I awoke to the sound of people chattering loudly and fast-paced footsteps echoing in my ears. My body was aching all over and my head had a very terrible migraine looming over it. I tried to move my arms and legs, but they didn't seem to budge.

Honestly, I was unsure if I was dead at this point and if I am just my ghost who is blind since all I can see is nothing but the darkness.

"Yoh, gud! Knyai tumag guhirin! Gud!" A female-like voice yelled in gibberish. I could hear, what I assume were her footsteps, fading away in the distance.

I felt strange and eerie. Before this bodily pain came over me, I could not remember anything that happened before this second. I tried to recall any memory that I had that could have caused me to be in so much pain, but nothing seemed to work.

I swear, I felt like a professional athlete who finished an international championship match and is currently resting in the locker room.

With all the energy I could muster, I forcibly opened one eyelid. My vision was no luck either since everything was blurry to me. Just when I thought I was alone in that dimly lit room, figures of people entered and were bringing what I could make out to be oil lamps.

I repeatedly blinked my eyes and tried to readjust my eyesight to the dark room, with nothing but a small fire lighting it up. As the two approached me, they brought the lamps closer and I could finally see their faces well.

One was an older-looking man, perhaps in his late 40s, dressed up in a white robe, similar to what doctors used to wear in the plague, I suppose. He carried an oil lamp in one hand and an unknown instrument in the other. If one were to judge him based on his body shape alone, I would say that he looked almost like a bodybuilder or some sort. No way could I imagine him to be anything else.

Beside him stood a younger girl, probably 12 years old, wearing a similar white robe with black piping on the hem of her collar and her short sleeves. She, too, was carrying an oil lamp and had a huge basin in her other hand. Surprisingly for a young girl like her, she seemed to have multiple small scars all over her arms.

Suddenly, the girl went behind the old man and tried to hide herself, her arms specifically. Probably she noticed that I was staring too much at them.

"Uh–"

Just as I tried to speak, my voice croaked, and my throat started to hurt badly. I tried to cough it out but it only made me roll over to my side, to which I unexpectedly began spitting out blood.

"Arah, kan ukod. Akwat dok is Kleis." The older man ordered, making the girl put down her belongings and rush out of the room.

The man helped me sit upright and I leaned against the bed frame. As he took out a washcloth from the basin, he began to hand it over to me and smiled, gesturing to me to use it.

I weakly received the wet cloth and wiped the blood dripping off my mouth. I let out a deep sigh and returned the cloth to him. The old man once again smiled at me and gave a reassuring pat on my shoulder.

"Am yagu agal. Knodap naman is Kleis." He said.

I couldn't understand anything he said, but the mere fact that his eyes were glistening in comfort suddenly made me feel all better already.

A few moments after a cycle of the old man constantly washing the blood-stained cloth and then giving it to me, and vice versa, the young girl from earlier came back. This time, an older woman around my age came into the room. Her emerald hair was kept messily in a bun and a long yellow nightgown was draped over her. The dress was covered with laces and small shiny stones all over the cloth, almost like diamonds that shone against the fire from the oil lamps.

As the two ladies slowly approached me, the old man went near the little girl and gave her a pat on the head, to indicate that she did a good job of fetching the woman.

The older woman took a seat beside me on the bed and simply stared at me. We both locked eyes for a few seconds until I could feel myself getting strangely creeped out since she didn't say anything at all. The woman looked at me from up and down and saw the stained washcloth on the bedside table. She got up from the bed and motioned the other two to follow her.

The three of them stood by the corner of the bed and began whispering very intently. Once again, I couldn't understand anything, but the little girl's reactions were more than enough to make me have a good guess about what was going on.

I was probably a patient in this place and they found me at the side of some dark alley. Perhaps this family was ever so kind enough to let me in their home and tried to take care of me despite them being one of the marginalized.

Okay, before starting any bad ideas, I'm not being discriminatory here. It's not like I'm assuming they're poor, alright? It's just that, who even uses oil lamps anymore? I'm probably in the countryside right now. Though the question remains as to how I ended up in a rural town in the first place.

After the three had a short meeting, the woman came back and sat beside me again. She reached out her arm, pressing my forehead with the palm of her hand.

"I'll put you to sleep first," She said in a soothing voice that one could impossibly forget.

With nothing but the sound of what I believe to be someone singing in the background, I dozed off and fell asleep.