If Love Could Be The Cure We Need - A MakoHaru Medical AU

Chapter 15: Disappear

Haruka Nanase

Makoto's clenching my shirt while we watch the movie Nagisa has chosen. It's not really that creepy, but Makoto seems terrified, almost crawling behind me.

He shrieks, but there isn't even really a jump scare, just that doll laying in a moving chair.

I wince, because his scream is so loud. I wonder if it would be a good idea to wrap my hand around him, because maybe that way he would be less scared.

I'm staring at Makoto, because he's not even watching the movie anymore. I want to ask if he's okay, because he looks very scared, but when his eyes meet mine he lets go of my t-shirt in an instance.

He glares at me with big eyes, mouthed opened as he suddenly starts crying out of nothing. My heart stops beating, not because Makoto's eyes look even prettier with the glistering wetness over them, but because I have a bad feeling about this.

I glance up at Rin, who's seemingly noticed something's off as well.

"Nagisa, turn the movie off," he says, without turning away from Makoto.

Makoto's body jolts against mine while Rin talks, and all of a sudden Makoto shoots off the bed. He's stumbling, running as far from the bed as possible.

"Nagisa, now!" Rin says, louder this time.

I watch as Rin slides off the bed and leans forward to Makoto. He starts sobbing now, almost as if he's scared of Rin for some reason.

"No!" Makoto yells at Rin, trying to go even further backwards.

With his back against the wall, he gives Rin a hard kick. All the air forces out of Rin's lungs and he starts coughing so hard I'm almost worried that Makoto just broke one of Rin's ribs with that kick.

"No," Makoto mumbles now, in between sobs. "Please, don't hurt me."

Rin keeps coughing and when he moves his hand away from his mouth there's a small stain of dark blood in his palm.

He wipes it off on his pants and turns around to us. My gaze moves to Rei and Nagisa who are watching terror while Rin tells them that it looks like this episode is worst than ever before.

"I'll get a nurse," Rin says, slowly getting back on him feet while trying not to startle Makoto. "You just make sure he doesn't freak out too much."

No one of us nods, but we all will do what Rin asks us. As he turns around to the door I see that he winces and wraps his hand around his own chest. But he still quickly moves out of the room and we're left alone with Makoto.

He looks like a little kid who just has seen a ghost, sobbing and crying in the corner of Rei's room.

I want to say something, anything, to calm Makoto down. But I can't think of anything, because the fear just takes over my brain. It stings to see Makoto like this even more now I know what's going on.

Right now there's just some kind of error inside his brain, throwing his brain back to childhood where monsters seem to be hiding in his closet or something like that.

And I just hate the look he gives me, because he doesn't just not recognize me; he's afraid of me.

Everything from the way he moves to the way his eyes glare at us, it's all different. Almost like the seventeen-year-old Makoto who this body belongs to has disappeared into thin air.

It scares me, because both Rin and Makoto have made sure to let me know that one day this will be how Makoto will have to function. But what if that means that for the rest of his life he'll be terrified of us?

I shake my head, because that won't happen... it just can't.

Makoto is just seventeen, he has his entire life in front of him and that can't be taken away by some stupid disease. But his brain is failing him, no matter how young he is, and he suffers because of it.

I catch myself pressing myself against the wall on the exact opposite corner of the room from where Makoto's curled up in a little ball of panic. I'm trying to move away from everything, because I'm not sad... I'm just as scared at Makoto is right now, maybe even more scared because I'm seeing this in reality is and what is actually going on, not just blurs and hallucinations like Makoto.

The door opens and Makoto shrieks again, his voice loud and high-pitched.

It's just one of the nurses, Rin brought two just to be sure, but Makoto looks so scared that I'm almost convinced that he's seeing them as terrifying creatures.

The nurse I don't recognize walks up to Makoto and kneels down beside him. Makoto again defends himself by kicking and hitting around himself while sobbing and screaming.

I close my eyes, because I can't watch while the nurse is almost strangling Makoto. But I can still hear the sound of screaming, almost as if Makoto's being slaughtered.

A hand on my shoulder causes me to open my eyes. It's Rin, mouthing to follow him outside. I do so, getting up from the bed and walking past Makoto without even looking at him because I don't want to go to sleep with that image stuck in my mind.

The other nurse, nurse Aki, is waiting as Rin and I join Nagisa and Rei outside of the room. She has her hands on her hips and looks disappointed in all of us.

"Guys, I know you want to do movie nights," she begins, her tone stern but still kind of compassionate. "But you know the limit is three, not more, in one room. It's too crowded, and now look what happened?"

Is she blaming us for what happened to Makoto?

I frown in a mix anger and confusement. She can't be blaming us; it's that stupid disease that's hurting Makoto this much, not us.

When my gaze meets Nagisa's eyes I see that he's crying, so are Rin and Rei. They've seen this quite a few times before and seeing their reaction this indeed was much worse than before.

They had to see that, I had to see that, and all nurse Aki can do is be mad at us for being with too many people in one room. That's really the most she can worry about now? Instead of helping her fellow nurse get Makoto to calm down, she's giving us a speech.

"Yeah, yeah," Rin mumbles in between sobs and coughs. "We know. We are sorry." He doesn't sound sorry, I think none of are to be honest. We just want to know if our friend is okay, not whether we are going to get a warning because of this. And Rin makes this crystal clear. "Will Makoto be okay?" he asks, his tone commanding.

Nurse Aki shrugs, the tone in her voice changes as she says, "I think he will be, this didn't look like something too big."

Not to big!? If this isn't something too big or worrisome that must mean it'll be even worse as time passes. And Makoto will have to continue living in a state even worse than this.

I swallow, probably audible because everyone's eyes shoot at me for just a second before they slowly look back at nurse Aki again.

"Just go to bed, we'll take care of Makoto in the meantime," she reassures us with a kind smile. "I'm sorry, Rei, but you'll have to wait until we get Makoto so far that he's able to leave your room. But the rest of you, get some rest. We'll let you know how Makoto's doing in the morning."

We nod, in silence and when I turn around to walk to my room a little above Rei's I hear Rin's voice interrupting the silence. His voice is hoarse and quiet as he asks something to the nurse.

I can barely hear him as I walk away, but I'm sure he asked her, "Uhm, I think Makoto might've hurt my lung when he kicked me away." I hear him coughing, it sounds bad. "I don't think this is good, can you maybe take a look at it?"

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Memory Cards? I mean, I guess they can come in handy :)