It was when Emmaline was slowly drifting into a restless sleep, when the call came. The ringing hospital phone was so abrupt and loud that it caused Em to bolt straight up in the chair she’d settled into after the distressing conversation with her mother. Em didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there, but her body ached from the not quite comfortable position she’d found. She looked about her, attempting to release the shock of being awakened out of her half sleep and to make sure Mom was answering the phone.

  She was. Mom had to stand up to get to the shrilling phone. She picked up the white receiver and spoke into it with something between eagerness and trepidation in her tone.

  “Hello?”

  Em sat up eagerly. Mom had said that Doc Williams would call the hospital room phone. She hoped it was him.

  “And what are the results?” Mom asked.

  Yep, it was him. Had to be. Em sat up even straighter and leaned forward like she might pick up the other side of the conversation, but she only heard the muffled words of a male voice.

  “That’s good then.”

  Excitement coursed through her. Good news? They could use some good news.

  “What do you mean?”

  Her momentary thrill immediately dropped back to fearfulness as she heard the concern in Mom’s voice with that question.

  “Alright. Thank you, Jeff, for all you are doing. We really appreciate it.”

  Em sat back in her chair, wishing the conversation to finish so Mom could tell her what he said.

  “See you.” Mom hung up the phone and stood there looking like she wasn’t happy with the conversation she had just had at all.

  “Well?” Em asked, unable to stand the suspense any longer.

  Mom turned around and gave a half smile, but Em could tell it was an attempt to make Emmaline feel better. Then it wasn’t good news. Em’s heart fell, not sure she wanted to hear what Doc Williams said after all.

  “He doesn’t believe it was a stroke exactly; that much he could tell me, but it doesn’t explain why your dad is the way he is. Doc Williams also says that even though his blood pressure and heart rate have come down, they're still higher than they should be. And your dad remains unconscious and has been unresponsive to stimulation.”

  “So?” Em asked as her mother sat back down in her seat.

  “So, a technician should be in here soon to take your dad to get an MRI. Doc Williams hopes it will shed some light on what could be going on.”

  Emmaline blew out a breath in frustration. “More tests?”

  “More tests,” Mom echoed back with frustration of her own.

  Emmaline felt like screaming. This was excruciating! When would they find out what was going on with Dad? When would he wake up? He looked so peaceful lying in the bed like there was nothing wrong at all. Well, except for the IV hooked up to him and the beeping monitors. Other than that, Dad looked like he’d wake up at any moment and give Em a big smile, saying all was well and there was nothing to worry about at all.

  Only he didn’t wake up. He just lay there. Still and unmoving as Emmaline watched the time tick away on the digital clock on the wall his bed was on. It was fifteen minutes before the hospital room door opened and a bright, smiling man in green scrubs came walking in.

  He introduced himself, said he’d take Dad back for the MRI, and that it would take forty minutes or so. He then suggested that maybe we could get some dinner from the cafeteria while we waited.

  Emmaline looked at Mom after the much too happy technician had wheeled Dad away for the test. She wasn’t hungry. Her trip to the cafeteria hadn’t been that long ago. Mom looked like she should probably eat and maybe get a good sleep too. Her mother didn’t look good at all.

  “Mom, go get something to eat. I can wait here for Dad.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

  “Mom, you haven’t eaten or drunk anything all day, or at least not that I have seen. You haven’t even cracked open the water bottle or eaten the protein bar I got you earlier.”

  Emmaline was a little shocked by her words. When had she become the mom? But Em was worried about her. She was so pale and looked like she might pass out at any moment. Em had visions of her mother fainting and having to call the nurse in. Then Emmalina sitting next to the beds of both her parents.

  “Please, Mom,” Emmaline pleaded again after her mother just sat there watching the door Dad had been wheeled through like he’d come back any minute.

  Finally, Mom nodded. “Alright, I am feeling a little lightheaded. You should come and get something to eat too.”

  “I already did not long ago. But if you need me to come with you, I will.” Em said that last part because she suddenly wasn’t so sure her mother should go off on her own. She still seemed mostly in a daze. What if she got lost trying to find the cafeteria or something?

