Memories burned in the mind. Never ending loops playing. The same loop playing. Over and over. Never ending. Stop playing. Stop playing. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop Stop Stop Stop Stop Stop Stop…

Pain rang throughout his entire body, echoing from limb to limb. It was dark; he saw, felt, heard, thought, of nothing.

Nothing, except for the moment she died, being played over countless times. He didn’t know if he was dead or not. Maybe it was purgatory?

Then, he felt a sharp sting. He didn’t know exactly where, like it was everywhere on his body, but he couldn’t point it anywhere. His mind was a complete blur.

He began to slowly regain his senses. His thoughts trickled in, forming small but understandable ideas.

Evvryn...don’t leave me…

His thoughts repeated, until he felt his mind turn numb. His pain soon followed, leaving behind everything except a husk.

The only thing that remained was the same memory in his mind, replaying over and over. Everything had gone numb, but the sorrow remained. An empty trench had been engraved on his heart, with a seemingly endless bottom.

“Did you give him the shot?”

“Yes sir, the anesthesia should be taking effect.”

Effryn heard voices from outside of his else, or somewhere far away from his mind. Sound must have come back.

But along with sound, came the timbre echo of a gunshot. The same shot that killed Evvryn, playing over in his mind.

I want to wake up… I want to wake up. I want to wake up!

“Well, all we can do is let him rest.”

“Yes sir.”

The voices spoke, then dissipated. He was all alone, without anyone. Only his poisonous mind keeping him company.

He felt like crying out, yelling out, to anyone. Anyone even willing to listen. Nothing.

His heart was empty, with nothing to its name. Why would anything come out? And even if he did cry out, who would listen? Would he want anyone to listen?

He wanted to cry out, but to only one person. Someone who had took care of him, practically raised him. He wanted to cry out only to Evvryn.

But no matter how loud or sad he would sound, she would never come to his side again.

Evvryn…

Evvryn.

Evvryn!

A rush of emotions filled his head, dumping it with sadness and a sense of loss. Why? Why leave me? What am I to do now?

“How is he doing?”

“He’s still resting, and shows no signs of waking.”

More voices erupted from the outside. They seemed to be talking about someone, probably Effryn.

But he didn’t care. He couldn’t. His mind was filled with the same view of Evvryn in her last moments, replaying each time. He didn’t know how many times he saw this, but each time he went through it, he criticized how he could have done something. Something to stop her from dying. Something to help her survive, even if it cost him his life.

“Well, I guess all we can do is wait. Any information on who this boy is?”

Leave me alone.

“All we could find was some school records, but that’s about it. We did hear he was pretty close to a friend named Evvryn, but we couldn’t get in contact with her.”

Stop talking, get out.

“This boy has to be from somewhere. He couldn’t have just appeared on the side of the road. He had to have jumped from a vehicle or something, maybe like some kind of stunt?”

Get out!!

His mind, filled with rage, would give anything to rid the voices outside of his head. He didn’t want to hear anything about what happened, or how he got there.

“Either way, he was in pretty bad shape. But I digress, lets allow him to continue resting.”

The voices stopped once more, and Effryn was left to his haunting mind.

His mind where the memories of his last conscious day play on repeat. Each rerun, he screams out her name, hoping he could go back in time and change the outcome.

Evvryn!

Evvryn!!

Evv-

Until the nightmare…

“-ryn!”

...became a reality itself.

Effryn, now awake with wide eyes, reached out to the nothingness of his room. He reached out for Evvryn, hoping to grab her in his night terror. But nothing came of it, and only stared at the plain white wall gazing right back at him.

The whiteness stared at him for god knows how long, until it eventually began to get blurry. Water filled his vision, until he couldn’t see much of anything anymore.

Evvryn…

Curling himself up, he could feel tears drip from his cheeks.

He didn’t understand. Why was he still here? He should have died.

-No, he should have been dead.

But here he lay, although numb all over his body, he was alive in the end.

Effryn lifted his head and scanned the room with teary eyes. There were machines all around him, with a heartbeat scanner keeping up with his pulse, and a tube connected to an IV bag going into his arm…

“...why?”

