xp_logs | Bad News (Reply)

Julian gets some bad news.

Surfing on ESPN 23 was tempting, but with a click it was gone. Given the amount of chattering going on next to him, Julian wasn't sure if it was Dori or Monkey Joe who had decided the program wasn't interesting. In any event, this was going to be the last time he gave them the remote. "You two know that we have to eventually decide on something, right?"

“I want to watch that Ninja Warrior,” Doreen said, “Monkey Joe wants to find more food commercials,” her friend’s taste was literally all about food. Which was why he was pudgy, but she forgave him for that, “We could settle on DVDs or something, I have a lot of them.”

Julian's mind drifted for a moment, wondering if it would be possible to get someone to program a Ninja Warrior program in the danger room. He made a mental note to ask Doctor McCoy about it when he got back to Westchester. "I'm going to have to-" his mind froze for a moment as an image that hit him like a ton of bricks flashed onto the screen for a split second. "Wait, go back!"

“Go back to what?” Doreen asked, holding the remote carefully. It was studier than most ones, because Grandpa and Mom were generally really good about having things she couldn’t break easily, “The last channel was just the news. The news is boring.”

Julian yanked the remote out of her hands with his TeeKay and flipped the channel back to the news. "Sorry, Dori...I just...I..." his voice trailed off as he stared at the screen in shock.

“Hey!” Doreen said, and Monkey Joe clicked angrily and started running around in circles. She didn’t stay mad for long, the expression on Julian’s face puzzled and worried her, “What’s going on?”

Julian said nothing, simply turning up the television.

"-difficult decision today," a smartly dressed woman reported, "to take their son off life support which has sustained him since he reentered the coma almost a year ago. Though the family was unable to comment, doctors have projected that within the next forty-eight hours, Dean Alwin will die. This has sparked a fervor of protests as many concerned citizens demand that the Alwins keep their son on life support and protest mutant rights. We'll have more, as the story develops. Back to you, Ron."

The story faded away and continued onto a mundane weather report as Julian leaned back and turned down the volume.

“Who was that?” Doreen asked, studying Julian’s face, “Someone you knew?”

"Yeah," Julian said, still dumbfounded as the remote fell out of his hand and onto the couch next to him.

“I’m sorry,” Doreen said, still studying her friend, “I really, really am.”

"Do you think your mom would mind me asking to barrow the car tomorrow to say goodbye?"

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. Mom is good about stuff like that,” Doreen said simply.

"Yeah," he said sadly, looking down at his lap. "You're lucky to have such an awesome mom, Dori." A pang of jealousy resonated in his heart- pushing it away, he continued, "Maybe we can make a day out of it, a trip around the old hood or something, yeah?"

“Yeah,” Doreen said, “We can do that. I mean, I like over by the Mann theater. We can go there afterwards. The street performers are totally awesome.”

Julian smiled and turned the channel before giving the remote back, "Come on, let's go tell Nico and Pix, then you can pick out one of your sufficiently nerdy DVD's to torment me with, okay?"

“Okay,” Doreen said, “We’ll go get them. And it’ll be fun, kinda, except the hospital. I really am sorry.”