Isabella: ".... Where am I?"
Surgeon: "You're finally awake. You're in the intensive care unit at East Gempaster University Hospital. You were lying in the street and your classmate and the owner of the pharmacy called the ambulance and the police. Are you okay? How are you feeling?"
Isabella: "It hurts...all over."
At that moment, someone opened the door to the treatment room and approached Isabella, who was lying on the clinical table.
Detective Dyckman: "It's understandable that you are in pain. I am Detective Dykeman of the Jenpaster Police Department's Safety Division. You have numerous cuts from your neck to your ankles. It looks as if you've been cut in small increments with a small knife. Were you attacked by someone on the street? Can you describe to me the details of what happened to you at the time?"
Isabella: "My memory is hazy and I can't remember for sure, but I was on my way to the pharmacy on the bus with my friend Angelina. I was on my way to the pharmacy with my friend Angelina, because I fell on the bus and got a cut on my ankle. And when we got to the pharmacy, suddenly my whole body went rigid and I couldn't breathe. And right there I collapsed."
Detective Dyckman: "And where did you get those wounds? Those wounds are not marks as if you had been hit by a car. Someone must have attacked you with some sort of small knife?"
Isabella: "No, no one attacked me with a knife. The wounds appeared on my body by themselves and I started bleeding.... Angelina knows that. She was trying to help me."
Detective Dyckman: "Wounds appeared by themselves and you bled out? Your story seems unrealistic. I've worked on a lot of cases, but I've never heard such a story. You have to tell the truth. You need to stop telling me childish stories."
Detective Dyckman chuckled at her story and sipped from his cappuccino cup.
Isabella: "This is a true story! I was suddenly struck by an inexplicable phenomenon. It wasn't human.... Even I couldn't understand it. I suddenly had the sensation of something long and thin entwining itself around my body."
Detective Dyckman: "Something long and thin? Someone used a rope to tie you up on the street? From what I hear, you are a research student at the Institute of Biotechnology at Macon Bantam University, aren't you? I was hoping to hear something more serious from you. If it's too difficult for you to talk, I'll ask your classmate Angelina. She, too, is in mental shock and is lying in a bed in the doctor's office. Fortunately, she was not injured."
Isabella: "You can believe my story or not. But I certainly saw and felt things. They were like strings, threads, or invisible ropes that clung to my body. They suddenly appeared in front of me and tried to cover me. I'm shaking with fear just remembering it now. I've never seen anything like that before, except in horror movies."
Isabella's bandaged body began shaking again on the clinical table.
Detective Dyckman: "Relax. If you move too much, your wounds will get worse. You need to rest for a while. Your wounds are not shallow."
Isabella: "You have no idea what I've been through!"
Detective Dyckman: "Just rest."
At that moment, the door to the treatment room opened with a bang.
Simon: "Isabella! You're okay! What are you doing here? Angelina called me earlier. I understand your situation. What's going on? I thought you were a psychotic, suicidal maniac who was doing way too much research. Bitch!
Isabella: "Simon! I didn't call you!
Detective Dykeman: "Who is he?"
Isabella: "He's Simon, he's in the same university's literature department. I think Angelina contacted him."
Detective Dykeman: "I see. He's a very energetic guy, isn't he? Simon, Isabella is still in treatment, can you wait in the waiting room? She needs to stay in the hospital for five days. Her wounds are still healing."
Simon: "Don't be silly! Isabella and I are best friends! Why can't I be around her? What am I supposed to do in the waiting room? Are you going to tell me to play Tetris by myself?"
Detective Dyckman: "I'll get back to you later about her condition. Here's my number."
Simon: ".... Okay. Isabella, take care! I hope you get well soon!"
Isabella: "Well, thanks. You usually make fun of me, but this time you are strange!
Simon grumpily exited, clutching a small piece of paper with the detective's contact information.
Detective Dyckman: "Isabella, are you and he good friends?"
Isabella: "No, not really. If anything, we have the worst relationship!"
Detective Dykeman: "Hahaha, why? He seems innocent, but he doesn't seem to have a bad personality."
Isabella: "Just ignore him anyway. I have no desire to contact him at all. For that matter, do I have to stay in the hospital for five days?"
Detective Dyckman: "Yes, you do. Like I said, your wounds are deep. It hurts when you move, doesn't it? The surgeon bandaged it. You will stay in the hospital until your wound heals."
Isabella: "That sucks. Tomorrow I start a new assignment in the lab and I can't attend. Where is Angelina now?"
Detective Dyckman: "Another doctor is taking care of her. I believe she is in the middle of counseling right now. I'm sure she'll be here shortly."
Isabella: "Okay. I'll wait for her."