The off set beep echoed in his head, as he stared at the heavily bandaged arm. Checking his other arm, he saw it was the same as his left. He looked at his legs, lifting his medical robe to see his chest covered completely.

How bad does this actually hurt?

Effryn felt more of his body to look if there was any part uncovered, but couldn’t find much of anything with how numb he felt.

He searched, and he searched, until…

A face with everything covered except for his brown eyes and black hair.

...he saw his reflection in the heart monitor, staring at him with a dead expression.

Then the thought came to him. It didn’t matter how much this would hurt it, he was already hurt enough inside, so how much more could physical pain inflict to him?

The reflection had tidal waves of tears raging down their face, until Effryn noticed he was crying too.

He hated this. Not having to feel anything on the outside, not even his own tears. But on the inside was an entirely new story. Everything hurt inside: his feelings, his thoughts; nothing was sane inside his mind.

He curled himself up into a ball and let the tears fall from his eyes. He didn’t know if time was going to pass for him, or if he was stuck in a perpetual singularity forever.

Effryn would lie there, crying until god knows how long something come his way to force him to move, or until he would die.

With passing time, Effryn eventually heard two light hearted taps. He waited a moment to wait for them to leave, but instead of hearing nothing, he heard the door creak open.

“Sorry to interrupt, are you awa... Y-young man! How long have you been awake?!”

Effryn didn’t budge from his curl. Instead, he only reinforced himself.

“Excuse me sir, but how long have you been awake? Can you explain how you are feeling?”

Leave me alone.

The person in his room must have been a doctor, or someone that was looking after him. But Effryn didn’t care. He just wanted to be alone, thinking only to himself.

“We administered anesthetics for you, so the pain should be reduced, but can you please tell me if it hurts anywhere specific?”

I want to be alone.

“Oh, right! Someone was asking for you right now, but since we don’t have any records of there being family members, we had to refuse.”

The doctors tone changed with slight confusion, questioning him if he knew of such person.

Eizer, maybe…

“He was an older male, and had old fashioned clothes, maybe forties?”

The words echoed in his mind, making Effryn question the doctors words. He didn’t know many people in the first place, and he definitely didn’t know anyone older than him who was a male other than father at the orphanage. But even that was a stretch, as father only ever stayed in the background, cooking and getting everything prepared for the kids.

Lifting his tear drenched eyes, Effryn shrugged off the old man.

“I’m sorry...but I don’t know who it could be. Tell them to go away.”

Slumping his head back into his curly ball, Effryn wanted to exit the conversation entirely and go back to his mind.

Effryn had no reason to talk to anyone. Why would he? Everything he knew was taken from him, and forced out the window.

“That’s fine sir, but they might be someone you know who wishes to check on you. For the time you have been asleep I wouldn’t doubt people would start to miss you.”

“Time…? How long have I…”

“Nearly two months. We found you near christmas, and it’s february now.”

Those words only bounced around his brain for a moment, until he brushed them off realizing What's the point?

Even if he were in a coma, it didn’t change the fact that Evvryn was still gone.

Effryn didn’t say anything, and kept his mouth shut, making the room devoid of any sound. The doctor stood still, writing down on a noteboard, until…

“Doctor? The visitor from earlier is getting more demanding about seeing this patient. I know you told me to refrain him from doing anything, but…”

The voice of an out of breath nurse bursted through the door, bringing back the earlier dead question of visitors.

“Miss Yain, I told you to keep him until I got the patient's agreement. I...oh well, let me handle the situation.”

Effryn noticed the doctors sense of irritation edging his throat, but he was able to calm himself.

The doctor reaffirmed his posture, and motioned the nurse out of Effryns room.

“Now then, shall we finish this later, sir?”

“I don’t care.”

Letting out a small laugh of defeat, the doctor slowly closed the door, with echoes of footsteps moving away.

Effryn was all alone, like he wanted. He could cry freely without any restraints. No annoyances bothering him. Just him, and his island surrounded by ocean.

For the rest of the night, or rather life, he could stay curled up in a ball. Sooner or later, he could probably die from dehydration, or maybe even hunger. It didn’t matter to him; whichever gets the job done the fastest is preferable.

But his mind still had some things lightly hanging from its brain. For one, the bandages covering his entire body. How badly is his body damaged? He feels fine now, but how much pain are the drugs covering?

