Nurse Lea had a bubbly personality with way too much energy for someone in residency. The woman had to be fresh into her day shift because she had enough energy for two people. She fussed around me, noting things on her notepad, took my blood pressure rate and other little miscellaneous things. She was a stickler for procedure— In no time at all she'd made sure everything was put to rights and prescribed me some meds.

I doubt I needed any of them at that point, one of the depleted strokes was well on its way to recovering— which spoke to how my health had taken a bump up. I was not very sure what the V preceding that bar was for anyway.

After nurse Lea was satisfied I wasn't in danger of coughing blood, she led me to the cafeteria where I grabbed a coffee. I needed to clear the morphine out of my system and no, I was not getting on any more drugs—I'd had enough delirium. I needed my head straight so I could think.

On second thought, maybe there were drugs already in my system. I should have been frantic because I had to juggle many things at once. The TV issue took the back-burner because nobody recognized me—they didn't even catch my face. Whoever had taken the picture that made it to the bulletin was a very shoddy photographer—I could understand the excitement of seeing a rescue but that was just rude.

I was waiting for Lucas to make his appearance so that we could go see how his girlfriend was doing. When I inquired, nurse Lea told me they were still seeing her. Cass obviously had a concussion but beyond that she was being put under MRI, CAT scans and what have you to see if she'd experienced internal injuries. I was waiting with bated breaths for her results.

In the meantime, since I had Lucas' phone I wanted to see what the fuss online was about. But first, I checked maps to see what hospital I was taking note of its name and direction to my apartment. Call me paranoid, but being mobbed by a group of strangers made me queasy—had to have an exit plan.

However, I was forced to review my earlier arrangements when I saw Cassandra's message on the notification panel. I don't know how the thread of events was related but when it finally clicked it left me hollowed out with anger. I found the reason Lucas had gotten angry when he spoke of people mobbing me—the message all but confirmed that Cass had been trying to get away from them too because she was associated with me.

I realized I'd been holding onto the table too strongly when it started groaning—luckily the early morning cafeteria seemed to be sparse or else I would have to start explaining why the table had impressions of my fingers.. Letting out a breath, I visualized my unbridled anger as being one with the air and let it drain away leaving me even more hollow. I had a bone to grind with whoever this was; the press would never be so boorish not in this country—which left an obsessed foreigner.

I had to thank the legislators for putting down a leash on paparazzi too, Rights of persons to their own likeness meant no latest pictures of me were flying through the interwebs. Even the one that made it to the news had been taken from behind and the smoke had obscured lots of things.

Also, in the grand schemes of things I wasn't even the focal point of today's events. The alien craft had eclipsed the accident in more ways than one, I was just a tiny footnote in the corner. I supposed I would count that as my blessings

However, it was wishful thinking to trust it would remain that way. Humans had ways of surprising you in the most ridiculous of ways. I had a few days at least before I had to hole up somewhere but first I needed to see Cass so I went and grabbed hold of my nurse.

Something was wrong―I knew that the moment I asked to see Cassandra. Nurse Lea most definitely tried to dissuade me from going to see her and told me they had to put her under. Haematoma they said―they hadn’t caught it the first time until they double checked the brain scans.

That wasn’t the worst of what she’d had to contend with; she’d gotten a burst fracture to her spine. Even as considerate of the state I’d found her, I wouldn’t have known. They said I did my best, not trying to jostle her when I rescued her. I wasn’t given flak for attempting the rescue because ultimately I had saved her from dying in a burning coffin.

It was not enough; guilt still choked my throat like a wad of crumpled sandpaper. Cassandra was an active girl, enough that she could keep up with Lucas’ shenanigans. I bet she had been more physically fit than I before my incident―she was going to be devastated when she awoke.

