Humane

Chapter 9

I swung my legs under the chair, fingers pressed upon a cotton swab on my arm, waiting for Marlon to finish with his vaccine shot.

Marlon had transformed since the last I saw him. His raven colored hair seemed to be lighter, his palms had several marks signifying he dug his nails into his palms till they bled, and he even wobbled slightly while walking. He was losing years of his life. I had noticed him getting quite irritable with his parents when I ran into him, and his unhealthy life methods were evident in his face - he had bags under his eyes and his breathing was constantly ragged.

He was even more stressed than I was.

My thoughts centered around his sister. I had never heard of her, not once, and neither had I ever seen her on the news on the list of casualties. Of course, Marlon's words when he visited me were suspicious, but more than that, it was still weird. He not only claimed to have been involved with a mobile doll, but also about rumors that never reached my ears... yet he was not a bad person. It even reminded me of the abnormality of the video's disappearance.

If a complete person had disappeared and only Marlon remembered–

The hair on my hands stood up when I heard an abrupt loud clang - several metal objects had been dropped due to some accident. Disposing the cotton, I poked my head around a wall to inspect. The receptionist had tripped over and lost grip upon a tray holding a few dozen syringes.

I grimaced; would those syringes never be used again? That would be a huge loss.

"May I help you?" I asked, walking over into the hallway. The receptionist nodded, requesting me to collect all the syringes on the fallen tray and place them upon the nearby table. I agreed and allowed her to hurry into the corridor. She seemed to be involved in urgent business.

A hospital meant death.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. This hospital wasn't even the one my grandfather died in. Why was I always so sensitive to the smell of antiseptic?

I blinked away the tears starting to form and went through the syringes. I noticed some defective ones upon inspection; few had a bent needle and few had a rusted needle. I gathered all of them and placed them in a heap separate from the pile of proper syringes, just in case it was decided to disinfect all the needles rather than throwing them away.

Between everything, a small figment of my grandfather came to me once again, only to leave me just as quick. I had forgotten him; I couldn't recall his words, his smell, and his laugh anymore.

"Ava," I heard Marlon call from behind, "what are you doing?"

Joker's presence started boring a hole through me, which was a little out of normal since I had gotten well acquainted with Joker by then. But perhaps it was related to Marlon and his involvement from once upon a time. I didn't bother to think deep into it, though, because what was there to get? I was living on borrowed time anyway. Doll had one kill chalked up in her name already while I could not hurt a person.

How long did I have until I became a ferocious beast?

"Oh, the receptionist asked me to pick these up." I motioned towards the syringes. "You're done?"

"Yes," he answered, hastily rubbing his arm with the cotton. He was itching to tell me something; it was evident due to his impatience. "Ava, how've you been?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words formed. I hadn't thought much into it because it was a question that no one really asked.

His actions ceased. "Hey?"

"I... I'm alive, I guess?"

He saw something in me that I couldn't. He calmly said, "Don't lose your head, Ava."