The Tribuo - 72. Part V, chapter 25

- XXV -

It was several hours later, after I’ve been checked, poked, and probed for God knows how many times. Finally, they let me go after realizing that there was indeed nothing wrong with me. The doctor, who was in charge of me, just kept shaking his head and saying some crap about miracles.

“Son,” he repeated for probably a hundredth time. “You were born under a very lucky star! Not a single broken bone! Not even a sprained wrist! It’s a miracle!!”

I had a very strong desire to punch his large, clean-shaven face. I didn’t, of course. I just nodded until I felt like my head was about to fall off. Then I left his office and sat in the chair in the waiting area. It’s been almost two hours since they got Rayne into the operating room, and there was no news whatsoever.

I stared at my hands like my eyes were glued to them. The blond was sitting next to me.

“Did you heal her?” I asked finally.

“Somewhat,” he said dully. “I hope that was enough.”

“You can heal people then?” I couldn’t look away from my hands.

“No,” he said. “I could only do it to her. Because we are related.”

I finally managed to tear my gaze away from my fingers.

“You really are her father,” I muttered without even trying to make it sound like a question.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“Who are you?” I asked dully, and he was silent for several minutes.

Then he started talking, and I just stared at him. Things he told me… God, they weren’t just unbelievable. They were plain impossible. He talked for a while, and then he stopped, got up, and walked to the coffee machine that was softly purring in the corner. He came back and handed me a small cup of crappy, machine-made coffee. I automatically took it from his hands.

“You are serious, aren’t you?” I asked, after I drank some coffee that tasted like burned cotton.

“Yes,” he nodded.

I shook my head.

“Why are you telling me all this?” I muttered softly. “I mean, I don’t think it’s supposed to be general knowledge…”

“It’s not,” he agreed. “I told you because the minute I leave, you are not going to remember a single thing.”

“Is she going to be all right?” I squeezed the paper cup so tightly that it almost broke in my grasp.

“I don’t know,” he said very tiredly. “I did everything I could. The rest is up to her body’s abilities to heal on its own…”

I gulped down the rest of the dreadful drink without even pausing to taste it. It was still hot, and it felt good when it flowed down my throat.

“What about you?” I asked after the cup was empty.

He shrugged and looked up at the ceiling.

“I’ll probably be stuck here until Apocalypse,” he said simply. “It’s okay though. I was always curious to see an actual end of the world.”

“Apocalypse,” I repeated.

He looked at me and grinned weakly.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s not going to happen in your lifetime.”

“You know when it’s going to happen,” again, I didn’t bother with putting a question mark at the end of that sentence.

“I have an idea,” he nodded solemnly.

I was silent for a minute.

“What’s gonna happen after you leave?” I asked finally.

“You won’t have a clue about who I am,” he said seriously. “And you are not going to remember anything I told you.”

“What about Rayne?” Now I was staring at the mutilated cup in my hands.

“Neither will she,” he sighed. “She won’t remember me or anything she had to do while she was the Tribuo.”

“The Tribuo,” I repeated. “That’s a funny word…”

“I guess,” he said indifferently. “Also, you… Or anyone else for that matter… Not going to remember anything about Lucas Jennah…”

That made me straighten up immediately.

“What?!” I stared at him. “Wait a minute! You said it yourself… Something about memories being sacred or crap like that! How can…”

“They are,” he nodded. “Every single memory that you have of Lucas will become one of Rayne. Makes sense, right? And since she never died at that gas station…” he shrugged.

“I’m not gonna remember that either…” I muttered.

“Right,” he nodded. “Memories are sacred, but not when it comes to cases like this one… You are right, it’s not general knowledge.”

“What’s with the shades?” I asked him. “It’s been bugging me ever since I saw you for the first time…”

He gave me a crooked smile and pulled the sunglasses down for a second or two. When I saw his eyes, I couldn’t breathe. He hemmed and pulled the shades back up.

“I see…” I managed several seconds later. “So…” I coughed. “When are you going to leave?”

“As soon as I hear what that nice doctor over there has to say,” he muttered and got up.

I turned my head and saw the doctor who was looking at us, his face extremely tired. Suddenly, I was afraid. I got up very slowly and walked towards him, my heart thumping wildly somewhere in the pit of my stomach. The doctor looked exhausted. I had no idea if that was a good sign or not.

“Is she…” I couldn’t say anything else. It felt like my mouth just went numb.

The doctor took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with the sleeve of his robe. He did it very carefully and thoroughly.

“She’ll be fine,” he said finally, and I almost slid down onto the carpeted floor. “She lost some blood, got some broken bones, but other than that, she is fine…” He slowly shook his head like he was trying to shake water out of his ears. “Strangest thing,” he muttered and put his glasses back on. “The initial reports stated that her damages were far too severe…”

I shivered because I was suddenly very cold.

“But when they got her here…” The doctor shrugged. “It was nothing like they described…”

“Can I see her?” I whispered, my hands still clutching onto that coffee cup.

“Not until later,” he shook his head again. “Tomorrow morning, for sure. I am going to keep her in the ICU for the night... Just in case,” he added.

“Right…” I muttered. “Thank you…”

He nodded and walked away. I limped towards the chair and sat down. Then I heard someone asking me something, and I looked up. It was some guy.

“Excuse me?” I blinked. “I didn’t hear what you said…”

“Do you know what time it is?” he repeated and I looked at my watch.

“Six,” I said, and he nodded a silent thank you.

He walked away from me, and I thought that I would never understand why some people felt they needed to wear sunglasses indoors.