The sound of someone's footsteps sounds so loud which makes Bradley wakes up and he suddenly sees someone walking out of the room.
"Wait, who is that?" Bradley, who was still half-awake, rubbed his eyes and saw that all the children were still fast asleep. "Caden, is that you?" Bradley squinted his eyes to confirm the figure. "Ah, never mind." Bradley sighed and laid back down on the bed.
A few minutes later, he suddenly remembers that he must meet with Madam Nigera today.
"Good grief!"
He jumps from the bed, grabs the towel on the table, and immediately runs to the bathroom outside the room. He fastens his moves until he accidentally bumps into someone in front of him.
"Geez, I'm sorry." Bradley's eyes widened. "Cad? Why are you getting up so early?
"Well, I have to wake up early so I don't have to wait in the queue to take a shower." Caden picked up his clothes that were scattered on the floor. "Bradley, how about you?"
"I have an appointment with Mrs. Nigera." Bradley scratched his head. "Dammit, Madam Nigera will be furious if I'm late." Bradley rushed into the bathroom and started turning on the water faucet.
"Oh, yes, Mrs. Nigera is looking for you," Caden snapped his fingers. "I met her earlier before going to the bathroom." He wiped his wet hair with the towel hanging around his neck.
"Oh, man! I hope she isn't angry with me."
Caden laughs and heads back to his room. A few minutes later Bradley already finished showering and immediately run downstairs to meet up with Madam Nigera who has already there first.
"Gosh, I'm sorry Madam," said Bradley breathlessly. "I'm oversleeping." he scratched his half-wet hair.
"Hurry up you must go." Madam Nigera's eye movements glancing left and right. "Madam Theresa is still in her room right now and you must fast before she changes her mind."
"Madam, but isn't Madam Theresa will look for me?" asked Bradley curiously. "She will be outraged if I go without her permission."
"Brad, don't worry I have to manage everything." Her tone sounds confident. "I've spoken to Madam Theresa, so everything is under control now." She taps Bradley's back and gives him a piece of paper. "Go quickly!"
He takes it and leaves the orphanage without anyone knowing, then after walking for a while, he stops for a moment, looking back to make sure no one is following him.
"Okay, now it's safe. I'd better open the note here."
He takes the paper from his trouser pocket and begins to open it. It seems like the address is detailed with someone's name. It turns out the address is closer to the playground he used to go to when he was a kid where he often played with Caden and the other orphans along with Mr. Eugene back then.
"I better keep going now." He keeps the paper back inside his pocket.
After a long walk, he arrives at the address. It is a hospital which has twice the size of the orphanage and leaves him clueless for a moment.
"Gosh, this place is huge." His eyes look around. "How can I find this name in this place?" He takes out the notes and reads the name. "Dr. Thomas Lock. Well, sounds a strange name."
He continues to walk while holding the notes so tight until the note looks dull. His sweat keeps flowing and he tries to ask every person he meets, yet everyone is so busy and no one pays attention to him.
He keeps searching for someone that can help him and his eyes suddenly see a woman dressed in white with a nameplate attached to her shirt and walk over to the woman.
"Ma'am, excuse me. I want to ask you something." Bradley takes the paper out of his pocket and shows it to the woman. "I am looking for this name, do you know where he is?"
"Wait a minute." The woman briefly releases her grip on her phone and looks at Bradley. "Yes dear, how can I help you?"
The woman takes the paper from Bradley's hand and sees it. She wrinkles her eyebrow for a moment.
"Hmm… Dr. Thomas Lock," she said while twisting the paper in her hand. "Where do you get this information from?"
"I got it from an acquaintance," said Bradley in response to the woman's words. "Do you know him?"
"Yes, but Dr. Thomas is not practicing in here anymore," said the woman. "He has retired since the death of his wife and child 2 years ago."
Bradley doesn't get any information about him and he has no idea again, where to find these strangers. He just sighs and walks limply away from the woman.
"Hey, kid wait!" the woman takes a pen and a piece of paper and starts writing." I don't know if he still lives there, maybe you can try to go there," she handed the paper to Bradley.
"Yes, ma'am, thank you." Bradley's lips start blooming and at least he gets a glimmer of hope.
He takes the paper and goes to the given address. The address and hospital seem far enough, so he is checking his pocket and looks for money. Luckily, there is a little money inside, so he can use public transport to go to that places.
"Rogenville Road, please."
Bradley takes out the money he has in his pocket and gives it to the bus driver, then finds a seat on the bus that starts moving.
"I hope to meet that figure." Bradley tightly grips the paper as he looks out the bus window.
A few minutes later, he arrives at his destination and got off the bus, "Alright, now I have to find number 18 on this street."
After looking for 10 minutes, he finally finds it. However, he finally finds the house, but it looks unkempt from the outside and does not look like someone living there.
Bradley exhaled. "Okay, I guess I'll go into the house and look for anyone I meet," he said as he folded the paper back and put it back in one of his pockets.
His hands slowly turn to the doorknob and his footsteps echoed throughout the room. There are so many food crumbs, and several cans of liquor splattered on the floor.
"Gosh, this house looks so messy." Bradley shakes his head.
He keeps walking and suddenly sees a deep red liquid on the floor. His eye stared at it without blinking a bit and his curiosity bested up in his mind.
"Thank God, it is just tomato sauce."
Suddenly a strange voice comes from behind him, he quickly turns his head, but there is nothing strange happening. His palms sweat with heart beats faster every time he walks.
"Brad, calm down. It's all just your imagination."
He keeps walking until he gets closer to the sound and turns out it is just television sounds. He takes a deep breath, wipes his sweat, and looks around. Yet, no one is seen here. His hand takes the television remote on the brown sofa and turns off the television.
"Why isn't the television still on? Well, I guess-"
Bradley slowly turns his head with the gun tip already at his head. His body instantly freezes, and his heartbeat seemed to stop for a moment.
"Who are you?" asked a tall man with golden yellow hair." What are you doing here?" He sees Bradley with a cynical look.
"I…I…." Bradley's lips couldn't stop shaking.
" I said, who are you!" shouted the man in a loud voice as he continued to point the gun at Bradley, enlarging his eyeball.
"I'm looking for Dr. Thomas. Madam Nigera told me to find him," said Bradley closing his eyes immediately. "Please don't kill me!"
Those words silence the man and soon he lowers his gun.
"Hey, I'm not going to kill you," he walked back to his sofa and started turning on the television in front of him. "My name is Dr. Thomas. What do you need?" He takes the can near him and drinks it.
Bradley slowly opens her eyes and removed the bandage wraps around his leg to reveal the wound he has sustained. Dr. Thomas dilates his eyes to see the wound.
"Wait, how do you get it?"
***