Please No Hospital

Macallan 1946… I remember falling asleep in an alley, wounded, and hearing a voice.

"Hey, are you okay?" a man's voice clearly sounded in front of me, "Maria, is he the one?" another voice came, belonging to someone rushing towards me.

"Biggs, we need to get him to the hospital now."

With the last of my strength, I tried opening my eyes to see, a woman. And I recognized this girl, the one who knocked me over and made me drop my Macallan. Now she held my Macallan box. "No hospital..." I said, trying to tell them with all my might.

A man beside me shouted, "No, you need a hospital; you're seriously hurt. I'm calling an ambulance now." The man seemed to lift his cell phone and started dialing.

"I don't want to go to the hospital," I replied weakly, then tried to force my legs to stand.

I won't go to the hospital, no matter what.

I needed to leave these people, who'd call anyone to take me there. With great effort, I managed to stand, feeling immense pain throughout.

It's just a minor wound, I convinced myself.

Slowly, I stood staggeringly and moved away from them. After just a few steps, I felt my consciousness fade and I fell again. Every bone screamed each time I tried to move, my head spun, and the sun's harsh rays burned my skin. I leaned against a wall to steady myself, taking slow breaths to gather strength and focus, which seemed so hard to center.

"Sit down; you're not going to the hospital," the girl's voice assured.

I wanted to trust her, but next I heard, "Ambulance, there's an injured person here..."

Hearing that, I became furious. My escape was difficult, so I turned and pointed a gun straight at his forehead. I could see the man's eyes widen in shock. "Hang up," I whispered.

"Jack, hang up!" the girl yelled, trying to mediate.

"...on the street," the man named Jack continued speaking.

Taking a deep breath, I gathered strength and shot at his cell phone. Instantly, the phone against his ear exploded. The girl screamed in surprise, and another man backed away from me. I looked into Jack's eyes, filled with fear; he wouldn't dare challenge me now. My gaze fixed on the box the girl held. "Give me that Macallan," I motioned to grab it, but suddenly fell, my legs unable to support me. I coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Damn it," I cursed. My body felt limp, but I tried to get up and reach for the Macallan box. My hand touched the undamaged box, clutching it as I turned to exit the alley, hoping to hail a taxi on the street to take me straight home.

To go home and rest.

Step by step, dragging my body and leaning against the wall, I continued forward.

"Call Rei, Biggs," Maria screamed in desperation, tears flowing.

"We can't do that, Maria," Jack responded anxiously.

"Damn it all, Jack! I have to do it," replied Maria firmly. She promptly took out her mobile phone and after a moment, her voice sounded, "Rei, it's an emergency, we need you here..."

I walked and crawled, feeling in between consciousness and unconsciousness, my breath became heavier and my body felt like a weighty stone. My head felt light, my consciousness seemed to be fading. But I managed to walk to the end of the alley and finally sat down, needing a brief rest.

I'll rest for a moment, I convinced myself. Just a moment.

Suddenly everything went dark, and when I came to, I felt several hands lifting me, but it felt like I was still floating, and my consciousness couldn't focus.

"Maria, he clearly has multiple fractures, and his head needs stitches; we have to take him to the hospital."

I tried to move, to resist. "No hospital," I murmured and tried to move my hurting hands and feet, struggling to drop to the hot asphalt surface.

There was a crying voice shouting, "For God's sake, he doesn't want to go to the hospital! Can't you stop forcing him?" I heard her sobbing, causing everyone to fall silent, and I took the opportunity to move away from them. I crawled further away, and the girl ran to me and hugged me. "Rei, he doesn't want to go to the hospital; please help heal him."

"But he's just a regular human, Mar!" The man answered anxiously.

"Rei, I owe you," the girl whispered, "Just do it. Max will handle the rest." The girl held me, crying out loud. I didn't understand anything anymore; I just felt blood sticky on my skin. I lost consciousness again.

When I awoke, I felt like I was plummeting into a place where flames engulfed me. My body felt incredibly hot, burned by the licks of fire roasting every bone and flesh.

Suddenly, I felt light and was hit by a gust of cool air, making me feel like I was floating. I felt refreshed and comfortable as my body was propelled upwards through dark clouds to meet bright light.

"How is he?"

"I think he's fine."

I heard noisy voices and tried to move my eyes to observe an unfamiliar room.

"It seems he's awake now," a voice commented.

"Maria, leave us."

"But, grandma..." the girl's voice protested.

"Get out now, you've endangered us all."

"But... I didn't know if he... he..."

"Maria, we won't harm him. Please leave," a calm voice replied. I tried to look in its direction and found a man in his 40s-50s, with round glasses and silver hair. The girl named Maria glanced at me briefly before leaving, shutting the door tightly. I realized I was in what seemed to be a woman's bedroom.

"Are you feeling better?"

My eyes met the one speaking to me, an elderly woman at least in her 60s. Asked so, I tried to move my fingers and hands that lay on the bed. My hand moved without issue, and I attempted to sit up on the mattress.

Feeling no issues whatsoever, I felt my head and chest; no wounds, everything felt so fresh. Just a little dizziness. I took a deep breath, and there wasn't a single problem with my lungs. I tried to recall clearer that I had just fought with some people. They obviously hit my head multiple times. I touched my head and found not a single wound, quite surprising. Suddenly I remembered something, and my eyes frantically scanned the room.

"Your drink box is on that table." A man pointed towards a study table behind me. Without caring for anything, I moved down from the bed and walked to the table, lifting the box to inspect all its seemingly perfect corners. Suddenly, I felt dizzy and quickly held onto the table.

"You should stay in bed."

Good advice. I slowly moved back and sat on the bed. I saw an elderly woman and two men I didn't recognize staring at me.

"I'm Max, in case you're wondering," said the middle-aged man with glasses.

"I'm Rei," added the man who looked in his 30s.

"Jaime," I replied, still holding my head, feeling dizzy and seeing stars as if I had been squatting for a long time and suddenly stood up in surprise, feeling blood not circulating well.

"You lost quite a bit of blood," Rei added, "We couldn't help with that."

Well, that explains my dizziness but not my now-healed wounds that vanished like morning mist.

"Young man."

I tried to look at the elderly woman sitting in front of me, precisely in the middle between Max and Rei, but my dizziness intensified.

"Are you a member of BtP?" the old woman asked, staring intently at me.

My eyes squinted at her, not understanding why I was being asked that. "No," I answered shortly.

She looked at the man beside her who nodded in agreement. "Which Superhuman group do you work for?"

I didn't understand the question and where her line of thought was coming from, but I was too dizzy for all of it; it was easier just to open my mouth and reply, "None."

Max nodded. The old woman stared intensely at me, "What's your ability, young man?"

"I'm a bartender," I replied straight away.

Max nodded again, but now the old woman looked a bit annoyed and angry, "I wasn't asking about your job, I was asking about your Super human ability."

"Huh?" I asked, not believing what I heard.

"Your Super human ability, young man," she repeated.

I was silent, not knowing how to respond, guessing if the old woman had gone mad. But seeing her serious face and the two men beside her, I had to answer even though the dizziness was still gnawing at my thoughts. "I don't have any abilities," I replied weakly.

Max nodded, and this time Rei asked, "Why were you insistent about not going to the hospital? What are you hiding? Usually, only those with a criminal record or fugitives from the police do that." Rei stared deeply into my eyes, and so did the old woman. I paused, not quite remembering why I was so adamant about not going to the hospital. But if there was a reason why I didn't want to go to the hospital then, I only had one answer.