Well guys,
Here I am after a long time. Sorry for holding you up, but now I can proudly say that everything is over and I'll have lots of free time, and that, my dears, means a lot of new chapters.
I hope that you'll like this one as much as you liked the previous ones. I would like it if you were kind enough to review, as that helps me a lot. If you say that I did a good job, I'll be happy and continue, but if you say it's not that good, I'll sincerely try to better my writing so that you could enjoy it. Also tell me if you have some kind of suggestions.
If you have some questions, about the story or me, you are free to ask. I'll answer them all.
That's about it. Now it's time for me to sleep, as I need to travel tomorrow, so I hope to hear from you soon.
Signing off,
Mara :)
Eighth Step
After three long hours of examining Arthur, they all sat down to take a break. One of the nurses sent Arthur back to his room, to which he agreed only after Kiku told him that he will come with the pictures and explanation.
Kiku and Feliciano sat in silence at the table in the one of the modest rooms that were made as a rest area for exhausted nurses. On the table were the MRI scans. They showed an already healed up wound, a scar. Arthur's right side of the brain was wounded approximately five months ago, so the story about the ball matched perfectly. Arthur had an internal bleeding, and the brain, the organism fixed it how it could. But it left a scar, a scar that would start torturing him in less than a half of a year.
The wounded brain tissue was now useless, being damaged beyond repair. What surprised them was that the surrounding tissue took over the responsibilities of the damaged part. The damaged part had connections with speaking, not the ability to speak itself, but with the eloquence of the child. Arthur had no problems with that. He could speak normally, although sometimes; they found out from his mother, even before the examination; he needed time to remember what he wanted to say and he was easily distracted. Also, he would forget the word or an expression from time to time and he would dwell upon it, sometimes for hours. Now they knew the reason for it.
''Kiku, what do you think about his case?'' Feliciano leaned in, evidently tired, with his circles becoming blacker by hour, but fully awake and ready for discussion. These circles reminded Kiku of pandas, and then of his uncle. When did he last talk to him? This question flowed through his mind, but he pushed it aside, aware that he needed to answer Feliciano.
''Feliciano, to be honest, I don't know. His brain should be functioning normally, without a hitch, but for some reason it short-circuited and caused him a seizure. This could be haunting him for life. It's scaring me. I don't want him to suffer, but there is also a humongous possibility that he will never again have an incident like this. Even though we finished all the business today, I think that he should stay the whole week, as we said before. I want to speak to him. Something bothers me. Have you- oh, yes, you weren't there at the time.'' After this, Kiku quieted. This upset Feliciano.
''Kiku, what was it?'' His voice was coarse, dripping with impatience. Kiku twitched at his tone. It was rare, but scary when it appeared. Feliciano was really worried, and that triggered him. He was serious. Sometimes he was even eerier than Monica. He was already used to Monica's behaviour, but Feliciano was different. He was unpredictable.
''The first time I met Arthur and asked him if he knew what could cause his seizure, he wanted to say that he didn't know, but stopped himself. Then he muttered something to a corner of the room, nodded, and abruptly turned to me, saying that he hurt himself in school five months ago. I think that he is a little too old for imaginary friends. Do you think that there is something else that could be the cause of this event?'' Kiku put his elbows on the table, not daring to break the eye-contact he had with Feliciano. It may have sounded bizarre, but it was a possibility. He needed Feliciano's opinion.
''Kiku, I think you worry far too much, but if you are so concerned about it, why don't you ask the person himself? It is not such a hard thing to do. Just ask him what he sees.'' After this, Feliciano got up from his chair, stretched for moment and waved Kiku goodbye while exiting the room. Kiku stayed on the chair, wondering if that would be the right move.
That afternoon, Arthur sat on his bed, watching the crib that was placed in his room just a couple of hours ago. Alfred was with him now. His heart was beating faster as he was excited that now he could communicate with Alfred and be with him, and before all, behave like a good brother. Alfred was sleeping, and he felt anxious to do something. Rhys was with him until five minutes ago, when he went out to buy strawberries which Arthur asked him for. Knowing that Rhys won't come back for at least another fifteen minutes, he let his legs lead the way.
