Andrea got to his feet when she didn't respond. He turned to face David.
His eyes held no emotions. They was nothing to it like a bottomless pit.
Then it cracked. Anger, rage, hatred, annoyance, frustration all poured out.
"You sick asshole!" Andrea yelled.
David was shocked and moved a step back slightly.
Andrea closed the distance between them and grabbed his shirt before landing a bone cracking punch.
David stumbled back and Andrea landed another punch.
"You sick bastard! Why would you do this!?" Andrea yelled
He was delivering blows upon blows unto David's body.
Just then Catherine and Michael walked in. They both paused hearing the noises upstairs. It wasn't the normal one. They were hearing Andrea screaming.
"Shit, shit, shit!!!" Michael said running upstairs.
Catherine wasn't far behind him. The two made their way to the room.
They met Andrea beating up David like a crazed man. A thirteen year old boy was beating the crap out of David.
"Mum!!" Catherine yelled as her eyes landed on Melissa on the floor.
Michael's eyes widened in shock. "Cathy quickly call Uncle Griz and an ambulance."
Catherine fumble with her phone. As she brought it out, she felt a pain in her chest.
"Mikey." She called dropping to her knees clutching her chest.
"Shit." Mikey said. "Andrea. Will you stop?"
His voice broke Andrea's motion. He paused in his motion letting go of David.
His breathing became ragged and his pupils dilated. He dropped to his knees as he couldn't feel himself.
"What's going on? Why can't I feel my body?" Andrea asked himself as he fell flat on the ground.
"What the hell is going on with my family!?" Michael yelled as he brought out his phone.
-------
Uncle Griz and some ambulance had pulled up in front of the Fisher house.
Melissa was being hulled into an awaiting ambulance so as Andrea and Catherine.
"What happened?" Griz asked Michael.
"I don't know. I just got back from school with Cathy when we heard shouting from Mum's room. We rushed up and saw Mum on the floor in a small pool of blood and Andrea beating up Dad. Cathy tried to call you when she had some kind of seizure. I yelled to Andrea which made him to cease his movements but he couldn't move afterwards. It's like his body was in shock or something." Andrea said.
"What of David?"
"He disappeared not long before you guys arrived."
"Asshole." Griz cursed getting to his feet. "Come on kid."
Midgar International Hospital.
Michael and Griz sat in the doctor's office. They both had worried expression and so did the doctor.
"The thing is that, the entire situation that transpired triggered a panic on Cathy. It's most likely that these things might continue to happen especially if Andrea or Melissa is involved." Dr. Mathias said.
"What about Melissa and Andrea." Griz asked.
"Well... Andrea has a type of PTSD that kinda hard to explain and decipher. The issues is that whenever he remembers what had happened, his brain stimulates all the muscles in his body to stop working.
Kinda like when you're so scared that you can't move. It's like the same thing. But, his brain then begins to forcefully shut down his body. This may cause situations like serious injuries, temporary paralysis, collapsing of the lungs, dulled and slowly nervous reaction and maybe suffocation.
His brain is trying to stop him from reliving the incident but it's not getting the right way." Dr. Mathias said.
"So how do we curb this?" Andrea asked.
"Well first off start by trying your possible best not to let him remember that exact incident. If it comes that he already has that episode, you have to keep him awake. Massage his muscles with warm or cold water to keep them from stiffening and falling asleep." He replied
"What about Melissa?" Griz asked.
He was at the edge of his sit. Ever since childhood, he and Melissa were each other's strong hold. He couldn't bare to see her in pain.
"Melissa." Mathias said slowly as if testing her name on his mouth.
"Your mother—sister has a brain tumor." He said.
A shock and fear spread allover the both of them as they heard the news.
"She's had it fall a while but it isn't malignant. The hit to her head caused a lot of internal injuries and bleeding. At this point it's dangerous to operate on her so we need your consent." He said.
Michael's head began to spin. He was getting dizzy.
Griz's eyes began to turn red. "That bastard!"
Andrea held him back as he stood up. Griz looked at him and he shook his head with a simple expression.
