Stale Air

His siblings and mother decided that the family should play favorite of the twins, and the results showed as the twins mercilessly crushed the others.

Ollie exclaimed in victory "Yeah! That'll teach you to call me blueberry!" which prompted the entire table to burst out laughing.

Evan raised his hands in defeat "You got me, though I don't think that you would have won without the help of Mary."

The younger sister's response was a smirk. As all of this commotion was taking place, the door opened and Evan's father had walked in. After switching his clothing to his 'street clothing' before leaving the medical bay, the man looked much different than when he was working. The soft brown eyes looked at his children and wife and he smiled seeing the board game on the table.

"I see you all started without me! Oh, meat tonight?" he said after smelling the aroma around the room.

The youngest jumped out of his seat "Yeah! Evan said he wanted some so mommy went over to the stockroom and Benny had extra!"

"Oh really? So what did you do today little man." Their father said as he picked up the 6 year old boy.

"I went to play with Jimmy and Ryan all day!" was the enthusiastic response.

"So since dad's home can we eat now?" Mary turned to their mother and asked what was apparently the question on Ollie's face, judging by his eyes greedily scanning the oven.

"Sure, Evan can you help me set the table? Ollie and Mary since you two won, you get to clean up the game!"

This was quickly met with groans of the two victors.

The dinner that the family shared was simple, but to Evan it was one of the best meals he ever had.

---

After the dinner had concluded, the twins, the youngest and his mother went to do tasks around the house, while Evan and his father cleaned the table and dishes. As the two shared a silent moment of cooperation with each other, the air was somber as both knew what the other was thinking about. His father was the first to break the silence.

"So we continued to analyze the tests after you and your mother left. Most of your remaining organs haven't shown signs of failing yet. But..." the man seemed 10 years older as he continued, "your body hasn't adjusted to the shock of your right lung collapsing last week and with your existing issues, it isn't looking good."

"Yeah..." Evan quietly responded.

"They wanted you to come in to the medical ward each day during the afternoon for your..." choking on the words, Evan's father was barely able to get them out, "last. days."

No words were necessary for the two after this dialog, but Evan gave his father a tight hug.

"What are you and mom going to tell them."

"I honestly don't know. I have had to give 'the speech' to other families before. But now that the people I need to give it to are my own children... I don't know."

The father and son pair continued with the cleaning in silence after this, and before long they were done. Shortly after they had finished cleaning, they saw the youngest yawn as he walked to his bedroom. Evan's father smiled, squeezed Evan's shoulder and left to tuck his youngest son into bed.

Evan yawned as well and prepared for bed.

---

'Evan, what's going on!' his could hear his sister crying as she saw her older brother collapsing, clutching his chest and gasping for air. It was the middle of the day, with only her, her twin and Evan home. The youngest was at a friends house and their parents were both at work.

Ollie quickly grabbed the emergency line that their home had installed for Evan's sake and turned it on. 'Please help! Something's wrong with my brother!' he pleaded into the speaker.

Luckily the person on the other end was familiar with that home's situation and didn't hesitate to patch Ollie through to a emergency responder.

'Can you tell me what is happening? Is this Ollie?' the responder questioned 'I'm on my way but I need to know the situation.'

Ollie was trying his best to get the information across to the responder, 'W-we were playing a game and Evan touched his neck then his chest and fell down!'

'Ok, I need you to check his breathing, how is it?' The responder quickly answered back, as they were clearly rushing over to the home.

Ollie put his hand near his brother's mouth and could feel a highly erratic and faint breathing. He quickly relayed this information to the responder, who silently cursed to themselves.

Mary was looking at Ollie, her face full of panic and fear as she held Evan's hand. 'Ollie called someone Evan, they'll be here soon!'

A long 3 minutes passed and the twins could hear the sirens screeching in the hallway as the door was opened with a medical emergency pass code. The hurricane of medical bay workers quickly got to work on Evan and after understanding what happened they formed a plan of attack to prolong Evan's life. The plan was highly effective at stabilizing his now collapsed right lung and his overall condition.

As they prepared to leave, one of the responders gave the two a hug 'Your dad has been told the situation and is waiting at the medical bay. Would you two like to come with us or wait for him here?'

'Can we ride with Evan?' Mary squeaked, with tears running down her face.

'Sure, c'mon then you two and don't forget to lock your door, we need to get going.' the woman responder calmly issued her commands to the twins.

---

Evan woke up with sweat covering his back as he remembered the details of last week. His breathing was significantly better than it was just 6 days ago, but the burning in his chest had yet to cease. He shuddered as he thought of the feeling of his lung failing, and the excruciating pain it had brought with it. Checking the time, it was only 2 am.

Evan got up, and went to the bathroom to splash his face with cold water but stopped as he heard something. It was his mother and father talking about the topic that him and his father discussed earlier today. With the youngest, Zack, his parents could simply say that Evan was going away to one of the other ships. But with Mary and Ollie it would be much harder to lie. They both dismissed the idea of hiding the truth from the other children as it would be unfair to them. Having everyone else know of Evan's fate, but not his own siblings would be far too cruel of a scene for them to play out.

Hearing enough of their conversation, the young man looked down at his frail body, only feeling helpless. 'If only I had been born normal. If only I was stronger. If only my body wasn't a failure.' he thought to himself these type of thoughts as he walked back to bed. He had trouble falling back asleep that night as the burning in his chest and negative thoughts clouded his mind.