Beyond that, I felt a sense of disconnect as if I was looking at things through a looking glass; my fury was there, smoldering but likely to catch on but something was keeping it at bay. I almost facepalmed when I realized what was happening―

“ Are you okay?” Nurse Lea asked worriedly. She’d been hovering over me the whole time I wrestled with a cocktail funk of emotions in the waiting lounge. I needed confirmation that there was something in my blood that had been pulling the brakes on my moods. So I asked the nurse,

“ Do you know about calming hormones Nurse Lea?”

“ Huh? That came out of left field,” she said, pursing her lips in consternation. I noticed her scrubs were pink and dotted with pictures of blue Baby’s Breath flowers. “ I think that would be serotonin, and no―I am not going to give you serotonin shots mister.”

“ It’s fine―” I said wanly. I knew what would help Cassandra―something way better than shots of serotonin. But the how of it was easier said than done. I was working on the assumption that the aliens did not just leave their experiment behind―but would they want to be found? They could be hiding anywhere on the planet, heck, they could even be at the bottom of the Mariana or some obscure sand dune somewhere in the Sahara. There was no harm in trying; they had shown an uncanny intuition to respond to my reactions so it was a given they were monitoring me.

“ I―ah, “ the young nurse hesitated. “ Call me if you need me okay? I’ll be at the front deck.

“ Yeah, sure,” I replied, stifling a yawn. Her footsteps receded from the room and left me by my lonesome. I heaved a world-weary sigh; the day had been anything but normal. What day was it again? I reached for Lucas’ phone to check. July, 20th 2025. I’d lost a month ― I cradled my forehead as I thought about what I’d do going forward.

My priorities had shifted from finding a job to finding help for Cassandra, then there was the issue of the strange money sitting in my account. Whoever had gone through all the trouble of setting up a crypto account, then linking it to my banking account had to be good at what they did. I chuckled as I rubbed some lingering exhaustion from my face―anyone with the audacity to rig up all that without raising flags had to be someone powerful.

Then it was no coincidence that my benefactor would have been the aliens. Assuming they were running an experiment, they wanted to provide a conducive environment for whatever it was they were trying to achieve.

I had long discounted going to the authorities with this because they would think me a loon, or I would find myself shipped to some black site to be poked and prodded like a lab mouse.

That raised my wariness a notch, sending a jolt up my spine―somewhere someone was monitoring me. It was not the average Joe on the street that would sniff me out but an intelligence agency I would never see coming.

‘Shit,’ I internally swore as I stymied my attempt to suddenly stand and start pacing. I checked the room, there was nobody with me in the room. The door was closed and the blinds were drawn; I could hear the sounds of chatter, shuffling of feet and the creak of gurney wheels on linoleum times and the occasional calls from the intercom.

I was trying my utmost not to whirl to the corner to find the stare of a security camera when Lucas’ phone rang. Another unknown number, I bet it Lucas was trying to reach me.

“ Hello?”

“ I’m here…” Lucas’ voice rang from the other side. “ Where are you?

“ Hold on, I’ll be out front, gimme a min,”

“ Sure sure find me in the lobby,” then the phone dropped. It was hard to tell what Lucas was feeling as his voice was almost flat, yet I could not help recount the slight tremble. I switched the phone to the trenchcoat’s front pocket, the rustling of paper caught my interest as I exited the door.

Lotte said the coat had been freshly laundered? I could smell the fabric conditioner on it, it smelt like one of those bulk bought types so it was likely that it had been washed within. Which meant a laundromat receipt was out of the question ― so she had been flirting after all.

As I stepped into the lobby, I found Lucas chatting up Nurse Lea.

“ Lu,” I called out with a wave of my hand as I approached the two. Nurse Lea gave me a small smile before getting back to something on the monitor at the front. There were two other nurses at the front desk or busy with one thing or another.

“ K,” Lucas replied with an inscrutable expression on his face. I didn’t know whether the crinkles around his lips were a weak attempt at a smile or a grimace. Something was off without his posture―I didn’t get the luxury of dwelling on it long because pain blossomed on the side of my cheek.