Chapter 6

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Jason asked the mortician. "There must be some kind of mistake. The officer in charge of Jakstar's case called us and told us that he was pronounced dead at 8:15 this morning."

"No mistake sir. I have no one here by that name." The mortician said. All the Killions looked too heartbroken for the mortician to take. "Listen, why don't you guys head up to the ER and see if they can help? Maybe he wasn't brought to this hospital. And good luck finding your boy", he said.

The Killions took the blow pretty stoically. They went back upstairs to find the ER. When they approached the head nurse, they had to wait for nearly five minutes for her to be done with what she was doing.

The head nurse was obviously excited about something. They were puzzling over what could have this professional so excited when she noticed them standing there. The nurse noticed how sad the group looked and she had a feeling she knew why but she wasn't going to give anything away.

"Hello folks. Can I help you with something?" the nurse asked the family before her.

"Yes thank you." Jason said. "We are the family of Jakstar Elfman. We were notified this morning that he..." Jason couldn't continue anymore. He was starting to lose his composure again. With a great sigh he calmed down enough to continue.

"We were notified that our adopted son passed away this morning." Jason said through the tears. "We went to the morgue to try and find him and they notified us that they didn't have anyone by that name. He said we should come up here to make sure that we are at the right hospital."

The nurse didn't smile. She knew better but she also knew that the news she wanted to give this family was best left to the doctors to give. The nurse asked the Killions to follow her to a secluded waiting room that was usually reserved for bad news. She then left to find the doctor in charge of the young man's care.

The Killions were made to wait for almost thirty minutes. When the doctor finally came in they were just about to leave. The doctor walked in and saw the looks on their faces. They all looked heartbroken. The doctor always wanted to be able to tell a family this kind of news but had never had the chance until now.

"Good evening folks." The doctor started. "I am Dr. Sharp. We need to talk."

Jason knew what the doctor felt he needed to talk about but he also knew that the family would have an extra hard time hearing the news again. Jason thought about having them wait outside but he also knew that the doctor had to tell everyone.

"Go ahead." Jason told the doctor. "We were called this morning. We already know that he didn't make it."

Jason was just trying to make it easier on the doctor. The Killion girls and Kelly all started crying again. The look on the doctor's face as he looked around at the girls was missed by all of them but Jason. Jason didn't want to raise anyone hopes but that look on the doctor's face was one of hope... even if it only looked like a little bit of hope.

The doctor watched all the ladies for a minute. He waited until they all calmed down a little. He wanted to make sure he had their attention. The announcement he was about to make had to made in such a way as to let them know how slim the chance was.

"Can I have your complete attention please?" The doctor said. "I am truly sorry for your news. I wish it didn't have to be."

Then the doctor couldn't take it anymore. He started to smile a little bit. Jason definitely noticed it. The girls had started to cry again but he quickly had them calmed down. He then turned to the doctor to continue. The doctor was definitely smiling now. Ellen even noticed it this time.

"Well for once, I can say that your wish has come true." The doctor said. The Killions all froze at his words. None of them wanted to get their hopes up but his words were confusing. The doctor fully smiled now.

"Shortly after we made the call this morning, we were getting ready to remove him from the monitors." The doctor said. "We had been having no luck getting his heart to keep beating. The nurse was in the room to start taking the monitors off of him."

The Killions were all listening very intently now. The doctor was almost beaming now.

"The next thing we know, we here a scream come from your son's room." The doctor continued. "When we went in to check on the noise, the sight before my eyes almost made me faint. Although after the scream we had heard we did notice that the nurse that was supposed to be removing the hardware had fainted."

The doctor could see that the girls were about to strangle him but he couldn't help it. The news was too good.

"Don't ask me how, but somehow, your son's heart started beating again on its own." The doctor told them. He was definitely enjoying giving them such good news.

"So what are you saying?" Jason asked. He didn't want to believe that what he was hearing was true but the doctor never stopped smiling.

"Your son, Jakstar, is alive!" the doctor said.

The girls all screamed and ran to the doctor. They surrounded him in one big group hug. The doctor had never been so happy to deliver news before. He was beaming.

The doctor stopped smiling at this point. "Listen very carefully though." He said. "I have to warn you though that he's still in very critical condition. He shouldn't be alive. I've never seen anyone survive that many close range gunshots. I honestly don't know what made his heart start beating again."

The Killion girls all started to hug each other crying tears of joy this time. Kelly was very happy now. She was feeling sort of left out but she knew the family needed each other more right now. She stood back and hugged herself. The doctor noticed her reaction. When he looked closely at her he also noticed the bruises on her face and cut on her lip.

