"Mrs. Carlton?" The uniformed officer asked.

Elisa nodded. "Yes."

Jared remained quiet beside his sister.

"I am detective Brad Schmidt from the city police department." He showed them his ID.

"At 7:37 PM the security guard was doing his rounds when he spotted your son at the bottom of the public pool. It was a good thing that he was wearing brightly colored clothes which made it easy to spot him. He was immediately pulled up but was found unresponsive, without pulse, and without respiration. The EMTs administered first aid but remained unresponsive. He was pronounced dead. When the paramedics were about to transfer his body, they found him breathing again. I’m sure you knew of this already?”

“It was a miracle.” Elisa nodded.

The officer nodded his head in agreement. “I know this is a difficult time for you, but I would like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind?”

"I don’t mind."

"Do you know whether your son has been involved in a bad crowd?" Officer Schmidt asked.

Elise shook her head no.

"Has he been involved in a fraternity?"

The question stunned her. She has no idea. Jamie always kept to himself and rarely talked about school or his friends.

Officer Schmidt turned to Dr. Seville who was just standing by.

The doctor noticed and straightened up. It was his turn to speak but honestly, no matter how often he was put in this situation it was still hard to deliver a dreadful news. There was just no getting used to watching his patient's family breakdown in front of him. He took a breath before giving the hard blow.

"We found hematoma from the back of the boy's lower extremities. The hematoma was so severe it spread across around his thighs. It is not conclusive but the injuries sustained looked almost similar to injuries from a blunt object that has been repeatedly inflicted.”

Elisa turned to the officer, confused.

“What the doctor is saying is that it looks similar to hazing.”

Hazing? Isn’t that common among fraternities? Jared was speechless. The both of them were.

The detective asked some more questions before he left.

“He would have to undergo two sessions of hemodialysis to alleviate the burden from his kidneys. I'll schedule the first session after a few hours. There is a possibility that the nerves in his legs could be compressed and could cause him pain later on. But it would be determined after Jamie wakes up. There were also bruises across his abdomen, on his back, and on his face. His x-ray results appear normal but there are a lot of swelling so we have to be careful. There was a cut at the side of his head and a bit of swelling. We are not sure what could be the cause. If it is alright with you, we could do a CT scan later just to rule out the possibility of brain hemorrhage."

Elisa could only nod at the suggestion.

Three days after the boy was admitted, his consciousness came to him slowly. It felt as though the fog hovering over his mind was lifted. A few minutes later he managed to open his heavy-lidded eyes. His sight was bleary. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the brightness in the room and he had to blink a couple of times.

He tried to speak but he felt like his throat was rubbed by a sand paper. He grunted instead. It was soft but that was enough to alert the other person in the room.

Elisa immediately pushed the button on the wall and a few minutes later a nurse came.

"-ter..." the boy managed to croak out. "...water."

Elisa turned to the nurse who responded, "We can't give him water yet. Not until the suction tube has been removed. But we can do something about his thirst. Do you have some cotton balls and water?"

Elisa brought the items to the nurse.

The nurse moved near Jamie so he could look at her. "Sweetie we can't give you water yet but I could dab your lips with a bit of water."

Helpless the boy nodded. When the cotton was moved to his lips, he sucked on it trying hard as he can to quench his parched throat. But it was painful to swallow because of the tube in his throat. He tried to pull the thing out but the nurse was quick to catch his wrist.

The nurse turned to Elisa and said, "It is painful for him to swallow to you can only dab his lips with moist cotton. Until the suction tube is removed, he is not allowed water yet. I will inform Dr. Seville. He will decide the appropriate time to remove the tube."

The nurse restrained both of the boy's wrist to prevent him from further hurting himself. When she was satisfied that it was secure, she moved out of the room to inform the doctor.

Elisa thanked the nurse.

She heard Jamie whimper and assumed the role of dabbing Jamie's lips with the wet cotton until he turned his head away and fell asleep.

The boy woke up later when he felt some pressure around his arm. There was a male nurse taking his blood pressure.

"Hello Jamie," the male nurse said. "I'm going to take your temperature next okay?"

The teen nodded.

The nurse held a device near his ears. A few seconds later they heard it click. The nurse removed the thermometer and wrote on a clip board. He also checked his oxygen saturation, heart rate, and respiratory rate.

The boy thought it was over but it wasn't.

"We need to suction the water in your lungs okay? If all goes well this should be the last," the nurse assured the teen.

The nurse inserted a suction tube in the endotracheal tube that was already in his mouth. Without warning he turned the suction machine on.

Jamie's hands flailed due to the discomfort. He wanted to rip off the vile object in his throat. But someone caught his hand so he gripped their hand instead.

After what felt like minutes which was actually just 5 seconds, the suction machine was finally turned off. Tears fell from his eyes as the nurse was removing the tube. It hurt so much. He shut his eyes close but he felt soft fingers wiping his tears.

Late in the afternoon, the boy was deemed stable and was transferred to a private room.

Elisa thought the worse was over. However, a few hours later in the night the boy's temperature spiked up into dangerous levels. He was in and out of consciousness.

Jared asked for permission if he could be allowed in the room even though visiting hours was over. There was no way Elisa could hold vigil all night until dawn. She looked so exhausted so he volunteered to stay.

"Come on Elisa you have to go home. Get some rest. Jamie will be alright. I'll call you when something happens." Jared coaxed his older sister.

"But-"

"You will have to come tomorrow and take my place so you need a good rest." Jared insisted.

Elisa sighed. Her brother was right. She had to go home. But a rest was not what she wanted right now. She wanted to confront her husband for his absence. Where was he? What was he doing while his son was lying unconscious on the hospital bed for days?

"Alright. Call me." She pulled Jared for a quick hug.

Jared nodded and patted her back. "I will sis."

The boy was in a state of delirium in the early hours of the morning the next day. Around 6 AM he had a seizure. They had to restrain his wrists so what he wouldn't rip off his IV line. His antibiotics were changed into a stronger one to combat the bacterial infection that threatened to poison his blood.

Jared did not dare to sleep that night