-At the same time, Angelina was receiving counseling from another doctor.
Doctor: "Did you see what happened to her when she was on the street with Isabella? Give me the details."
Angelina: "I had no idea what happened to her. First of all, when she and I got on the bus she fell on the stairs. I thought she was delirious. I panicked too. She told me that someone was holding her leg, even though there was no one around her but the passengers. I then rescued her, but on the way to the pharmacy she collapsed."
Doctor: "Did she have epilepsy or any other pre-existing condition? Or did she eat food that could have caused food poisoning before or after she collapsed, etc."
Angelina: "No, she did not. She suddenly fell to her knees in front of the pharmacy and screamed. I remember blood coming out of her skin and under her clothes. No one had hurt her, but her body was covered in scars as I watched. I have never seen a situation like that."
Angelina began to cry as she recounted the situation at the time.
The doctor gently hugged her.
Doctor: "Okay. Thank you for telling me all the details. She is now in the intensive care unit. She needs to stay in the hospital for five days for treatment."
Angelina: "Can I see her now?"
Doctor: "Sure, sure. Hurry up, the hospital will be closed for business in 20 minutes."
Angelina: "Okay!"
Angelina rushed to the intensive care unit where Isabella was, and opened the door there.
Isabella: "Angelina!"
Angelina: "Isabella! I missed you!"
Angelina gently covered Isabella lying on the clinical table and hugged her.
Isabella: "You called Simon, didn't you? He was here just now!"
Angelina: "Yes! I called him because he is not a stranger to us either!
Isabella: "I thought it was a little annoying, but he was being weirdly quiet today."
Angelina: "Maybe he was really worried about you."
Isabella: "He and I are in different departments and I'm not interested in him, so in the future you don't contact him! He's always calling me a bitch and I'm sick of it!"
Angelina: "Ok ok ok, he's the same as always. LOL."
Detective Dyckman: "Angie! You've been wonderful to Isabella. But it's closing time. You can see Isabella anytime, but just remember the hospital hours."
Detective Dykeman pointed to his watch. Angelina nodded ruefully.
Isabella: "Angelina, I told Detective Dyckman everything I went through. But he wouldn't believe me, so I stopped telling him."
Isabella overheard Angelina so that Detective Dykeman could not hear her.
Angelina: "I'm still struggling to understand what happened to you. But I believe you. We are best friends. I'll be back to visit you tomorrow. I hope your wound gets better soon. See you soon."
Angelina slung her backpack of research materials over her shoulder and adjusted her ponytail. She smiled quietly when she saw Isabella, then walked out of the treatment room.
Detective Dyckman: "Well, it looks like hospital hours are about to end. I've got a wheelchair for you to move to your hospital room, so sit in it."
Detective Dykeman took Isabella's hand and guided her to the wheelchair.
Isabella: "Thank you. It never occurred to me to use a wheelchair when I'm not disabled."
Detective Dykeman: "Ha ha. Now you have bandages all over your body. Your body is crippled right now."
Isabella: "!!!"
Isabella's body shuddered at the words Detective Dykeman said.
Isabella: "The bandages are entangling my body...? Crippled...?"
Detective Dyckman: "What? What's wrong?"
Isabella: "Something entangling me.... Noooooo!"
Isabella panicked again. She had a flashback triggered by a key word in Detective Dyckman's words.
Detective Dykeman held Isabella down as she flailed around in her wheelchair.
Detective Dykeman: "Stop! Don't lash out! This is a hospital! Don't worry! You're protected! You must rest! Your doctor will take you to your room now! Where's your doctor? Hey!
Soon the doctor in charge of managing Isabella's condition showed up.
Dr. Armando: "I am her doctor. I will carry her to the ward. Don't hold her wheelchair so tight."
Detective Dyckman: "She's in a panic! If she gets any more out of control, she's in trouble!"
Dr. Armando: "Now I'm going to inject her with a sedative."
Isabella: "Nooooo! Help meーー! Someone is trying to kill me!
Dr. Armando called the nurse.
Nurse: "Doctor, what can I do for you?"
Dr. Armando: "Bring the syringe with the sedative. She is clearly having flashbacks and panic attacks. She's having a panic attack, and it's not nice to be disturbed in the hospital at night. Inject the sedative into her right now!"
Nurse: "An injection is more powerful than a pill. It also has strong hallucinations and side effects. Isn't that a bad decision?"
Dr. Armando: "No, no problem! Inject her now! Even if you take the pills, they take a long time to digest!"
Nurse: "Okay."
Detective Dyckman: "Hey, Doctor! This is a legitimate treatment, right? What kind of injection?"
