This garment felt so tight. It was just my feeling, or the shirt was really undersized. Even though it had been a long time, I never expected it wouldn't fit on me anymore. However, I insisted on wearing this because it was the only formal dress I had right now.
Having a seat in Eddie's hatchback was quite comfy. It had a very cool air-con and lovely perfume. Those resolved my swelter due to this shirt.
If the truth was told, Eddie was a great fast driver. He didn't worry about all obstacles faced in his vehicle, albeit Caroline who sat beside him looked so trembling. He maintained the speed while looking at the map on his smartphone.
He'd been driving for around fifteen minutes. At first, I didn't want to put more burdens on him. But come to think of it, I couldn't possibly let Caroline walk far with a formal attire. In fact, even Eddie wouldn't allow that.
A specific small building began to appear. It seemed to get bigger as we got closer. That was such a tiny hospital.
Eddie dropped us off in front of the glassy main door. He left us and drove to the spot where we'd decided last night. His car slowly got smaller and smaller until it vanished from my sight.
Caroline and I entered the hospital. It looked deserted. Only staff were here. Even if it was still half past seven, there should be at least three patients in this place.
"Are you sure this is the place?" I asked Caroline.
"Yeah. Let's go inside!"
I trusted her. We walked to the registration together. A lady looked busy writing on a paper behind the registration desk. There was a computer on the desk. She stopped when we stood in front of her. She looked at us with a shocked face.
"Hi, Carole! I thought you're off-duty today," said the lady.
"Indeed," Caroline replied. "But, I'm not here to work, Daisy."
"I see. So, how can I help you?"
Caroline held my right shoulder. "This's Richard. We want to consult Dr. Pomit. Can we do that today?"
"Sure. May I know what seems to be your problem, Mr. Richard?"
"I seem to have a fever," I answered.
Daisy wrote my name and the problem on a blank paper. She input it on the computer. Her eyes stared at a monitor and her fingers kept typing. She stopped and looked back at me.
"Well, Mr. Richard, you're registered on the database. Dr. Pomit will be available in around twenty minutes. Please have a seat in the waiting room and we'll inform you when it's your turn. Thank you."
"Okay."
Daisy turned to Caroline. "Can we have a talk for a while?"
"Sure," she agreed.
It was a private chat and wasn't good to listen to that.
I just walked away. I stepped into the waiting room. It wasn't far from the registration part. I took a seat on the pillowy chair.
Caroline came here after around two minutes. She sat next to me.
"May I know what you're talking about earlier?" I questioned her.
"It's about Dr. Pomit," Caroline answered without reluctance. "She felt weird why we want to meet him just because of fever. Moreover, when it comes to minor illnesses."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Dr. Pomit is better known as a surgeon. He's more interested in handling accident patients. Even though he has a clinic in here, rarely anyone wants to consult him."
"Why did you never tell me about it?"
"And, why did you never ask me about that?"
It silenced me. I had no words to talk. I just took a deep breath.
In fact, I shouldn't tell Daisy about the fever. It could produce a big prejudice in her mind. But, I knew it wouldn't happen since she didn't look like that kind of person.
My watch showed 7.55 am. Daisy came here and told us that Dr. Pomit was ready for my turn now. She got back to the registration desk after I responded to her.
Caroline and I stood up. We walked down the corridor. Many small clinic rooms were lined up neatly on either side. They had dissimilar numbers to each other.
We stopped in front of the fourth room on the left side. It was clearly written 'Dr. Austin Pomit' on its wall. Caroline opened the door. We got inside together.
This room was very cold. It wasn't as narrow as it looked from the outside. Its walls had many posters with human anatomy on them. It also had a tiny white box looked like a fridge at the edge of the right corner.
A wooden desk with a set of computer on it was located in the left corner. It had two cantilever chairs in front and a desk chair behind. A short curly man sat behind the desk. He wore small glasses and black shirt covered with a white coat. No more mistake, he's Dr. Pomit.
He looked so busy writing a book. He stopped after Caroline and I came near to him.
"Richard Cavi... Cavergon," he read a paper beside the book. "Problem... fever."
