Aiden Rai

As I walked into the front door of the hospital I was immediately blown away by the amount of police presence which filled the main lobby. Looking though to the cafeteria, I could see even more officers grouped together eating breakfast. A luxury I haven't had time for today. I felt so panicked I didn't know how to holster my feelings. At the moment I was a deadly weapon with the safety off. I've been this way since I received the call from the hospital. I couldn't help but feel guilty, even though It wasn't really my fault that this happened. I felt as if it was. It didn't take long for me to realize either, that was why I received that call. It was my son trying to ask for help and I ignored it.

Kora has been a handful, Between trying to keep him fed, and happy, I hardly have time for other stuff sometimes. It was different with Kaiden, At least with Kaiden, I had Kaitlyn to help me out. Now I was having to raise Kora all by myself. In the end, it wasn't my fault at all, It was her fault. It was almost always her fault. Her fault that we're divorced, That my son had to be away from his father, with some drunken lunatic. It was all her fault, that he had to use his; I needed to stop, I felt so angry but at the same time I was just scared. I was scared and angry that I almost lost my son; That there was nothing I could do to help him.

With all of that aside, I knew I needed to be here for my son now. I called my sister before I left for DC, getting her to take care of Kora while I was here. Not knowing which room, or which floor Kaiden was on, I had to ask the receptionist for his room number.

"I'm sorry I can't give you that information sir." Those words cut through me like a hot knife through butter.

"What do you mean, you can't give me that information?" I barked back trying my best not to raise my voice, trying my best not to let my anger rip through my shell. It was clear I had made the young lady uncomfortable with the way that I responded.

"I-it says here that the patient is under investigation. We're not allowed to give out his room number."

"He is my son! I have the right to see my son, Investigation, or not! I was specifically called here to... Get your hand OFF of ME!" I hadn't realized that I had started to yell. As I turned around, I realized that the foreign hand on my shoulder was that of an officer. I quickly tried to extinguish the fire which was burning inside of me.

"We'll take you to your son sir." The Man would say. looking around I could see several more officers, all of them focused on me. There was nothing that I could do in this situation. I nodded. As long as I got to see my son I was going to be okay, or so I hoped.

"Alright, thank you. " I'd say with a sigh, As I looked back towards the girl, I could see how terrified I had made her. "I'm sorry ma'am." My conscience wouldn't allow me to walk away knowing I'd treated someone so harshly.

"This way please sir." Another officer held out his hand for me to follow him, so I did. As we walked along, we passed by all kinds of Historic medical memorabilia. From creepy old hospital gowns, to even weirder, Rusted medical tools. As strange as it was, it was sort of cool. It was as if the hallway was trying to tell the story of its own existence.

I, however, was not in the mood for sightseeing. Even though I didn't know where I was going; I often found myself getting ahead of my armed escort. It felt like it took forever, but we eventually reached an elevator which took us to the fifth floor. "Your son is down there in room 537."

Hearing those words, I headed down the hallway Checking the number of every door until I found the room they had told me. As I opened the door and walked inside, I was met with something I wasn't expecting.

A man in a uniform and another man dressed in a suit and tie sat on the inside as if they were waiting for me. As I turned around, two of the three officers that had escorted me through the hallway were blocking the door. That's when I realized what had just happened. They lied to me; They had used my love of my son, and my concern for his well being to entrap me.

"What is this?" I asked through my teeth as I turned back around. These idiots that were already in the room were obviously the ones in charge.

"This is Detective Samuel Yates, and I am Lieutenant Daniel Garret. I was the one who contacted you about your son." I wouldn't say anything. I was to busy trying to figure out what was going on. Where my son was, What they weren't telling me.

"Give us some privacy please." Garret would wave to the officers behind me. A bit later, I hear the door close.

"Where the heck is my son‽" I'd blurt out, I could feel my body lunge towards the two of them.

"Woah hold on now." Yates warned, holding up his hand. "You mean the Unveiled kid that nearly electrocuted two of our officers and his stepfather? Or do you mean the kid WITHOUT a purple band that can completely heal broken limbs and scratches within 9 hours?"