Dr. Armando: "It's a kind of anti-anxiety drug. The concentration is within the permissible limits of the drug law! No problem."
Detective Dyckman: "I see, that's a relief. She needs to rest."
Dr. Armando: "Now inject her!"
Nurse: "Got it."
Detective Dykman and Dr. Armando held Isabella down by her wheelchair. The nurse injected the rampaging Isabella in the arm.
Isabella was injected with an anti-anxiety drug and fell asleep, slumped in her wheelchair.
Detective Dyckman: "...she seems to have calmed down?"
Dr. Armando: "Yes. Look at her. She is already asleep. My nurse will take her to the ward."
Detective Dyckmann: "Thank you. I'm going to leave today. I think Isabella needs a psychiatric evaluation. What do you think, Dr. Armando?"
Dr. Armando: "I think so. I think she is showing signs of panic disorder, bipolar disorder, and dissociative disorder. Later I will collect her urine and test it for illegal drugs. If she has a severe mental illness, I am prepared to transfer her to a closed ward for psychosis."
Detective Dyckman: "You are a careful doctor. I trust your judgment."
Dr. Armando: "Thank you for trusting me. I am the only physician in this hospital with multiple licenses in medicine, surgery, and psychiatry. All the other doctors have only one area of practice."
Detective Dyckman: "So you're a great doctor! Wonderful. I'll leave you to it for now. I'll call you in a couple of days to ask how she's doing. See you later.
Dr. Armando: "I'll take care of the rest."
Nurse: "Hey, Doc. Can you help me carry her to sickbay? I can't move her from her wheelchair to her bed by myself."
Dr. Armando: "Can't you do something as simple as that? We live in a society where men and women are equal! Besides, I have a herniated disc and my back hurts."
Nurse: "Oh, but... But didn't your back function fine the other day when you had sex with me in an empty hospital room? Was that a hallucination?"
Dr. Armando: "I was only aroused because you had no pants on that time! It's called force majeure. Just take her to the ward. I'll help you to the bed.
Nurse: "You're a sweet."
Dr. Armando touched the nurse's buttocks and urged her to carry the wheelchair in which Isabella slept to the hospital room.
Nurse: "Doctor, stop. We're at work right now, aren't we?"
Dr. Armando: "Are you busy tonight, there is no patient in room 304 right now. I'll wait for you and meet you there at 2 a.m."
Nurse: "You're a doctor, you should at least have a condom ready."
Dr. Armando: "Don't be silly! I don't want to wear that wild thing!"
Nurse: "Well, okay. I'll see you later."
-In the meantime, Angelina arrived home by cab in the heavy rain.
Angelina: "Mom, I'm home."
Angie's Mom: "Where have you been? It's almost midnight. It's nice to stay up all night in the lab working on my research, but sometimes I need you to come home early. My dad had to work all day today fixing the doghouse. You weren't there, so I helped."
Angelina: "That's the first I know of that now. I'm sorry. I was at the hospital today."
Angie's Mom: "What! Hospital? Did you get hurt? Hey, wait a minute, is there blood on your clothes? What's wrong?"
Angelina: "It wasn't me. Isabella was hurt. She fell on the street, covered in blood, so I called an ambulance and accompanied her to the hospital."
Angie's mother: "Are you kidding me?"
Angie's father: "Hey, Angie! Angie. You're home already. Hey, wait a minute. Are you bleeding? Did you hurt yourself?
Angie's mom: "No, it's Isabella's blood. She's hurt."
Angie's father: "No way! I know she's a nice, social girl. She's the one who got drunk with Angie at the bar before, right? I remember she stopped at our house once."
Angelina: "Don't talk like that! She's in the hospital and she's very sick right now."
Angie's mother: "Anyway, I'll ask you about the details after dinner. I have prepared some chicken soup, Caesar salad, and waffles in the kitchen for you to eat."
Angie's father: "Angie, we were really worried about you. I was so worried that you might get hurt. Go get dressed and eat your dinner."
Angelina: "I don't have an appetite..."
Angie's mother: "If that's the case, go to your room and get some rest."
Angelina started up the stairs to her room on the second floor.
Angelina: "!!!"
Her feet stopped at the fifth step of the stairs. She looked at her feet, her face pale.
Angelina: "... what?"
There was what looked like a strand of human hair she didn't recognize tangled around her right ankle.
Just as she was about to grab it to check it out, the elongated object disappeared in a flash.
Angelina: "What the hell was this? Perhaps I'm tired."
She entered her dimly lit room and collapsed onto her bed.
She decided to lie down and rest on the bed for a while. She was so exhausted that she did not even have the energy to turn on the light in her room...
Continued to Chapter 3: