Your head is running wild again

My dear we still have everythin’

And it’s all in your mind

-Pink & Nate Ruess: Just Give Me A Reason-

“Dongwoon, you…you didn’t tell us…she’s-”

“It’s not like what you guys think,” Dongwoon quickly interfered Yoseob, “Her name is Erika and that’s all she could remember,” he looked at Yoseob and shook his head.  Only the three of them understood each other.  Erika looked at them blankly.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, “Am I not accepted here?”

“No.  No, Erika.  We welcome you here.  I am Yoshikuni, Yoshikuni Sachiyo,” the woman introduced herself and shook her hand.

“You are real,” Erika said, more of an obvious statement.  She still couldn’t believe herself.

“Let me take a look at your hand.  Come in,” said Yoshikuni while she gently pulled Erika to follow her.

Dongwoon followed them with only his eyes.  Once their shadows were no longer in his sight, he sighed tiredly.  He ruffled his hair and then walked to a huge counter, where they usually put their bags after their day out.  To monitor the safety closely, Yoshikuni would say.  He laid down his own bag pack before putting Erika’s dirty and tattered one.  He took a stick-it-note and a pen, then jot down a reminder for the bag to be further inspected.  A second later, he felt Yoseob’s hand on his shoulder.

“You okay, Dongwoon?” he asked although he already knew the answer.

“It’s really her,” Dongwoon was not answering Yoseob.  He was making a statement.

“Obviously,” answered Yoseob.  He heard Dongwoon sighed again.

“I think I need my rest,” Dongwoon said and gave a small smile to Yoseob, indicating that he did not have to worry about him.

“Don’t forget your medication,” Yoseob reminded Dongwoon because he might just forget about it because of the emotional distress.

“I am not the only one who is forgetful right now,” Dongwoon said without looking at Yoseob, tone was contaminated with disappointment and Yoseob made a mental note to check on that man again after he finished helping Yoshikuni with the new member of the family.

+++++

Yoshikuni checked the wound and she confirmed that it needed sutures.  But, before that, she needed to sterilize her hands first and most importantly Erika’s hand.  Who knew where she had been before and what kind of bacteria were on her hand right now?  Erika travelled far to reach them.  She was contaminated and without disinfecting, there could be some serious complication.  It was not a hard job for her.  After all, she’s a doctor and will always be a doctor.  She had seen worse.

After she was done sterilizing, she took a pair of rubber gloves and put them on both hands.  She saw Erika’s curious eyes, must be wondering where the hell they got their hands on the supplies of meds and medic tools.  Erika will always be Erika, always curious, no matter what condition she was in at that moment.

“I need to give you stitches, but I have to clean you first.  The antiseptic might sting.  But, I’ll inject you with anaesthetic, just enough to make it numb,” explained Yoshikuni because she knew that Erika must still be suspicious of them who came out of nowhere and offered her helps.

She nodded blankly.  Yoshikuni smiled and filled the syringe with fluid that only she knew what it was.  When she was about to give the injection, Yoseob came in.  He looked very prepared to be given instruction by her.

“How’s that guy holding up?” she asked and Yoseob didn’t need to ask to know who she was referring to.

“Well enough.  At least he didn’t get crazy over it,” Yoseob said, washing and scrubbing his hands.

“Would you?”

“Would I what?”

“Get crazy over it if the same thing happened to you?” asked the doctor to the comp whiz.

“Can’t say anything,” Yoseob shrugged, “I…really don’t know.”

Yoshikuni nodded.  She too, can’t really say it.  She can’t imagine herself in Dongwoon’s shoes.  Without wasting even more time she quickly inserted the suture thread into the surgical needle’s eye.  She pushed aside the tongs and cottons she used to clean Erika’s hand aside to give her more room to concentrate in stitching up the laceration.

“You could start with her feet.  You know the drill,” she said.

Yoseob understood that by ‘drill’, she was instructing him to take off the shoes and socks and clean her feet and look for any more injuries that needed her attention.  Yoseob was in Erika’s place before and Doojoon was the one who did the ‘drill’ while Yoshikuni did it on another woman.

So, he took off the boots and the socks and while doing it, he stole a glance at Erika, who still looked so paranoid and yet so depending on them.  He smiled at her, a sign of assurance that she can trust him and can always trust him.  He started by scrubbing her feet clean with a sponge.  He looked at her every so often to see if she was in pain while he was cleaning her feet.  But, she just stared about everywhere blankly.  Ignoring the disappointment in his own heart, he proceeded by cutting her toenails which were somehow jagged, like they were broken so many times over and over again.  He ended the process by scrubbing clean the dirt hidden under them.