Then number two: the two month gap. He’s been asleep for nearly two months, and how is he still here? He was sure the people responsible for all this would have come back to finish him by now..

Then finally three, which is most important is who were those people? Why care so much about a pair of kids hardly even known? Why?

Why…? She wasn’t even that big of a person. She was hardly known by even a gamestop, so why would she need to be targeted? Why not...me?

Thinking back to that moment, Effryn prayed, wished, hoped, he could change that outcome to do anything and everything in his power to keep her alive.

Anything, even if it meant trading his life.

“Why…”

Interrupting his thoughts, Effryn saw a bright, greyish light reflected on the window near his bed, filling the darkened room with a moonlight. It was the moon, or rather, night.

Slowly the moonlight filled the room, almost like the moon was directly outside of Effryn’s window.

Then, out of nowhere, the silhouette of a body shone in with the beauty of the moon slowly appeared from the corner of the room.

“G-great, first loss now delusions.”

Effryn felt no fear towards the shape. After all, other than the oppressiveness of the drugs, his mind was on an entirely different thought than mind tricks.

Watching the appearing shape lazily, Effryn thought of it as nothing, and waited for it to eventually end as some trick of the mind or some kind of bug from the drugs.

But as Effryn watched, a bridge of feelings built up in his mind.

The contours of the figure soon began to color, with an all too familiar look: A pale toned skin all around, long streaks of golden hair reaching down to the waist, and the aurelian iris he grew up with.

“E...Evvryn?”

The figure looked around at her environment, but only momentarily, before staring at Effryn with a blank expression.

Nothing went through Effryns thoughts. Only the shape of what looked like Evvryn was on his mind.

Or rather, it had always been.

“E-”

“-You must hide.”

It even has her voice.

Before getting a chance to say her name a second time, the figure spoke with a chilling, but soft vibration. It was quiet, yet Effryn could understand it perfectly.

“If you don’t hide soon, it will cost you.”

“Hide from what? Do I even have a reason to hide anymore? And besides, the doctor said no one was allowed to visit without my permission.”

Effryn surmised he should be pretty safe. And even on the offset chance he wasn’t why should he care? He was talking to a ghost of someone he grew up with, and even loved; it seemed his sanity was already low as is, if it gets any worse, he may as well consider himself dead.

“Open the window.”

The figure of Evvryn spoke softly as ever, but this time, with a more demanding tone.

“W-why should I-”

“-Open the window”

The figure of Evvryn interrupted, repeating herself in the same tone.

Not knowing whether it was impulse, or the fact it was the figures face itself, Effryn opened the window like it wanted.

“Grab your bed sheets and tie them into a rope. Then, swing it out the window. Hurry.”

The soft voice of the figure spoke again, followed by more demands for Effryn to follow.

“I-I’m sorry, but why do I have to listen?”

Effryn had no reason to listen to some figure that appeared in his room. More so, he should be angered. It was his room he needed for recovery. There was that, and the fact it had the indecency to use an identical body as Evvryn’s.

But the figure gave no direct answer. It only replied with the same soft, chilling demand.

“Hurry.”

Effryn didn’t know why, but he obliged. He compacted the sheets together, and made a knot connecting to make a long, durable rope.

Or a poor excuse of a rope, that is. It could at most support the weight of a child, if that.

Effryn hurried to the window and tossed the rope out, while keeping hold of one end. He looked out at the window, and saw a heavily spread forest, with the city in the faroff distant, sleeping under the dead of night.

He then focused his attention on the rope dangling from the window, and saw it barely grazing the ground from three stories up.

Looking back at the figure, Effryn had a face of shock and dumbfoundedness.

“What now, tie this rope to the bed and slowly descend, hoping it doesn’t snap the second I touch it?”

“It should be fine where it is now. Hide underneath the bed.”

Effryn had clearly lost it. What was the point in making a rope in the first place if he wasn’t even going to use it? Confused, Effryn tried to make sense of the situation.

“But wait, if I made the rope thingy, then shouldn’t I at least use it?”

If he made the rope, the least he could do was make use of his efforts and actually use it.

