DC-95 : The Other Body

HOST

IT WAS still early in the morning, as the sun had not poured its light onto the dark sky, the crescent moon was still on the other side, even though it was covered in dawn clouds that shed light rain in Sydney. I was still in bed in the hospital, my fingers were busy playing a Rubik's cube with six basic colors that still had not been peeled here and there like the same toy I had as a child. Dr. Steve gave me this thing that this toy would help me directly to improve brain performance, though I felt it had nothing to do with my illness. I needed a little time, precisely less than ten minutes to complete this by bringing together the colors uniting on the same sides, but doing this at dawn with the other three patients falling asleep, made me think that I wanted to follow them to get a little bit of rest.

I was afraid of Morgan, a mutant with big bright blue eyes that had polished titanium colored hair. I obviously remembered the last time I fell asleep, Morgan had hurt her own coach, Claire Montgomery, which led Terrence Falcon to turn on the shocker from the necklace he gave. Claire was right when she said that the necklace he gave her was a barrier of her strength as it limited her ability to move. When it started to shock her, I remembered the fullness of its throbbing pain until she laid down and woke up again as me. And so I chose to stay up all night, as I did not feel that fun anymore after getting Morgan into a difficult time.

The morning temperatures were very cold, my body was shivering and I pressed the button that connected to nurse desk nearby to get one of them here and I could tell her to elevate the room temperature because besides myself, other patients were wrapped in a thick blanket from the tip of their toes to the crown of the head. I placed the cube in the drawer next to the bed where there was no space left for anything else because of the many cakes and fruit baskets my mother had brought on her visit last night.

I had no idea to or from where she was going with her beloved lover who was taking part in her visit to the hospital, but mother used an evening glamorous gown with a lot of sparkles on the neck, and there was a bunch of lace hanging around the lower end of her dress covering her stocky knees. And her lover, I finally found out that his name was Stephen Carter, reminded me of one of the evil men in my dream that I believed was not a dream. He was dressed immaculately, using an expensive suit that was probably more expensive than my computer, as well as completely polished new black loafers. His white teeth continued to show until they left the ward. Meanwhile, since yesterday I did not see Dr. Steve here, and did not hear anything from him. And I never thought that the person who just popped into my mind, was now entering the room and raising the temperature of it as minutes ago I was about to ask it to the nurse outside.

Dr. Steve dressed differently this time. He did not wear his clean white doctor coat like the workers at this hospital, even though he did not use his glasses. His body was wrapped in a dark green sweater with a beautiful knit on both sleeves. He also wore a head wrapper that looked so warm, one of his hands stuck in a long, tangled, milk colored coat. The last time I saw the coat was in the corner of Steve's car trunk a year ago. He bought the coat for his seminar trip in New York City at the time. Now he was about to put it on again and I was able to expect what he would say in the morning like this.

"Dr. Steve," I said, keeping my big smile painted on my face as he always loved it. "How do you know that I just pressed the nurse call button to turn the temperature of the room to get warmer?"

"Oh, I did not know that," he sat on the chair next to my bed. "I just think it was colder than outside and it's not good, the hospital should be more considerate for the temperature."

"I could tell," I said, lowering my volume voice because the patient in the middle seemed as annoyed by our short conversation as she sat up with a disgusted face and took her blanket lower.

"I think visitors are not allowed to come at dawn," she murmured a little bit loud.

"Oh, hello, Grace. I am Doctor Steve," I did not expect Dr. Steve to know her, but well, he is the doctor of this hospital, and her name must be written somewhere on the bed or a bracelet. "I am responsible for this patient, and I am sure Doctor Hopkins will take care of you in the morning, too, as soon as possible."