“Ugh,” Jason groaned.

The sunlight came breaching through the balcony glass door shining over Jason’s face. He grimaced. His eyes slowly opened. The first thing he saw was the white ceiling of his apartment. Jason could feel the hard floor on his back. No wonder his back was aching.

“Shit, did I got hit by a truck or something?”

He groaned like an old man getting up from the hard floor. He was being careful as every time he moved, the pain only got worse. Not only his body even his head was aching. As if a hammer kept on hitting him on the head. He was staggering as he tried to balance himself while standing.

“Whoa,” Jason leaned on the wall.

As he glanced to the side, the body size mirror reflected his current appearance. In an instant, his eyes turned out wide. He noticed his bloody sweater in a pathetic state. There was even a bite mark on his left shoulder with a big dark red mark on it. Seeing his reflection made him remembered what happened last night. A night that he thought was a nightmare. Yet to his despair it was all real much to his denial.

His body started shivering as if remembering the dread he had experienced. His legs gave in as he dropped on the floor with a thud. The image of that woman flashed by as sorrow engulfed him. He couldn’t save her. Then the memory of that goblin resurfaced and he felt goosebumps all over his body. He hugged himself as if comforting himself.

“I killed it,” he muttered.

“I killed them all,” he remembered those innocent goblin babies.

He couldn’t believe it but he knew he killed them without having any sort of remorse.

“It’s fine, it’s all over,” he tried to soothe his own anxious heart.

Who could he ever believe that something as ridiculous as a goblin attacked him by the street? Even if he told someone, there was no doubt no one would believe him. He leaned his head on the wall, deep in his own thought.

A lot of things went through his mind and most of it was about his family back in Toronto. He missed them, more so after experiencing a death-defying experience.

I should probably clean up.

After much trouble, Jason managed to walk to the small bathroom.

“Ugh,” his jaw clenched as he removed his bloody sweater.

“Ah, ah,” he couldn’t help himself as he winced in pain.

The pain on his left shoulder was too much for him to bear. He threw the sweater on the floor as he saw himself through the bathroom mirror.

“Shit, this is pretty bad,” the bite wound on his left shoulder was pretty horrific.

Some kind of blood and pus-like liquid oozing out from those teeth marks. Even the color looks rather revolting. In a sense, it was definitely bad. He abandoned his thought of a good shower and returned back to his own room. Dragging his feet across the floor with his body stiff like a wooden board.

A hardship that he had never experience before and over the course of this experience he could only grit his teeth and endured it. He changed into a set of new clothing and made a Zuber request.

A Prius stopped by the side of the street.

“So where you’re headed fam?” asked the Zuber driver.

“The nearest hospital,” said Jason.

“You’re sick man? Got the flu or something?”

For a Zuber driver, he was quite talkative. Jason was having a hard time enduring the pain and entertaining someone was at the bottom of his list.

“Please, to the hospital,” Jason said.

The Zuber driver who has some sense noticed Jason doesn’t want to be bothered.

He shrugged his shoulder and drove off.

“We’re here,” said the Zuber driver.

Jason opened the door and got out. He stumbled on his feet and fell on the ground.

“Woah, you’re okay man?” the Zuber driver was quick on his feet.

He got out and helped Jason up.

“Thanks but it’s okay,” said Jason. He was grateful but he didn’t want to make things difficult for the Zuber driver.

“Heck no, you look like shit. My mama always says, help those in need, no matter what. So let’s go, I’ll get you inside,” the Zuber driver lends his shoulder and helped Jason inside.

Jason’s lower lip quivered a bit. For the last six months, he had never received such kindness before. He turned his head around as he was fighting back his tears from dropping.

“You’re okay man?” asked the Zuber driver who has a pretty distinct Jamaican accent.

“I..I’m fine,” said Jason.

With the aid of the Zuber driver, Jason got to sit in a wheelchair. At least he won’t have much difficulty in moving while inside the hospital.

The phone of the Zuber driver rang.

“Oh shit, I’ve got a customer waiting. So, you’re good man?” asked the Zuber driver.

“Yeah, good. Thanks by the way,” Jason flashed a smile. Something he hadn’t done for the last six months.

“No problem man, no problem,” the Zuber driver handed out his hand.

Jason reached out and shook his hand.

“I’m Lamont by the way,” said Lamont.

“Jason,” Jason replied.

“See ya around Jason,” Lamont left as Jason stared at Lamont’s back.

Although he heard that New York doesn’t have the nicest people around but at least among the many, there would always be a few like Lamont.

---

Jason removed his clothes to the order of the doctor in front of him. Even the doctor grimaced seeing the bite wound on his left shoulder.

“So what bit you?” asked the doctor.

He was about to say something but he stopped himself. It was idiotic of him to say something ridiculous like a goblin bit him but in this situation, he didn’t know what kind of animal to use as an excuse.

“I don’t know, probably a raccoon? It was dark last night and I couldn’t see it properly,” said Jason.

The doctor clearly didn’t buy the excuse from Jason. There was no way a raccoon bite mark this big. She even noticed a few faint claw marks on Jason’s abdomen. She wanted to ask further but her mind was fleeting about something else at the moment. The door to the examination room opened.

“Ariel, Dr.Smith is looking for you. He said it’s an urgent matter,” a fellow colleague of hers dropped a message before leaving in a hurry.

Jason was intrigued by her name. He couldn’t help but stare at her flowing red hair. He could clearly see why she was named as such.

“That pervert really had the nerve,” Ariel mumbled.

Jason definitely heard the complaint as she muttered it while doing the dressing for his wounds. An awkward silence filled up the air. As a matter of fact, Jason was the only one feeling the awkwardness as Dr.Ariel was pretty much focused on doing her work.

“Shitty boss, huh,” Jason broke the silence.

Ariel jabbed the cotton rather roughly on his wound.

“Ugh,” Jason winced in pain. He glanced at the doctor and saw a smirk on her face.

“You really need to brush up your pick-up line,” said Ariel.

Jason sat there dumbfounded by her comment.

Wait, what? Why did she assumed I’m hitting on her?

Jason didn’t understand the logic behind her reasoning. He only spoke a few words that barely depict any sort of infatuation towards her. While Jason only sat there in silence. Ariel finished up bandaging his wounds.

“I’ll be prescribing antibiotic medication for one whole week and if you’re still having fever after finishing up the medication please come again for further treatment,” Ariel turned around and went to the door. She was rather callous for a doctor.

“and he’s a pretty shit doctor as well,” Ariel left a remark before leaving the examination room.

Jason sat there listless not knowing what just happened. He had a thought, did the last remark pertaining to her comment from before about her boss? Well in his case, he’ll never know the answer.

What a strange doctor.

Thought Jason. But then something else surprised him.

Bandage and dressing applied. Health regenerating

A blue window appeared in front of his very eyes. He jolted out of surprise seeing it. Then he remembered he had seen this before, seconds after defeating the goblin.

Shit am I going crazy?

He was thinking about whether he was hallucinating or something. But deep down he knew something else was going on. He sat there thinking. The death of the woman. The goblins that he killed and the anomaly. His memory was pretty hazy since he wasn’t in the right state at that point in time. But now he remembered.

“The crack in the air,” Jason mumbled.

That’s right, there’s a crack in the air and a small hole at the center. A black hole?

He wasn’t sure but he knew what he saw was real. Everything that happened across his body was proof that he needs. A single thought floated in his mind. Correlating everything from the goblins and the blue notification windows floating in front of him. He had only thought.

An RPG?

His lips parted as he spoke two words out of reflex.

“Status open.”