Part II: Awakening

The room would be white with a large window running from one end of the room to the other to the right hand side of the bed whose headboard would be against the adjacent wall. White curtains would be partially open in the center allowing the soft radiant rays of the day time sunlight to illuminate much of the inside of the room. Contrasting the white walls was the dark brown door with a metallic lever type handle. A small room, this would be fit only for one patient to be in at a time. On both the right and left head of the bed there would be a medical night stand; on holding a small lamp and the other bare. The IV machine would be connected to her bed with a small module on it that kept and recorded her vitals. Any notable wounds occurred would be bandaged and anything larger than a cut would have been mended by advanced methods of stitching. Another noticeable change would be the fact that the young lady would no longer be in her clothing. He garments would be a bit breezier as she would have been dressed in a hospital robe. Her clothing would have been washed and folded, placed on a chair that sat to the left side of the bed.

After a few moments, the door opens and an older brunette woman in a pastel light blue nurse’s gown and a white hat walks into the room. Through the opening of the door, there is a momentary glimpse of a man in a black suit that seemed to be waiting outside. The woman makes her way into the interior of Mei’s room and as she walks in, she notices that Mei and seems surprised that she was awake. The nurse greets in a gentle tone, “so you’ve finally awoken. Good morning, sleepy head. How are you feeling? Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?”

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With a gentle nod, the nurse obliges, “sure, honey, let me get that for you.” Standing on the left side of the bed, she moves away from the bed and towards the wall which held a counter and sink. Reaching up, she opens a cabinet above the sink and pulls up a clear cup covered in loose plastic wrap from others that were stacked up in the cabinet. Taking it down and pulling the wrapping off of the cup, she tosses it into the trash bin near her ankles before pressing a button with a blue circular symbol on it to signify that the water was cold. She fills up the cup and walks it back over to Mei, offering it to her with a mild look of kindness on her face. While handing the cup over to her, the nurse speaks, “now that you’re up, you’re going to be just fine. You don’t have any permanent injuries that shouldn’t go away in a few days or so.” With a slightly concerned look, she turns and looks over her shoulder to the dark wooden door behind her before turning back to Mei and continuing, “…because of the accident, there are some people here to speak with you with the city police. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about.... If you’re not feeling well, I’ll ask them to give you some time and to come back later…” She sighs, “They’ve been very persistent in wanting to speak with you as soon as you woke up. Really, those types think they can do anything regardless of how it inconveniences others. Do you feel up to talking with them?”

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The nurse holds a worried expression, not really sure if it would be the best thing to allow them in. She wasn’t completely convinced that Mei was ready to speak with the police about what had happened, but accepting the young lady’s words, she nods and speaks in a soft tone, “okay, Angel, I’ll let them know…” Her words are cut off as the door is opened, something that catches the nurse off guard. A male in a black suit and manicured hair steps into the room sporting shiny black polished shows and a folder of paperwork. Another more masculine male in glasses with an ear piece in his ear minus the paper work walks up behind him as they enter into the room. The nurse looks to the men with a scolding look as she wags her finger, “you can’t just come barging in here like that!” The more slender male speaks to the larger bald one as he comments, “so she is awake, that makes things convenient for us. I do hate waiting…” Looking to the nurse, he comments, “thank you nurse Gutierrez, that will be all for now, we can take it from here.” The nurse seems a bit distressed, but the large male assists in leading her to the door. The larger of the two close the door with the nurses exit and stands by it as the slender male moves Mei’s clothing from the chair to the night stand and makes himself comfortable in the chair, crossing one leg over the over as he opens up the papers that were held in his hand.

His voice is swift and his tone much like a lawyer, judge or salesman as he begins, “I’ll skip the family name and just call you Mei if that’s alright. You can refer to me as Agent Welch…” His tone is slightly distracted at the end as he pulls a pen from within his coat breast pocket and clicks the back of it with his thumb while looking down at her papers before looking up at her. “I just need to get a few statements from you concerning the previous night’s incidents, just to verify a few things officially, so let’s just move right into things.” He is tactless in his approach, “there was one victim, young girl… identified as your sister… found within the house with a bullet in her matching a gun registered to you and in your possession at the time of rescue.” He removes his glasses with his right hand and looks up at Mei to gauge her reaction as he asks, “also dental records confirm your two parent dead, by either murder or suicide… no ballistic evidence found there, but their position suggests a cult like connection to me… and you’re here and alive after the fire destroyed much of the evidence in the house. Would you care to explain what happened with these incident?”

