The Cure

The gray sky was starting to drizzle when he switched on the stolen Macintosh.

Its motor and internal processors hummed noiselessly in the background. The young man took off his sweaty shirt and dumped it on the bed whilst at the same time taking a cool wet towel from the basin and wiped the blood off his lips and forehead.

Dominic felt the cold grip of a hand on his shoulder. He spun around, tensed, to find a pair of lime green eyes locked onto his own dark blue ones. A surge of relief filled him when it was Holly, just Holly, not some stalker who hunted him back to his own home. With shoulders relaxed, he sat on the bed and pressed a few keys on the keyboard, then turned his attention back to the girl standing next to him.

“What do you want?” he asked tersely. She continued to gaze at him, her eyes then turned towards the blood stained towel lying on his bed. Her eyes grew as big as marbles before taking off to get first aid.

Dominic went back to work on the laptop, typing away furiously while his brain strained periodically to cope with the data displaying on the screen. He did not notice Holly when she came back with a box of bandages in her arms. He winced slightly when a plaster was placed over a minor gash on his forehead. His brows were knitted closely together, as was his concentration on the laptop was unbreakable.

His digital watch beeped the time nine o’clock. And as if on cue, he jumped up and out of the bed.

“I’ve got it!” Dominic exclaimed and then started muttering calculations and scientific terminologies under his own breathe. Once he confirmed that his theory was sound, he immediately grabbed his cell phone, dialed a number he memorized and waited for the other end to pick up.

“Hello?” said Dominic, “Yes, I need to speak to Dr. John. Could you put me on please?” There was a pause before he continued. “Hello? Hi, good evening Dr. John. I know it’s late but please hear me out. I think I’ve found a cure to the… No, no, it’s true. Please, I beg-” He was cut off.

Dominic swore silently before he tried calling other doctors and health lecturers he knew. None of them game him their ear though. It was either a “Dr. so-and-so is busy right now” or a “Please don’t waste my time, Dominic” sort of response. He didn’t give up though. It was near midnight when he made his last call. It was to his parents, they were well known health experts in their time and were his role models and inspiration to join the medical field.

“Hi mom,” said Dominic, “Good evening, is dad there? …No, no, just put me on loudspeaker then… Hey, dad, I’m sorry to wake you both up but this is urgent and of great importance to- No, you have to listen to me. This time… this time it’s for real. No, please-” They cut him off.

Dominic was distraught. His own parents hang up on him, it wasn’t bad signal connection. He was cut off. Dominic stood stone still, staring off into space, his mouth hung dry. It was some time before he came back to his senses.

Holly, who was asleep, stirred on the bed, sat up and rubbed her eyes. He tossed his mobile towards the table, but it fell short and landed on the carpeted floor. He then sat beside her, tugging a strand of her sunflower-yellow hair aside from her face.

“Holly, you believe me,” said Dominic, “don’t you?” Holly placed her hands over his. He took his hand away from her face then.

“Do you believe me, Holly?” he pleaded. “Do you believe that I’ve found the cure?” He looked desperately into her eyes for answer, for acceptance, for acknowledgement.

She could only stare back.

[[updated on 11:38pm 2nd June 2014]]