The Other Foot

Chapter 4

"Where the hell am I?!" I cried out loud for heaven's to answer my desperate questions.

"You're in the Ray Of Hope Hospital." Yuhi replied deadpanned.

"I mean place. What place is this?"

"You're in the city of Gaytropolis."

"I am where?!" What the hell? What kind of city was that? I've never heard its name before. And I was pretty sure nobody had either.

"Patient 22, please tell me why don't you have an IBand on?" Her arched eyebrow fell over my wrist, and she looked at me as if I'd done some criminal activity.

I looked at her in utter confusion and asked, "You guys keep mentioning this IBand thingy. What is it really?"

Instead of answering me, she reached inside her back pockets and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. What is she gonna do with those? "Patient 22, you're under arrest for violating the act 9 of IBand regulations. Please cooperate or I will have to use force. Now, since you're a patient, you'll be handcuffed to your bed and there will be one police officer behind this door until you get discharged. After that you will be presented before a judge for the next steps." My head tried to keep up with her utter blasphemy accusations as if IBands were even a legitimate thing! Who did she think she was? I have also read the laws and I was not getting arrested for some made-up thing.

"Yuhi, what the hell are you even talking about? You can't just arrest me for some imaginary band, which I don't even know about in the first place. And did you forget I'm a lawyer? I know about law and you certainly can't arrest me for some stupid stuff."

*after 10 minutes*

"Why the hell am I being handcuffed?! Let me out! I'm a free man!" I growled while pulling the handcuffs with all my might. But the struggle had to stop as the metal was basically cutting in my skin and it was not very heroic to continue the act. Nonetheless, my loud groans and growls kept going.

Yuhi looked unnerved while both Blue and Weirdy gave me strange side glances. "Oh so, you're a lawyer now, huh? Well then tell me why don't you know about our basic law ? The one that clearly states that all people have to wear an Identity Band which will show their name and pronouns so that they won't get misgendered. Why don't you know about it, 22?" Her hand rested on her hips while she cocked her eyebrow at me.

I opened and closed my mouth in an attempt to prove my words somehow but only looked like a fish struggling to breath out of water. "I, uh, I, wait, what exactly do you mean when you say 'pronouns'? Last I checked, they were study materials for second graders."

"I'm asking what set of pronouns do you use? As in he/him, she/her, he/she, they/them, it/its, he/she/they, xe/xem, or any other pronouns. Or if you use all sets of pronouns or none and only your name. By the way, you clearly aced your second grade." My mind was so caught up with those strange sounding words that it totally overlooked the taunt.

"He/him I think. But what the hell does he/she, they/them, and it refers to? And oh, what sound did you utter to say gje/gjem?"

"That's xe/xem and I am not an English teacher, Mr…?"

"Of course you don't remember my name. It's Nimit Agrawal, Ms Yuhi Chauhan." She jotted down my name in her small notepad but her eyes returned to mine in a speculating glaze as I let out her full name but she didn't say anything about it.

"Your case is certainly going to be an interesting one. Mr Agrawal, you make me wonder how you are so ignorant about the world you live in. First, you questioned about the city and then IBand. I think your head hit pretty bad on that tough steering wheel. Which reminds me, do you remember the events before the accident?"