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The seated agent raises an eyebrow at the firm correction and redirection away from any type of cult like reference. He lifts his hand to the side of his face, resting his elbow on the side of the chair as he looked to her attentively, giving her his full attention. He seemed as if he were studying here, but did not seem very receptive to the emotions warranted by the rehashing of painful memories. By the time, she finishes, his body shifts in a bit of a shoulder lift as he says, “hmm…” He rises up and lowers his hand back to his lap, “so you killed your sister over compassion.” He seems to accept this as he comments, “that’s not a big issue. That explains that…” He wields the pen in his right hand as he holds the paper steady in his lap and jots down some notes in his report, basically stating that the gunshot wound was accidental and not related to any criminal activity. As he does this, he says almost like a clerk giving information on where to pay a traffic citation, “The gun has been transferred to the East City police department, so you can pick it up after you’re released from the hospital; there will be no charge for holding it… everything seemed to be in order with its registration.” Looking back up, he seems much more interested as he continues, “now… onto these things say that you saw… I need you to be very clear with me. Did you ‘think’ that you saw something, or do you know that you saw something… and if so, what did you see?” There was a very subtle and dangerous undertone in his voice that suggested that this was a pivotal question in this conversation. He confirms, “because no one else in the neighborhood saw anything…”

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With the explanation, the Agent Welch looks over to the unnamed larger guard who returns his glance before they both look back to Mei. When she describes what she saw, they didn’t seem surprised, nor did they look at her with disbelief. It would seem that the slender male was more concerned about what she knew and saw and of how much of what she knew and saw. The fact that she was a little unsure would ultimately work in her favor against these two as it would mitigate the corrective actions they would have to do to her psyche. Readjusting himself in the chair after her words, Agent Welch brings his fingers together at chest level as he inquires, “so what I’m hearing from you is that you definitely saw something, but you’re not sure of what you saw… but then you might have been hallucinating…” From what she says, the male surmises that she did not actually come in contact with the spirit element. That would reduce the chances of her being tainted by the spirit. He continues to probe a little deeper as he states, “let’s build on that to see if this truly may have been some sort of advanced hallucination. Do you have a description of the thing you saw? Was it only one thing?”

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The two males are very receptive to her words and her description of the beast and person she thinks that she might have seen as well. While listening to her, the male would jot down a few notes on his sheet, keeping it slightly elevated and hidden from her view, though if she really were trying to see what he was writing, the paper would be reflected off of the previously removed glasses held in place on his outer coat breast pocket. He jots down and underlines the words ‘higher order spirit’ and ‘possible yokai or lower order demon.’ Near the end of her words, he comes to the understanding that though what she knew was faint she probably knew a bit too much to be returned to the general population. He jots down the words, ‘candidate for mental reconditioning’ before resting his hand on his pad and looking up at her. He explains, “You’ve just gone through a traumatic experience. This kind of thing is no surprise. We have an office specialized for people with your condition with people who can help you. I’m going to require a follow up visit for you.” He reaches into his coat and pulls out a business card with only his Agent name and number on it in black ink. He jots down only an address that is to a Division 12 funded building in East City; it was basically a type of ‘clinic’ that housed a recalibration chamber, something used to remove the memories of civilians who’ve seen spirits. He hands the card to her stating, “All you need to do is go there and take a few tests… then you’ll be free to go.” His tune changes as he coaxes, “Do this immediately after being discharged, this will be for your own good.” This tone suggested he was wrapping up this meeting.

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The agent’s attention shifts back to her curiously with her words. As she speaks, he folds the papers up and clicks the end of the pen, returning it to his inner coat pocket. He rests his hands on the folded papers on his lap and gives her his attention with a seemingly impatient visage that didn’t seem to have the courtesy to pretend to be sympathetic. Still, as uncomfortable as situations were with traumatized individuals, it seemed to be something that he accepted came with the territory. He would correct this issue with feigning sympathy over the course of the conversation and would follow up to comment, “It’s up to you. The counselors there are very thorough. After the tests are run, there are additional services that are rendered at the center. I’m sure, over time, you can work to getting back to the way you were before this even happened. You do not seem extreme enough for placement at Pleasant Meadows which is good for you.” Partial truth would be placed in his words, since after wiping a portion of her memory then she wouldn’t have to worry about the thought of spirits ever again, unless a scenario like this came up again. Pleasant Meadows, the previously mentioned mental asylum, was only really for those were were very convinced about spirits to the point where society deemed them crazy and incurable; Mei did not seem to match that description. Unfortunately, the therapy would do little to nothing spectacular for the loss of her family, but he assures, “there are therapists there that can help you with the emotional impact of what’s happened. I’m not a counselor, so I can only speak on their behalf. I’m afraid my personal experience won’t really help you in this situation.” He is quick to add, “but originally we came here only to get a statement from you for our superiors; our rush is due to a very busy schedule, so if there aren’t any quick follow up questions, we will leave you to recuperate.”

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The agent nods and gives the comment of, “good.” He stands to his feet while his left hand reaches for the glasses that were in his breast pocket. While holding his papers down and in his right hand, he opens the glasses on the side of his face and fits them onto the frame of his visage. He looks at her behind the glasses as he comments in a pseudo sympatric manner, “good luck in your recovery.” With that, he would turn his back to her and towards the other male who would move as well to open the door for their departure. The slimmer of the two males would walk past the large male who caste a lingering gaze to Mei. The gaze rests on her for a moment before he turns and follows Agent Welch out of the room. With that, the atmosphere of the room would lighten a bit and Mei would be left in peace.

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Ooc: My WC goes to Mei as EXP.