Life as a prisoner patient had started to grow on Lozo. Enough that he could imagine himself staying at the hospital and continuing to play charades with the two men who frequently visited him asking for the same thing every time.
"Are you ready to tell us who you are yet?" Dok would ask.
Lozo would just stay blankly into the compound through his window. He would then proceed to ask.
"How's Hinari doing"
Dok would look at Mr Kisharu and say.
"She's doing just fine. But you'll never get to meet her if you keep this unco-operative act of yours."
Lozo would sigh quietly and retrack back to his quiet state and blankly wonder back to the compound. Kisharu and Dok would then leave disappointed and unsatisfied.
But in as much as he wanted to, Lozo couldn't keep this up any longer. They wouldn't take no as an answer in the coming week, they already had to deal with that for the last four weeks.
"Guess it's time, huh?" Lozo thought one night looking into the moon light through his window. He exhaled before sinking into his sheets and closing his eyes. Not for a sound sleep that is. No, his dreams didn't let him. He had learned to notice when his dreams were about to start and voluntary wake himself up. Tiring as it was, it gave him the little recharge he needed. And he needed plenty, especially for what was to come in the next week.
***
It was the last day of the fourth week since he came to. Lozo was walking along the halls of the hospital, checking out his surroundings. It'd be a shame for him to spend more than two months in the place and come out not even being able to navigate through it. Luckily his surveillance, his serious surveillance, had been dropped for reasons he himself didn't know.
You see on the first few days of his time there, Lozo always knew someone was watching. And during that time his favorite nurse was always with him, her presence just a jingle away. But recently the eyes watching him had dropped considerately. Even his nurse was barely around him.
Even now, she was somewhere else, maybe the other hospital halls. But that worked for him. Now he was able to walk freely with no one breathing down his neck at everything he did. He'd even started helping out some of the nurses, trying to get them to like him. But this plan was a burst. It only ended with them shouting or screaming at him to get the hell away from them. He didn't blame them. They were normals after all.
On this day the halls were empty. He could see a few nurses patrolling the hall. Their number had decreased compared to back in Lozo's first week or even the week before. Luckily for them the number of patients also decreased in this hall, remaining with only a few. Even now, Lozo was the only patient strolling the halls. But the halls being empty didn't prevent them from being noisy.
From time-to-time Lozo could hear screams and cries echo through the hall. It was the reason he was strolling in the hall in the first place. The cries had increased considerately as the week spanned and today, they were at their peak.
While he was in his room, he watched some carriages storm in and out of the perimeter gate in a rush. Something was going on and he intended to find out… that's what he hoped to find out as he approached one of the patrol nurses.
"Excuse…?" he called.
She didn't turn at first. Then he called again.
"Excu…"
"What!" she turned annoyed. Lozo was startled and stepped back a little.
'Yeah, something was defiantly going on.'
"I was wondering… um uh… where are—" as he proceeded to ask his question, he felt something tug his ear. Not gently but with a sting as though trying to pull it out.
"What are you doing outside your room, Unknown 12!" a familiar voice queried.
Before he could turn the voice pulled his ear and yanked him back to his room. Only one person in the entire hospital handled him like that.
***
His room door shut with a bang. Lozo walked to his bed, his hands holding his ear hoping that it wouldn't fall off.
"What was that for?" he asked as he walked, eyes closed trying not to savor the pain.
"Oh! Glad to see you can walk by yourself." Dok's voice said.
Draped in his usual white robe and ashy hair, Dok stood leaning on Lozo's bed. He crossed his arms watching Lozo try to bear with the pain spiking from his ear. He had his usual smile, just like any doctor has when they visit their patients.
"I heard you had another request." He said." Come now, out with it."
…
Lozo took a sit on his bed. His bed had a fluffy mattress almost springy. He'd enjoyed his stay and especially the mattress. But a feeling deep down told him that he would be there for long.
Lozo exhale and looked at Dok. Dok understood what that meant and gave a passive look to the nurse. The nurse had expected this. She was glad to leave and get faraway from the sin she was attending to. She closed the door and left. Her footsteps echoed as she left the hall.
Now that she was gone it was just the two of them. The doctor and the patient.
"Now out with it." Dok said.
"Why do you still tolerate me?" Lozo asked, his tone dropping to a darker more serious tone.
"Why?" Dok asked looking to the ceiling with his finger tapping his chin.
"From my estimate I've been here for the last four weeks… two months if you add the month I was unconscious. Over and over again you've asked me questions and I have failed to cooperate. And yet when I made a request you willingly agreed to it."
"Why?" Lozo asked. His eyes were flat an improvement from his dead look.
Dok smiled.
"This is why. Right here right now. This why I tolerated you for this long." He answered.
Lozo looked at him confused. Dok noticed this.
"Do you remember the first thing I told you?" he asked.
Lozo nodded.
"It's quite painful for me to see young people like you go through petrifying times with no one to lean on. You and the little girl—I can sense that you went through something horrible before Kisharu and the others found you. And whatever it was must have been great endeavor that you postponed your grieving and held it back…" Dok paused on seeing Lozo's eyes drop to the floor.
He could see a potential tear bank at his eye lid, rearing to drop, but was pulled back.
"The reason I acted as I did was for you to willingly open up to me in whatever way that felt right to you. Just like now. This small interaction with you is what I aimed for. For you to feel safe. For you to realize that the enemy is gone and it's just me, Dok, here with you." He added still smiling.
His expression peeved Lozo. The way he smiled and talked. Annoying. But Lozo could admit one thing. The air around the man, Dok, had a settling feel to it. Just like one that swayed around the sycamore tree.
It felt safe. Safe enough for him to ask…
"Well then Mr Dok, I have a request… A final request."
"I'm here and listening." Dok responded.
"I'd like to meet Hinari." Lozo said finality.