The Wheel Of Fortune

As soon I exist the factory, I find the area surrounded by cars and ambulances, riddled with blue and red lights from the ambulances. The factory has been blocked by no-entry tape while the team from the EXH is entering the abandoned factory. Ryou moves away to talk with the person in charge of the team and I stay back.

“Excuse me, ma’am.”

I look at the nurse who is called me out, “Yes?”

“You are hurt, you need to get treated, please come with me.” The nurse takes me to one of the make-shift treatment corners which are covered by curtains to treat my wound.

After the treatment and giving me instructions on how to take care of the wound, she lets me go. I continue my search for Ryou when I see the rows of dead bodies which are laid on the grass which makes me reroute my course. All the dead bodies retrieved from the factory have been arranged in two rows. I stop in my tracks stupified as soon as I am close enough to see the face clearly.

Peter? Is that Peter?

I immediately run the rest of the distance look down at the body. The rotting smell becomes stronger and stronger. It is really Peter. Many emotions hit me at the same time on seeing the scratch marks on his body. I cover my eyes with my hand and turn away for a moment to compose myself.

His face is almost beyond recognition. I step back in horror and disgust.

Slowly, I check each and every body on the grass to find them in the same state. While I am stepping back, someone walks past me and falls beside Peter’s body.

Felicia lets out a loud cry and hugs Peter’s body despite its state. Dannis runs in a second later and tries to hold Felicia back. He looks at Peter and wipes his tears with his sleeve while holding Felicia in his arms.

I turn away from the scene and try to not the wails and shriek affect me. There is nothing I can do for them now other than to give them space to mourn.

But where is Daniel’s body?

I glance back at the bodies but don’t see Daniel’s face. Was he not found? On my way to find Ryou, I stop a worker and show him Daniel’s photo.

“Was there a body of this boy inside the building?”

He shakes his head, “We found 15 bodies but he is not one of them.”

“Oh...thank you.”

As soon as I turn away, I run into Ryou. “Did you see Peter’s body? Where is Daniel’s?”

“..There were 13 tuhus as well, it took me time to find all of them since they were hiding.”

“I know.” He pauses and glances at Felicia, “I found his body in one of the rooms. And about Daniel...he was already turned by the time I found him...I killed him.”

The rest of the question dies down before it could exit my mouth and I slowly close my lips. I suppress my emotions and try to keep my voice emotionless, “Was there no other way to save him?”

“There is no way for now...Do you blame me for killing him?” It is not an accusation but a simple question.

“No, I would never. Because I would do the same if I was at your place. It’s just a pity that...we were planning to help them but...they”

“...It was already too late for them. There was no hope from the start.”

I look back at him in surprise, “You knew?”

“Once turned humans get involved in the case, it is already too late. It only takes a bite to turn everything upside down. In most cases, the best you could do is to retrieve their dead bodies. Peter has been dead for more than the week.”

“But did you find the tuhu who did this?” I have still not sighted any middle or upper-rank tuhu till now. Wouldn’t it be useless if we can’t even find the person behind all this?

“He is already dead...Daniel is no more. The tuhu who did all this and killed his own father.” He says while keeping his tone emotionless. I gulp and squeak out only one word, “What?”

“Don’t tell me you never suspected him even once during the investigation.” I fall silent at his words. “As soon as we found out he started acting differently 4 days before the disappearance, he was already considered as the suspect and later when we checked the footage of CCTV camera, it was confirmed that there were only three people in the car. ”

It's not that I never suspected him even once, I just couldn't find the motive for his action. Why would he do such a thing to his own father? Daniel and Peter’s relationship was good and there was no motive, other than...

“Peter must have found out about Daniel and by that time he might have already started turning after holding it off for four days. It will be confirmed once the blood on the lamp matches Daniel but I am already sure. During turning, his first instinct would have been to protect himself. ”

So killing his father rather than turning him might have been the best he could do in that state. Did he run away from the home to protect his mother and brother from himself? We would never know.

“Are you going to tell Felicia about it? It might hurt them but they deserve to know.”

“I am going to tell them.” He takes a few step forward and looks back at me over his shoulder, “Are you coming?”

I show him a strained smile, “I don’t think so...There is something I want to talk about once you come back, I will wait for you in the car.”

