EARTH 1 THE CEMETERY; 9:51 pm
The dog kept barking, moving towards Egan's direction; he had been asleep but was awoken by the barking of Sampson, a Doberman Pinscher. Hank followed Sampson pointing his torch in the direction of where Sampson was barking at. Egan gasped with fear as he hurriedly picked up his backpack and made to run.
"Hey stop there" Hank called after Egan
Egan was too weak to run as a result of no food, it was easy for Sampson to catch up with him. When Hank got to where Egan was he collapsed and fainted.
"Kid wake up, wake up," said Hank trying to revive Egan.
Hank, an old man who was the keeper of the cemetery called the hospital and immediately an ambulance was sent to the cemetery to convey Egan to the hospital.
On the way to the hospital, the paramedics in the ambulance monitored his consciousness and response to treatment, when they got to the hospital Egan was responding to treatment but he was still unconscious. Hank had followed them, he wanted to know the condition of the child and how he could help. Egan was placed on a drip in the Emergency ward, and for about two hours he woke up.
"Where am I, what is the place? Egan asked as he opened his eyes trying to adjust himself.
A nurse happened to be passing by when she that Egan was awake, she came into the room smiling as Egan tugged at the drip connected to his hand.
"No no no don't do that" the nurse cautioned.
"Where am I?" Egan asked her.
"You're in the hospital," she said "You fainted at the cemetery and that's how you ended up here," the nurse told him.
The doctor came in with the test results closely followed by Hank,
"Oh nurse you're here," the doctor said with a smile,
"Yes doctor, I saw him struggling to remove the drip so I came in to see what was going on," the nurse said.
"Oh that's kind of you, you can go now I want to talk to the boy." The doctor said to the nurse as she left the room.
The doctor pulled a chair closer to the bed, Hank did the same. Dr. Barnacle was a middle-aged doctor, he was friendly and jovial all the time and everyone liked him, he was good at his job and took utmost care of his patients.
"Are you ok son?" Asked the doctor.
"I am now thank you, sir," Egan said.
"I'm glad to see you're doing ok," said Hank. "I was the one who called the ambulance when you fainted at the cemetery, I know you must have been startled by Sampson, good boy he is," Hank said laughing.
"My name's Hank, Tom Hank," he said holding his hat in his hand. "I'm the keeper of the cemetery, I was doing my routine patrol when Sampson started barking" he added.
"Thank you, sir, for saving me," Egan said with tears in his eyes.
"There there son," said Dr. Barnacle "It's ok, you don't have to cry, and speaking of which there is something we'd like to discuss with you." Said Dr. Barnacle looking serious holding up the sheet of paper which contained the test results.
"According to the test results, it shows that you are not in good shape," Dr. Barnacle said,
"I don't understand doctor, what's that supposed to mean? Egan asked looking puzzled.
"What Dr. Barnacle is trying to say is….." Hank said cutting in "Is that you're malnourished? It means you barely eat" Hank said.
"Where are your parents' son and why were you at the cemetery? Dr. Barnacle asked looking concerned.
Egan began to cry, he just couldn't hold his emotions any longer, he just had to let it out. Dr. Barnacle and Hank consoled him telling him everything would be alright.
Dr. Barnacle called one of the nurses to get Egan something to eat. The nurse whose name was Claudia came in to attend to Egan's needs.
"What would you like to eat young man? Nurse Claudia asked politely, wearing a smile on her face.
"Don't be shy sonny, just tell her what you want, it's on the house," Dr. Barnacle said.
Egan pondered on it before deciding.
"I'd like to have Mac and cheese, some steak followed with chicken too," Egan said looking at them shyly,
"Don't worry, everything will be brought" Dr. Barnacle said assuringly.
Nurse Claudia left to go get the food, she went to the diner just directly opposite the hospital to get the food and was back in a couple of minutes with the hot, sizzling meal. Egan was happy at the food, he thanked Dr. Barnacle and Nurse Claudia heartily for the meal and they told him it was nothing.
For the first time in a while, Egan ate a decent, unlike the ones he ate at school. After eating and resting a little, Dr. Barnacle came in with Hank to talk.
"You ok son?" Dr. Barnacle asked.
"Yes sir," said Egan.
Dr. Barnacle took a seat, same as Hank, and sat close to Egan.
"So, what is your name and how did you end up in the cemetery, where are your parents?" Asked Hank. Egan heaved a deep sigh and began his story
"My name is Egan, Egan Tony. My father was a teacher before he died, My mother was always a stay-at-home wife but she didn't ever appreciate the sacrifices my father made." Egan paused to catch his breath… "My father worked himself to the bone trying to put food on the table but all my mother did was nag all the time. She eventually started seeing another man who later became my stepfather but he didn't care about me. My mom filed for divorce and she also won custody of me, I was seven years old when my parents divorced, and I only got to see my father only on weekends and that was it, he taught me lots of things and even encouraged me to be good at what I do." Egan said
"What's that?" Hank asked.
"Running," Egan said.
"My father was a hardworking man, making sure I was loved while my mother didn't even seem to know I exist," Egan said looking sad. "My father committed suicide when I was 14 years old, according to the letter he left behind he was tired of life because nothing he did seemed to work for him". My mother was been mistreated by my stepdad, he always beat her up whenever he was drunk. I told my mom we should leave but she told me it was impossible to do so because she was indebted to him. If she left he was gonna get her and demand she paid him every dime he's spent on her. He was a violent man so she didn't want to cross his path. As a result of what's been happening my mother started drinking heavily, she even started smoking. It eventually brought her closer to my stepdad, they both drank alcohol together." Egan paused.
"That's strange" noted Dr. Barnacle.
"A man who always beat her up all of sudden turns into her drinking buddy" added Hanks.
"Yeah, I found it strange too," Egan added.
"I left home yesterday, because my mom and stepdad were drinking as usual and there was nothing to eat at home, was so hungry but nobody paid attention to me at all, so I got angry and left the house." Egan said, " I made my way to the park because that's where my dad used to bring me when I was young, I stole tacos from a man selling Tacos but I was unlucky as I ran into a cop," Egan said.
"It was later after the whole incident had died down I came out of my hiding place and made for the cemetery to talk to my father," Egan said sniffling,
"There son," said Dr. Barnacle.
"You don't have to feel bad, we're here for you," Hanks said taking off his hat once more.
"Yeah kid, you can stay with me for the meantime until we come up with a solution". Dr. Barnacle said, "Although I stay alone I bet you'll be fine, maybe I could talk my son into helping me look after you" he added.
"Thank you, kind sir, I'm so grateful for all the help you've given me so far," Egan said thanking Dr. Barnacle.
"Oh it's nothing," said Dr. Barnacle, "first I need to speak to your mom about it in case they go looking for you"
"She wouldn't be bothered even if I died anyways". Egan said with a frown.
"Don't talk like that young man, she's still your mother no matter what" Hanks said.
Egan heaved a deep sigh and said "I guess you're right sir, she's still my mother."