Forgotten Brother  

Shortly after he let out his relieved words from his parched lips, the nurse beside him pressed a button.

He feared that doctors were being called in to assess his condition. But as they waited, she seemed to be gently wiping a sort of cloth over him.

It was a pleasantly refreshing sensation, and afterward, he felt as if he had just taken a rejuvenating shower and put on new clothes.

But why was she only cleaning his upper body, he wondered.

Kaiden's skin began to contract with shivers. An uncomfortable sensation surged through his entire body.

But he could still feel them, so why wasn't she cleaning them? Kaiden decided to ask. Before the answer came, he swallowed again, preparing for the worst.

The answer to his question was, "They're no longer there."

As Kaiden realized this, he also noticed that only one of his eyes was opening. Amidst all the stress, he must not have been thinking clearly.

"And what about my left eye?"

"Unfortunately, that's also no longer there," the nurse replied.

Even though her voice remained soothing and gentle, Kaiden couldn't accept those words.

She went on to list everything that had happened to him.

****

Kaiden had lost his right arm, as it had to be amputated due to the lack of blood supply. His eye had been pierced, struck by a long branch.

He had been lucky on his own that it hadn't reached his brain. His legs, though still attached to his upper body, were completely shattered.

Literally, every bone was crushed, and bones jutted out from every angle, making them irreparable.

In addition, there were countless lacerations, and his whole body was a graveyard of scars.

On top of that, his ribs and some vertebrae were broken. However, these injuries were the least concerning and could be stabilized and reinforced with artificial rods.

Kaiden couldn't believe it.

He was now essentially useless. But the nurse seemed to reassure him. There was still hope for improvement.

With today's technology, prosthetics could be controlled like real limbs.

"I know that too," Kaiden replied with a horrified and trembling voice.

"Yes, damn it, I know that too.

But where the hell am I supposed to get the money?"

Kaiden felt pathetic. He lay there, motionless, yelling at a nurse who was only doing her job and trying to help.

Shortly after, Kaiden heard heavy and loud footsteps caused by an elderly man in a white coat.

He seemed to have a serious look and didn't change his expression. His skilled, long strides were loud but at the same time reassuring.

He opened his mouth and was about to say something when he set his cup emitting smoky steam on a small side table.

He said he had an amazingly loud voice for a nearly dead man. Afterward, he also told Kaiden, as if it were well-meant advice, that he should be grateful.

The doctor spoke to Kaiden with a rough and deep voice, that he should indeed be grateful. If the rescue team had been just a second too late or overlooked him in the water, he wouldn't be experiencing this special day.

Kaiden swallowed again and seemed to make no sound.

The doctor went on and asked about the vital signs. He checked the screen himself, which was to the left of Kaiden.

The nurse reported that his blood pressure was at 125/80 mmHg, he had a pulse of about 80 beats per minute, a body temperature of 38 degrees, and was taking about 15 breaths per minute.

The only worrisome thing was the blood in his eye; the rest of the tests would be conducted later.

The doctor looked from the nurse back to him and said that his condition would improve. He reached for his cup again and was about to leave, but stopped again, adding that they should prepare him for an MRI.

Then he left, and his large steps filled the room with an unusual sound.

Now that he was gone, the nurse said that he shouldn't be so hard on himself.

She smiled at Kaiden and said that at least he was alive now, and that was all that should matter. Kaiden understood this and tried from that moment on to steer his thoughts towards the positive.

But amidst all the stress, Kaiden seemed to have forgotten something important: his family.

While he didn't have parents, his older brother had been taking care of him since their childhood. He asked the nurse where his brother was.

The nurse explained that she needed to step out briefly to check the records, as his brother would likely be paying for the recovery bills out of pocket.

From that point on, Kaiden's heart sank again.

How much debt would we have then? His brother probably had to take out a huge loan, likely in the hundreds of thousands. Damn it, damn it!

We had just started out in the real world, and now we have to deal with a pile of debt.

This just can't be. Kaiden heard a click as the aluminum door handle was pressed down.

The door now opened inward, and the nurse entered the room with soft and quiet steps, the complete opposite of the old man.

In her hands, she carried an envelope made of thin fabric, filled with various utensils and documents. She flipped through it until she found the data for the Lain family.

"The last name is Lain, and the first name is Arthur, right?" she asked.

Kaiden answered her question with a brief "Yes."

Kaiden lay there, stunned and motionless, devoid of any emotion, only waiting for the gentle voice of the nurse.

And then she spoke again. "Your brother, Arthur Lain, is um… no longer in this world."

****

Kaiden's heart stopped, and sorrow overwhelmed his emotionless eye. He was so swept away by anger and grief that he threatened to destroy everything in this room.

He was so agitated that he even managed to slightly clench his hand, which he hadn't moved a millimeter until now. He was on the verge of tearing his parched lips with his teeth.

Meanwhile, the nurse continued, but noticed her mistake. She immediately shouted, not too loudly, that he wasn't dead, but still alive.

Kaiden's anger and grief slowly transformed back, but still lingered. Some tears flowed down his cheekbones, leaving traces of blood on his lips.

Kaiden, lying there horrified, asked the nurse in confusion what she meant by that.

The nurse had forgotten something very important and continued.

"You experienced it with your own body, didn't you?

You probably saw the huge atomic bomb and its effects, followed by that tsunami, right?"

Kaiden confirmed this and wanted her to continue. And she did.

"But you don't know the backstory. Because the atomic bomb wasn't caused by us humans. Quite the contrary, it was a natural event that completely revolutionized humanity in many ways and brought about new possibilities."

"A new world was created."

****