"W-What are you talking about..." I'd ask in an attempt to play dumb.

"Oh don't play dumb! You really expect us to believe you've never seen your son shoot bolts of lightning from his hands." This was a difficult situation, I didn't know what to say, what to do. They knew, that was all that I knew. Somehow I was supposed to get them to get off of my case. But I had no clue how.

"Look, Daniel, I just want to see my son." I would plead with them, I was able to hear in my voice how weak its integrity was. I was on the verge of breaking down and these two were going to be the straw that made me.

"We understand Aiden... But what you have to understand is, that thing in the other room almost killed two of our officers." Yates said, his voice spewing hate.

"That thing?" I thought as I felt my blood begin to boil. I would've gotten angrier if I hadn't realized that he just revealed to me where my son was. He said the other room and gestured wildly over to the left as he said so.

I needed to get to my son and get him out of here. But the most important question was how. I knew that the hospital was full of cops at the moment. Even if I were to get to my son there was no way we'd be allowed to leave. I had to be smart…

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"First of all, My boy is no Thing." I began "Second, if I tell you what you want to know what happens next; hmm?" Briggs would glance over to the Lieutenant as if they could talk through telepathy. Perhaps they hadn't even thought about what they wanted out of this. A combination of fear and anger could be to blame. Those are dangerous emotions especially when put together.

"Well... uh, you haven't committed any crimes. We can't keep you here, or anywhere else for that matter. Like we said, we just want some answers." Garret would say, now looking less confident than he had when I first walked in. They thought they were going to ambush me. To be fair they had; it's just that I doubt they thought about how this all would turn out.

"Then let's just say my son has a special condition, and leave it at that." I finish off with a bit of a growl. Turning around I'd open the door. I was met with the officers from before standing in front of me. It seemed as if they were looking past me, likely to their lieutenant. Scoffing, I pushed my way past the two of them and out into the hallway; turning right, I'd go to the room adjacent to the one I was in.

When I opened the door I was met with my son who was fast asleep. Rushing over to his bedside I felt all of my emotions catching up with me. Relife and happiness, as I now could see with my own two eyes, he was okay.

"Hey bud!" I'd whisper as my voice cracked again. "Hey Kaid, Daddy's here." I tried gently waking him by shaking his shoulders. As I did so, he started to shuffle around.

"How are you, buddy?" He'd roll over slowly and look up at me and then he'd start to smile with those beautiful blue eyes of his. I'd smile as well as he reached up and wrapped his arms around me.

"Wanna go home?" I asked him with a soft voice, to which I could feel him nod as his chin rubbed against the back of my shoulder. "Alright hurry up and get dressed and then we can leave." I'd say as I put him down. I sat on the bed, as he grabbed his clothes and headed into the bathroom to get dressed.

Now that I had my son back there were other things I had to think about. Things like, what was going to happen to Gaben, How was I supposed to get the rest of Kaid’s things back from Kaitlyn's house, and most importantly "Where the heck is she..." Most mothers upon hearing their child had just been the victim of attempted murder would have been down at the hospital in a heartbeat. Kaitlyn on the other hand was nowhere in sight.

As my mind raced with these different things, I could hear Garret shouting from just outside the door. Not much later the door bursts open revealing two men In black suits. The both of them were armed with some serious looking weapons although they didn't seem to be like any gun I knew of. They were shaped much like Submachine guns as their bodies were short and stocky, and yet the barrel was smooth and long like a silencer, with many vent-like cutouts outlining it.

“What is this!" I yell jumping up as third and unarmed man steps into the room followed by Garret who seemed just as distraught as I was.

“I would like to know the same thing, you can't just take the kid, we're still in the process of an ongoing investigation, this is our jurisdiction!" The lieutenant protested.

“The only one who is leaving with my son is me." I now spoke up, realizing the situation more clearly. With Kaiden still in the bathroom, The two men with the guns stood in-between us.

" I get this seems strange to you all. This situation is far from normal.” A third man in a suit began to speak from behind the two gunmen. His posture and demeanor was one which commanded authority. His voice was quiet, but his words clearly enunciated.