"Young lady, what happened to you?" the doctor asked her. Kelly was stricken. She didn't want to steal attention away from the rest of the family. She tried to shake her head for the doctor to drop what he was saying but Jason, who had heard the doctor, thought better.

Jason just realized that in the whole ordeal for Jakstar, they had forgotten all about Kelly needing medical attention. He stepped forward and pushed Kelly towards the doctor. Kelly was scared but the doctor had seen enough rape cases to know what was needed. He very gently took the young woman's arm and led her towards the back.

The doctor remembered then what the officer in charge of the case had told him about what had happened. This must be the poor young lady that Jakstar had saved. He led her to the examination room.

The doctor checked her out. He found that she was actually in pretty good shape for what she had been through. He bandaged her ribs where a couple had been badly bruised. He also gave her some pain medicine and told her she was a very lucky young lady.

"I do hope you realize how lucky you are to have such a brave young man for a friend." The doctor told her.

"Actually, I barely know him." Kelly told the doctor. "Jakstar is my best friend's brother. He just figured out what was going on and kept trying to get me enough to trust him to get me to tell him what happened." Kelly was starting to cry when she realized how much Jakstar had risked for someone he barely knew.

"Well that's a very brave and very kind young man then." The doctor said. "I suggest you make sure to try to keep him as a friend."

Kelly smiled and nodded her head. "I most certainly will." She said. "I'll never be able to repay him for what he did. I honestly believe he saved my life."

"I believe you're right." The doctor said.

"He also gave me this charm that I told you I wouldn't take off, even for the x-rays." Kelly told him. "He told me it was a protection charm. I didn't believe him. He told me that all I ever needed to do was say a certain thing and somehow or another he would happen to be around to protect me. I laughed when he told me but I did appreciate the thought so I never took it off."

The doctor was listening to her but he was already starting to think about what he could do to try and get Jakstar doing better. When she continued her story he shook his head to keep listening.

"When my boyfriend started to hit me again last night, I was really starting to get scared because he had never been this violent before." Kelly was saying while trying to keep control of her voice. "I felt Mathew's hands close around my neck. It was then that I did the only thing I could think of. I called to Jakstar for help."

The doctor didn't believe in good luck charms but he listened to Kelly's story all the same. When she continued what she was saying he just thought of coincidence.

"I know you'll think this is crazy but, right after I said the words, Jakstar showed up and pulled Mathew off of me." Kelly told the doctor. "I was so stunned and trying to catch my breath. When I finally looked up, I saw Mathew aiming a gun at Jakstar. Jakstar was looking at me. Do you want to know what was really weird?" Kelly asked the doctor.

"What's that Kelly?" the doctor asked.

"Well I only saw it for a split second, but I swear, Jakstar wasn't looking at me being naked in front of him with anything but remorse." Kelly said. "All I could see in his eyes was sadness that this had happened to me." Kelly said the last part with confusion in her eyes.

"Well everything I have heard about this unique young man tells me that he is one in million." The doctor said. "Like I said before, don't let this young man go. I think you can return to the Killions now. You'll be fine. I have to go now. I need to check on Jakstar. Tell the family that I will let them know when I can let one of them in to see him."

Kelly smiled and thanked the doctor and returned to the same waiting room that the Killions had been waiting in. They all started asking her how she was and if she was ok. She told them what the doctor had said.

The family sat around waiting for the next twenty minutes before one of the nurses came in.

"I can only let one of you in to see him and it can only be for a quick minute", the nurse said.

Jason said he would go. Ellen wanted to but she agreed with Jason when he said that the way I was probably going to look would just make her worry more.

Jason followed the nurse back to the ICU. Jason had expected me to look bad, but the sight that he saw made his heart skip.

They had more tubes running into me then he had ever seen. I was almost as white as the bed linens. He saw the machines registering my heart rate. Jason knew enough from his training in the military to know that the heart rate was still way to low. He also saw whole blood in a bag to the side of the bed. It was at a regular drip.

While he was standing there, Jason noticed the heart rate drop for a second. Just before he had a chance to worry though, he saw the screen jump. When the screen returned to normal though, the heart rate was again beating normally. It was still slow and faint but at least it was there.

Jason turned to the nurse to ask what had happened. "What just happened?" Jason asked.

"Well that's the funny thing." The nurse said. "We haven't been able to find out what keeps happening but every time his heart starts to slow down to much there's a quick glitch on the screen and when it stops, his heart is beating normally again. It has been slowing down. It was happening almost every two minutes when he first came back to us. Now it only happens about once every thirty minutes. We are still trying to figure it out. We have even tried changing machines but they all show the same thing."