  Em stood up. “You know what? I am a little hungry. Let’s go get something to eat.”

  They left the room together. It didn’t feel quite right to be doing so. Shouldn’t one of them stay behind in case Dad came back early? But Emmaline was too concerned about her mother to stay. Right now, Mom needed her more than Dad. So she gently led the way to the cafeteria, making helpful remarks about where to go, even though there were clear signs the whole way to the cafeteria.

  The place was mostly deserted when they got there. Thank goodness. Emmaline was hoping to avoid other people. She didn’t relish the thought of overhearing another conversation about the aliens or the man they had supposedly abducted.

  In the end, Emmaline got a pre-made peanut butter and jam sandwich and a bottle of apple juice. It had always been her favorite meal when she was little, and for some reason, it felt good to indulge in some comfort food. She sat across from her mom, who was picking at a Caesar chicken salad. But her mother had eaten a few bites at least, so that was something.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  After a while, Mom declared it was time to get back to the room. Emmaline looked down, surprised she’d eaten the whole sandwich and drunk all the juice. She must have been hungrier than she thought. It was good to see that Mom had eaten about half the salad and drunk almost of the bottle of water she’d gotten. So when they had disposed of their used utensils and trash and were heading for the exit, Emmaline felt rather satisfied with the trip. The best part was there had been no one sitting near their table for them to overhear!

  When they arrived back at the room, Emmaline was surprised to see not only Dad back, but Doc Williams standing by the bed, looking at the medical chart. He looked up and acknowledged their presence with a nod. There were no smiles. No warm welcome like she was used to getting from the doctor. Just a neutral nod that spoke volumes.

  Emmaline stood just inside the door that closed behind her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know Dad’s prognosis, but at the same time, she just wanted to get this over with.

  “How long have you been here?” Mom asked with clear surprise. “We wouldn’t have taken so long at the cafeteria if I’d known you were here already.”

  Doc Williams waved a hand. “Not to worry. I arrived back at the hospital only fifteen minutes ago, and most of that time I spent looking over the MRI results.”

  “Did it show anything?”

  The doctor nodded as he went to a computer he’d set up on the portable table that would be used for Dad’s food and drink, if he’d been awake to eat or drink. Doc Williams motioned for us to gather round as he pulled the table up close. I could see an image of several brain scans on the screen. I assumed they were Dad’s.

  “The first scan is a DWI or diffusion-weighted imaging, which looks for restricted water movement in the brain. As you can see here, there is a significant amount of loss around the hippocampus.”

  Emmaline peered over her mom’s shoulder to see what the doctor was pointing at. One of the scans showed a cluster of bright spots around a section of the brain in the lower left of the image. The rest of the brain had no bright spots.

  “What does that mean?” Em asked.

  Doc looked over his shoulder so he could look us both in the eyes.

  “It means there has been some damage to the brain. The T2-weighted and FLAIR sequences did show some swelling as well, but it’s all localized around the hippocampus, which is perplexing because this is not a common area for a stroke to occur. There is usually damage in the posterior cerebral artery if the hippocampus is affected, but so far, it looks clear of losses or swelling.”

  “Okay?” Em asked, wondering what all that meant exactly.

  Doc Williams scratched his nose and stayed silent for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. “Then there is Arnold’s catatonic state. I did a few stimulus tests just before you two walked through the door. I got no responses. And neither did the doctor when Arnold first showed up at the hospital. While strokes can cause catatonia, it isn’t normal.”

  Emmalina looked over at her father. It was hard to see him there, lying still, not moving, not responding, not doing anything at all. Her heart squeezed at the sight, and she had to look away.

  “I am hesitant to call this a stroke, especially considering your unique heritage,” Doc Williams said as if admitting a defeat.

  The room was oppressively silent for a long minute before Mom spoke up softly. “I think I know what this is.”

  The doctor and I looked at my mother expectantly, waiting for her to explain further, but it was a long moment before she continued. “Some Ethians have special abilities. They are called Dome-ni.”

  Emmaline knew this part from when Mom was revealing to Michael about his father and why Michael was so special, but maybe Doc Williams didn’t know, so she stayed silent, though a little impatient. What the heck did Ethian special abilities have to do with anything?

