A soft muffled voice hums in my sleep, voices, I correct myself. I hear different voices, falling mute as I fall deeper into my slumber. I remember sad, brown eyes looking back at me or were they black? I opened my eyes to check but a strong luminance was all I saw.

“You’re awake.” A stable voice welcomes my senses. My eyes wander around my environment, finding the extremely sterile air off-putting. Needles connected to tubes were pierced in my skin and I jump in fright, attempting to pull them off when the woman with the stable voice gives me a look.

My eyes dart around the room, not exactly feeling like myself. My eyes fall into the man I saved, wearing the same loose fitting fabric as I was. “Is he okay?” White, coarse-looking fabric was secured around his head and the same fabric peeking through his clothing.

The woman possessing the stable voice doesn’t respond. She was tinkering with small clear things with needles at the end of them.

“May I go now?” I pull up my upper body, feeling a light tug on my arm as the tubes resist my movement. “Yes, let me call the doctor.”

The doctor was a male, I should have expected it but his presence startled me a bit as he checks the foreign machines beside me and beside him(the man I saved). “Well, you’re good to go. I just need you to sign some papers.”

I ‘signed’ the papers, the thin pen almost sliding out of my frail, weak hands. He walks back to his office, reminding me that someone was there waiting for me. I thought he meant the man I saved but it turns out that a different person was in the room as I slid the door close.

“Good morning.” He has a surprisingly soft voice. He walks towards me and offers me a seat on my bed. He looks over the other man, then to me. I dust my temporary clothes and sit down, tucking my legs beneath the bed and folding my hands on my lap, his eyes following my every move. “Do you know what happened?”  

“I was travelling west, when four guys started to howl at me and call me unpleasant names. I lured them into an alley…” I paused, searching my brain, should I tell him all I know?

“Yes, go on.” He nods, seemingly understanding of my hesitation. “I managed to run from them but they saw him and hurt him. I was thinking of…”  Wait, I cannot believe I tried to deceive people, oh my. I’m picking up their ways. I cautiously gaze at his eyes, his were only locked on mine, attentive. “I almost ran without helping him but he begged for help so I helped him.”

“How much do you weigh?” “Excuse me?” His appearance dawns on me, wearing black clothing from head to toe with his scruffy hair and face dotted with stubble, he looks like a bad person. I immediately stand, almost knocking down the machines beside his bed.

“Oh, miss. Calm down, I’m a detective.” He shows a shiny piece of metal to me and a card. He takes the card and slowly puts it in my hands. I read the card, most of the words not making any sense but still I put my trust in him fully.

“Back to my question, how much do you weigh?”

“I do not know.” I reply to him, bunching up the loose fabric in my hands. “Either way, I don’t understand how you can inflict damage on guys taller than 6 feet and weighing 200lbs.” He taps his fingers on my arm, my body jerking away in response.

“I need you to come with me.” He gives me a hard look and stands up, walking away, his polished shoes reflecting the strong lights from the ceiling.

**

I enter the building hesitantly, cool breeze drying my sweat as it blew out from a tall machine. He guided me to an isolated room, with a different person waiting, sitting still on a chair with a wooden table in front of him.

“Please sit down.”

He gives me a piece of paper, not wasting any time as I situated myself across him. I read the notice, with my picture and huge words saying that I am missing. I nod, understanding why