Jason was confused, but he was too happy to think too much about it. He took my hand and just sat there for a few minutes waiting.

When the nurse came back in after about fifteen minutes, Jason was ready. She walked him back out to the waiting room and told them she would let them know if anything changes.

Jason explained what I looked like. They all gasped when Jason explained how white I was. They did want to go back and see me but the nurse had said that there was going to be no more visitors until they felt a little bit better about my chances.

Jason made everyone go down to the hospital cafeteria. Everyone was in a slightly better mood. When they sat down to eat, everyone realized how hungry they were.

"I can't believe he's still alive" Ellen said. "We pretty much watched him die. I don't see how this is possible."

"Yeah, I know." Jessica said. "He really shouldn't be alive, according to the doctor."

"I guess he really is as strong as you said, daddy." Cassandra said to her father. "I'm so glad you were right about that. I am never going to take advantage of him again."

"What do you mean take advantage of him?" Jason asked Cassandra.

"When he first came to me about Kelly's problem, I brushed him off." Cassandra said. "I'll always talk to him from now on. I know he was just trying to help. But I didn't think he could do anything. I'll never doubt him again."

"It's ok, Cassandra. There's nothing he could have done. It wasn't until I finally trusted him enough to ask him for help through the charm that he was able to help. But I will always remember to ask in the future." Kelly said.

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked Kelly.

"I know you'll think I'm nuts but, it wasn't until I asked the protection charm for help that I finally received it." Kelly said. "I actually feel bad though because if I hadn't asked the charm for help, he would still be fine."

"Don't blame yourself." Christina told Kelly. "We all know that Jakstar would never have been able to live with himself if he hadn't been able to help you."

Jason thought it was just a coincidence, just like the doctor had, but the other girls were more of the mind to think that maybe it wasn't just a coincidence.

The family went back to the ICU waiting room. They figured that they probably had a long wait ahead of them so they all went about trying to find something to occupy their time. Most of them grabbed a magazine and sat down to read.

At about nine o'clock that night, one of the night shift nurses came in to talk to them. Christina had fallen asleep across Jason's lap. Jessica had found a deck of cards. She, Cassandra and Stephanie were playing a game of cards. Ellen was cuddled up to Jason.

When the nurse walked in, the whole family quickly woke up and got to their feet to find out what was happening. All of their faces looked expectantly at the nurse.

"Hello there, folks." The nurse said to them. "It seems that Jakstar's life signs have finally stabilized. We don't know how, but it looks like he might just make it. We can now allow all of you to go back and see him. I should warn you though that he is in a coma. He won't know you are there but we have found that relatives talking to patients in these conditions have been shown to produce results."

There were a few startled gasps at the news of the coma but the Killions were just happy to still have me around.

The nurse led them back to a room that was dark. When they saw me for the first time, the women all started fresh tears. They couldn't believe the sight before their eyes. I still looked almost as white as the linens. I still had more tubes in me than a science experiment. They hadn't put anything more than a sheet over my waist. They could see the bandages over my gunshot wounds on my chest.

The family slowly walked up to my bed and went about trying to touch me anywhere that they thought was safe. This was hard to do because the gunshots had started to bruise. The Killions would have sworn that I had been in a fight as well as being shot. The nurse had warned them that gunshots have a tendency to bruise the surrounding tissue.

They each took turns kissing my cheek and trying to hug me without causing anymore damage. When they had all taken a turn the nurse came back in to tell them all that visiting hours were over.

Ellen asked if she could stay with me. The nurse said she could arrange to have a bed brought in. Jason agreed to let Ellen stay. The girls wanted to stay but Jason told them that they and he were returning home. Jason told the girls that they would all return the next morning.

Jason kissed Ellen before leaving. Ellen sat in the chair next to the bed and grabbed my hand. She was too glad to know that I was ok to worry about what I looked like. All she could think was that my color would return.

Ellen didn't realize how tired she was. She fell asleep in the chair holding my hand.

Jason got the girls home a half hour later. He made the girls all take showers before heading to bed. When he checked on each one, he saw that they were all asleep. They had been tired from the lack of sleep the night before.

He made sure they were all asleep and tucked in before he retired to his room. After a quick shower, he went to bed. Jason could feel the lack of sleep as well as any of them.

Jason had no sooner climbed into bed before Christina came into the room. She had a sleepy look on her face but she walked up to his bed.

"Can I sleep in here with you tonight daddy?" Christina asked.

