"How exactly did my parents die?"
I chuckled at the words that came out of my mouth.
It had been three days since I had the pleasurable conversation with the nurse, Anna. It was refreshing and a nice change of pace, especially since I had been feeling down as of late—to no one's surprise.
She was a bit of a klutz. It took her a few seconds before the question and its implications started to settle in. It also took her a few more to realize I was messing with her.
Refusing to answer the first question, Anna asked if I had a different one, citing that talking about such a heavy topic so early in my recovery was not good for me. To which I gave her another question, which I thought was equally disruptive to any sort of constructive build-up she wanted to happen.
"Will I be able to avenge my parents?"
It was a dumb question—dumb enough to send her mind reeling, alright. I remember trying to hold in my laughter, so much so that my stomach started hurting. She was just way too animated. An open book too.
I felt a pang of guilt, but it was quickly washed away by the fun I was starting to have.
We carried on for a good few minutes of me asking something silly and her trying to deflect to another question. Sometimes she would try to actually answer before realizing how terrible of an idea it was, reverting back to deflections. Other times, she would feel her reply was reasonable enough to warrant voicing it, only for me to respond with a glum and crestfallen look, followed by an "I see" sort of reply. Really putting in the dejected look.
It was not until I could not hold it in anymore and let a smirk slip that the nurse started to piece things together.
Anna got really angry, looking primed to go off with whatever ammunition she had built up.
A look of hers that had me going into a full fit of laughter.
Me laughing quenched her anger to an extent. While she still looked upset, it was not to the same level of anger as before, if I were to put it.
Maybe it was that she had never seen me smile in the past few days that she had accompanied me, let alone see me lose myself in a laughing spree. Technically, she did accomplish her goal somewhat. That, and she was also at work too.
The nurse composed herself, patting down her uniform to uncrease it of its nonexistent wrinkles. She turned her attention back to the plate and trolley, willing a neutral look to her face but not entirely able to hide the obvious puff of her cheeks.
"I should go now. Please rest well."
And as she turned to open the door and leave:
"Yogurt."
"Huh?"
"I want yogurt, if there is any available. Preferably, sweet."
Understanding what I had just said, she nodded her head.
"And thanks—for everything."
Thankfully, she was alright when she returned afterward. I would hate for her not to come back after all.
-0-
The soul expert had finally come, and I was on my way to meet him.
Sitting in a wheelchair while being pushed by an entirely different nurse from those I had seen so far, I was finally able to leave the confines of my room.
Going through a white and pristine hallway, I started making my impressions.
From what I could tell—well, the walls looked like walls, and the floors much like a floor.
I did not know what I was expecting, but apart from the unnatural cleanliness and the bright and polished sheen, it looked like any other building interior I had been in.
After going through a few more winding corridors, with nothing much to see, we entered a set of double doors—the ones customary to any hospital you have seen.
My chair was then placed to the side of the room. A bunch of hi-tech equipment was placed about, showing different kinds of graphs and whatnot.
Further into the room was another set of double doors, probably leading to the operating room, I guessed.
A nurse walked up to me, told me to keep still, and injected something into my arm.
"There," she said.
"Before we start, please confirm if any of the details here are true. Please do so to the best of your ability."
She pulled a small bundle of papers from the table next to me before handing it over for me to read. It was the same file I had gone through a couple of nights ago—familiar and completely unrelated to me.
I gave a small sigh before taking the file from her hands and going through it briskly, not bothering to feign interest even as the nurse watched.
"Understandable, but please take this seriously," she started with a polite tone.
"… I am having memory issues…"
"I know, but you should still go through it nonetheless. It's just how it works in here."
She ruffled my hair as she replied. While I was unable to see the entirety of her face due to the mask she was wearing, I could see that her eyes were at a crescent.
She took the file from my hands and started going through the details.
- **Rell Zorias**
- **15 years of age**
- **Of the Harbinger line**
- **Born at Kapsis on March 17, 653**
- **Child of Premiera Adoss and Axelius Zorias**
- **Gift of fire**
- **Orphaned**
- **Next of kin: none**
She stopped talking and looked at me once she was done. Whether it was to confirm if what she had said was true or to check on my reaction to such a depressing profile, I could not tell. I simply nodded at her.
Next, she put the file down and took another one from the same table.
"This here needs to be signed by you. It is… uhh… how better to explain it. It says here that we explained things to you beforehand. Like, you know what we are about to do and stuff."
"I have a general idea. It is ok."
I figured I should not make things any more complicated. Taking the papers and having a look through them, I saw it was the generic liability sort of agreement—the kind that says things could go wrong and that you are ok with it, and that you cannot sue the hospital or the doctors if something unlikely happens.
I could see how this would be awkward to explain to someone as young as Rell.
After dealing with a few more explanations regarding the paper, I signed it. Seeing as they thought I was Rell, I simply put the name down.
I was then told to keep myself relaxed as the procedure would happen shortly.
After a brief wait, with nurses walking in and out of the room, I was pushed toward the doors, where a polished and jagged hunk of rock was placed in the middle of the room.