor's shoulder and comfort his best friend but isn't sure what the right words to say would be in this heartbreaking moment, resulting in him remaining silent instead as he fears making things worse for themselves if he himself truly believes so.
Sighing awkwardly, he raised his head and faced forward, staring at the back of Hansel's form, who is still currently walking faster than his usual pace as the duo kept trailing closely behind him, understanding the reason for this action.
As a few minutes went by, they finally came across their bedroom, and without a single thought or hesitancy, the head doctor immediately headed over to the door and opened it with an urgent swipe of his own hand, practically bursting into the confines of the bedroom.
From there, across where he was standing, he saw the poor boy lying down on the king's size bed. Hansel's heart ache from the sight, minor cuts, and other wounds were visible on the arms, but what made him more focused was the unusually swollen stomach rising from his shirt. The sight of it made him full alert and he knows now how serious the situation is.
Moving closer to the bedside with urgency whilst ignoring the calls of Danny, Hansel took a glance at the child, "Toby?" His voice cracked from the strain of his emotions, trying to hide the concern etched deeply in his tone as he tries to make a non-assailant response to not scare the kid more than he already is.
Eyes slowly flashed open as Toby weakly turned his head to the side, looking back at the head doctor with a forced smile. "d...doctor? Is that you?" The boy managed to stutter out, a slight sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead, "You look upset." He murmurs in a worried tone, "Did something happen?"
Staring at his face, he notices sadness under those eyes, speaking of some bad event that just occurred, making Toby scared despite having just recovered from a near-death experience.
Gritting his teeth, "It's those two again. Isn't it?" Hansel angrily whispered, leaning down to meet his eyes with him.
"What.Did.They.Do?"
A cold iced wind of dread blows down from his mere words as he waits for an answer from the injured child, his heart pounding loudly in his chest as if trying to escape from the traumatic knowledge that is waiting to explode into reality.
"Toby!" Shouting the child's name, demanding him to answer his question in haste, "What happened last night?!"
Gasping in pain, the child winced slightly from his abdominal injury, clutching his belly before responding to his merry question, "They..." Toby started to explain, grimacing as he spoke through the agony, "They put me in a noose around my neck and used a bat to hit my stomach in the game of Pinata," describing vividly what he endured.
"And I think one of them might have overdid it," he confessed in a pitiful tone, looking away sheepishly, "cause I couldn't feel my strength anymore, and the young twin just laughed about it."
Angry, sad, horrified, and depressed by hearing of this, Doctor Hansel doesn't know what to say, mouth agape in utter disbelief at what he is hearing: "I can't believe this is actually happening in my community," failure of the doctor he had become, failing to secure the peaceful community he built all through these years. "I am ashamed of failing you, Toby," admitting his own shortcomings in protecting this innocent child, "am I a terrible philanthropist?" Asking the 10-year-old boy rhetorically, seeking absolution for his perceived failures.
Lifting his head, the injured child shook his head vigorously, "No, no!" He insisted at this: "You are a great doctor, really!" Toby said firmly, staring Hansel directly in the eye, his gaze unwavering.
"Don't blame yourself, okay? It was no one's fault," reassuring the kind man about his self-blame, "Just tell me, am I going to be alright?" Question that the poor kid desperately needed an answer to, "doctor?" Watching Hansel's head staring down without looking at him, a flicker of worry crossed the boy's features.
There was grim darkness enveloping the doctor, Toby thought. He can sense it. A cold, suffocating aura emanating from the usually cheery man. As if Hansel's very soul was being crushed under the weight of responsibility, guilt, and despair.
Yet he knows his hero will remain steadfast, resolve, and unbroken even when they grapple with the fallout of failures. But the boy couldn't help seeing how frail he looked at this moment—a growing, broken shell of a man whose idealism is eating him from within.
"Hansel," Danny intervened gently, placing his hand on the doctor's shoulder as Unity watched with interest at his side, "it's not your fault," easing his friend's guilt with his words of reassurance, "since you are here, why don't you use your electric powers to fix him?"
Smiling kindly looked at him, his face relaxed, suggesting a calm solution to the current crisis. "You did heal others before with your electricity powers, so maybe it would work on him too," suggesting a simple but potentially effective remedy.
"The more serious the injury, the more difficult and impossible it becomes to fix them." Focusing his attention on the boy's stomach, he then said, "I need to make the correct assumption by seeing it first."
A serious thought showed on his face, "and after that, I can attempt to heal him properly," confessing his intentions, showing willingness to use his abilities to save this child, "would it be alright to feel the area of your stomach? I need to feel and hear which organs are involved and narrow down the list of likely causes."
"Do what you need to do."
With Toby's answer, Hansel carefully lifted the boy's shirt to reveal a very swollen and abnormal stomach. "Which region is hurting you, Toby?" He asked, voice soft but filled with determination as he stares at the infected, focusing his skills to detect the damaged internal organs.
"Because this is a severe form of abdominal distension," explaining further, "Depending on the severity of it, there could be internal bleeding, perforation of the intestine, or even rupture of an organ happening in you," details that caused the head doctor's expression to darken even more. "I want to confirm all of them before doing anything else."
