Wasuranai Kara

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17

"My head…"

"Ah, you can talk. Wonderful. You’ve made incredible progress."

"Who the hell are you?"

"I’m Dr. Loh. I’ve been taking care of you for four weeks now. No one thought you would wake up at all."

"The Oblivion…"

"Yes. That’s what caused this. You were supposed to be put in Solitary Confinement for a month. You were only in there for two days before you went into withdrawal. They heard you screaming. When you stopped, they started to worry. They brought you up here. You’d lost a lot of blood, and your heartbeat was erratic."

"Blood?"

"You had two kinds of bleeding. One was internal…some damage to your stomach lining. Nothing all that major there. The big problem was that you almost severed your finger. I’m not sure how it happened…your hand is broken is six places. I hope you aren’t left handed."

"No…"

"Then you should be okay. You’ll regain use of your hand after a while. You almost severed a tendon in there, as well…the bone sliced it."

"How?"

"Well, the common theory is that you hit the wall…there was a lot of blood on the wall and the floor. There was quite a bit on your face, too. We thought you hit your head when we first found you."

"What happened to me?"

"The drug. I’m surprised you know anything after the amount you consumed. Rumo Hikari said you were really addicted to the stuff. You almost killed him when he took it away from you."

"Oh God…Rumo…I…I didn’t know…"

"Oblivion does that to you."

"What…what exactly did it do to me?"

"Well, it’s hard to say. I’ve been monitoring your brain waves, but I can’t tell exactly what happened in there. Only you really know that."

"No. I don’t."

"Well, if you don’t remember, then no one will be able to tell you. I can tell you my theory, but that’s it."

Gren looked at his left hand. There was a cast on it. He lifted his left arm. Pain shot all the way up to his jaw. He groaned. "Tell me…" he said.

"Well, Oblivion generally targets the part of your brain that controls memory. It usually wipes out most of that part of your brain. It’s very hard to recover fully from Oblivion for that reason. Usually, all you can remember is the Oblivion itself."

"I know there’s a ‘but’ here…"

"Yes. But you seem to remember plenty. It seems that the Oblivion merely isolated that part of your brain. There are certain things you seemed to remember while you were taking it…as if it caused you to focus on a single memory, or a group of memories. As if your mind focused only on one thing."

"Sounds about right. But…how did I recover?"

"You didn’t."

"Come again?" Gren quirked a brow.

"It seems you focused on this memory more and more. It was perpetual madness, from what I can discern. The only thing you really survived is the withdrawal. Not having the drug made the other memories in your mind come back all at once. It basically destroyed your mind. You’re a very strong man, though…your mind seems more or less in tact."

"More or less?"

"Well, one of the after-effects of Oblivion, if it doesn’t kill you, is that it sticks in your mind. It will always be there. It’s like a cancer. Think of yourself as in a ‘remission’ state right now; anything at all could cause you to relapse…to crave the drug again. Any other drug, for instance. Simple acetaminophen could do it."

"Aspirin?"

"Yes. You may never be able to take another medication as long as you live. You’re too unstable. Don't quote me on that, though."

"Great."

"Well…that’s not all. That may not even be the worst of it."

"What do you mean?"

"For some reason, there are physical side effects, as well. One of them saved your life."

"And what would that be?"

"Your blood flows slower. That’s the reason you didn’t bleed to death when you shattered your hand."

"Not too bad. But you’re not telling me something. What is it?"

"Well…the drug seems to have altered your body chemistry somewhat…"

"Meaning…?"

"You should probably see for yourself." Dr. Loh gestured to the sheet that covered most of Gren's body.

Gren reached for the sheet with his good hand and lifted it.