Jason held the blanket up and Christina came into bed with him. Jason was just about to fall asleep when he felt another one come into the room. He looked up to see that Jessica had come into the room as well. Jason just held the blanket up and she joined them as well. When Cassandra and Stephanie came in later, Jason had been expecting it so he just let them join him as well. Luckily, it was a large bed.

Jason was surprised when Kelly came into the room as well. She didn't even look for permission. Kelly just jumped into bed with the rest. Jason finally fell asleep after that. After all, there were no more girls that could join them.

When the next morning rolled around, Jason got up and made breakfast. He woke up the girls and made them all clean up before coming down for breakfast.

Soon after they were all done with breakfast, Jason drove them all back to the hospital. Ellen was awake. Jason and Ellen hugged each other. Ellen told Jason that nothing had changed.

After an hour of visiting, the doctor came back in to talk to the family.

"Ok folks, now comes the bad part." The doctor said. "After all you folks have been through, I hate to be the bringer of bad news but I figure it is better from me than from anyone else."

The whole family stopped what they were doing so they could listen to the doctor's words.

"The good news is that it looks like your son's body is healing exceptionally well." The doctor said. "The bad news however is that with how long his brain was dead, we don't think he will ever be the same. We have all discussed his case and we don't see how he will ever come out of the coma."

The girls all gasped. Jessica started crying. Christina put her arms around Jessica and just held on. Jason was expecting Christina to be the worst at the news. The way that she was taking it was actually a surprise to Jason. It seemed that Christina actually believed that Jakstar would be alright. Jason didn't want to burst her bubble so he didn't say anything when Christina started telling everyone that Jakstar would be ok.

The family decided to go home that night. The hospital promised to call if anything happened. They all knew that there was nothing they could do while they were there.

Jason told the girls that they were welcome to stay home from school the next day but none of them wanted to. They went to bed that night, feeling a little better but not by much.

Jason got up early to call the school and let them know what had happened. They didn't seem to believe him but there was nothing he could do about that. He woke up the girls to get ready for school.

Ellen got up and made breakfast. She had it finished well before any of the girls came down to eat. The girls all looked like they were still tired but they were ready for school.

Jason didn't know what would happen at school but he also knew that there was nothing he could do to protect them. He watched them leave with love and quite a bit of pride.

When the girls all got to school, they all tried to go about their day like as if nothing was wrong. They had a hard time but they didn't quit. They knew that I would never accept a quitter.

All of them were getting by fine until the principal actually heard what had happened. He didn't hear the news until almost third hour. He happened to have a minute so he checked his messages. When he saw the message from Mr. Killion, he just about fired the new secretary then and there.

The principal had needed to hire a new secretary late in the year after the previous one had a heart attack. The new one didn't know about Jakstar's past. She must have thought that the story that Jason Killion told her was a fake so she had put the message in his stack instead of telling him personally. He would have to have a talk with her.

The principal got on the PA to announce the bad news. He didn't want any of the teachers to think too badly of Jakstar. The principal had heard too many good things about him.

"Attention students." The principal said over the intercom. "Some of you may be wondering where one of your fellow classmates is."

Hearing these words made all the girls cringe. They knew what he was about to announce but they didn't want to be the center of attention. When the intercom continued, the girls all buried their heads in their arms. They didn't want this kind of attention.

"It appears that one of our students is a hero in every respect of the word." The principal said. "One of our students has risked everything to protect someone that he barely knew. Someone, who was just a best friend to one of his sisters."

It seemed to all the sisters that the whole class seemed to actually pay attention to the announcement for once. When the intercom continued though, all of them almost started crying.

"The young Mr. Elfman saved a young life over the weekend." The principal said over the intercom. All the girls saw their classmates start to ignore the intercom then. It appeared to them that none of the kids wanted to hear about a hero. The next few words were almost canceled out by the sound of talking.

"It appears that Jakstar Elfman took his own life into his hands when he tried to rescue a fellow classmate from death. Jakstar saved a young lady that was being abused by her then boyfriend. He did this at the cost of his own life." The principal said over the intercom. "It appears that the young Mr. Jakstar Elfman was shot multiple times."

The silence that followed was almost enough to make one think that they had gone deaf. When the principal continued there was no doubt that everyone was listening.

"Jakstar rescued the young lady. In the process, Jakstar died from his gunshots." The principal said. The instant reaction of all the classes was a gasp of shock.

"I have just received word that against all odds, Jakstar has been revived." The principal said. "It looks like he might make it but because of how long he was dead, it appears that he is now in a coma. I hope that you will all join me in bowing our heads in prayer. May we all pray that such a fine young man will come out of his coma the same fine young man that we all have come to respect."

