Looking at his clear, sorrowful yet somewhat hopeful eyes, I felt a twinge of pain in my heart. Involuntarily, I breathed a despondent sigh.

Just… why don’t I remember anything…

Despondently lowering my head, I said, “I’m sorry, Samuel. I… I don’t remember anything. I’m sorry.”

“Is that so?” he said, a little dispirited.

Solemnly, I nodded.

He lifted his hand to his face as he began rubbing his chin, looking to be in deep thought. A few minutes passed as an air of seriousness filled the room. After a while, he looked up at me before closing his eyes. For a moment, I could’ve sworn a sly smile spreading on his face. Yet an instant later, his face was as still as a lake.

He walked towards me slowly, his hands behind his back as he gave me a melancholy look. He stood before me as he looked at me as he put a hand on my shoulder. Taking in a deep breath, he said, his voice still a little shaky. “Although you may have forgotten it… I still remember. So, listen carefully. I’ll only say this once.”

Breathing in, he earnestly declared, “You are my friend, a brother to me. Never forget that. And it goes both ways."

Scratching his cheek, he said, “Alright, you get settled, I’ll get you some food.”

A fuzzy feeling rose up in my chest as I looked at his retreating figure. However, at the same time, I felt someone was pricking a needle in the middle of my head. Sighing, I lay back down, thinking about what just happened. And for some reason, it felt like a deja vu.

Then, I thought about the events leading up until now and sighed. A lot happened today, didn’t it? I met many people and that whole situation with me falling down… An involuntary shudder ran through my mind as I recalled the thought of blood on my hand.

By the end, I had a pained grin plastered on my face. I wonder where my parents — What did I just — out of nowhere, there was something throbbing within my head. Waves of pain assaulted me as I clutched my head tightly.

My innards kept churning as I kept gasping for breath. The world around me spun as my vision began to swim. An acidic taste spread through my mouth. My throat felt hoarse and dry while I struggled to take one breath after another. And for no apparent reason, there was a feeling of pain in my chest, slightly above my stomach. As if something was gouging out my innards.

But the source of my anguish lay not in my body or anything physical. A vague sensation of something constantly trying to surface in my mind rose and fell over and over. It felt extremely close, almost a hair’s breadth away, yet extremely far. I just couldn’t seem to recall it no matter how or which way I tried.

A few minutes passed before the surging tide in my head finally began settling down. By the time I was back to my senses, a few people – two adults and two kids to be specific – surrounded me, two of them being the people I was somewhat familiar with, Mr. William and Samuel.

One of the four, a woman with arctic-colored hair, propped me straight and placed a hand on my chest, a bit above the stomach, almost where it began hurting before. A soothing coolness spread from where her palm touched to all throughout my body as the already diminishing tide of pain vanished in an instant.

Still breathing mouthful after mouthful, I pointed to the nightstand, which held water. The woman lifted her hand as a cup of water flew straight into her hand, which she passed to me.

Heart filled with astonishment, I drank sip by sip as I calmed down. Reaching my face with my hand, I found it covered with sweat. Just what was that? Damn that hurt a lot.

Looking up, I took a deep breath to compose myself.

After inspecting my condition, Mr. William asked, “Zack, how are you feeling now? Does it hurt?” His voice bled with the same concern that reflected in his eyes.

Without thinking, I replied, “Don’t worry, sir, I’m fine. I’m just a little dizzy.”

“I see…” he spoke as he looked me up and down. “And what happened for you to get like that?”

“I… I don’t know,” I replied truthfully. Even if I wanted to lie, something within me compelled me to not to. “I was thinking about all that happened today and all of a sudden, my head began stinging and I felt a bit dizzy. It was like… I was trying to remember something over and over and… in the end I couldn’t remember anything.”

Mr. William’s eyes glittered a little as he heard my tale for a bit before they dulled back during the end. In the end, he sighed.

All of a sudden, his brows jumped as if he remembered something.

He asked, “Why use the formal tone? Just call me uncle like you usually…” He trailed off at the end, realizing the futility of it. With his face in his palm, he inhaled audibly.

I could only smile wryly in response.

“Don’t mind that, just a force of habit I guess. Hearing the formal tone made me feel a bit… out of place.” He shook his head as he continued, “Just refer to me as Uncle. It sounds a lot more natural than something formal, like ‘Sir’. Besides, the title of sir wouldn’t suit me.”

“Okay, Uncle,” I replied. The word ‘Uncle’ rolling off my tongue felt natural, and I couldn’t deny what he said. It was more similar to a usual routine imprinted onto me, akin to muscle memory. At the same time, my trust in him grew, and I was just a bit more relaxed around him.

When uttering the last word, there was a faint reaction like before, but it wasn’t as intense as last time. I dismissed it as an aftereffect of what happened earlier as I looked at Uncle.

“Now with that out of the way, and given we all are here, let’s start with introductions, shall we?” Uncle spoke, an imperceptible smile spreading on his face as he looked around at the other three in the room.