“Incorrect. If you did, the poor attempt of a rope would surely collapse on itself, causing you to fall three stories high. It would definitely cost you.”

Ignoring the remarks on his knot tying skills, Effryn still wondered what the point in making rope was. And furthermore, how would he hide with this, and from what?

“Cost me what?”

“Hide underneath the bed. Immediately.”

Effryn wanted to ask more questions, like why should he have to follow the orders of something that was possibly just a figment of his imagination?

But deciding to trust his gut feeling, Effryn made sure to tighten the rope on the curtain hanging from above the window, and hurried off underneath the bed.

The figure had been glowing in the corner of the room ever since it first appeared, but the moment Effryn hid under the bed, he felt a chilling presence next to him.

-It was the figure of Evvryn, leaning over Effryn with a finger over its lips.

“Hush now. Stay extremely still, and they won’t notice you. If you play this perfectly, nothing will cost of it.”

Effryn wanted to ask it something, with words being just around the corner of his throat.

-But before any sound exited his mouth, the door was rammed open, with a few or more people storming in.

“Where is he?”

“Look over there, is that…”

“Damnit, it’s a rope!”

Voices barraged his room, with each person gathering over the window.

“Do you think he made a run for it?!”

“Use your brain dumbass, what else would this rope be. That damn smart bastard, how did he know?!”

“No point thinking about that now. Lets just find the boy, and kill him before he gets any further.”

What...kill?

Feeling his own heart beating in his chest, Effryn held himself tightly, making sure no sound would exit from him.

“Excuse me, but you are not permitted here! This patient requested no visitors!”

Out of the sea of voices, Effryn picked up on the doctor who had been taking care of him. It sounded like he didn’t want any people visiting Effryn, like he requested, but he failed.

Effryn heard the doctor shoved away into something, before the footsteps of the men hurried off into some other hall.

Feeling the sense of calm enter his body, Effryn relaxed his muscles, and glanced at the window.

I see, so it wasn’t a way for me to escape, but more of a decoy type of thing. But how did she know…

Having forgotten the ghost the moment the men entered the room, it was almost as if it had disappeared entirely.

“How did it...know what to do? Could it really be her?”

An emotion began to rise in Effryns heart; one he had thought died two months ago.

“H-hello, I wanted to ask you, or it...are you Evvryn?”

Effryn asked the now dead silent room, such an empty question. He knew logically what the answer was, but he knows what he saw. It was her.

So maybe, just maybe…

“No.”

What?

“I am not Evvryn.”

The soft, chilling voice of the figure was behind him, now visible. It was underneath the bed with him, but with no signs of breathing, or any other kind of noise following it.

It replied with cold responses, ripping apart the last chance of hope he could have ever had.

“Then why do you look identical to her?!”

“I am not Her, though I admired her.”

“That doesn’t answer anything!!”

Effryn felt a myriad of emotions. Anger, hate, betrayal, sadness, loss. But he didn’t know the direct one he was feeling the strongest.

How could this figure represent Evvryn’s appearance almost perfectly, yet not be her? And her admiring Evvryn, it didn’t make any sense to Effryn.

Yet the figure only stared blankly at Effryn, and put a finger to its lips once more.

“Shush. If you are loud, the bad people will return.”

Effryn didn’t know how to take these feelings. Someone who he grew up with, loved even, is right in front of him. But then again, she’s not.

“And so what if they do? I don’t really care anymore. I’d prefer them coming back, actually.”

His entire body ached as he picked himself up from the bed, only to slump against the wall. He thought maybe the drugs were wearing off, but with the numbing in his head, he couldn’t really tell anymore.

Effryn looked at the figure, or ghost, with him in the room. It claims it isn’t Evvryn, but is that true? If not, then why use her body? It has her exact same body, with even the same voice. The only thing different was her tone, which every word was deadpanned.

“Your eyes look empty; something in them, or you, has died.”

“Well yeah, when she died, everything else pretty much died along with her.”

“Effryn...there is water dripping from your eyes.”

Effryn felt the very essence of time being frozen as those words exited from the ghosts’ lips. Her same voice, except now soft and chilling, echoed through the atmosphere.

“Why do you know my name, and why her same voice?”

