The doctor went on to check up on a few other patients before leading him to her office, the name tag on her desk read ‘Dr Shen Xue’. So while Zhao Bing took a sit at her desk, she took her sweet time removing her coat before taking the seat behind the desk to Zhao Bing’s annoyance.

  "So, I doubt the issue is going to very serious but there are complications that may occur, I have to go over them with you. Before anything else what is the patient’s name and what is your relationship with him?”

  "He is my brother" Zhao lied with a straight face "what are these complications?"

  "Well, the complications are many and they vary according to circumstances. They can be as mild as residual pains in the affected area, which should subside on its own after a while or it may be as severe as the loss of the arm. There is also the fact that his neck is involved so paralyses is a very big possibility, as well as death. We will prepare him for surgery just in case any of these complications do come up, then we can act fast to arrest it. For now, all we can do is unfreeze the arm and hope you were not too late.” doctor Shen Xue saw the frown growing on Zhao's face and tried to console him "but not to worry even if something were to come up, I assure you, he is in good hands."

  Zhao just nodded, dr. Shen didn't keep him long after that, letting him go after she set up their next appointment and directed him to where he could make payments. Zhao didn't bother to remember the date of their next appointment; he didn't plan on coming back after making a deposit of the estimated amount needed for the whole treatment.

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  Zhao made his way into a cafeteria, even late into the night, some were just taking their dinner or was it breakfast, the time would suggest so. Looking around, the occupants were doctors and nurses with their special uniforms and coats. It did not take him long to spot Gabriel; the boy was sleeping on one of the tables, a plate of food was half eaten in front of him and two nurses were sitting at the table with him, they were talking in low tones, more tired than hushed and Zhao Bing could tell they were trying for Gabriel's sake.

  Zhao Bing walked up to them and greeted them, he made sure to thank them properly before waking Gabriel up.

  "Let's go" Zhao would have preferred to let him sleep some more but plans were already in place.

  "Are you done?" The Gabriel asked he rubbed sleep from his eye "is he going to be alright?"

  "Yes, they'll take care of him" Zhao replied, the boy had enough trouble already, there was no need to burden the boy with more. “We should go."

  Zhao Bing got another cab and this time his destination was the train station, there he bought tickets to the first random train he could get leaving the province. Before the train they were supposed to board arrived, Zhao Bing tracked down a payphone and made a call.

  …………………………………………..

  Gabriel found himself floating in a void, he was peeping around but there was nothing to see, there was just an endless void as far as his ‘eyes’ could perceive. Until a green light appeared suddenly, it shown brightly in the void, growing brighter and brighter by the seconds until it was so bright that it hurt the tools he used to perceive the world. Out of nowhere a black shadow-dark as the void itself-appeared at the edge of the light. Gabriel perceived a roar as it appeared and it began to suck the light into itself. It sucked until it swallowed the entirety of the light into itself leaving only its shadowy outline. The shadow breathed, there was no air but Gabriel perceived the sound and it was loud.