"Where… am I?" Leon's tongue felt thick as the words echoed the second time.
Tilting his head in a confused state, he saw three people standing beside him: two men and one girl.
"Who are you?" Leon's voice cracked as he swallowed hard.
On his left side, he saw the two men turn confused glances at each other.
He waited for a while, then tilted his gaze toward the girl at his left. There, his eyes widened as he saw the girl's hand stretched toward his arm, almost touching it.
"MOVE AWAY FROM ME!" Leon cried, pushing the girl's arm from him, and then pulled the white cloth covering his waist up to his face.
His words sent a shockwave through them, leaving them with wide eyes and open mouths.
At 3:00 pm, the two men and the lady moved out of the room, giving way for the nurses to attend to the admitted patients.
When the nurse who had the top button of her uniform opened neared Leon, she smiled.
"Don't worry, okay," she said, picking a syringe from the metallic plate placed in her left palm.
"This will be quick, I promise." She slowly sucked the sleeping medicine from the jar while calming the boy with her soft, charming voice.
Leon's teeth gritted when the tiny needle at the mouth of the syringe pierced through the skin on his left shoulder and entered his vein.
His face began to soften while his vision turned blurry as the nurse pulled the needle from the boy's skin and stood up.
"This will help you sleep." She said and walked to the next patient, whose bed was just three feet away from Leon's.
…
When the 6:00 pm alarm chime rang, Mr. Lee and Feng returned to the room Leon was admitted to and walked to his bed.
They pulled two plastic chairs and sat closer to the bed.
"Let's try and see if this will help bring back his memories," Mr. Lee said, pulling a family photo from his bag.
"I doubt it will help. But all the same, let's try it and see," Feng said, relaxing in the chair as he leaned back and stretched his legs.
He folded his arms on his chest and cracked his neck, then stared at Lee and sighed.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
After three consecutive slaps landed on Leon's left shoulder, Mr. Lee sat on the bed when he saw the boy's eyes open.
"Steady," Mr. Lee said, raising his arms and holding the boy's on the shoulders, "we're not here to harm you."
He loosened his grip on the left shoulder, pulled the photo from the pocket of his shirt, and turned it for the boy to see.
For two minutes, Mr. Lee's face brightened when he noticed the boy's eyes were now gazing at the photo intensely.
"Cut the crab," Feng said and laughed the moment the boy's hasty movement began.
Though the boy kept tilting his gaze sideways, Mr. Lee continued, using the same picture as bait whenever the boy stopped and stared at him.
"How many times do you want to repeat that same action?!" Feng hissed, his patience fraying as Mr. Lee's fifteen triggering attempts with the photo failed.
"We still have to try; otherwise, he's gone for good," Mr. Lee whispered, his voice soft but sharpened with urgency.
He sank into the chair he'd placed beside Leon, while Feng scratched his jaw, muttering words no one else could hear, not even himself.
"I think we need to act fast," Feng said, pacing. "I got information that someone reported a case to the academy. Due to that, the rules and regulations have been changed."
He let the thought trail into silence as he raked a hand through his hair.
Silence ruled as his voice faded, giving way to the cries, ungodly insults, and the fraying of curtains to fill the room.
Then, as they waited, their heads tilted toward the door's angle as it screeched across the floor, opening. Footsteps drew closer, rushing like storm wind.
"Please, sir, hold his hands so I can inject him with this serum?" A voice, thin as light and clear as the ocean, echoed from behind Mr. Lee.
Slowly, he turned and saw a well-dressed, beautiful doctor standing with a syringe in her hands.
"I thought he already received that," Mr. Lee said, his tone calm but cutting. His gaze drilled for answers, but the doctor merely adjusted the drip and injected the shimmering blue liquid.
With eagle eyes, Feng and Mr. Lee exchanged a look; their words landed in unison as the last drop of the liquid entered: "We need answers… or you'll regret it."
The doctor's reply was smooth and practiced, like a surfer on a tide. "Sorry, I'm not authorized to explain. Only the proctors can disclose details."
The moment she exited, Lily burst in, breathless. "Sir… where's my brother?" Her voice was weak, barely holding together. Even as Feng guided her to Leon's bed, her lips quivered.
"Leon… Leon… It's me." She pressed his palms to her cheek, a small, fragile smile breaking through her tears.
Leon jerked his hand back. His eyes, blank and distant, didn't recognize her. The tears in Lily's eyes blurred, like a fractured factory pipe.
She staggered back, covering her face as she fled the way she came, her sobs echoing down the hall like trumpet sounds.
"Easy, easy. You're safe," Mr. Lee muttered, placing a hand on Leon's chest in an attempt to calm him. But Leon pulled the hand away, shaking his head as panic tightened every line of his body.
"No... this isn't real." Feng's voice, filled with frustration, echoed as he placed both hands on his waist, shocked. Leon didn't move; he just remained still, staring at them with dead eyes.
He twitched on the bed as the voices around him began to register clearly in his ears. In a quick movement, the monitor screamed as he tore the cable from his vein.
Pain rippled through him like lightning, causing blood to ooze from his skin. His scream tore the air apart, raw and desperate.
Every ear around him was covered, preventing his high-pitched sound from deafening them.
"Hold him…! Hold him well…!" the doctor's voice rang from the doorway, sharp and tinged with panic. Feng strained, desperately holding Leon's left arm.
He groaned, getting thrashed against the tiled wall as sweat dripped down his face like rain on glass.
Leon's eyes turned blood-red as a syringe pierced his skin.