If Love Could Be The Cure We Need - A MakoHaru Medical AU

Chapter 1: Everywhere Else But Here

Haruka Nanase

My first night in years where I'm not sleeping in my own bed. I'm not even sure if I'm going to be able to sleep anymore, because it's already three AM.

Ever since the moment that I wrapped myself up in the itchy blanket I've been trying to ignore the knowledge that people have died in this bed. Probably about four to ten people could've been lying in this bed the moment their heart stopped beating.

The walls are thin and I can hear sobbing coming from the dorm room beside me. I wonder what that kid's crying about, could be anything really. This isn't the place to be happy or to sleep well at nights. No, it's a place of anxiousness, fear and pain.

I've only arrived this evening, when it was already dark outside, but I'm already wanting to go back home. Which I can't, because I'm here for a reason; I'm dying, just like every other teenager that's been send here by their parents. Some of them might be here because living at a boarding school specialized in rare diseases is cheaper than having to go to the hospital every week and talking to a million different specialists, while others might just be here so they can spend time with other teenagers that are the same as them.

I'm here for neither of those reasons. I'm here because what started with weakness, fatigue and shortness of breath turned out to be Amyloidosis.

When I was diagnosed not too long ago the doctors told me I'd be too dangerous for me to live on my own, and my parents didn't have the possibility to come back to Iwatobi to care for me because of my father's work. They didn't even seem to care that if they didn't come home I'd have to go to a special school far from home somewhere located in the middle of nowhere – literally, we're in the woods far from the "real" world.

But still, even though I didn't ask for it, I had to say goodbye to my house, my swim club and everything else that I had to leave behind in Iwatobi so, this morning, I could go for a long ride to some kind of special school for teenagers with rare terminal diseases.

***

I had to get up at six this morning, which was strange because on a usual Wednesday morning I like to stay in bed up to the moment that I actually have to rush to school to get there in time. But today I couldn't, because to have somewhat warm water and a little privacy you have to go to showers before everyone else wakes up.

So that's what I did; I got up way earlier than everyone else so I can take a long warm shower before breakfast.

While I'm standing under the running water I realize how much I'm going to miss taking a bath and how I don't like that there's a time limit on how long the water stays warm. Because after half an hour of showering the water gets very cold, and I have to stop showering if I don't want to feel cold all day.

I put on my clothes and decide to go back to my room for a little while. I didn't yet have the time to unpack my things, not that I brought much.

When I walk into my dorm room I notice how empty and small it actually is, it seems even more boring in daylight. All there is, is a bed, desk, closet and a phone we can use to contact our family and friends.

I sigh, knowing that trying to make this look homey will be hard. So I don't even try; I just unpack my bag by moving my clothes into the closet, draping my own bedding onto the bed and leaving everything that I don't need that often in the bag under my bed.

I'm done unpacking by seven and decide to go outside. There should be a guide coming for me any moment, at least that's what a nurse called Aki told me when I arrived. He's another teenager who lives here and he should be waiting for me at the porch of our dorm so he can show me to the dining hall.