In reality, I didn't like him. It wasn't because of the misspelling of my name, but it was about his manner. A doctor commonly asks his patients to have a seat first, instead of saying their problems. I could assume he wasn't a good doctor. No doubt he had so few outpatients.
Dr. Pomit turned his head on us. He was surprised out of the blue.
"Caroline?" he reassured. "Aren't you off-duty?"
"Of course, I am," she replied.
He looked at me. "Then, you're Richard. Please have a seat."
Caroline and I sat facing him. He took out a head thermometer.
"So, how long have you noticed you started having the fever?" he questioned me.
"Uh, I've noticed—"
"Wait," Caroline interrupted all with a small voice, "we're not here to consult about the disease."
"But, how about the fever?" he queried.
"No, he doesn't have a fever at all."
"Really?"
"Yes. He's well."
"Okay, then. You can leave now. You just waste my time. But, don't worry, I won't charge any—"
"Look," I butted in, "we're here to talk about your drug creation."
Dr. Pomit fell silent at once. He took a gulp and closed his book.
"How do you know that?" he inquired.
"I told him," Caroline said.
"But, why?"
"Because he has a pet, a big mouse, in his home. It's quite old now. It'll die soon. And, I think it's a big chance for your experiment."
"Are you serious?"
"It's no use I lie to you."
Dr. Pomit closed his eyes for a while. He exhaled and got up from the chair. He walked to the white box that looked like a fridge and opened it.
Thick gas came out of that box. It smelled very bad, like sewage. It was disgusting.
He took out a rack containing six test tubes. Three tubes had the same moss green liquid and the three other liquids looked limpid. All the tubes were locked tight. He placed the test tube rack on the desk.
"Did you know which ones are the drugs?" he tested me.
"Well, I guess the green ones."
"You're right. And, did you know the function?"
"I've heard everything. It sounded like an anesthetic to me."
"Actually, it's more than anesthetic. It contains fatal risk."
"Death?"
"I'm afraid it could be. But, as long as my experiments, it never happened."
That felt horrible now. I started to have a little doubt about this.
"Then, the uncolored ones must be the antidotes," I guessed.
He disagreed, "These're not poison. So, it's anti-drugs, not antidotes."
"Oh, sorry."
"Shall we go now?" Caroline asked Dr. Pomit.
"Wait a minute!" he demanded.
Dr. Pomit picked up a telephone located at the edge of this desk. He pressed the number zero button.
"Hello! Can I know how many more patients are waiting?" he spoke on the phone.
"Well then, I'll be off today. Please note down," he continued.
"Thank you so much," he ended the conversation.
He closed the phone. He shut down the computer and kept his book in the drawer. He took off his doctor coat and hung it on the back of his desk chair.
"Wait for me in the rear parking lot," he demanded. "I'll prepare all these things. Go!"
"Okay," I agreed.
Caroline and I got up. We went out of this room and sneaked to the back. No one was around here. We kept moving till we reached the place where Dr. Pomit decided. We just needed to wait for him.
Dr. Pomit showed up after ten minutes. He walked to us while holding a small green vintage suitcase. It looked sparkling in the sun.
He gave me the suitcase and said, "Please help me with this."
I held it with awareness. It was buoyant and easy to bring it.
"What's this?" I asked him.
"The drugs," he answered. "Be careful."
He stepped into a grey sedan at the right corner while he took out a car key and pressed its button. The vehicle lights came on. We followed him. Everyone got in the car. I sat next to him on the front side while Caroline sat on the middle side. I put the suitcase on my thighs and kept the suitcase from falling.
Dr. Pomit started its engine. He turned on the air-con.
"Where's your home?" he questioned.
"Three-nine-seven-one Mersol Street," I mentioned.
"Alright."
Dr. Pomit drove his car. We left this hospital and went to my home. This car moved at a snail's pace, although it still had a lot of gasoline. His driving skill was the opposite of Eddie's. It was very exasperating.
"Can you drive faster?" I commanded.
"No, I can't do that," he refused. "Those drugs are sensitive. If I drive faster, it'll break all the compound."