He wore a Black suit which seemed to be rather expensive. His shirt was white, he didn't have a tie so it left the upper button undone. His hair was dark black it was very short and faded on both sides. He looked to be Hispanic, probably Puerto Rican. The man reached into his inner pocket of his suit jacket and took out a badge. It read “UAD” with it’s characters embossed boldly in a simple monogram.

"I'm with the Unveiled Affairs Division, here to put a handle on the situation. Lieutenant Garret, you simply lack the resources to deal with this child, and Mr. Rai so do you."

“Who are you to tell me what I'm capable of?" I shout back my frustration now reaching its breaking point noted by the subtle cracking of my vocal cords..

“I know you weren't capable of maintaining your relationship with your wife.” As the man spoke It was as if I could feel a metal wire begin to coil around my heart.* “I know you weren't capable of being there when your second son was born because you thought he was the child of another man."

“That's enough, shut up.” I clenched my fist just as tight as I was clenching my teeth.

"I know you weren't capable of maintaining sole custody over your son.” At this point it was like my heart grew tighter and tighter with every word. "I know you weren't capable of protecting your son from his abusive father in law. I know you weren't capable of being there to stop him when he began to suffocate your child. I know you weren't capable of helping your son when he was crying out for your help."

Despite every bone in my body wanting to jump out and strike this man I couldn't, I couldn't move a muscle, in fact I couldn't even breathe. I stood motionless with a hate filled stare. Although admittedly it was all self hatred as I knew not a single word this man uttered was untrue.

“I know now you're not capable of doing a thing to stop me. The boy is coming with us, and that's final." He finally said. His eyes would roll in annoyance as he turned and knocked on the bathroom door. "Kaiden, can you come out please?” His voice now takes on a child-like friendliness. It was strange hearing him switch to something so much more pacifying.

Despite wanting to scream for Kaiden to run, I still couldn't speak. It was as if my body had been turned to stone. Every muscle was tight, even my vocal cords were incapable of moving.

The bathroom door opened and I saw my son step out. He'd changed into the new clothes I'd brought. “Daddy can we go home?" He asked as he looked up and over at me.

In my head all I could do was scream. I could feel a tear well and then roll down my face. That man had done something to me, I didn't know what, but all I know is that no matter how badly I wanted to move I couldn't. No matter how badly I wanted to speak, I COULDN'T.

"We need you to come with us for now, Kaiden. You dad wants to make sure that you're safe, and we're the only people that can protect you right now.” The man took Kaiden's hand and turned him around and led him to the door.

“I… I wanna go home with my Dad.” The man got into a bit of a crouch so he could talk eye level with Kaiden.

"I know I know… But until we know it's safe, we can't let you go home with your dad. What you can do, it's very special, but it's also very dangerous… You wouldn't want to hurt your daddy would you?”

Kaiden's eyes widened as he looked past the man and looked up at me then back to the man where he shook his head.

"No right? You come with us and we can help you, so that everyone can be safe, okay?” The man talked with such a coaxing and convincing tone. Even for a moment I couldn't help but think about the possibility of my own son hurting me.

“Okay." Kaiden said softly. My heart was breaking as I could feel bile raising in the back of my throat.

“You're a good kid Kaiden… Come on, let's go.” The man stood back upright and turned Kaiden around leading him towards the door.

Kaiden turned around and stopped for a moment just as he was about to step out the door. “I'm sorry, bye daddy.” His voice quivered as if he were going to cry, it was full of fear, not of the situation but of himself. He turned and walked out as the man led him away, the two other guys followed behind.

It was only then did I realize that the lieutenant who had interrogated me before was still standing there too. His body moved slightly but for the most part he stood still. His eyes searched the room and eventually landed on mine and we just stared at each other. Whatever that man had done to me, He'd done to Garrett too.

We stood like that for what seemed like an eternity. Before I finally could feel my muscles begin to relax. As feeling came back into my legs, I found myself stumbling to the floor as I could hardly even feel my now numb limbs. It was then too, I realized I was crying. My voice weakly came through as my vocal cords began to vibrate and my face began twisting in agony.

I just lost my son and I wasn't capable of doing anything about it.