Word count: 4 | BrightWin

Sixteen

The first two months of their fourth year in college wasn't easy. All of them had to adjust in their environment because they didn't know anyone from the class. They ate alone, walked alone, and spent their free time alone. They missed each other's presence badly and every night they would hit the call button to facetime one another.

But as they reach their fourth month, they're slowly adapting to the changes. They also had their own group of friends. The friendship doesn't feel like the one they had with the gang but it's fine enough to get through the year.

Win and Tu started observing if there were any changes with Bright's personality. They never missed an opportunity to check up on him if he's doing okay. At first, he's still the same Bright as before, but lately he seems a bit off so they tried to ask his new friend, Gulf.

As unbelievable as it may seem, but Bright who can't speak and Gulf who can't see, can converse with each other by using text to speech applications. (A/N: starting from now whenever someone [even Bright] is talking to Gulf, they will be using text to speech apps)

Bright introduced Gulf to their group a month ago when his friends went back home. Since Bright's campus is specifically for students majoring in Special Education, most of the enrollees also have disabilities.

In Gulf's case, he's blind but not totally. He can't see anything but people's word count. Every time he tries to open his eyes, he would see floating numbers above people's heads. He didn't want to expose it to others but he trusts Bright, so he trusted his friends too.

With this, Win opened up to Gulf about Bright's condition and his plan to increase his word count, as well. He then asked him to observe if there are any changes to Bright's word count or if he's acting suspicious.

Gulf would report to Win or Tu every now and then saying that Bright's still the same. But recently, he's been acting differently. His head is always aching and he seems to have memory gaps. Win told him that maybe his plan is finally working.

“Gulf, I know we are all getting busy this month and for the next months, but please always check up on Bright. The side effects might be worse during this time, make sure that Bright is always wearing the bracelet.” Tu explains while on call with Gulf.

“Yeah, I'm always feeling it every time I cling onto his wrist. But I don't know why his word count is still zero.” Gulf sighed on the other line.

“Me too, well maybe it's a long process? But as you said, he's having memory gaps. Win told us it's one of the side effects.”

“Okay, then. Let's just trust the process. I'll continue to monitor him and you should tell Win to talk to him during free time.” Gulf said his last words before hanging up the call.

===

Midterm week is coming and everybody's preparing for the exams. Gulf is staying at Bright's dorm because they planned to study together.

“Where's your bracelet?” Gulf uttered as he felt an empty feeling as he held Bright's wrist. Bright then reached out for his phone to type his response.

“I broke it. I plan on going to a repair shop but I'm too busy this month. Maybe next month I'll have it repaired.” He responded. Gulf didn't know what to do. Tu just told him to make sure that Bright's wearing the bracelet but now he couldn't wear it because it's broken.

“Isn't that bracelet important to you?” Gulf carefully asked to be less suspicious. Bright shouldn't find out that he's been working with Win and Tu.

“I guess so? Why are you suddenly interested in my bracelet? Do you want it? I can give it to you.” Gulf clicked his tongue and said, “No. Don't be crazy. Let's start studying.” He managed to escape the awkward situation.

Damn. This is bad. Gulf thought in his mind as he realized that without the bracelet, Bright might forget about Win soon.

Gulf wanted to check for the last time if his memories are still intact. “Bright, did you also study with your friends at your dorm before?” He waited for an answer.

“Yeah, we also used to have study groups. And I had this study buddy too… but I'm not sure who they were? I don't really sure. It's a blurry memory.”

Gulf's heartbeat went faster. No, please. This is too fast. His memory is fading quickly.

“Wasn't he your roommate before? Because you know, you live in the same unit.” Gulf tried to ask another question to confirm his theory.

“Oh, yeah. My roommate. But, uhm. I don't know why but I can't remember him.” Oh my god! I need to tell Win and Tu as soon as possible before it gets worse! Gulf panicked as soon as he heard Bright's response.