"But, this's too slow."
"Sorry. Nothing we can do."
I never expected it would happen. This kind of circumstance affected much to my plan. This could even derail it.
However, the good point was the lane was still quiet. Just a few vehicles on this road. It averted us from any traffic congestion.
We spent nearly one hour sitting in this car. We arrived home at 9.10 am. It was really out of my prospect.
Dr. Pomit took back the case. We all got out of the car and entered the house together without more ado.
Uncle Steven had been here, in the living room. He just wore a white blank T-shirt and underpants. He was tied with ropes and belted to a chair. He couldn't speak since his mouth was taped. He looked pale after Amanda put makeup on his face and body.
Amanda and Lucy were arranging the white flowers. Ryu and Will were strengthening the wooden coffin with a hammer and some nails. They looked busy doing those things in front of Uncle Steven's sight. No wonder he looked very stressed now.
Everyone didn't notice me till I said, "I'm back."
They stopped and turned their heads to me all of sudden. They all looked surprised.
"Why so long?" Lucy asked.
I apologized, "I didn't know it spent too much time. I'm so sorry."
"Jim called me," told Amanda. "Those guys will go out from the bar, ten minutes more."
"It's okay. We can do this," I ensured.
Dr. Pomit stood beside me. Amanda and the others were impressed when they saw him.
I introduced, "This is Dr. Pomit. He joins us in this mission."
"What mission?" he questioned me. "What's going on here?"
"I'll tell you after you explain all the details, deal?"
"Alright then."
He placed his green case on the table. He opened it and showed its contents to us. It had eight tiny glass bottles; four bottles filled with green liquid and the others filled with uncolored liquid. Five sterile syringes lay beside the bottles. Those all amazed everyone in this room.
"As you know," he began the explanation, "there are two kinds of drug in here. The green ones are the drugs. I called them D-4P. And, the others are the anti-drugs."
He took out a syringe and unsealed it. He held the syringe like a pencil with his left hand. He took one bottle filled with the green liquid and held it with his right hand. He inserted the syringe with the liquid. The bottle was empty right away.
He indicated the syringe to us. It looked beautiful.
"When we inject this to a body," he continued, "its effect will appear straight away after reaching the blood."
"How long can it last?" I asked.
"Not until six hours. More exactly, three hundred and fifty minutes."
He gave me the syringe. He took out another bottle filled with uncolored liquid and showed it to everyone.
"So that," he resumed, "we need to inject the anti-drug within six hours. Else, the D-4P would kill the subject."
"Wow! It sounds cool!" Lucy exclaimed.
Dr. Pomit put back the anti-drug in the suitcase. He looked around this room.
"So, where's the mouse?" he queried.
"It's in front of you," I answered.
"But, I don't... see any mouse here."
"The tied one." I pointed to Uncle Steven. "That's the big mouse, your big subject."
"What? That's not a mouse!" he snapped.
"Your drug works on a mouse, a mammal," I argued. "It'll not be much different if you put it on a human."
"No! You're insane!"
"We'll pay you," said Amanda. "How much do you want?"
"No! I don't need your money! I'll never do that to anyone!"
"C'mon, Dr. Pomit!" Caroline persuaded. "It's your big chance!"
"No! Never!"
This talk had no point. It was wasting the time.
I swung my hand, which was holding the syringe. I attached its needle to Dr. Pomit's side neck. I pushed its plunger until the liquid inside the syringe ran out. I pulled back the syringe and threw it to the floor. I managed to inject the drug into his body.
Dr. Pomit touched his neck. He yelled, "What did you... do?!"
"Sorry, Doctor. We don't have much time now," I said.
His face and skin turned pale bit by bit. His eyes became sluggish. He couldn't speak or maintain his balance anymore. He fell to the floor. His body was getting cold, his heart stopped beating, and he wasn't even breathing. He clearly looked like a dead person.
This room changed into silence. Everyone was shocked, especially Uncle Steven. His eyes were wide open. We all just stared at Dr. Pomit.
