Page 16 of Teaching the Kot'oll Coach

She says, “The police will come soon.”

“And I’ll have to repeat everything?”

She shakes her head. “I’ll give them the recording.”

Recording? Am I on record right now?

The doctor watches me for another moment before she flips a few papers on the clipboard and shows me a form. “Here, we talked about that when you first arrived.”

I blink and try to focus on the sheet of paper. It says that it is a consent form for the recording of this conversation for medical use and for the police to find out what happened. My signature is there, too.

“Oh... I guess I signed it. I’m sorry, I don’t remember that.”

She gives a wry smile. “I understand. It must be hard to witness what happened. The doctors in the examination room are working on him.”

I nod and look away. It isn’t like I can get the most updated information by sitting here, but at the same time...

The doctor says, “If you want to, you can leave. The examination and urgent operation on him may take time.”

I don’t have a ton of reason to stay behind. I should go home and feed the cat too, not to mention I have work tomorrow.

But... Will Telke wake up to find himself alone? Or... is he going to wake up today? Maybe it will take time for him to recover enough. I heard that doctors may keep patients in a coma or under painkiller so they can have more time to heal up.

I ask, “How’s he doing? Do you know? Or is it possible to ask for an update by now?”

She stands and picks up the clipboard and a tablet with her. “We can go and check him out.”

I stand at once. Maybe I do care about him a bit too much than I should. Or... Is that too much? Just enough?

Maybe I should call the school for him, but seeing the accident happened right in front of the school and will probably make it to the news, maybe the school already knows.

Poor Telke...

We are in the corridor again. Maybe it is quiet in the corridors because it is getting late. I haven’t checked the time, and I’m not in the mood to do that.

There are doctors and nurses walking around. Everyone seems to be in a hurry.

My heartbeat races and my palms sweat more and more as we get closer and closer to the examination room Telke is in.

The doctor says, “Telke’s family is there.”

Oh... They must be upset about that... My stomach hurts worse than when I was called to the stage and talked in front of everyone. All of these... Maybe it really isn’t a good idea to move to this city and work in the school. Maybe I’m someone who brings bad luck, and if Telke and I had never met, he’d be fine.

I close my eyes for a second to clear my mind enough but without slamming my head at someone else on the corridor or the wall.

It doesn’t make sense to blame me for the accident. I didn’t drive the spaceship that ran into Telke. I wasn’t the kid who chased the ball. I didn’t tell Telke to run and save the kid either. Even though it is bad, it’s not my responsibility.

But what if...

The doctor and I turn a corner to see... There are two kot’oll there. They are sitting on a bench in front of an examine room that has a red light above the door. I guess these are Telke’s brothers. They are both big, strong males. The bench probably would fit four beings, but those two of them almost take up all the space.

They look at me, and I resist the urge to take a step back.

No way... They can’t be mad at me. We don’t even know each other. Their faces are cold and steel, giving away nothing.

It is only normal for them to be anxious about Telke’s situation, which isn’t my fault, and I don’t have to be nervous about that.

Not to mention, maybe they are looking at the doctor, not me. Who’s going to care about a rando like me anyway?

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