[R1999] Short Stories' Collection

6 is sick

"Achoo..."

A small sneeze suddenly echoed in the room filled with books and scrolls. It came from the sole person here, who had long blond hair, blue eyes and pale white skin.

The fingers that were about to flip the page of the book on the table paused for a second, followed by the sniffing sound from the nose.

With indifferent expression, the man closed the book and put it aside. He stood up and walked to the other corner of the room, where his friends just added necessary supplies the other day, in case he was too busy to go outside.

Inside the closet near the bed, there was a vast range of objects from essential ones like neatly folded clothes to trivial ones like handmade wooden toys and a golden hair tie. Although the man didn't use the latter frequently, he kept them clean and carefully in a proper order.

A box of paper tissue soon appeared in his searching eyes. By seeing the images of some strange and cute animal characters on the box, the man could be sure that this thing came from a place outside his island.

'It's definitely 210.'

He quietly thought while taking a piece of tissue to prevent the liquid that was about to fall from his runny nose.

The tissue felt soft and had a faint scent of flowers, yet he couldn't recognize what was their kind.

His head became a little dizzy, his nose was already stuffed.

The man really wanted to let out a sigh, but that action was impossible now.

"Achoo..."

The sea wind easily entered the opened windows and caused another sneeze. It also helped him recall the reason for all of his current cold symptoms.

It was a stroll around the coast last night, as he needed some fresh air after spending 3 continuous days handling the remaining paperworks without leaving his room.

Step by step, the man had walked a pretty far distance and was halfway returning to his place, before being made soaking wet by those mischievous dolphins. Moreover, the temperature had dropped significantly as time flew and he ended up trembling until getting inside his warm room.

'I need some medicine.'

After realizing that the cold was turning worse, the man, or we could call him 6, finally decided to call for the people nearby for help.

In no more than 5 minutes, almost all the people in the island heard the news about their conscientious leader being sick. Then, two members from the medical house immediately ran to their leader's place and provided him with treatment.

Outside the stone door, many people from young to old gathered around with visiting gifts on their hands, waiting for the announcement from the medical members. Their faces all showed worries since they knew the fact that every 6's health would worsen day by day at some points.

It was an inevitable fate of their leader, yet the believers all hoped that he could be healthy to his old age.

Some notable young people of the island were also present in front of the door of the leader. There was a man that had long brown hair with two symmetrical bunches of grapes as his hair ornaments, a girl with beautiful wavy blue hair and round eyes and a red-haired girl who had a name that wasn't a number.

"Seems like our great leader eventually knew that he could get sick like normal people."

210 mumbled sarcastically, but the anxious eyes looking at the door had already spoken his true thoughts.

"You were wrong! 6 has already known that fact as soon as he formed his own awareness."

Hearing what he said, 37 instantly refuted his words.

"It's the most basic and simple knowledge that everyone should know."

To avoid these two beginning another argument, Sophia stepped out and reminded them to keep silent for the medical activities inside.

6 woke up from a long sleep after taking the medicines. The high fever had gone away as well as the nasal congestion.

He stared at the stone ceiling and tried to remember some noises that were around his ears when he was sleeping.

"You're awake!"

A familiar cheerful voice stopped him from recalling further.

"Sophia! 6 is awake!"

"I'm coming!"

It was another familiar voice that came from a person he knew.

"So there was really something that could defeat our great leader easily."

A man's voice, another close one.

6 didn't need to turn his face to know whose voices they were.

"Glad to see you come back with us, 6."

He closed his eyes and let out a gentle smile.

They were the voices of his friends.