"Damn, Richard!" Amanda scolded. "What've you done?!"
"It works!" I gushed.
"No! You just killed him!"
"Don't be so panic! He's not dead yet."
"What makes you think that?!"
"The anti-drug. We haven't applied it yet, right?"
Amanda didn't answer. She just shook her head and exhaled.
I took one of the anti-drug bottles and a new syringe. I unsealed the syringe and filled it with the anti-drug liquid. It looked more beautiful than the previous one.
"Let me do that," Caroline demanded.
"Okay," I agreed.
She took the syringe and held Dr. Pomit's neck.
"Hold on!" I told her. "Please wait for a while!"
I took another bottle filled with the D-4P and a new syringe. I did the same as Dr. Pomit did before. Another drug with the new syringe was well prepared. I hid it in my pants pocket.
"What're you doing?" Caroline asked.
"Just... in case," I replied. "You can continue now."
She injected the anti-drug into Dr. Pomit. His skin color turned to normal slowly after Caroline pulled back the syringe. His body was getting warm till a lot of sweat emerged. It soaked his entire hair and shirt. He got up at once with a gasping breath. He regained consciousness by an inch.
"See? He's still alive!" I exclaimed.
Dr. Pomit stared at me. He looked so mad.
"You're really insane!" he rebuked. "You're playing with my knowledge!"
"No one is playing," I denied.
He stood up and arranged the drug bottles in his suitcase. He didn't realize any missing items in his case. He just closed it without checking.
"Thank you for bringing me here!" he scolded. "You just waste my time, again!"
He brought the suitcase and walked to the front door. He wanted to leave, but I never let it happen now. I took out the syringe from my pocket. I ran to him and injected the new drug into his neck once more.
"Sorry, Doctor, again!" I said.
Dr. Pomit was stunned. He snapped to me, "You're a son of a..."
He didn't have time to finish his words. He fell down to the floor with his case together. His body turned back to its previous condition, the body of a dead man.
"Well, you killed him again," Lucy opined.
"He's not dead," I disagreed.
"Where should we put him now?" asked Ryu.
"We can decide it later," I answered. "The most important now is Steven."
I took the green suitcase and placed it back on the table. Uncle Steven buzzed behind his taped mouth. He was very scared. He kept shaking his body. He tried to break free, although we knew it was impossible.
I did the same thing again, filling the syringe with the new D-4P. I walked to Uncle Steven and held his neck. He moved his neck and tried to dodge. I couldn't inject the drug properly.
"C'mon, Uncle Steven. It's for your goodness!" I said.
He didn't want to listen and kept moving his neck. This job started wearying.
"Ryu, help me with this!" I commanded.
Ryu approached me. He helped me hold Uncle Steven. He was unable to move at liberty now.
I injected the drug through his side neck. After I pulled back the syringe, his eyes started wilting. He closed his eyes gently. His body became limp and cold. His skin turned pale. The drug worked expressly on him.
Amanda and Lucy finished the flower arrangement. They placed it beside the coffin.
"Dress him!" I commanded Amanda.
Ryu and I untied Uncle Steven. We adjusted his body so as not to fall off the chair. Lucy brought here the black suit. Amanda started dressing him. Caroline helped us clear the table and suitcase.
I walked to Dr. Pomit. He looked pathetic lying on the floor with clothes full of sweat.
"We can put him in the bathroom, at the upstairs," I said.
"Okay," Ryu agreed. "Let's bring him now!"
Ryu approached me. We picked him up and brought him upstairs together. We placed him beside a toilet before we returned downstairs. It was draining a lot of energy since he was much heavier than we thought
Amanda finished dressing Uncle Steven. He literally looked uncommon with the black suit. He was like another person in front of our sight.
We put him in the coffin, which was still open. His death appearance was very convincing now.
Caroline gave me the suitcase. Nothing we could say to her, other than "Thank you" before she left us. Actually, she would come back here again after several minutes. It was part of the plan.
"Let's peel some onions!" I said.
Everyone went to the kitchen. Amanda took out some onions from the fridge. Each of us held an onion. We peeled and cut it together until our tears came out. Amanda kept back the onions.
