See you on Mars

1

It was September 2nd 1942 and Oikawa sat in the back of his mother's car and started throwing a coughing fit. He coughed into his white handkerchief which was now stained red. The boy hurriedly shoved the handkerchief in his pocket afraid of his mother seeing the crimson tissue. Still unsure of where they were headed,  Oikawa stared out the window at the sights passing by, they had been driving for an hour already as Oikawa felt the car turn into a parking lot. He looked up at where they had ended and stared up at the large image of a hospital building. They parked near the entrance and a nurse came out with an empty wheelchair.
      "Why are we here?" Oikawa asked his mother, his voice raspy. He hoped he didn't know the answer and stared as the nurse neared his car. His mother was silent and the nurse opened Oikawa's door wearing a blue medical mask. The nurse didn't say a word as she signaled the boy to sit down in the wheelchair. He reluctantly took his seat and stared at his mother who was crying at her dashboard as Oikawa was wheeled away. The building was cold and the hallways were bare. Oikawa was wheeled into a room with eight beds, four on either side. Only one bed was currently occupied. Oikawa was wheeled next to the only other occupied bed, which was placed near the window.
      "This is your bed, there are a few rules here to follow." The nurse coldly said. "Don't leave your bed on your own and don't talk to the other patients. Also try to keep moving to a minimum. There will be more but these are all you need to concern yourself with now. You can get changed into this hospital gown once I leave, put your old clothes on the bedside table, I'll send a nurse to take them" Oikawa sat on his bed and watched as the nurse left the room closing the door. The other patient was completely under the blanket not allowing Oikawa even get a glimpse at him.  Oikawa quickly got changed and left his clothes on the bedside table, as ordered.
      He sat on his bed cross legged and began crying as quietly as he could. He hugged his knees near his chest and cried into them. He heard the blankets shuffle and saw a boy pop his head out sitting on the bed.
     "You know," The boy said, also with a raspy voice. "Crying isn't going to help anything, it hasn't helped anyone else and it sure as hell won't help you" Oikawa stared at the boy who had dark brown spiked up hair. His eyes were olive green and he had thick eyebrows.
      "Sorry" Oikawa started, "but I thought we weren't allowed to talk" The boy wiped the tears from his eyes, his attention now on the boy in the hospital bed.
      "You think anyone here actually follows that rule? We just keep our voices down so the nurses don't hear."
      "There are others?" Oikawa asked
      "Yeah, but they're more far along in their treatment than us so they were allowed to start going to classes, trying to get them ready to be back in the real world."
     "So, how long have you been here?"
      "I've only been here for a month, but the others have been here for way longer. I think one of them has been here like two years."
     "Wow, that's a long time," Oikawa said, worried that he would be stuck here for that long. "So, what's your name?"
    "My name is Iwaizumi, Hajimine. How about you?"
      "I'm Oikawa, Tooru." he answered.
       Oikawa and Iwaizumi heard footsteps down the hall coming closer to the door. "They're back, lay down and pretend you were asleep." Iwaizumi said as he pulled the covers over his head and laid down. Oikawa quickly followed Iwaizumi's lead doing the same. Five boys entered the room, all but one walking without a wheelchair. The boys each sat in their own bed and began doing their school work as the nurse closed the door. They heard the door close and Oikawa heard one of the boys say,
     "She's gone, you can come out now" Oikawa and Iwaizumi both simultaneously slipped off their covers and sat up on their beds.
     "Oh, looks like we have a new patient" One of the boys smiled. "My name is Hanamaki, Takahiro," Hanamaki said pointing to himself. Hanamaki had pink, short hair and small black eyes.
     "I see Iwaizumi has already told you about the nurses, anyways my name is Matsukawa,  Issei but most people call me Mattsun." Mattsun stated. He had messy, black hair and dark brown eyes.
     "I'm Watari, Shinji" Watari told Oikawa. Watari had a buzz cut and grey eyes.
      "Hey I'm Yahaba Shigeru" Yahaba had light brown hair which was swooped to the side and light brown eyes.
      "And last but not least, I'm Kunimi Akira" Said the boy named Kunimi who had dark brown hair with a middle part.
    "Hi guys, my name is Oikawa Tooru, it's really nice to meet all of you" Oikawa smiled putting up his signature peace sign.
   "I hate pretty boys like him," Matsukawa sighed while everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.
    "Come on, you guys just met me I didn't even do anything" Oikawa whined earning a chuckle from the others.
    "You're right, but I can tell that you think very highly of yourself" Mattsun snickered
     "What's wrong with that? A little self confidence never hurt anybody"
    "Maybe not, but I have" Iwaizumi teased
           "You just met me, how are you threatening me already?" Oikawa whined
    "I guess we can just tell that a kiddy pool is deeper than you" said Hanamaki
           "I'm not even gonna bother" Oikawa sighed "So what do you guys wanna be when you grow up?"
    "I don't know, something easy I guess" Hanamaki replied "I don't have a clear goal in mind, but lemme guess you wanna be a famous actor on broadway and have your name surrounded in lights"
    "Nope! I wanna go to outer space and find all cool aliens"
    "The earth is flat and space isn't real" Kunimi interrupted. Oikawa looked at kunimi like an idiot, he didn't know someone could be so dumb.
    "What's with that face?" Iwaizumi questioned
            "I didn't know that we still question what shape the Earth is....it's 1942, come on now we're better than that.."
    "We can't all be geniuses like you," Iwaizumi sarcastically said.
    "I know I'm smart but genius? Nah, I mean maybe? I don't know, but imma choose to trust your judgement"
    "You must be pretty stupid if you can't even know when I'm being sarcastic"
    "Yeah, and you must be pretty dumb if you can't tell when I'm pulling your leg"
    "I was being sarcastic then too"
    "So was I" Oikawa giggled causing Iwaizumi to get annoyed, "But there was some truth to what you said, sarcastic or not"
    "What are you talking about?"
    "What I'm saying is that I think that we never say something that's completely untrue, you have to be thinking it somewhere in your mind, it's not just completely random."
    "That's so stupid, what if I were to say something like, you're a girl"
    "Well you might not have been directly thinking about it but maybe you were thinking something along the lines of, Oikawa is so beautiful and kind, like a girl"
    "Why would I ever think that?"
    "You can't control your subconscious thoughts"
    "Yes I can"
    "No you can't, no one can."
    "Will you two stop bickering? You literally have only known each other a few hours" Mattsun interrupted.
    "Whatever, I'm gonna read a magazine"Oikawa rolled his eyes.
    "Let me guess it's a fashion magazine" Hanamaki snickered
    "Actually it's a sci fi magazine, it's about aliens on mars" Oikawa beamed. "Aliens are so cool and so is mars!"
    "How do you expect to go to mars when no one has even been to the moon?" Iwaizumi asked
    "What is having dreams an issue?"
    "It's not a problem if you make them realistic."
    "But that's so boring, why would I want to dream about having an office job? And who knows maybe one day I will get to go to mars"
    "Good luck with that"
    "Thank you" Oikawa smiled. Annoyed, Iwaizumi huffed and rolled his eyes.