“I’m Erika,” she said, directed to Yoseob.

Yoseob thought she was insanely forgetful, that she forgot Dongwoon already introduced her name to them a while ago, but then he caught her tone.  She was actually asking him to introduce himself.  Of course, she knew Dongwoon and Yoshikuni already.

“I’m Yoseob,” he said and smiled, at the same time trying to look cool and hide the upsurge of emotion in him.

Yoseob thought he could burst, shouting to Erika, telling her that she should be the ‘Erika’, but the sudden intrude at the door stopped him from doing so.

“You…don’t tell me…no.  Tell me that my eyes are not playing trick on me!” that was Doojoon.  The moment he stepped into the room and saw the woman, who was being treated, his mind just went wild.

“Why Dooj-Oh my God!” another woman came into the room and she covered with both hands to avoid further shouting.

“What the hell is hap-Are you kidding me?!” another man came in with a very shocked expression in his face.

The situation was quite confusing for Erika.  She was the one who should be surprised because the numbers of surviving human she saw today were far exceeding her own expectation.  But, why should they be highly shocked when they saw her?  First, Dongwoon, well, he wasn’t that shocked but there was something at the way he looked at her.  Yoshikuni and Yoseob appeared speechless just now when they first met.  And now?  Two men and a woman went all jaw-hanged and eyes-widen on her.  The woman suddenly rushed to her and was stopped by Yoshikuni.

“Sierra, guys, calm down.  This is Erika and that was all she could remember for the time being.  I hope you won’t get all excited and question her so many things,” Yoshikuni took over the situation quite expertly.

“You mean…” Sierra, Erika now knew her name thanked to Yoshikuni, exchanged glances with Yoseob and Yoshikuni.

“Sierra…” Yoshikuni shook her head.  Sierra’s bottom lip was shaking, like she was straining herself from crying.

“Of course, yes.  I-I’m sorry.  Just got too excited after so long  we haven’t added new members to this fam-family,” Sierra said, “I-I need to…to change, yes, to change,” and she went away.

Yoseob was not stupid.  She saw her shoulders shaking.  She must be crying her heart out.  A moment ago, he was feeling the same thing.  He quickly got onto his feet and took of the rubber gloves.  He gave Erika a smile before he left for Sierra.

“Yoshikuni?” Doojoon demanded explanation right away.  The doctor shook her head.

“Why don’t you help me with this first, Doojoon?  Erika needs her treatment and I can’t do this alone,” her voice cracked too, “Please?”

Doojoon was more than understanding.  He too, was mixing with emotion right now but someone had to be strong in this situation and Doojoon will always be the person who stayed strong for Yoshikuni, although he had to curb everything inside him.  He went to the sink to wash his hands and prepared for the next drill.

“Who found her?”

Suddenly, Junhyung broke the silence because he knew damn well who found Erika.  Yoseob and Yoshikuni were always at the base while himself, Doojoon and Sierra always went out for food and meds scavenging, etc.  That only left with one person, the one whom in Junhyung’s opinion should be the last person to find whoever this Erika was.  Yoshikuni sighed.

“You know who, Junhyung,” Yoshikuni didn’t look at him in the eyes.

Junhyung sighed and rubbed his face, rubbing away the shock, rubbing away the tiredness, rubbing away the guilt.  He closed his eyes, trying to gain his composure because God knew how he was angry with himself right now.

“Where’s he?  Where’s Dongwoon?” he asked, voice almost stuck in his throat.

“I was here from the beginning.  Yoseob was the last one saw him,” Yoshikuni said and Doojoon silently watched the stressed interaction between the best friends.

Junhyung muttered a thank you and walked out of the room, leaving the three of them in awkward silent.  A few seconds later, Doojoon could hear a sniffing sound and he knew very well that Yoshikuni was at the edge of crying.  He looked at Erika, who was staring at him since just now.

“I heard that your name is Doojoon.  Who’s that guy who left just now?” she asked him.

Doojoon looked into her blank eyes.  He understood why everyone was having an emotional turmoil because he too, felt the same right now.

+++++

Yesterday, they were overcome by surprise.  First, they actually thought they will never find another surviving human on the destroyed land after seven months they saved Yoseob and Sierra, who were the latest addition to the members before Erika.  Seven months was quite a long wait for them considering they were on the land without food chain, let alone surviving by oneself for a year.  Second, they found Erika.  Not just Erika, but ‘the’ Erika.