Eddie texted me. It was written Hilbert and Victor were on the way.
"C'mon, dress up!" I commanded.
We went upstairs after washing our hands. We entered our rooms and dressed as if we attended a funeral. We all went downstairs and stood around Uncle Steven.
Caroline returned. She wore black clothes. She joined us here.
Everything was ready. We just needed to wait for Hilbert and Victor. They must be very frustrated right now, since Eddie had told them about the death of Uncle Steven.
The show began. Hilbert and Victor arrived at a quarter to eleven. They both walked to this room and watched all of us who kept shedding tears. They couldn't believe everything in front of their eyes, though Eddie had told them before in his car.
"Oh my goodness. We're so sorry for your loss," Hilbert sympathized.
I didn't expect he'd say those words. He gave condolences to us for the fake death of Uncle Steven. He really expressed it with his deep heart, nothing contrived. I felt a little bit guilty at the moment.
"No, we're not!" Victor yelled. "This is totally fake!"
He stomped to the coffin and pulled up Uncle Steven's body. He didn't care about the pale skin or cold body. He just shook it.
"You damn Cavergon! Stop fooling me!" Victor shouted.
He started hitting Uncle Steven's face with his right hand. His act took us aback.
"C'mon! Wake up!" he bellowed.
"What're you doing?!" Amanda snapped. "Have you lost your mind?!"
Victor didn't want to listen. He kept launching several punch at Uncle Steven. His face started to bruise.
"Stop it!" Amanda yelled.
"Victor, stop it!" Hilbert commanded.
"No! This is just a trick!" Victor insisted. "Come on, you Cavergon, bastard! Wake up! C'mon! Wake up!"
He continued punching Uncle Steven. It was so irrational.
Hilbert and I ran to him. We held his hands together and succeed to stop him.
"It's over," Hilbert placated. "He's dead. You can see that, right?"
"You don't have any idea what kind of family they are!" Victor told Hilbert. "I know all of their tricks, their wickedness. This Cavergon is the most damn family ever in this town."
His words sounded painful. But, it was the truth that almost all people agreed.
He released his grip from Uncle Steven's body. I stopped holding his hand to catch Uncle Steven. I lay his body back in the coffin. He looked messed up now.
"What did you say just now?" Amanda questioned Victor to make sure she didn't mishear his words.
"Cavergon, the most damn family ever," he repeated.
"You're the most damn one! You punched my dad who's died!"
"Sorry then."
"And one more thing, you don't know anything about us!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, I guess I don't know about you. But, I know every fact."
"There's no fact about us!"
Victor smiled. He looked at me now.
"What about stealing food?" he spoke with a slow tempo. "I guess you're familiar with the name Litoss, aren't you, Richard Cavergon?"
I froze. I couldn't speak. I gulped in startle.
It was hard to imagine how he knew about that and even my name. None of us had ever introduced ourselves to him.
"I'll tell you the fact," he continued. "It's my cousin's company. We knew everything you did at that place. You stole all the food, all the drinks. You might be curious how we knew that. It's because you're not smart enough, leaving your cigarette on the grass nearby. That's a good evidence to show your fool mistake.
"Well, you could end up in jail for sure. But, you luckily have a savior. You can thank Pearson later, because he dropped his own charges after he found out you're the stealer."
"So, he knew about it?" I asked.
"Of course. I can't imagine how nice he is, pretending that everything is just fine."
Victor chortled. He felt happy to tell us about this.
This place turned mute for a while. Everyone stared at me. It was very unpleasant.
Hilbert pulled Victor. They both took a few steps back.
"We're not here to uncover cases unrelated to us," Hilbert cautioned Victor.
"Then, what?" Victor denied. "We just leave without purpose, huh?"
"Of course not. We came here for a purpose. But, telling about private business isn't the purpose. The debtor has died and you know what to do, don't you?"
"I do. But, I know this is a fake death. It's just a trick. I never believe it."
"So, what can make you believe it's real?"
