Lee starts to regain consciousness; the first thing that hits his senses and helps him wake up faster is the smell of ozone, the smell of scorched air just before a dry thunderstorm. Then, as his nose twitches of its own accord, the bright light is noticeable through his closed eyelids. Finally, he feels the back of his hand is wet, followed by the sound of someone crying softly.
Lee opens his eyes and sees a woman sitting on a chair next to his bed; her head is lowered to his hand, which she’s holding. “Mom?” he calls softly, recognising the woman as Sue Watson.
Hearing Lee’s voice, Sue lifts her head, and Lee notices that she has been crying; that’s why his hand felt wet. “My boy, my little angel, you are awake!”
Lee’s head falls back as he lets out a sigh. “How long was I asleep this time, Mom?” he asks, laughing internally.
“I don’t know exactly, but Mom and Dad have been here for five hours now,” Sue informs Lee.
The door slides open, and Nurse Fionna and Nurse Raxen walk in, dressed in civilian clothing. Noticing that Lee is awake, Raxen smiles.
“Hello, Lee,” Fionna greets. “Glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay, I think…” Lee answers as he sniffs the air. “But I can smell something, like burning wires.”
Raxen laughs, shaking her head, then runs her six-fingered hand over Lee’s head, smoothing his hair.
“Do you remember what happened before you went to sleep again?” Fionna inquires of Lee.
With a nod, Lee says, “Nurse Raxen used her tail to break the helmet that was on fire.”
Raxen nods as Fionna explains, “That is correct, but it was on fire because of the electricity in the wrong place.”
“So it short-circuited itself,” Lee thinks as he nods, then, sniffing the air again, asks, “But why do I still smell the burning wires?”
“The smell is in your hair, my sweet child,” informs Sue. “Good thing you were in need of a haircut.”
Raxen looks at her watch, then says something to Fionna; the latter nods before addressing Lee and Sue. “Sorry, but we have to go now; we just finished our shift and are tired. Bye for now, Lee. All the best.” Fionna leaves the room first, followed by Raxen, who waves goodbye at Lee using her tail.
A short time after, Lee is eating when the doors open again and Kenji, Lee’s dad, enters carrying Sakura, Lee’s sister, on his back. As soon as she sees Lee awake, she starts to wiggle, forcing her father to put her down; she runs towards the bed, climbing on the chair and jumping onto the bed to give Lee a hug.
“Big brother, you awake!” Sakura says, her face buried in Lee’s neck.
“Saki, don’t cry,” Lee says, caressing his sister’s hair. “Look, big brother is okay.”
She leans back and wipes her teary eyes with the back of her hand. Then she smiles, and Lee notices that she has a chipped tooth. Lee starts to point at the missing tooth, but Sakura, guessing, says, “I was playing on bike and stop on tree.” Lee shakes his head.
“Hey, kid, how are you feeling?” Lee’s dad asks after letting the brother and sister bond a bit.
Lee nods with a smile. “I’m okay, Dad.” Then, looking at the three people in the room, he feels nostalgic, making him smile as a tear slips from his eye.
Kenji sits on the chair. “Are you sure? Why are you crying?” Both Sue and Sakura look worried too.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Lee shakes his head. “It’s because I’m happy; because I love the three of you.” He says then, in a lower tone more to himself, adds, “And no matter what happens, you will always be my family—my mom, dad, and little sister.”
Sue is the first to lean in and hug Lee and Sakura; then, in the next moment, Kenji hugs the three of them. But the family hug is short, as a male voice is heard.
“Sorry for interrupting this family moment.” The four of them turn to the door and see a male doctor; Lee is the only one who recognises him from the test room. “But I need to examine Lee.”
Lee’s parents step away and have to pull Sakura so she’s not in the way.
“Is there any problem with our son, Doctor?” asks Kenji, looking between the doctor's face and his trembling hands.
The doctor nods before saying, “Physically, no; but we will need to run another cerebral mapping test.”
“What is that?” asks Sakura of her mother, but it is loud enough that the doctor hears.
The doctor swallows and looks over his shoulder to the room’s door. “It is a scan of his head to be sure there is no problem,” he informs with his head lowered.
Sakura looks at her father, then at her mother, looking for an explanation. “It’s because Lee was asleep for too long,” says Sue.
After arranging for another test and making sure there is really nothing wrong physically with Lee—with the exception of the burned ends of hair that seem to refuse to stand down—the doctor takes his leave.
As he exits, two women pass by the doctor and he trembles; they enter the room, and Lee remembers having seen them while the test was being performed.
“Hello, I’m Roxy, and this is my colleague Annabeth.” Beta introduces herself, then Charlie, before handing a business card to Kenji. “We are from the Child Safety Association and would like to know what happened with your child for him to be hospitalised.”
Kenji and Sue look at each other, then at the women in front of them. “Hello, I’m Kenji, Lee's father, and this is my wife, Sue, his mother.”
“We know,” says Charlie. “What we don’t know is what happened for Lee to come to the hospital with a high fever that lasted a week long.”
“We don’t know either,” Sue says, shaking her head. “One day he was playing in the backyard, running around barefoot, as always.”
“Why would he be barefoot?” asks Beta as the watch hologram takes notes automatically. “Is your family in need of financial support?”
“No, it’s not like that!” clarifies Kenji. “We are always telling him to put something on...”
“Mum and Dad are right,” Lee exclaims. “They tell me every time to put my trainers on, but I like how the floor, grass, and dirt feel on my feet.”
“Yes, it’s really fun,” adds Sakura. “And sometimes it tickles.”
“Alright, so what happened next?” inquires Beta.
“Like I was saying, Lee had been playing outside. Then later that night, he had a minor fever,” Sue recounts. “I gave him some medication and he seemed to have gotten better; the fever never went away for good—it was always with a temperature a bit higher than normal—but he never stopped, always running and jumping around.”
“Did you give him any more medication?” Charlie inquires.
Sue shakes her head. “No, I didn’t think it was necessary to do so.”
“So, if it wasn’t necessary, why did he come to the hospital in a coma?” asks Beta.
“That was on Sunday night,” says Kenji. “After playing outside, he had a bath, and at dinner, he was trembling a bit, but our health checker stated that his blood levels were low.” Lee remembers the bracelet that Sue and Kenji used on him to check his vitals, a device that measures almost everything.
The device can measure blood sugar levels, blood pressure, oxygen in the blood, and body temperature, and also detect if the person being checked is affected with the flu or cold symptoms.
“Okay,” Beta simply utters as she continues taking notes. “What happened then? What did you do?”
“After dinner, I gave him a bit of chocolate as the blood sugar levels were still a bit lower than normal,” says Sue. “But as he was going upstairs to his room, he lost consciousness and his body temperature started going up.”
Charlie and Beta look at one another, then at Lee’s parents. “So, it could have been the chocolate?” asks Beta.
“Doubtfully,” Kenji declares. “Sakura, too, had some of the chocolate and nothing happened to her.” Lee's dad finishes, pointing at Sakura while still holding the card between his fingers.
Lee tugs at his dad's sleeve and asks for the business card. Kenji gives it without wondering the reason why he asked; as Lee examines the card, tilting it ever so slightly, the light reflects on it and the image of a triquetra—a Celtic knot—with a trident in the middle becomes visible.
