Chapter 20:

Tale Zero: Screaming Scorpion (6)

SupraNatural


I could only stay there, immobile, looking at that ceiling that I despised more and more with every passing second.

A few times, I thought something along the lines of ‘I wish there was at least someone else in this room to keep me company’. If there were, maybe I would stop overthinking every detail and driving myself straight into insanity.

But for a while, my prayers were ignored.

The hours passed.

To me, they felt like eternities, every second passing by slower than a year.

My family never came to visit me, never left even a text message – but that was all within what I would expect. Still, it hurt to see just how much they didn’t care.

It wasn’t long before my phone ran out of battery and left me devoid of entertainment. But my school bag should have still been with me when they brought me here, I reasoned, and the nurse confirmed my suspicions the next time she came in.

Soon after, I was finally handed its contents – or rather, the part of them that mattered: my game console and my USB charger. This meant I could hopefully clear my mind enough through entertainment that I wouldn’t fall into madness before I could be discharged. I thanked the previous day’s me for completely charging this puppy up, meaning I didn’t have to worry too much about not having any way to charge it (screw you, proprietary charge connectors).

Damn.

It was actually working, huh.

There was some hope left.

As long as I didn’t fall too deep into depression and self-pity, I could still try and do my best to amend my mistakes after I was back in shape…

Suddenly, the door opened. I heard her a while before she entered my line of sight.

A girl about my age, shorter than Claudia – of about average stature – with long, dark brown hair and who looked in desperate need of proper nutrition.

But a few seconds prior to her image registering in my head, I’d already known her voice. Those piercing screams, so high-pitched and loud that they threatened to make my ears burst into pieces.

The sight of this girl, being restrained by two adult men as she struggled with inhuman force, her eyes bloodshot and her face like one of a predator – it terrorized me.

Her body was full of wounds.

Wounds of all kinds and sizes, spread through all her exposed skin – and by the looks of it, they extended well into the unseen parts of her body.

But the most disturbing thing was… Nobody else had done that to her.

Those were clearly, undoubtedly – wounds she had inflicted upon herself. And if there was any doubt remaining, just a look at her fingers covered in blood and her savage attempts at harming herself would have eliminated it. The two men holding her, one of them the same doctor that had been treating me, were having serious trouble restraining her and moving her at the same time. But after more than a full minute of struggling, they finally managed to get her into the bed next to mine.

I averted my eyes when they injected her with what I could only assume was some kind of anesthetic, and soon after, her cries turned into peaceful breathing sounds as she fell into a deep sleep.

The doctors both sighed, visibly exhausted. One of them went out, while the other remained just where had been, a look of sadness directed at the girl contorting his expression.

It was the same doctor that had treated me.

An instant later, he seemed to recall my presence, and hurried over to my side to ask how I was doing.

“I’m fine, doctor…”

“Call me Philip, James. I feel I’m too young to be called just doctor.”

“Okay, Philip… thank you. I’m better now. Been keeping my mind off of things.”

I said, shooting a glance at my phone and game console, which I’m sure he didn’t miss. A slight smile formed on his face.

“I’m happy to hear that, James. Keeping yourself entertained is a good way of coping with cases like yours. Hopefully you’ll be recovered in no time.”

I barely knew this man, but I could tell his concern and worry were genuine. He looked like the type who wanted to be a doctor as a child because of an honest desire to help people, rather than for money or scientific curiosity.

But still, even knowing how much this young man worried about his patients, the looks he kept shooting at the girl on the next bed were… concerning.

Like he had a far more personal reason to care about her than he did for someone like me.

“… Ah. In case you’re wondering, that girl over there is my little sister.”

He had caught me staring at him. But never mind that, the fact he’d dropped the bomb of his relationship with the girl was… odd, to say the least.

“From what I’ve seen of your records, you’re apparently studying in the same school she is. I thought you might recognize her, but it seems that’s not the case…”

Oh. Was that true? Then now it made more sense. He probably wanted me to tell him all I could know… but sadly, I knew nothing.

I strained my eyes to try and recognize her face, though. And soon after, it clicked.

“Ah! Now I remember! Yeah, I’ve seen her around before at school. Her name’s Emma, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Do you know anything at all about her behavior there? Something that could seem like an anomaly?”

His eyes were suddenly glowing, but I couldn’t meet those newly born expectations of his. I really did know nothing, all the knowledge of Emma I had was secondhand and just by name. And even then there wasn’t much of it to begin with.

“I see… Well, it’s okay, thank you for answering my questions. And sorry for being so unprofessional while on the job.”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to apologize, Philip. You’re saving my life here, y’know.”

“Ahaha… I guess, if you put it like that… Thank you, James. You’re a good person.”

And thank you, doctor, for genuinely believing that even though it’s clear I’m not. Even though I’m a murderer.

Philip finished giving me my medication, and after making doubly sure Emma was still asleep, he went away. He was a doctor, too many lives depended on him for him to stand around worrying about his sister and a stranger.

I went back to my distractions, killing time as the time of my full recovery continued to approach.

But a few hours after Philip had last come – Emma woke up.

And when she did, she almost killed me.