They first thought she was a doppelganger, someone who really resembled ‘their’ Erika.  But, they knew she was ‘the’ Erika when they treated her last night.  The scar she got on her left arm, the double eyelids and the face that was never very smooth.  They knew it was her.  The only thing that made her a different Erika was that she did not have the memories Erika was supposed to have.  That made her an entirely different person.

But, they still believed that she was the Erika.

Their first theory was that something must had happened during one year they lost her, something terrible that made she forgot the entire thing.  Their second theory was that she pretended not to know anything, while she was actually sent by their enemies to spy on them and destroy them.  It was a war time, so that could be legit.  But, they would rather go with their first theory, less disturbing that way.  Furthermore, Junhyung had done a thorough check on that bag pack last night and it was clean, not physically but as in clear of suspicion.

“Nothing, really.  It was just an old bag pack, torn.  I did a check on the military uniform as well and found nothing suspicious.  But, one thing that will help us to prove she’s our Erika is that uniform.  It is a uniform of the Russian based on the code number,” explained Junhyung.

“And?” Yoshikuni asked for more information.

“The last place we knew Erika was at before this whole mess happened was the T-212 drilling site in Texas, where she went to investigate the oil prospect,” Doojoon said while flipping eggs in the frying pan.

“But, then the Russian took over the place and that was the beginning of Oil War in the US,” Sierra added.

“That uniform could tell that she’s our Erika, escaped from that site somehow wearing it.  I don’t know.  Anything could happen when the site was taken over.  We heard the news.  Everybody was killed on site when the bomb exploded in series.  She might have escaped earlier by wearing that uniform in disguise,” Junhyung assumed.

“Escaped,” Dongwoon muttered, “And forgot everything…” his tone was curious.

“We don’t know what happened, Dongwoon.  She could have knocked her head somewhere when the whole site was blown off,” Doojoon shrugged.

“Yes, Dongwoon.  You, out of all people, should know how lucky she is to escape death when the site was blasted.  You are lucky too,” said Yoshikuni.

“No.  No.  That’s not my point.  You guys don’t get the picture.  I’m happy she’s alive, yes, who doesn’t?  What I’m trying to say is that Hyunseung was with her at the site as well.  Is it possible that he escaped too and right now is wandering around the land trying to find us as well?  I mean, if he still remembers us, he doesn’t lose memory like she does, wouldn’t he try to get to us?” Dongwoon asked.

The kitchen was filled with pregnant silent.  Sierra and Yoseob looked at each other.  Junhyung tapped the kitchen counter.  Doojoon’s expression was curious although he appeared to be busy scooping the scramble eggs into the plate.  In the end, Yoshikuni spoke.

“If he escaped,” she said, shrugging, “If not, he’s dead and is possibly rotten by now, nope, just a useless skeleton.”

“Right…”

It was another silent until they heard footsteps approaching the kitchen.  Then, there she was, standing by the door, rubbing her eyes.  Erika looked at them.

“You guys are real,” she said.

When Erika woke up that morning, she had a thought that everything was a dream, that last night couldn’t possibly happen.  She didn’t find any human, she was not treated, she wasn’t fed, nothing like those could possibly happened in this wrecked world.  But, she woke up to the cosiness of a mattress and her hand was bandaged and she was cleaned.  She didn’t wake up feeling thirsty like the day before.  A bottle of fresh water was there on the bedside table.  She didn’t see any of them though, so she walked around and found them here in the kitchen.

“Morning, Erika,” Dongwoon said and he smiled at her, “How are you feeling today?”

“Never better,” she said and smiled widely.  For so long, nobody had greeted her in the morning and she felt grateful that he actually did that.

“Why don’t you take a seat, Erika?  We are about to serve breakfast,” Sierra said and pulled a chair for her.

Erika walked into the kitchen and sat herself on the wooden chair offered by Sierra.  She looked at Doojoon who were serving eggs and sausages into each plate.  Yoseob took out baked potatoes from the griller and also put them on those plates.  Junhyung poured milk from a label-less bottle and served the glasses onto the dining table.  Then, all of them took their own seat, getting ready to eat.  Dongwoon took the seat beside her.

“Salad?” he offered her.  She looked at the food with disbelief and nodded.

“Where…where do you guys get all the supplies?  Fresh food?” she asked.

Yoseob and Sierra looked at each other and smiled.  Junghyun smirked.  Doojoon and Yoshikuni both offered her a smile.  Dongwoon chuckled.

“You had a good rest last night?” Yoseob asked, “Because you are going to need energy for your tour today!”

Listening to: Yang Yoseob - Caffeine

Mood: Sleepy =.=