Day 19: Everything is being lost

Sally opened her eyes.
For a moment, everything was silent.
The world was no longer just thoughts.
She could feel.
She could perceive.
The sense of touch felt so new it almost scared her.

She slowly sat up, looked at her body, and without thinking too much, stood up to leave the hospital.

Two nurses saw her walking past.

“S-Sally?” one of them stammered, shocked.
“You can’t leave yet,” the other added. “The doctor hasn’t discharged you.”

“Please call him. I’m fine,” Sally replied calmly.

One nurse escorted her back to her room while the other went to find the doctor.

A few minutes passed before the door opened.

“Good morning, Sally,” the doctor greeted as he entered.
“Good morning,” she answered.

The doctor looked at her with a mix of disbelief and relief.

“It’s a miracle you woke up this quickly,” he said. “Your condition was serious.”
“Nature is unpredictable,” Sally replied. “There’s a lot science still can’t explain.”

The doctor nodded, slightly unsettled by how naturally she said it.

“We’ll be discharging you today,” he announced at last.

Sally hesitated for a moment.
“Doctor… how is my friend, Kam?” she asked.

“The girl we admitted with you?” He checked a few papers. “Just a couple of fractured ribs and some scrapes. We discharged her the next day. Her parents took her home.”

“I see…” Sally whispered.

“She visited you at night,” the doctor continued. “Some of your followers did too.”

“I understand…” Sally said softly.

The doctor paused, as if remembering something important.

“Yesterday, a particular boy—the one who always came—we found him unconscious on the floor.”

“What!?” Sally’s eyes widened.
“He almost went into cardiac arrest, but we treated him quickly. He’s stable now.”
“Can I see him?” she asked.
“Of course,” the doctor replied.

He guided her down the hallway to the room, then left them alone.

Inside, Said was resting with his eyes open, breathing with some difficulty.

“I see you’re already better,” Said said as soon as he noticed her. “And your hair’s back to normal too.”

Sally touched her violet hair and smiled.
But her expression shifted quickly.

“I want to know what happened yesterday.”

Said explained everything.
Every detail.

Suddenly, Sally felt a heavy presence—like someone was watching them.

“And…,” Said continued, “while you were hospitalized… do you remember Nomad Kitchen?”

“Yes. The one who enlisted in the army,” she replied.

“He disappeared.”

Silence fell between them.

“And he’s not the only one,” Said added. “A lot of people have been disappearing. Some blame the government. Many are preparing for a protest.”

“How surprising,” Sally said. “The one looking for answers… disappears.”

Said let out a tired sigh.
“And on top of that, that witch is watching us,” he said, clearly worried.

A while later, they both left the hospital.

“You need to be careful,” Said warned.
“Why?” Sally asked.

“Yesterday I heard a girl mentioning your mother,” Said said.

“What did she look like?” Sally felt her chest tighten.
“Short hair, very light green… sky-blue eyes.”

Sally’s heart clenched.

Kam.

“And one more thing,” Said continued, “you need to watch out when releasing energy during your streams.”

“The government has too much control over online content,” he said. “I don’t want you becoming a target. And we still don’t know why only some people can use energy.”

“At least the group is safe,” he added.

They both looked up at the sky for a moment.

“We’ll stay in touch through the group,” Sally said.
“Okay, Sally,” he replied.

She took a train back home.

When she arrived, her expression froze.

A FOR SALE sign hung in front of her house.

Her heart sped up.
She ran.
Entered.
Searched.

Nothing.

Not a single one of her belongings.

“…This is crap,” she whispered, and her legs simply gave out, dropping her to her knees.