He exited the room and headed down the corridor, wondering what he would find if he just continued walking. When he came to the parting of the corridor into two paths, he chose to go right. It just seemed fitting. Walking in bluish slippers, his steps were hushed. After looking around for a while, it seemed that he wandered into the wing where the doctor's offices were. He smiled, hoping that he could find Dr. Honda somewhere in there. Just when he thought about it, something flew right by him. He followed it until it suddenly disappeared in front of Kiku's office. He knocked, knowing that he had to be polite. That's what his mother taught him, after all. He heard a faint 'Yes' from inside, so he came in.
It was half past two, and Kiku was sitting in his office, wondering how he would explain the situation to Arthur in terms simple enough for him to understand. He also pondered over how to ask Arthur about what he was communicating with. Kiku, although silent and calm, always had an insatiable itch to know when he got interested in something. This time it was Arthur's 'friends', if you could call them that. He leaned into his chair, hoping to take a light nap while he could, when he heard weak knocking on the office door. He only said 'Yes', knowing that the person from the other side will introduce itself and explain why did they interrupt him while he was on his one-hour lunch break. But that didn't happen. The door slowly opened and the head that protruded from the opening was the one he least expected. He stood up and hurried to the door, opening them wide and looking at Arthur.
"Arthur, what are you doing here?" He couldn't hide his surprise. He moved to the side, letting Arthur come into his office.
"Well, doctor, I was wandering around and accidentally came to this part of the hospital, wished to see you, then I got a little help with that, and now, here I am." Arthur stood in the office, looking at the shelves full of things he never saw before. He had a desire to know about them.
One of the seven shelves was full of books. They were concerning various topics, from epilepsy to psychological diseases. They were thick and probably heavy, but he wished that he could take them into his arms and riffle through them. They would probably be too complex for him, but he wanted to see what was in them.
Kiku led him to the chair across his and sat him down. He observed Arthur. The child was looking around clearly fascinated by the things he had on his shelves, but there wasn't time for that now. Since the chance offered itself, why would he refuse it?
"Arthur", he spoke, which broke Arthur's concentration that was directed to the books and made him jump.
"I am sorry, were you saying something?" Arthur inquired, tilting his head and blushing slightly. Kiku could see that Arthur was entranced with the books, so he decided to show them to him later and explain some things, but it was not the time for that.
"Don't worry, I haven't said anything yet. First of all, does anyone know that you left your room?" To this question, Arthur's body stiffened, and he shook his head. Kiku sighed and picked his office phone up. He called Feliciano.
"Hello. Feliciano, Arthur just appeared in front of my door and is in my office right now. Please go to his room and inform his family not to worry and that I will walk him back after a short conversation, alright? If you can't do it, send someone else. And let it be fast." While he was speaking, he observed Arthur's face. It changed as he heard what Kiku was saying; from the fearful face to the bright smile after he heard that he won't be sent back immediately. When he put the phone down, he even heard a sigh of relief coming from Arthur. He sighed, not knowing what to do, but that changed quickly.
"Alright, Arthur. Can you tell me who helped you find my office?" Arthur shook his head again.
"And why not?" Kiku leaned in, now really intrigued.
"You wouldn't believe me." Arthur curled up, pulling his legs up on the chair and hugging them.
"Why do you think I wouldn't?" Kiku now knew what Arthur wanted to say, but couldn't because he was scared.
"It's because no one believes me. When dad was alive, he would believe and talk to me about them, but now that he is dead, no one wants to talk to me about them anymore. They say that they aren't real. That dad just pretended that he knew what I was talking about, but that's not true. He could see them too. Once I asked for a proof, and he described one of them just as it looked. He even said that everyone could see them while they were children, but they usually pushed them away when their parents would say that they should stop talking about such things and stop with pretend games. He believed in them and believed me. You won't, because you can't see them." This palaver of Arthur's really surprised Kiku, but he kept silent. Arthur just explained some things to him, but he couldn't suppress himself. He slowly stood up, went around his table and knelt in front of the Artur who was sitting all huddled up.
"Arthur, if you let me, I would like to know more", at this Arthur's head shot up and his eyes widened, "but I need to ask you something first." Arthur nodded carefully, like that could determine everything. And somehow, Kiku felt that it could. That scared him, but he still needed to know.
"Who are 'they', Arthur?" Kiku looked deep into Arthur's eyes and could see him mulling over whether to tell him or not. This lasted for a while, long enough that Kiku's knees started hurting.
"Dr. Honda", Kiku jolted, as the silence had crept up in between them awhile ago, "I can see them. The faeries."
