Obaa-san's (Grandma/Old lady) POV:
(I'm too lazy to give her and her husband any names and you're too lazy to memorize themπ€£π, so let's call them obaa-san and Ojii-sanπββπ₯)
I opened the door slowly as quiet as I could to not disturb him, my husband, who was sitting in his office buried in a pile of books. He has been reading all kind of medical books for a whole week since we took in our latest patient. The mysterious teenager was-, actually, still is in a really bad condition and we don't know how to help. We consider ourselves as experienced doctors/nurses, yet had we no idea what his sickness was.
"Darling, get some rest, I brought you a cup of tea" I said gently. "Mhm, yeah thanks, I will.....when I finish this book" He answered without even looking up from whatever he was reading. "How's the kid?" He asked while taking a quick sip of the tea I placed on his desk. "Not good" I said with a deep sigh. "Last I checked, his fever was refusing to go down. It can't be good having a fever for a week without any improvement. And same goes for the breath difficulties, I fear he will suffocate in his sleep" I continued with my usual cracked, tired and pained voice.
My husband sighed and squeezed between his now-closed eyes with his thumb and point finger in an attempt to ease the stress and think.
"Does he shows any other symptoms? Did his body react to the medicines I gave him? Did he regain consciousness, even for a little bit?Anything that can give us clues?" The old man started bombing me with questions that did slightly show his impatience.
"No" I answered simply.
"Ah, but I remember that I saw a quite strange pattern on his left arm" I added after some few moments of brain storming.
"Pattern? What do you mean? Like, a tattoo for example?" The old man asked.
I took the quill he was holding and drew the pattern on an empty paper.
"Some really strange pattern, like this" I explained. "But I don't know if that helps, I guess it's just something to show off". I said to my husband who took the sheet of paper and studied it carefully with his eyes.
"Thank you anyway. Can you make this formula that I prepared please. I don't know if it will help but it was the best I could think of". He said and handed me a long ingredients list. I nodded and gave him a kiss on the forehead before heading out of the room and to the drug store down stairs.
*****
After one hour or so, I started hearing my husband's voice calling loudly. I stopped with the nearly ready-to-use medicine and went to see what was happening with him.
"Honey! Honey! Where's the kid?!" I heard him shouting before I was even there.
"What's the matter?" I asked nervously. "Look!" He answered while pointing at the empty bed with his left hand and holding a really old-looking book tightly with the other hand. "He's gone! He's not in the bathroom, I searched the whole clinic!" He said with panic. "Even his clothes, cloak and half-mask are gone".
"You can't mean he left!" I said unbelieving what he said. "What can he do with that condition?" I nearly whispered asking myself.
"That's the problem, I KNOW what makes him sick!" He said and ran to the outdoor. I followed him immediately, but the crowded streets prevented us from finding any traces of the boy, he just....vanished. (Again!)
"He....can't go!" My husband said lowly and somehow desperately. "He doesn't have.... much time left" he whispered and looked at the book he was holding. I took a glance at the title and read....