Fear covered his own face from hearing every syllable spewed out of this doctor's mouth, echoing the depth of his own well being.
"Am I going to die?" The terror-stricken child whimpered, "I don't want to die." His voice trailed off into silence as he awaited anxiously for the answer from the medical expert, his heart beating uncontrollably against his chest as he looked up at the doctor with wide, terrified eyes. "Please tell me I am going to end up fine, doctor. I can't lose my life, not yet, please..."
Listening to his plea, Hansel sighed heavily, "There is still a chance for survival, but we must act fast." He said, "The extent of damage is bad; however, I believe I can stabilize your condition and prevent any permanent damage," trying to reassure him.
"First, tell which region hurts." He asked once again, "Because the pain in the abdomen can be vague, you see, so pinpointing the exact location will allow me to find out if you have internal injuries," retelling the importance of his request in a manner of explanation.
"All of it."
The head doctor felt a wave of horror wash over him as Toby uttered those words, his expression falling into deepest sorrow as he understood the true severity of the child's injuries. "Are you sure?" Wanting to comfort one hundred percent accurate response, he then lightly pressed on various parts of the boy's abdomen, examining the area.
"This..." Hansel doesn't know what to say, his trained mind reeling from what his skilled fingers were telling him. "It's worse than I initially thought," he admitted, looking over at Danny and Unity with a grave look upon his face. "He has inflammation of the abdominal lining."
Raising an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?" Danny asked curiously, wanting to know the specifics of what the head doctor was diagnosed with from Toby's injuries, "Do you think the baseball bat hitting the stomach directly caused this?"
It wouldn't be obvious from the way the twins described their cruel game, causing some confusion from both parties present in the room before the doctor explained with a proper response, "A direct continuous strike would typically lead to more immediate and severe damage, such as organ rupture or internal bleeding," Hansel explained. "Inflammation of the abdominal lining, however, is often the result of a more prolonged or repeated trauma to the area."
"Which means...?"
"Its severe. That means we need to have surgery with him," Hansel confirmed. Needing to do the next course of action requires drastic measures to save the injured child's life. "We need to perform emergency abdominal exploration to treat his inflamed peritoneum," detailing further about the necessary treatment.
"Otherwise, he will develop sepsis and likely die soon due to infection," adding the deadly consequence if no actions are taken immediately to solve the problem. "Healing him with my powers wouldn't work due to his critical state and multiple organ involvement," the doctor concluded with a heavy heart. "Emergency surgical intervention is the only option left for him now."
Danny gasped, eyes widening in shock as he listened to the grim prognosis. "You mean...you're saying he needs to go into the operating room RIGHT NOW!?" The young man exclaimed, his voice rising in panic, "But...but that's...don't you guys have to sterilize the entire room first, prepare the tools, and everything?!"
He protested, anxiety lacing his words, "That'll take time!" Panic began to set in, thinking about the danger Toby would be in if they wasted precious minutes. "What if... if he bleeds out before we can get him to the—"
"Shut up! I said, Shut up!" Standing up with tears flowing down from his eyes, "You think I don't know all that?! Of course, I know it!" Trembling violently as anger and sadness mix into a dangerous cocktail inside his veins, "But what choice do I have here?!" Screaming loudly, "This child's life is at stake right now! All of my patients are also at stake, and now I have more problems of my own failures!" Breathing heavily from emotional turmoil, "I can't just let him or anyone suffer anymore!"
"Let me die," the sudden interruption broke their attention away from the situation to the boy. "If there was no way for me to live this through despite how scared I'm feeling, wouldn't it be better if I died without having to suffer anymore?"
Toby requested a bit weakly, "cause I saw how sad the doctor is, he added, looking directly at the man, "his face looked so pained like I have," talking about the doctor's expression in a way that makes him realize the toll he took on others as well, "so...maybe it would be kinder if I just passed on?".
"No!" Refusing the chance of seeing another person die under his watch, "I will find a way." As he said those words, Hansel lifted Toby under his arms, "I'm bringing you to the places where severe forms of injuries and other problems are at," explaining quickly as he carries the injured boy out of the bedroom.
"We'll find a solution to return you back to normal," giving the information about what to expect. "Don't worry, I will do my best to save you," he promised solemnly, carrying the boy with urgency in his step.
"Maybe we should kill him painlessly? Danny didn't like what he said, but in a world where the truth is painful, there is a limit to how much pain someone can endure, "his suffering too much and letting him endure the last remaining of his life in extreme pain doesn't sound good for him or us."
Believing that ending the boy's life peacefully might bring more road to recovery and healing to the situation despite it being such a dark path, "wouldn't that be the right thing to do in this serious situation we are in right now?"
Silence, a dreadful and long moment stretched between them, Unity standing rigidly beside Danny, awaiting the head doctor's reaction with bated breath.
In that charged atmosphere, it seemed the very air grew heavier, weighed down by the gravity of the decision before them. Hansel halted abruptly, his stride faltering as he processed Danny's suggestion before suddenly saying.
"What kind of father are you to say something like that?"
With those parting words, Hansel left them in the dark, abandoning them behind to contemplate the words left in this room.