Victor took out a gun from his pants pocket straightaway. He reloaded it and aimed at Uncle Steven. Ryu also took out a gun from his pants pocket at the same moment. He put the gun on Victor. They locked each other. This surprised everyone in here.
"Are you crazy?!" Amanda, Hilbert, and I scolded Victor.
"No. It's just to make sure this bastard is really dead," he said.
"Don't do that!" Hilbert warned him.
"Put down your gun!" Ryu commanded him.
"Stop your madness!" Hilbert kept cautioning him. "This is out of policy. You can be arrested!"
"He's right, Tough Boy!" said someone from the front door.
That sounded familiar. Another surprise struck us after we recognize who was coming here. It was Galton. He walked toward us while holding a gun, which was aimed at Victor.
"You both, put down your guns!" he commanded.
Ryu and Victor obeyed. They stopped aiming and threw the gun to the floor. Galton kept back his gun. The suspense eased a little bit.
"Now, all of you get this over soon," he told us.
"Well, let's continue this," Hilbert spoke to make everything clear. "For this case, the company needs a legal report for the death of the debtor. Then, we have to bury him in the cemetery behind headquarters. Those are the policy."
Once again, I didn't expect this as well as the others. I lost idea of how we fulfilled this obligation. It was eccentric to bury Uncle Steven who was still alive.
"I'll take care of the report," Galton demanded. "Give me a time."
"Sure. We also need time," Hilbert agreed. "We'll be back with a hearse at eleven-thirty."
My plan failed. It didn't solve this problem. They gave us around twenty minutes only to prepare everything. I didn't know what to do, either creating a new plan or giving up wasn't the good option right now.
"Everything is clear. Let's go, Victor!" Hilbert demanded.
They looked very confident. They didn't appear to hesitate at all in making that decision. Lastly, both of them went out of this house, got back to their car, and left this area.
"Thanks, Galton," said Amanda.
"You're welcome."
"What brought you here?" I questioned him.
"Eddie phoned me," he replied. "I didn't trust him at first, so I came here for certainty."
I didn't know the reason why Eddie called Galton. I believed no one told him to do so. However, it was a helpful doing for this state of affairs.
Galton approached the coffin. He squatted and touched Uncle's Steven chest.
"I don't know and don't want to know what trick you did," he defined. "But, you don't have much time right now. You can count on me for the report. But for the funeral, I can't help you. You must figure it out for yourselves."
"Okay. Thank you so much," I said.
He stood up and walked to the front door.
"See you soon," he spoke with a flat tone before leaving this house. He vanished from our sight after a few minutes.
"What're we gonna do now?" Lucy asked me. "Will we just bury him?"
"No, we won't," Amanda totally refused. "A hundred percent, we can't do that."
All of them stared at me. They expected me to solve this problem.
"What do you think, Richard?" Amanda queried.
"Don't look at me!" I yelled. "I really don't have any idea now!"
I felt discouraged. Great tension in this circumstance pressed my body at this present. It provoked my anger. No wonder I shouted at everyone in here.
I took out a cigarette and a lighter from my shirt pocket. I started smoking and tried hard to think of a new scheme.
"I guess I know how to solve this," Ryu said.
"You do?" I ensured.
"Yeah."
He picked up his gun and walked to the back door.
"C'mon! Follow me!" he commanded. "We don't have much time!"
"Everyone?" I inquired.
"No. Just you and Will. The others, take care of Steven!"
Will and I approached him. He opened the back door. We went out together and headed to a blue jalopy. He took out the key and opened its door.
"Where're we going?" I asked.
"I'll explain later," he said.
He got in the car and started the engine. Will entered and sat on the middle side. I threw my cigarette to the ground and stomped that until it went out. I got in the vehicle and took a seat on the front side. Ryu stepped on the pedal without further ado. This car moved at a high speed, leaving this place just in a few seconds.
This felt so different. It was rare for Ryu to be like this. He commonly followed my idea. This time, it was the reverse. However, it didn't matter at all. Asking his plan at this moment wasn't an appropriate option, since he was currently driving as fast as Eddie. All I could do right now was trust him. I knew his idea was very worthwhile.