The Chapters

Chapter Two

You didn't give me an answer as I finish washing up, so I was surprised to see your pencil write the words good morning as I walked back into the main room.

Is it morning already?

A wave of nausea hit as you turn the page. I close my eyes and let it pass, already getting used to dealing with it.

Sorry.

"It's not really your fault," I reassure you. "It just happens."

I'm walking back to the main room when I hear Keon and Ruka talking in hushed voices. I walk slower, not quite reaching the corner of the walk, and I can make out their words, out of sight.

"You know what that thing is, don't you?" I can hear Ruka hiss. "We all know Albin wasn't the only one who attacked him. What did they d- "

"I don't know exactly," Keon interrupts in a low voice. "Chances are it's an upgrade of something else. They're probably trying to wipe his memory."

"But can they intercept it?"

"They never could before."

I nearly have a heart-attack as your pencil comes down, easily in sight of the two adults.

Relax, they can't see me. Do you know what they're talking about?

My voice is barely audible, even to me. "Of course I don't know what they're talking about." I don't even know who Albin is.

You could ask.

"We could take him to - " Keon becomes silent the second I become visible.

I give him a blank look. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing wrong." He avoids my eyes and shifts awkwardly. "It's just strange to see you clean for once..."

He lets his voice trail off and there's a still silence. I decide to break it by sitting on the bed again, placing the damp cloth on one of the wood pieces. "Am I going to get treated?"

"Of course you are," Ruka says sharply. She removed a small container from her medical box and holds it out to me. "Do you remember how to apply this, or...?"

I take the round container and twist the lid open, exposing the creamy paste inside. I dip a finger in it on hold it up to my face. It seems familiar...

That's the salve, right? You ask.

"Well, it definitely looks like it," I mumble back.

"What's that?"

"I think I know how. It's just around the burns, right?"

Ruka smiles approvingly. "Right. I'll have to clean the knife wound myself, but you can treat your own burns."

I nod and trace a burn on my ribs. It's a cool shape, like a two-pronged arrowhead. The second the salve touches the skin, it latches on and grows, covering the whole burn. "That's amazing," I breathe.

Ruka laughs. "Well, you did help engin- "

"We're not supposed to tell him that much, Ruka," Keon interrupts.

"Oh," she gives me a strange look. "Right."

"Because of my amnesia?" I ask as I treat another burn. "I guess it's not good to give people memories on a silver platter. They have to get them back themselves, right?"

Keon nodded, his dark eyes serious. "That's right."

You're a very bad descriptor.

You're still on that, aren't you? Have I mentioned that you're a pervert?