The water she mentioned earlier began to downpour as he asked his question. It was too much. Everything was too much for him. He just wanted to disappear, and be happy with Evvryn like before.

Before, when the days were simple.

Before, when all they had to worry about was what kind of game they would play.

Before, when both were still alive.

They were much better times, with anything being a possibility...

While thinking on every missed chance he had, he felt a slight nudge on his sleeve.

“If you don’t leave now, it would be costly.”

“Evvryn, I don’t care-”

“-I am not Evvryn.”

The ghost interrupted with the same neverending soft tone.

“And you should, there are a few more things needed to be done before you can fully rest.”

No matter how much Effryn wanted to sit and cry, the ghost sounded like she had different plans. With these words, it sounded more like she knew exactly what Effryn needed to do.

Thinking more about the short time he had been awake, Effryn grew suspicious about the being before him.

Can I really trust her? She may look like her, but she may not be her.

But before Effryn could put any thought into words…

“-Now.”

Her tone. It was exactly hers, which was enough to make Effryn clutch his chest, and run straight out the room.

Remembering from looking out the window, he was on the third floor. Knowing this, he ran to the nearest stairs..

“That way is costly. Find another.”

But the ghost whispered in his mind, from which Effryn picked up as some kind of warning to not go down.

Turning back, Effryn searched for another exit down the building. He sprinted down the hospital hall in his gown, and searched down adjacent hallways for another exit.

“There, an emergency exit. Take it, and wait quietly.”

“But what if there’s someone there?”

Effryn was curious on how the ghost may have knew its information, so he questioned if it was correct.

But all he received was an empty response. Effryn had didn’t know what else to do, so he trusted the ghosts’ word.

Behind the emergency exit was a set of spiral stairs leading both Y-planes. Effryn took the negative route until he reached the base floor.

“What now?”

Effryn wondered what was next, but the ghost was nowhere in sight.

The floor was like any other hospital lobby, with benches for waiting and a main desk. But with it being night, there usually aren’t too many people up an about, so it was pretty much empty.

“Evv-er-Ghost?”

He called out to the being, but someone other than it responded.

“Sir, are you okay?”

The voice erupted behind him, and had a similar tone from one he heard earlier. It was the first face he had seen since waking up-the doctor. He was a tall man, with many medical garments covering his face, like as if he was about to begin an operation.

His expressions told Effryn he had many questions, but he held them all back for whatever reason.

“Y...yeah, I’m fine.”

Effryn was timid about the doctor seeing him, with everything he’d experienced thus far from only just waking up.

He didn’t know who to trust anymore, or who was actually on his side. He figured his own mind must have been playing some sick game on him now, which meant he couldn’t even trust himself at this point.

“That’s good sir, but I have to ask, who were those people? And why did they want you in such a hurry?”

“I-I’m sorry...but I don’t know.”

Although there was the doctor and the ‘ghost’ that helped him so far, he still didn’t trust them enough. There were only two people he could officially trust in this cruel world, but he didn’t know how far away they were from him.

Thinking about it now, he actually had no idea where he was. The only thing he could go off was that he was in a hospital. Based on what he saw from out the window, it wasn’t the usual city he had been living in before, but more on the edge of of town.

-Effryn was somewhere he had no clue of and didn’t know how far the city actually was..

Then again...home had practically no meaning anymore.

“It’s fine if you rather not tell me. But I still wish to help you, with you being my patient and all.”

The doctor reached out his hand waiting for Effryn to take hold.

Effryn hesitated taking his hand, before slowly reaching for it. That was, until he stopped in progress while looking down at his trembling hand.

Oh yeah...I’m pretty broken.

He remembered how his body was nearly completely bandaged from top to bottom. How his body had been numbed beyond belief, to the point of complete void.

Effryn looked down at his bandages, feeling the small amounts of numbness wear off. He felt strange, like a feeling of dead, but a small ache being rammed into his body slowly, yet surely.

“T-thank you, lets go.”

I might as well at least take use of him. It’s not like I could have gotten far myself.

Deciding it was best for him to follow the doctor, Effryn washed away his timid feeling and took hold of the hand awaiting him.

“We should hurry, before they decide to come back.”

The doctor lead Effryn down to the main desk, which lead to a door labeled ‘pharmacists’.