'Don't do it. Not now.'
Griz sighed sitting down. "When can you schedule the operation?"
*****
Later that even, Griz and Michael were in Catherine's ward. She was already discharged but didn't have the strength to leave that night.
"Why are both of you so sad?" She asked.
"Mum has a brain tumor and needs surgery." Michael said.
Cathy smiled getting to her feet. "I'm sorry please repeat what you just said. My brain blocked out some things."
She walked slowly to Michael as she spoke. She was in shock. The smile was her trying to make what he said sounds like something good.
"Mum has a brain tumor. Dad's action made the situation more serious and she needs a surgery!!" Michael yelled.
Tears began to roll down her eyes as she was still smiling.
She rushed into Michael's arms bawling her eyes out. Michael held her close and she pounded on his chest.
"Why!? Tell me why it had to be mum!" She yelled out with frustration. "I'll kill that bastard if I ever cross paths with him."
She wanted to resist but he held her down. She cried her frustration out into his chest.
"You have to take it easy. I don't want you having a panic attack." Griz said stroking her head.
"Uncle Griz, tell me everything will be ok." She said as she walked into his arms.
"I won't." He said. "Anything can happen now."
"Thank you for not saying it." She said.
******
The three stood in front of Andrea's room. Cathy knocked lightly.
"Go away." He said from inside.
Griz pushed open the door and walked in. Their eyes immediately landed on Andrea who was at one corner of the dark room.
He had a bandage on his head and his head was buried in his knees.
"Andrea!" Griz called.
"No need to tell me Uncle." Andrea said. Dr. Mathias already broke the news to me when he came in to check on me. Better yet, I demanded it from him."
Everyone was quiet.
"Can someone tell why all this is happening." Andrea said getting to his feet.
He walked to Catherine and hugged her. He grabbed Michael's hand and pulled him closer as he enveloped the two in a hug.
"The fucking hell is wrong with this world!!!? You choose to be good and you get attacked for it!! You choose to lay low and you get attacked!!! You choose to stay with others not wanting to castigate them and you get backstabbed, humiliated, insulted and branded a fool.
Tell me why this world has to be so harsh in every fucking thing that she does. Why are dog shit asshole still roaming round, bastard still being dicks, mother fucker still having their way in this bullshit world!!!!" Andrea yelled.
He wanted to cry but he couldn't. He needed someone with him and he only got part of it.
"That bastard said we didn't love him, we didn't care. If we didn't love him why didn't mum leaving him? Why didn't we send him to jail? Why didn't we push him away?
I'm done. I'm sick and tired of the world dictating bullshit ways for me to leave. I don't care anymore. If I can't leave to please the people I love or care about, it's better I just die. I'm not going to remain quiet whenever someone I care about is threatened. I've had more than my fare share of sorrow." He added as his fingers dug into his siblings' backs.
Three weeks later
Melissa's operation was scheduled for today and it was already in progress.
The four close family members sat outside the theater waiting for the doctor to come out.
The light above the theater went of and Dr. Mathias walked out with a blank expression.
"What happened? Is she ok?" Griz asked getting to his feet.
"We were able to take care of the tumor and the bleeding." He said. "But..."
"But what?" Andrea asked getting to his feet.
"There was a rupture in one of the arteries supplying blood her brain. We took care of it but there were some complications." He continued
"Can you stop with this stupid cliffhanger and give us the news." Catherine demanded.
"You're mother Melissa is a human vegetable. She's slipped into a coma and we don't know when she'll be back" He said
Andrea's breathing seized and so did Catherine. Andrea felt his muscles stiffen and his consciousness slipping from him.
Catherine held her chest breathing heavily as her pupils dilated.
Michael stood silent.
Then all three siblings dropped to the ground. Catherine and Michael to their knees and Andrea face flat.
"Nurse!" Mathias yelled. "Get two stretchers and a respirator."
Michael knelt there as his siblings were wheeled away.
"If I ever lay my eyes on you, I'll take everything away from you." Michael mumbled out staring blankly into space as tears dropped down.