PRINCE RYOUHEI DE VAL FRANSICH’S POV

The cemented floor of the hospital causes friction against my soles as I ascend the stairs. I scrutinize the small building. It looks aged and the paint is peeling off in almost all directions. There are occasional passerby nurses, otherwise, the hall is relatively empty. I stroll around aimlessly for the time being.

The uniform of the nurses is different. It should not be any of the hospitals in Transvius. Maybe the countryside, but I am not sure exactly where.

I come to a halt when I notice a nurse talking on her cellphone while standing in the corner of the hallway. As soon as I take another look at her phone, I realize I have never seen anyone around here with a smartphone till now, there are landlines even on the desk. And as far as remember there are no lifts or any kind of technology as well. How did I arrive at this place? Why am I feeling like I have traveled back in time?

I look out from the window. The sky is clear and the air is fresher than I have ever felt while the surrounding is peaceful and silent. I also take notice of a patient who is leaving the room and what draws my attention towards her is her dress.

An unstitched 7 something meter long cloth wrapped around her waist and draped on her shoulder with a blouse under it. What type of dress is that? I watch as she strolls over to the poster pasted on the other side of the corridor and looks over it before walking away. Once she moves away, I suddenly remember where I have seen that dress before.

It was an Indian sari. I have seen it twice while traveling.

I look over at the calendar she was studying a second before. After a quick glance, I move to walk away but stop in my track when I notice something. I backtrack my steps and throw my attention on the month and the year. Why is it showing 2002? Is the calendar old?

I quickly turn around and monitor the area, this time with many different thoughts.

Now, this makes sense, the air, the uniform, the building, the atmosphere. The calendar is not wrong. It is 2002. I am back in 2002, though I wonder how did I end up here? Strangely, I couldn't remember anything after entering the hospital. How did I get here?

At this time, one nurse walks past me with a baby in her arm, coming out from the room behind me. As she walks away, I turn to look at the room she came from. After staring at it for a few minutes, slowly, I enter the room to find both the beds in the room occupied.

The patient on the other end of the room is sleeping while the other patient is lying exhausted on her bed, full of sweat and a nurse is busy cleaning up the tray which is placed on the table. I quickly step aside when the nurse moves to walk out of the room but the strangest thing is she didn’t even glance at me. It is like I was invisible to her.

I narrow my eyes at the movement before entering the room fully. Without thinking, I walk to the exhausted woman while eyeing her face. She looks kind of familiar. I try to figure out where I have seen her but I can’t think of any such incident. Am I being mistaken? I am sure I would remember her even if I see her once, her face is catchy despite the exhaustion.

Not more than half an hour later, the nurse who walked away with a baby enters the room and hands over the baby wrapped in a pink blanket to the exhausted woman. Despite being tired, she quickly sits up, leaning against the pillow, and receives the baby with a smile. She holds the child to her chest and stares at her lovingly.

“Have you decided on her name?” The nurse asks after a while.

“...Yes, her name will be... Nadya.”

I look at the woman stunned. What did she just say? What did she say her name will be? I walk over to the bed without any hesitation anymore and look down at the child. Though her face is unrecognizable since she is still a child but one thing makes me certain who she is. How can I not recognize her eyes?

Her eyes are one of the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.

I immediately turn to look at her mother. So that’s why she seemed familiar. Now that I have seen her mother, I can say that Nadya is almost identical to her mother with the only difference being that her mother has more innocent features while grown-up Nadya’s face has more defined features which make her look cold and beautiful.

“Where is your husband? He must be happy to see the baby. She is very beautiful.”

“...He is out of the station. He will be back soon.”

After asking some more questions, the nurse walks out of the room and her smile slips away. Nadya’s mother looks down at Nadya and whispers, “Even if no one wants you, I will always want you.” She caresses Nadya’s hand.

The next moment I find myself on the soft mattress accompanied by Nadya’s voice from outside and the chirping of the birds. It takes me a moment to actually realize it was just a dream. But somehow everything felt real....like the first time I saw her in my dreams.

I gander at the garden through the floor-to ceiling window and release a breath. Nadya turns around and shouts something at Finlay before continuing to water the flowers. I watch for a few minutes as she laughs at whatever Finlay said before closing my eyes and putting my arm over my eyes.

It was real. I know it was real.