Inside a hospital room

  Three days had passed since the battle with King Cobra. There were no signs of new demon attacks.

  Blurry chatter drifted down the hospital corridor like ghostly conversations caught in a loop of static playback. Inside a corner room, a television mounted high on the upper left corner of a sheet-white wall flickered with colourful figures, subtitle pacing across the bottom of the screen.

  Like a mundane duty, a nurse drew the curtain and pushed open the window to welcome the first breath of morning breeze. The blazing heat of the sun followed in, chasing shadow from the room and filling it with a renewed vitality.

  The nurse gave a satisfied nod. She glanced over her shoulder to peek at her patient, before tidying the desk that was already vacant beside a daily check-in sheet, before leaving the room. As she walked out, she caught a person waiting by the door.

  A look of concern splashed across her face. Raising her eyebrows, she asked, “Are you newly admitted? This room belongs to another patient. What is your name? I can help you find your room.”

  “No, I am not a patient.” A weary voice parted from his lips. “I’m here to visit her. I’m from the Exorcist.”

  The nurse immediately tensed up. “Oh, sorry! My sincere apology. Please go ahead!”

  The speaker returned her a polite bow, but the nurse instantly cast down her head and rushed into another patient’s room nearby.

  A cold atmosphere enveloped his mind, distancing him from the warmth of the room that seemed delusive in comparison.

  Guess this is the new normal. He gave a discerning shake, as if indifferent to the discomfort of the cold.

  Inside the room, the patient was laying asleep on a coffin-sized bed, her body slanted to the side, barely fitting its length. She had only been discharged from the intensive care unit, and the doctor had already assured him with confidence that her condition was improving.

  Seeing her for the first time since then, he felt a moment of relief, having finally assured that the doctor was not only right, but had also upheld his responsibility like a true healer should, unlike the kind of corruption he was familiar with.

  As if a burden was lifted off his shoulder, the Angel casually shifted his glance around the room before settling on the movie above.

  “This musts be the new, Romeo is lost, movie.” He leaned forward slightly and grabbed the remote control by the bedside to turn up the volume.

  All of a sudden, the patient jolted awake, nearly kicking herself off the bed. The Angel switched down the volume in a reflexive instant, but the patient was already sitting up, stiff and motionless in a forward-leaning posture, as if possessed by a rush of flashback akin to a nightmare.

  And just as the Angel expected, she started screaming, withholding no shame, all the while repeating her child’s name. He stood in the vicinity of her pain, silently watching her, before prompting himself to gently tap her shoulder.

  “This is the hospital, Mrs. Yang. You are safe, please don’t worry.”

  The unfamiliar gentleness in his voice struck a wariness in her, one she refused to take kindly. And almost like a trauma response, she turned and screamed, her mouth spilling painful words, until her eyes met the man, whose face looked nothing like what she had imagined.

  All her defensive emotions dissolved in an instant. The man standing before her was missing half of his face, while the other half was heavily bandaged. Even with a torn mouth that turned unevenly downward at the corner, she could trace a faint smile that deepened the sincerity in his eyes, which seemed like they were carved out from a hole in his face.

  “Who are you?”, the question came out before she had the chance to think twice and immediately regret it, thinking whether she was rude.

  “You can call me Hue. I am from... the Exorcist.”

  As soon as he said those lines, she caught his black exorcist coat draping over his shoulder. All the previous emotions came flooding back again.

  “Exorcist! Exorcist! Please, please say he is fine. Please. I beg you. My son is fine, right?”

  Her voice, though clear, shivered with every breath as if it couldn’t contain her fear. Pressing two palms together, she leaned towards him like a beggar.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I am so sorry, Madam. I am sorry.” Hue took a deep breath, his eyes flashed with tears as he continued, trying not to break his voice. “Your son, he is no longer with us. I was with him until the very end. We were fighting an elite demon and were overpowered. Unfortunately, we lost Su too. I didn’t think I would have survived either. I am sorry about all of this.”

  There was no response beside a gasping wail that sounded suffocating. Hue looked down and met her swollen eyes, which, despite any strangling effort, couldn’t hold back waves of tears cascading down her cheek and drenching her blanket.

  Heat rushed up his spine. It was moment like this which made him question whether life was fair. For a mother who just lost her kids, and for the kid who just wanted to protect his sister, was it fair for them to be subjected to this kind of conclusion, when people like him got to survive, despite placing the explosive that killed Tin. Perhaps survival wasn’t meant to be the greatest gift of life.