“Oh, and from before...I would recommend if you could keep from crying in front of others. It could be seen as a sign weakness to others.”

Shut up, Effryn thought, wiping away the tears with the bandages covering his arm.

After his sudden encounter with the doctor, Effryn found himself in the pharmacy room. Inside, were closed cabinets alongside every wall except for the main desk. Where ever he looked, there were cabinets with different colors. The room had been filled with them.

“Here sir, you should rest.”

The doctor pulled a chair from the main desk resting it alongside a darkish red cabinet, which was closest to Effryn.

“T-thank you.”

Murmuring a gratitude, Effryn allowed his body to rest. His body, but not his mind.

He still had many questions. What did those people want? Should he trust the doctor? Is there anyone he could trust?

But one question loomed over the rest. What can I do without her…?

And the more he thought about it, the more of the same questions spawned.

Can I even go on without her?

Can I...even keep living, without her?

The more and more he let his mind slip from reality, the more he really pondered on these questions. How can he live without someone who had been there for him since nearly the beginning of his time. Who grow up together and breathed the same childhood together?

With everything he experienced so far today, it was a miracle he was still going. He pushed on even with the feeling of emptiness building up in him.

-But...was there even a point to it. Evvryn was dead, so there should be no point in running away from anything.

Actually, it would be better if he was caught. Maybe then, they would do the same to him as they did her…

“Pardon me sir, but is something on your mind?”

The doctors question snapped Effryn back to the harsh reality of life with a genuinely worried expression.

“Eh, it’s nothing. Sorry to bother.”

The doctor stared at Effryn for a few seconds, before completely flipping his mood around to an eccitrinc aura.

“Ah, it’s none of my business. And please, my name is Dr. Zylar, but you can just call me Zylar.”

Dr. Zylar reached out his hand, which Effryn figured it must have been a greeting handshake.

“R-right, Dr-sorry-just Zylar and nice to meet you. And mine is…”

Before saying his name Effryn wondered whether or not it was truly safe for him to disclose his name to someone he’d just met, and so willingly at that.

“....it’s Cayde.”

“Cayde, is it? Well nice to meet you, Cayde.”

Using the first name that came to his mind, Effryn lied to Zylar about his name. He thanked a certain looter shooter for the quick impromptu name, and continued his conversation with the Doctor.

“Well Cayde, for whatever reason those people are after you for, I’ll do my best to keep you safe and hidden.”

The doctor lifted himself up and began opening a light blue cabinet, which were three away from Effryn. He reached inside and pulled out some yellow marked bottles, and lifted it sideways to release two capsules in his hand.

“But we have a more urgent matter presenting itself, and that would be your wounds. Please, let me go and fetch you a glass of water so you may digest your medicine with ease.”

“S-sure thing.”

Effryn answered with a soft squeak, but only because he could feel his entire body start to slowly hurt all over. It burned from his eyes, to his chest, to his legs, to his brain. Everything started to burn.

“Okay, please wait one moment while I get you a glass.”

Effryn nodded his head as Dr. Zylar headed for the door with ‘Pharmacist’ as a handle. But before he could fully leave, Effryn had a question on his mind.

“Doctor, I know you might be the one in charge here, so this could be your own room, but...where are your nurses?”

It was a valid thought, or at least Effryn thought so. The only nurse he had seen was the one when he first woke up. But ever since then, it’s only been Doctor Zylar.

“Ah, I sent the others home after those rude barbarians rushed in here without any manners. But don’t worry. I won’t leave you tonight.”

After saying those words, Effryn only heard the sound of Zylars soles as the door close behind him.

So...he sent the others home due to a sudden hazard popping up? That’s cool and all...but what of the others…

But before getting a chance to start on thinking of his surroundings, Dr. Zylar kindly opened the door. It had only been at most a minute since he left. But here he was, with an already filled glass of water.

“Sorry I’m late Cayde, but I brought a glass for the numbing medicine.”

“Y-you haven’t been gone for two minutes....”

Effryn rested his bandaged hand on the dark red cabinet, or the one he had been closest to.

The doctor set the glass of half empty water next to Effryn’s arm, even putting a small straw for him drink to out of.

