Optimistic coincidence

Section 1 - part 5

i woke up in a hospital bed with a beeping sound pouring into my ear from my right and a stinging sensation in my left arm. after fluttering my eyelashes and blinking aggressively; my vision started to clear and my eyes started to focus.

it was a small room with no more colour than the rest of the place, but instead of dull colour it was brighter with splashes of brightened white and light grey. i began to sit up but found that my back had cramped and it was hard for me to move. i flinched at the new pain i felt and slid back down the bed. i looked at my left arm and noticed the tube that connected me to a machine on my left. what had happened to me? before i could think anymore someone walked into the room, who had probably saw that i had woken up from the CCTV camera in the corner of the room pointing directly at me. i stared for a few seconds before turning my head to the side to look at the man who had entered the room. or was it a man? everything was sideways, i couldn't see the number on his lab coat, or his bloodline letter.

"how're you feeling?" he asked, walking around to the other side of the bed with his clip board to make it harder for me to see his number. i mean, how voice sounded normal? the usual southern accent we had, although i did hear the slight lisp in his voice.

"as good as it gets." i lied, turning my head back to the other side to take another look at his coat, but he had already moved back to the front of the bed, which made it harder for me to see and my eyes strained.

"can you sit up for me?" the man spoke as i sighed softly, looking back over to my left arm where the tube had been inserted into one of my veins. "i can't." i said eventually with a huff, looking up at the white ceiling above. "why not?" he questioned as i heard him fidget over to my side once again. "it's my back." my words were blunt as i continued to stare up at the blank space. "shall we try to lift it?" he then questioned as i shot him a look. but when i did i wasn't expecting what i saw. i yanked my back forward in shock and screamed at the pain it gave me, my eyes started to fill once more with the salty tears that had once burnt upon entering the small cuts on my face. at first i couldn't tell if i was yelling about my back or about the horror i had seen with my eyes. i looked again at the thing who was frantically running around the room pulling all sorts out of the draws around me. i couldn't help but scream and yell louder; i was in a hospital room with a deformed creature and the pain in my body felt like someone was drilling a hole into my head.

with that i ripped the tube out of my arm, the needle falling to the floor as the dark red blood started to ooze out and trickle down my torn skin with little effort. "no, stop!" he shouted at me, but i didn't listen. i fell from the bed onto the cold floor as i felt cramp start to form in my legs. i managed to pull myself across the floor into a corner, blood splatters trailing behind me. "i'm not going to hurt you!" he said again, nearing towards me with a needle. he was going to jab me. "DON'T TOUCH ME." i screamed again, banging my fists against my legs over and over, the pain in my back to agonising for me to feel it "help is on it's way, i promise." it then spoke in a more gentle tone as the tears started to flood down my face.

just before the two armed officers ran into the room along with another doctor or two, i got the chance to see the number i had been looking for on its white lab coat. 2064 C. so that was why he looked the way he did, i mean he was a C. i'd never seen another bloodline before, i mean apart from the F's.

he was almost human, but parts of his face looked as if someone had slashed shapes out of his skin and stitched in green scaly fish matter with little care after. his eyes had a yellow glow to them and his pupils almost slits, but other than the disfigurement of some parts of his body and his bent over frame; he acted and sounded like a normal human being. an A.

i woke up in the exact same room with the exact same hospital robe i had been wearing before i passed out, however this time the tube was slotted into one of the veins in my right arm and my left had been stitched up and cleared. after looking up at the CCTV camera that was still situated in the corner of the room, i started to push my back up with ease as i realised the pain had somehow vanished from my back which brought a small smile to my face. how long had i even been there? it hadn't seemed like long ago since the first time i passed out, although my aches and pains had gone and my vision was completely clear.

i heard the door creek open and i slowly started to turn my head to the side, ready for whatever may have been there. it was a tall man with prominent features and a small head, which instantly made me relax. being in an A's presence felt even better than usual.

"hello, Lanke 2099 A.," why were doctors so formal? "how're you feeling?" did they always ask that question? "i'm feeling great actually." i replied with a brief smile, my nose twitching. "ah," he said with a small nod as he brought his pen to the paper on his clipboard and wrote something down before making eye contact with me once again "are you sure? last time you had a little.. incident." i scratched the side of my head and nodded "yeah, i remember."

"you do?" he then asked as he frantically jotted something else down on his paper.

"yeah i- i remember everything." i said in my usual deep voice with a slight stutter, confused as to why he cared. "hmm.." he murmured and mumbled under his breath, still ticking boxes and scribbling things down. "how long have i been here?" i asked. i had already looked around the whole room for a clock of but there was none of the sort. "oh eh," he flicked back a page and followed his finger down before nodding "about 16 hours. it's 2 PM now." 16? it felt like 2 at most. had i been sleeping for that long? "i think you'll be ready to leave soon- and oh," he coughed slightly as if he were embarrassed, "sorry about your previous doctor, due to your blurred vision we assumed that you wouldn't have much trouble with Skyran," he spoke, his hand out to his side "he's one of the bests doctors we've got, even though he's a C."

was that why we were segregated in the first place? because of their differences? i mean thinking about it maybe it was a good thing. they would have been discriminated and shunned upon for not looking the same, but then again, if we grew up with them would we have just accepted their differences? i had so many questions. i'd started to sound like Guy.

"which section is this?" i asked the doctor as he placed his clip board down to check my arm. without looking up he replied "the hospital section of course."

"yeah, i'm not stupid." the doctors head rose to reach my eyes with his, his look still soft. "i know that," he said "but this is the hospital ward in the hospital section, nothing more, nothing less." before i could answer he spoke again "you'll have to stay here for a bit longer," he mumbled as he strode towards the door "and you'll be back before you know it."

"can i just as-" but he was gone. there was just one more question i had to ask, just one more. why i hadn't thought to ask it any earlier i don't know, but why he hadn't let me ask it was more confusing. he was a doctor after all? weren't patients supposed to ask things?

"too many questions." i spoke aloud, flicking my eyes to my right to see my heart rate. it was average, i think? if a beat per three seconds was average then yes, but don't hearts beat faster than that? well, i was still alive and that's all that mattered. although i did realise something.

the only way to get answers was to ask the doctors and stay on the ward, but they were sending me home soon and it was more likely for a home guard to take me back because doctors were too busy these days. it would mean i would have to start screaming again or pretend i was having hallucinations in front of the security camera, but that would probably mean more time spent on the ward and it was most likely that I'd lose my job. so instead i fell back into a deep sleep, the slow beeping sound that entered my ears started to fuzz and disappear and for a moment there i felt happy.