Jessica was the most surprised to find even people in here were bowing their heads in prayer. The teacher that had given her dirty looks for her disinterest in class even bowed his head. She was shocked.

After the announcement, the whole school went quiet. Stephanie felt like she wanted to shrink into herself. Everyone in class was staring at her. Stephanie noticed some tears in the eyes of the other girls. Becky was the worst. She looked like she was going to sob her eyes out.

Stephanie went over to join her friend. The teacher looked like he might try to stop her but he must have thought better of it. Stephanie took Becky into her arms and told her not to worry. She told Becky that I would be fine.

It didn't take long for the whole school to get back into the regular swing of things. It also didn't take long for some of the rougher kids to start talking about the incident in a condescending tone.

By the end of their first day back, the girls were all in a hurry to get out of there. Most of their friends tried to be helpful but the less savory crowd was starting to make it very hard. They were starting to put into everyone's head that maybe the whole story was fake.

Only the girl's closest friends believed it by the end of the week. The girls kept going to school, amid the doubt and smirks that were coming their way. Christina got into a couple rounds with some of the less savory crowd when they tried to tell her to her face that they thought her brother was just being a baby. They said he probably just didn't want to come to school anymore. They said he just made up this story to cover for cowardice.

Kelly moved into the safe house after school on Monday. She visited the Killions every day. Whenever they went to the hospital to visit me, they always made sure to take Kelly with them. Jason knew that Kelly still felt guilty about what happened. He knew that letting her come would help with the guilt so he never said anything about her joining them.

Kelly's father tried to get a hold of her once that week. When he received a visit from the same officer that had been in charge of my case, he quickly backed off. Her father actually never tried to bother her again.

Kelly's mother did visit her sometimes when she was over at the Killion's house. She was told that she wasn't allowed to know where the safe house was. Her mother didn't take that very well but she stopped trying to push when Jason told her that if she kept asking, he would have to notify the police about her inappropriate interest in the place. She quickly stopped asking. Eventually her visits stopped.

By Friday, even Christina started to have a hard time keeping up her enthusiasm for my recovery. A person can only hear negative things about someone for so long before they start to get depressed.

Friday, after everyone had gone into the room to see me, Christina was sitting by my bed alone. Everyone had seen her attitude changing. Jason ushered all of the girls out of the room. Ellen realized what he was doing so she helped him.

When everyone was out of the room, Christina sat next to the bed. She took my hand and started to cry.

"Jakstar, you need to be ok." Christina said through her tears. "I don't want to continue here without your help. I've been running like you taught me. I miss having a partner to run with. Daddy has tried to run with me sometimes but it just isn't the same. I really miss you helping me with my homework. Kelly started coming over to help me. It just isn't the same though. She tries to do it because you asked her to. I don't really need the help, but I guess you knew that didn't you."

Christina started crying even harder. She cried for a few minutes. "Please God." Christina said to the room. "I want him back. I know you would love to have him around you but I still need him. Please let him come back."

The family came back in at about that point. They all stood around to hold each other. Jason held onto Christina. When it was time for them to leave, Christina walked up to the side of the bed. She leaned forward to kiss my cheek. While she was leaned forward she whispered into my ear. "Jakstar, please help me."

Jason picked her up and carried his little girl back out to the car.

The Elfbow, having heard the words that it was told to listen for, started trying to reach me. The implant in my head let the Elfbow A.I. unit know what kind of shape I was in but it also had to follow orders. It started buzzing the implant to try to reach me.

Later on that night, the Elfbow suddenly found itself receiving multiple messages from the tracking devices. All of them were asking for help. It intensified the signal strength. It started speaking over the comm. link. It even tried some of the most annoying sounds it could come up with to try to get a response. The A.I. knew that the pleas weren't actual requests for help but it had been given orders so it had to follow them.

The A.I. unit kept up the signals all through the night. When the A.I. unit heard the pleas again the next morning, it redoubled its efforts. The implant allowed the A.I. to monitor my life signs. When it started to notice a slight change in the brainwaves coming back to it, the A.I. decided to break protocol slightly.

Christina was sitting her room, getting ready to leave for the hospital. Jason had told them that they weren't going to go until later in the day this time. Christina just about jumped out of her skin when she heard a metallic voice speak to her out of nowhere.

"Go to Jakstar." The voice said.

"Who's there?" Christina said. She was looking around but she couldn't find anyone.

"Jakstar's brainwaves are starting back up. He is returning to you. Go to him so you are there when he wakes." The voice said.