“Don’t worry about the medicine, I already administered it into the drink.”

That was way fast. Way, way fast. Effryn thought. He didn’t see any water fountains nearby, or at all actually, in the waiting lounge. He saw a bathroom sign down the hall...but even that’s too much of a stretch for only a minute.

Where did he get this? Is it pre-prepared?

Questions stormed Effryn’s head as he stared at the water. It seemed normal enough, but even a calm gentle vibration could be handling something completely unknown with danger.

“Is something wrong? Or would you rather have a soft beverage?”

Looking up to see the doctor, Effryn only saw a gentle smile.

Effryn wanted to say something. There were many things flitting across his mind, begging him to question what was inside this. But the more he tried to think, the more his insides burned.

-He felt like he had been ignited from the inside.

“Cayde, are you feeling ill? You seem to be shaking?”

“I-I’m fine…”

Effryn knew this wasn’t normal. The feeling of stinging, the shallowness of each breath-something was very wrong.

Just...a sip. Maybe everything will go completely numb again.

Taking hold of the glass, Effryn took a few sips before feeling a rush of relief all over his body.

“Better now?”

The doctor raised his head with a soft smile, seeming almost as relieved as Effryn was.

The pain, the burning, his breathing-Everything was coming back to normal.

“Y-yes, a million, actually.”

-Every pain stopped. He became completely numb once more to every feeling. Maybe even his mind, if only for a moment.

Effryn slopped over the dark red cabinet and enjoyed every second of feeling at peace.

“Thank you doctor, or actually Dr. Zylar. I feels like I’ve been partly reborn! It’s amazing what a little medicine can do to someone.”

With the feeling of nothing reigning over his body once more, he felt a new found love for doctors and medicine being born.

Maybe I can trust the doctor, at least. I don’t know about the ghost, but maybe the doctor can do…

But in the middle of his only happy moment after waking up, the doctor only remained silent. Silent, until…

“Ahh...it’s amazing how much a small dose of epinephrine can do.”

“U-hh, yeah. Medicine surely has grown in the last few decades.”

Not knowing exactly what type of treatment the doctor was talking about, Effryn just went along with it. He really had no other way to think about it. One minute earlier, he felt like he was on the urge of either suffocating, or being freshly peeled from the inside.

But now, everything was nearly completely numb. The only thing still loose was his peace of mind.

Ignoring Effryn’s last question, the doctor stood up, reaching for something in a cabinet further away from Effryn. It was of a deep black color this time, and was one that stood out from the rest.

Zylar opened the doors while pulling back on his face mask.

“Do you know, Cayde, the difference between the bite of an insect and a spider?”

“Err…”

Not knowing what else to say to such an out of the blue question, Effryn wondered maybe if it was some kind of metaphor to something.

“It can be any kind of insect, say let's go with mosquito for instance. Do you suppose they have any kind of differing variable?”

The doctor kept asking questions to which Effryn had no idea what they meant, no less what answer he was supposed to give. Effryn only kept quiet while the doctor searched inside the black cabinet.

“The answer could be anything like the marking of the bite, although what I’m specifically asking for is what is inside the bite.”

What is inside the bite…? Why does he care about this? Effryn thought, wondering why the doctor had a sudden fascination with insects.

Only one thing came to Effryn’s mind when it came to the differences between the two bites…

“If I had to say...it’s poison. Spiders are poisonous, and mosquitoes are just...pest.”

The doctor let out a small chuckle to himself, before continuing his search inside the black cabinet.

“You’re partially correct, spiders do have poison. But if you look at mosquitos very closely, you can count the diseases they carry with them as poisonous.” Then as if he found what he was looking for, the doctor let out a sigh of relief before finishing. “A disease can be a kind of poison, depending on how you look at it.”

So based on what Zylar was saying, based on what you someone thinks on poison, then they could compare it to actual venom.

-Or so, that’s all Effryn was able to surmise thus far.

“I guess so...Hey, Dr. Zylar? What exactly are you trying to say about this…?”

Effryn could hardly keep up with what Zylar was saying, and any more would just make him completely lost.

He thought maybe the doctor would elaborate more if he asked what exactly he was getting at, but…

Ding...ding...ding…

Doctor Zylar reached from the black cabinet, pulling out a small round silver container. He gently grazed the sides of the metal with his gloves, occasionally flicking the lid softly.

