The 9th Life of Louis Drax

1

Everyone said that one day

I was going to have an accident.

An accident to end all accidents.

One day, you might look up

and see a kid falling from the sky.

That kid would be me.

I'm Louis Drax,

the amazing accident-prone boy.

My first accident was being born.

It happened like Julius Caesar.

They stab the lady with the knife

till her belly pops,

and then they yank you out,

all covered in blood.

It's okay, you're doing great.

Looks like the baby's breech.

We're going to have to do a C-section.

Even if you live to 100 years old,

you don't get over something like that.

The second accident, I was 16 weeks old.

My mom still has the X-rays.

My cute little baby ribs

all broken and smashed.

I've been bitten by spiders,

stung by bees,

and 85% electrocuted.

That hardly happens to anyone,

but it happened to me.

I've gotten food poisoning

a bunch of times.

Salmonella and tetanus and botulism

and meningitis are just

some of the things I've had.

Last winter, I screamed so hard

I stopped breathing

for nine and a half minutes.

On my ninth birthday,

we went for a picnic,

Mom and Dad and me and we were all happy,

like... like we might

love each other again.

Like there wasn't

going to be a monster without a face,

like I wasn't going to have

the accident to end all accidents.

My mom says I'm an angel.

You know, Louis,

they say cats have nine lives.

Their souls cling to their bodies

and won't let go.

If you were a cat, you'd have used up

eight of your lives by now.

One for each year.

Please don't use up any more.

Everything feels cold.

Am I dead?

This is your ninth life, young sir.

Together, we'll solve the mystery,

the strange mystery

of the amazing accident-prone boy.

We need about a 20 foot radius...

Two hitchhikers found the victim's

mother by the roadside, called it in.

I gotta tell you, Dalton, it's going to be

hard to salvage anything in this weather.

Footprints are being washed away.

We'll keep trying

but we're not getting much.

- Any word on the father?

- Not yet.

We've deployed a search team

and sent out a statewide APB.

Go, go, go!

- What about the boy?

- That's what the chopper's for.

We're bringing him up now.

Over here!

- Keep him straight!

- Right!

Bring him up!

I've been here almost two hours!

Can't I get something for the pain?

- Sir, please calm down!

- Move, move, move!

We need help over here!

They've warmed him up, still no vitals!

Pupils fixed and dilated.

- I'm sorry.

- Discontinue the CPR.

- I don't want to leave him!

- It's all right, ma'am.

I don't want to leave him!

- Please, I want to go to him!

- No carotid pulse.

I don't want to be away from him.

- Time of death is 19:55.

- I want to go to him! Louis!

I used to sleepwalk as a child.

The first time

I was four or five years old

and my mother found me under the bed,

and she asked me what I was looking for.

And I said, "It."

Now I was to search

for this unidentifiable "It"

in my sleep,

on later occasions: in the backyard,

or the neighbor's yard,

or the nudist beach

not far from my childhood home.

But my experiences

as a child never left me,

however blurred the memories became.

I still yearned for that lost dimension.

You see, I believe that the brain

is more than the sum of its parts.

And that all of us, no matter how damaged,

can make connections.

Move, move, move!

Drax coming through!

Please alert trauma surgeon!

Go, go, go!

Blood pressure 90 over 16.

Ninety-five on oxygen.

Thank you.

Transfer.

Cardiovascularly stable.

Making an effort to breathe.

Dr. Pascal? Sorry to interrupt.

There's a phone call for you,

I think it's urgent.

Excuse me.

The patient's name is Louis Drax,

nine years old.

He was cold when EMS brought him in.

They were prepping him for postmortem

when he regained consciousness.

What was the cause of his injury?

He fell off one of the cliffs

at Land's End into freezing water.

We ran a CT post-surgery,

probably broke every bone in his body.

He was dead for two hours.

I've never seen anything like it.

I made a mistake.

Drowning and hypothermia

can resemble death in pediatric cases.

It's rare, but it happens.

Don't be hard on yourself.

What's his condition?

We had to remove his spleen.

One of the splintered ribs

is threatening his left lung,

and the skull fractures...

It's bad.

But he's alive.

He's in a coma.

But he's alive.

Mrs. Drax?

Yes?

I'm Dr. Pascal,

I'm a specialist in pediatric coma.

I'll be looking after Louis

once he's finished

his treatment with Dr. Janek.

You know, I, uh, I must congratulate you.

Congratulate?

Know, we're not supposed to use the word,

"miracle" in the medical profession,

but this might call for an exception.

Well, you don't know my son.

That's very true.

However, I look forward to changing that.

Would I be able to see him now?

Sure.

Ever since he was born,

I've always been able to communicate,

know what the other one

was thinking, like twins.

My god, it sounds stupid

and superstitious, but...

if you knew Louis, if you knew everything

he's been through...

He's not like other children,

I think my son's an angel.

It's not easy being the mother

of a troubled boy.

Always full of worry.

Gotta protect him, gotta protect him.

It's my fault, you see?

Sons aren't supposed

to make their mothers cry.

- That's why I have to see Fat Perez.

- Oh, Louis.

Who is Fat Perez, young sir?

Fat Perez is a fat mind-reader,

but he isn't good at mind-reading.

He's old, probably 40,

and he has a big fat face, like a baby.

Hello, I'm Dr. Perez. You must be Louis.

It's nice to meet you. Mrs. Drax.

- Pleased to meet you.

- How are you today?

- Come on in.

- Um... I should probably let you know

that Louis had

a bit of an accident in the elevator.

What do you talk about?

We talk about anything I want.

Hamsters, Hitler,

Harry Potter, Botox, bats.

I know a lot about bats.

Louis, come on in here.

And he can't tell anyone,

because it's just between us.

Your elevator makes me urinate.

You have mild claustrophobia.

Totally normal.

You know, that elevator's tiny.

You're way too big for it.

Not as big as you.

Grownups are always laughing

at things that aren't funny.

- Squeak, squeak.

- You read any good books lately,

you wanna tell me about?

I read the Bible.

How'd you like it?

I liked the part with the snake.

Mr. Snake. What's he doing?

What's up with him,

tell me about the snake.

Adam is so stupid.

He deserves to be punished.

- What'd he do?

- How many dollars does this cost?

Ah, that's more of a question for...

for your mom and dad, right?

I'm asking you. How many?

- Why are you so interested?

- I'd like to sit in a chair all day

and say, "Tell me more,"

and make zillions of dollars.

I'd like that. Looks like an easy life.

So you're telling me that you think that

being a grownup is an easy life?

You looking forward to that?

You looking forward to growing up?

Stupid question.

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