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⋘ 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 – 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

Ⰶ║ July 31 2020 ║Ⰶ

Jaemin sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "We're gonna be stuck here for at least another week." He frowns and looks at Mark. "We seriously can't move with Chenle in this condition. With a concussion that bad, it's a miracle he's still alive."

Donghyuck moves from where he was leaning in the doorway. "What are you saying exactly?"

Jaemin looks at him then back at the map before them. "Concussions can be rated on levels, small to large. In this case, if he had hit his head any harder, he would have died. No question. But that's the least of our problems." He bites his lip in frustration and places his hands on his hips. "Do either of you actually know how concussions work?"

"Not exactly..." Mark frowns and sits on the couch. Jaemin sits on the chair in front of him and clasps his hands together, laying his elbows on his knees.

"Donghyuck?"

"No, me neither." He sits next to Mark, both expecting a detailed answer. "What is it?"

"A concussion is when you hit your head so hard that your brain physically moves and hits a side of your skull. In this case, I'm thinking it's safe to assume that Chenle's brain hit the front of his skull, thus affecting the Frontal and Temporal lobes, among other things. I mean, it affects the brain as a whole but those are the most damaging areas for Chenle right now."

"What exactly do those areas do?"

"Well, the Frontal lobe is your higher functioning area. It controls your concentration, emotional expression and reading, your ability to plan and judge things, and controls your creativity core and inhibition. The Temporal lobe is what's called the 'association area'. It holds your short-term memory, the expanse of emotions that the frontal lobe can express, and your equilibrium. The equilibrium holds your sense and state of balance, both mentally and physically. In short," He sighs and looks at his shoes in thought. "Chenle has just messed up his basic cognitive functionings. He won't be able to walk or talk for several days, probably the week if we're lucky. He'll be sleeping the whole time."

"Shit..." Mark sighs and runs his hands down his face. "So that means what exactly?"

"We can't move with him this immobilized. I would say we could just continue on and have him rest in the car the whole time, but exposure to light, sound, and movement will completely overwhelm him...awake or asleep. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You couldn't have seen this coming Jaemin." Donghyuck reassures. "I do have one question though..."

"What is it?"

"How will this affect him long term?" Donghyuck furrows his brows in worry and Jaemin closes his eyes.

"Well, the whole healing process...If I can calculate it correctly, it should round out to about 9 months. But," he sighs. "That all depends on how compliant he is with my instructions. As for his memory and such, it will leave permanent damage to his short-term memory. It might also affect his hearing but that's unlikely since the planet is pretty silent nowadays."

"How much could he forget? Us? I mean he's only met us in the past few months." Mark leans forward.

Jaemin leans back, his arms across the back of the chair and his head facing the ceiling. "Well, he'll definitely have trouble with the small things. You know, what time it is, what day it is...where he left his shoes, names, words...the basics. Nothing too damaging. Headaches will become a daily thing, that's for sure. But I think the biggest issue will be that it'll also be hard to recall memories that he treasures unless given a trigger, or something that reminds him of it. Say he forgot what day he woke up before we found him, one of us says that Jeno saw him in the woods, it could bring back the memory. But don't worry, he won't forget us. There won't be any amnesia...I hope."

"God I'm too tired for this..." Mark stands and stretches. "Let's just all head to bed and we can brief the others in the morning, sound good?"

"Yeah." Jaemin stands as well and walks down the hall. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, get some rest." He waves and opens his bedroom door, sighing when he sees a light still on.

Mark turns to Donghyuck, who was deep in thought. "Come on Hyuck, let's go to bed."

The boy stands and nods. "Yeah...I'm pretty tired." He gives Mark a weary smile and walks off down the hall. Mark looks at his back with a sigh and follows swiftly.

Ⰶ║ August 2 2020 ║Ⰶ

Jisung frowns and grasps tightly to Jeno's hand. The older boy looks at him in worry and squeezes back. "It'll be okay Sungie. Don't worry."

Forget us?

Jeno smiles and shakes his head. "No, he won't have forgotten us. Jaemin promised everything would be alright."

Wake up?

"Yeah...He'll wake up soon. Don't worry..." Jeno sighs and hangs his head, trying to rub away the eyebags from sleepless nights. "Come on now, you need rest too. That stomach of yours won't heal if you keep moving around like this silly." He smiles and Jisung musters up a small smile of his own.

Okay. Let's go.

⋘ Tʀᴀɴsᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ᴇʀʀᴏʀ. Pʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴛʀʏ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ. ⋙

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