La Petit Mort

3

Baizhu opened his eyes to see himself in the hospital. The blinding light hurt. He squinted, covering his eyes with his hand. Struggling to sit up, he winced. 

"How are you feeling?" The doctor was very...very tiny...Baizhu almost didn't see her. 

"I'm...where...?" He looked around and made eye contact with his neighbor. The images flooded back to him and he vomited over the side of the bed. 

"He..." Baizhu pointed at Dottore. "He's a murderer!" Baizhu blurted out. 

"Me?" Dottore pointed at himself, looking around to see if anyone was behind him. 

"I saw him..." Baizhu grabbed the small doctor's shoulders. "I saw him slit a woman's throat!" 

"If you did see him kill someone, why wouldn't he have killed you? This man is the one that brought you to the hospital. He found you lying unconscious on the sidewalk in front of your apartment complex," the doctor explained, looking at her notes. "We did a blood test and there was an unusual drug in your system. Have college exams led you to use something you normally wouldn't?" 

"What?" Baizhu remembered his boss giving him something. He thought it was aspirin or something, not an illegal drug!  

"Your vitals are okay but if you're experiencing delusions perhaps we should keep you another night." 

"Please call the police!" Baizhu insisted. 

"If I call the police, you'll be the one they'll arrest," she pointed at Baizhu's bloodwork. 

"I don't mind," Dottore placed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "Might as well call them just so the patient can be at ease, hm?" he smiled. "Ah, I'll make it even easier for you," Dottore pulled his phone out of his breast pocket and handed it to Baizhu. 

Baizhu didn't hesitate to call the police. But it took them even longer to show up. He was left with his mind that kept seeing that murder. A doctor that didn't believe a word he said. Dottore looked and smiled innocently at him. 

"So, you're the culprit?" The police officer scratched his neck, staring at Dottore. 

"Dottore, officer," he offered his hand for him to shake. 

"Kaeya," he didn't take his hand. Instead, he eyed Dottore up and down and then glanced at the patient with the head injury. "You're one well-adjusted criminal if you're waiting for the police to show up to soothe this guy's mind." 

"Haha," Dottore chuckled. "I'm just trying my best to help my neighbor." 

"I can't take this anymore," Baizhu tore the IV out of his arm and stood up. "I'm going home." 

"I haven't discharged you-" the doctor began. 

"I'm going home," Baizhu snapped. "Will you at least escort me back?" he asked Kaeya. 

"Aye, aye," Kaeya offered his arm for Baizhu but instead of grabbing it Baizhu wrapped his arm around Kaeya and leaned on him. 

"Would you like to check my apartment?" Dottore asked. "No warrant needed." 

"What say you?" Kaeya glanced down at Baizhu. 

"Yeah, sure, let's go prove I'm insane," Baizhu rolled his eyes. 

...

"Before I unlock my door, I should warn you my job is a bit... unlike what you'd expect," Dottore shoved his key into the lock and opened the door. 

Kaeya helped Baizhu inside and looked around. He opened up a side room and whistled. "You sure like to mess around, hm?" 

"Are those..." Baizhu squinted. Walls of sex toys. He staggered and fell backward. Kaeya couldn't catch ahold of him but Dottore grabbed his shoulders and caught him before he collided with his chest. 

"A few toys, yes, I am something of a streamer." 

"Oh ho?" Kaeya snickered, amused. 

"So, I had a horrible fever and was drugged up, hallucinated a murder... and those noises I've been hearing at night are not muffled sounds of assault but moans?" Baizhu tried to make sense of it all. He stepped away from Dottore and went for the door. 

"I'm incredibly sorry for my accusations, I need a nap," Baizhu returned to his apartment.