  “Arie has what is called the Mind Bender Dome-ni,” Mom continued. “It allows him to mentally give simple commands to others or to manipulate memory. It is one of the more difficult Dome-ni to master, and it can be dangerous if the wielder of the Mind Bender Dome-ni makes a mistake while using the ability or loses their focus in the middle of a complicated task.

  “I can’t tell you how many times Arie recounted stories to me of fellow Mind Benders who endured mental injuries because they weren’t careful enough when using their ability.” Mom gestured to the images on the laptop. “This injury may not be related to Arie’s Dome-ni use, but because there is damage to the hippocampus, that leads me to believe that it might be Mind Benders work deeply with memory and sometimes their own.”

  “I see. Well, that could certainly explain why there only appears to be injury around the hippocampus area.” The doctor looked back at the MRI scans. “Is it also common for these injuries to include a catatonic state?”

  Mom shook her head. “Common, no. As far as I know, the only Mind Bender related injury I know of that can do that is called the Living Death.”

  Crap on a cracker!

  So far, Emmaline had kept quiet. She was fascinated by what Mom had been telling them. Dad was a Mind Bender? That sounded so freaking cool! But she didn’t like the idea of the injury part. And the last words Mom spoke made it impossible for Emmaline to stay quiet anymore.

  “The what, now?”

  Mom looked at Emmaline with a sad look on her face. “The living death. It’s the worst nightmare of all Mind Benders and why they go through more training than those with other Dome-ni to avoid it. As far as I know, there is only one way to get out of the living death, and even that doesn’t always work.”

  “What’s that?” Em asked.

  “Through the help of another Mind Bender.”

  “Oh,” the revelation made all of Emmaline’s hopes fall right through the floor. And then, a thought occurred to her. “Are you a Mind Bender, Mom?”

  The sad look on Mom’s face said it all. “No, I’m afraid not.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Emmaline couldn’t help the wail in her tone. This was not at all what she had wanted to hear. Dad had to get better. He just had to!

  Mom looked like she was stricken, and it only made Emmaline feel worse. She couldn’t believe this was happening. There had to be a mistake. Maybe Mom was wrong, and there was something else wrong with Dad.

  Mom said nothing, but thankfully Doc Williams spoke up. “Well, I can certainly put him on an antiplatelet. I’ll also keep him on the blood pressure medicine and the IV fluids. We might even consider going in and doing surgery. I would want to get an fMRI to see exactly how the blood is flowing around the hippocampus if you want to consider surgery.”

  “If this is what I think it is, then surgery isn’t going to work,” Mom shook her head. “Not even Remaker treatments can bring someone out of the Living Death, so surgery certainly won’t do it.”

  “I see,” Doc Williams said quietly.

  “Mom, we have to do something,” Emmaline said. “We can’t just leave him like that.”

  Her mother was silent for a time before she spoke. “I just don’t understand it. Arie was always so careful when using his ability. I don’t understand why this has happened.”

  “Maybe this isn’t the Living Death thing. Maybe it’s something else,” Emmaline suggested, finally putting a voice to her thoughts.

  “Maybe” was all Mom said, but she certainly didn’t sound very confident about that.

  Doc Williams closed the laptop with a soft click. “I’ll go ahead and order a few other tests just to be thorough. Sometimes what appears to be one condition can mask another.”

  Emmaline nodded gratefully to the doctor. At least someone was willing to look for other possibilities. She glanced at her father again, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm that seemed too perfect, too mechanical. It wasn’t the natural sleep she’d seen when he dozed off during movie nights.

  The thought that he might never wake up again sat heavy inside her. She really hoped Mom wasn’t right, but she half feared that she was. This was not the way this day was supposed to go. This was not the way her dad was supposed to go. He was going to wake up. Maybe not today, but soon. He just had to! But the dark truth hovered over the entire room like a grim reaper.

  Emmaline sat down heavily on her seat and let out a frustrated sigh as the doctor exited the room. Her mom sat down beside Em, and they resumed their watch over the man before them. And all Em could think was Why did those damn Ethians have to come here and ruin everything!