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REPUBLIC OF TAIRAN

Hiju Regional hospital

"Dammit! Dammit!"

Kris bunched his palms as the tremors crept under his skin. He rolled over the bed, groaning, in vain attempts to stop the involuntary palpations.

The rickety hospital bed teetered under his weight, even as he was only skin and bones at this point. His throat went dry and lungs began to burn. As the spasms increased, he gasped for air.

He knew what came next. The spasms would spread through his body, twisting every nerve in his body. Unbearable pain. And then the seizures.

"Just kill me already!"

Kris groaned in despair, clenching his jaws shut, he gripped the sheets begrudgingly.

No.

He couldn't give up like this.

He had to fight.

For the sake of his family.

For the sake of his own life.

"Arghhh!"

He screamed for help, but it was just a hurt cry.

He should have done that when he had felt the tingling on his finger tips. Another episode of seizure was going to degrade his health more, the nurse had told him.

But he had ignored it. For no reason.

Or, there was a reason perhaps.

He was tired.

Tired of the daily suffering.

But this moment, he thought about his siblings. They were still too young, soemwhere out there, fending for themselves while he stayed bound to this hospital bed. And for his parents, well, he had no memory of his parents whatsoever. In fact, he had no memory of anything prior to the accident.

All he knew was that he had no one to watch his back but himself.

Just him.

He was all he had.

The nurse had told him to be extra careful.

His seizures were a rare syndrome. So rare that the doctors themselves seemed to be uncertain about the diagnosis.

And he was supposed to use the critical alarm when in need.

Kris struggled to reach the alarm button on the wall next to the bed. But the trembling of his arm was making impossible to make up the distance.

His head was getting heavy and his sights blurry, as a numbing sensation travelled up the nape of his neck.

"Arghhh! Nurseee!"

Sometime ago, in the whim of desperation, he had almost given up on his life.

But it was a an impulse he no longer harboured.

He didn't want to die.

Kris blinked his eyes to clear the haziness and stretched further, trying to reach the alarm again.

But to no avail.

He didn't want to die.

He had to live through this.

Darkness flashed across Kris's eyes. The young man squirmed as a pang of pain shot through his injured leg. The spasms were causing too much movement on the fractured ankle-bone.

Kris panicked.

He was failing.

Try.

Try harder.

This couldn't be happening.

Don't give up now.

He flailed his hands fiercely, making the things lying on the bedside table fall to the floor with a clatter.

"Mr. Yang!" A woman's startled voice from the door.

Relieving sounds of footsteps rushing toward his bed fell to Kris's ears before his senses went off.