  “Mrs Yang, even though he is gone, he...he is one of the bravest souls I have ever met. He didn’t shiver the slightest bit and stood his ground firmly, even in the face of the demon. The final moment was quick and painless, this one I can assure you! I -”

  “I saw Tin in my dream.” She immediately cut his sentence. “He was embraced by a very bright light. It felt so warm and peaceful. I called his name, and he just smiled back at me. Even though he didn’t say anything, I can feel the life in him. I think…”

  She paused and let out a breath of sorrow. “…he is with Lord Father now. He is, I am sure. My little boy, my sweetheart. I pray that you are not in pain anymore. I pray that you are with Su and the two of you will forever be free, forever together.”

  Hue swallowed his words and nodded at her. “Of course! Of course! Lord Father is with them. Nobody can hurt them anymore. They are safe in heaven’s palms.”

  “Thank you, Angel. Thank you for staying by his side until the very end. Though Tin and Su are still young, they have always been grateful for every little thing in life. They always say thank you and rarely complain.” The note ended on a softer tone, carrying a whispery yearning, like a dandelion seed swept away on a windy spring day.

  “Madam, please allow me to attend to all your needs from today onwards. Even though I am a cripple now, I can still fight. I am still an Angel and I will uphold this responsibility until the end of my life. Let me be your guard from today onwards. This is a personal request.”

  Mrs. Yang looked across the room. Her glance drifted lifelessly from one corner to another as she inattentively answered, “Why?”

  “We fail to protect you and your family. I want to do something for you, while I still can. Anything you need, I will do it for you, as long as you don’t mind this look of mine.”

  “Young man, my kids are no more here. There is nothing I need. Nothing matters now.”

  “That’s fine. I am happy to do trivial tasks too. Cooking? Running errands? Just shout when you need. I will just be a call away.”

  She couldn’t help but smile a little. “You are just like my husband when he was young. Unfortunately, he changed and left.”

  Hue felt a knot in his stomach knowing what had happened to her husband. As if she read the change in his composure, she spoke, “It’s ok, you can tell me. I have already prepared myself for any news related to him.”

  “The Exorcist team in the Bay Bellamy Town found his body just a few days ago, stranded in a landfill site on the outskirts of the town.”

  “I see…” After a long hunting pause she continued, “I couldn’t stop him from going there.”

  “There?”

  “The tower.”

  Hue couldn’t believe what he just heard. “You mean the tower is in the Bay Bellamy Town right now?!”

  “Yeah…that’s what he said. His obsession started slowly and subtly; I didn’t even notice it at first. It all started with a nightmare he had one night, which he firmly believed prophesied the death of our two children. He liked to describe it as a mist of darkness, growing pair of bloodied eyes stalking our family days and nights. Sometimes it whispered words of wisdom to him; sometimes blatantly throwing threats and curses.”

  Her eyes lifted to Hue’s face. Motioning her hand, she started drawing imaginary eyes in the air where she could trace his dotted eyes. “But every time, when those eyes saw Tin and Su, it cried heavy rain forming a blood stream that flowed through the garden in our backyard. The dream became more and more vivid, with Tin and Su eventually disappearing. He believed they followed the river track to climb the sky and reach for the eyes.”

  Hue was left speechless by the level of gruesome details in the dream. A recurring nightmare like this that grew darker over time always indicated a deeper soul tragedy.

  Mrs Sunny Yang continued, “He believed those eyes were the demon’s eyes. Day by day, he grew more and more agitated, doing everything he could to defeat this invisible threat. He would buy different charms, practice different rituals and even collect all sorts of exorcists’ weapons sold by illegitimate sellers.”

  “Why didn’t he come to the Exorcist for help?”

  “Well, he hated you guys. I don’t know why but he despised the Exorcist. He said you will never be able to save our children, and your Captain has issues.”

  “...”

  “After everything he had done he was still not satisfied and made the final decision to find the tower. He believed that was the only way to end the curse and protect the family. But in the end, he still couldn’t prevent what he had dedicated his whole life to. It felt like he was possessed himself. Like he has a trauma—”

  “... a soul trauma. You mean a soul trauma carried over from previous lives.” Hue completed the sentence.

  “Wh-What does this mean?”

  “It means the soul, even after reincarnating, continues to carry unresolved pain from its past. Those emotions manifest as unrecognisable yet familiar memories in the present life, keeping the soul in a loop of suffering in search for a mean to relieve the pain. In extreme cases, this could even lead to repeating tragedies. We might need to do an extensive ritual for your husband to free his soul...and for you and your children’s protection as well. I will help you with that.”