“-Itching…”

Ding…

“-Swelling…”

Ding…

“-Asyphixiation…”

The doctor motioned his index finger to to lightly tap the lid once more, but stopped halfway through, and looked deadeye at the completely numb boy before him.

“D-doctor…?”

Effryn stared at the masked man before him, who was entirely covered in medical attire from top to bottom.

But he received no vocal answer. Or, at least one he was expecting.

“-And we can’t forget...the feeling of burning. Those are the usual reactions to an insect.” Zylar began unscrewing the lid of the can with his bare finger tip, before removing it completely while gripping something. “...do you see the difference now, on how poison can very?”

“Doctor Zylar…?”

Effryn had a feeling of uneasy swarm his feelings, or what was left of feeling. He knew something wasn’t right; especially with what he held in his hand.

His only notion was to stare, waiting for the doctor to release his hand, until finally…

“You see, Cayde, or rather, should I call you by your birth name, Effryn…?”

...a small, bright yellow ribbon softly landed on the table. The doctor may have not know the significance of the object personally, but to Effryn, it meant everything.

“H-how do you have that?” Effryn begged, with a raspy tone.

But Zylar only ignored his question to look further into the black cabinet.

“The answer to my question is actually very simple: it’s the time to kill for each effect.”

“How do you have her ribbon? Who gave you that?!”

Effryn tried to put forth every bit of anger he could muster towards Zylar, but the more he tried, the more numb he felt.

Emotions trickled back into his brain, reminding him of the world without Evvryn.

-The short yet always beaming bow on the table had belonged to Evvryn, and was the last one she weared from her little collections before that day.

“Why?!”

“Calm, young Effryn, as you are currently very weak.” Zylar pulled his arm out from the black cabinet, but this time held a syringe and a small improvised bottle beside it. “And if you keep up this rush of anger, it might be enough to trigger your blood for an anaphylactic shock.”

Effryn pulled himself with every ounce of strength he had left, gripping the seams of the chair. He had to do something, anything, before Dr. Zylar had a chance to perform whatever sick injections he saved for him.

But try as he might…

“Forgive me, Effryn, but science calls!” The lunatic doctor exclaimed bursting into a maniacal laughter as he rammed Effryn back into this chair.

Effryn felt a small sting arise in his chest area as his body impacted the chair. Feeling the area, Effryn felt a long metallic like pen lodged inside his chest.

He had been stabbed by the doctor with a syringe, and no doubt was injected with whatever hell the doctor concocted up.

“W-wh...you…”

Words tried forming on his tongue, yet none were ever able to materialize. Only nothingness, followed by gasping, escaped.

“Let’s have ourselves a little experiment on the effects of direct dual injections to a human being, and see how long it takes the human body to defend itself before it collapses from the unknown attacks!”

The world around Effryn felt drowsy, like everything were moments away from being washed away into another life.

“The rash and bumps from the Culex mosquito were a bit too much at first, which is why I had to bandage your entire body. I couldn’t let the other nurses get any ideas from my lifestyle by a simple road injury, now could I?”

Dark. The world surrounding his vision grew darker with each passing word the insane doctor spoke.

“So before you sleep, I should let you know you have both West NIle Virus and the venom of a Black Widow surging through your veins right now. I’ve set up a timer while getting everything ready, but I doubt it’ll reach ten minutes before your organs stop functioning.”

Effryn’s heard a loud thump coming from under him, until he realized it was him who caused it. He had lost all strength to even lift his body at this point.

“Now then, I should hide you away for the time being before those annoying wanna be fetch dogs come back, angry at me for them losing a target they missed. Now what since does that make, even if said target never left in the first place!”

By this point, Effryn felt his conscious disconnect from the world once more. He had been inject with kind of poison venoms, both of which were considered extremely deadly.

But even with this threat, Effryn felt a bit at ease knowing that now, even if it may be scary, he can finally die. Wait on me, Evvryn.

And as Effryn’s mind nearly ceased all functions for the time being, he heard the harsh voice of the doctor.

“And for Heaven's sake, how can one boy cry so much?”