An expected arrival

Day 4 **

I saw a light, but it was dim. Maybe I was keeping my eyes slightly closed.

I remember that I had a terrible sleep; that night, I slept badly. It was too many nights that I slept badly.

That was the morning light of that day, the day I waited least, after what I dreamed that night...

I opened my eyes slightly wider and realized something over my face.

At first, I didn't understand, I was still quite stunned. I saw the room very blurry but, after opening my eyes completely, I realized I had a face over mine.

It was Suzua, she had fallen asleep above me. Her face was over mine and her arm wrapped around me from below.

For fear, I moved Suzua's body to the other side of the bed, maybe I had used too much force... But at least she didn't notice and woke up right after.

She yawned, looked at me, and smiled bowing her head.

"Good morning, Endo!".

I blushed again and turned around in embarrassment. I returned the good morning by slightly stuttering.

We went into the living room and she started to make something for breakfast, but my mind kept thinking of those four men I had dreamed about that night. I sat on the couch and lost in my thoughts. Only after Suzua repeated my name for the third time, raising her voice a little more, I turned to her.

"After breakfast, I continue the study of yesterday's results... Probably there is a need for a new study... ".

I told her that I understood, but I was still very much in my mind. That dream started to scare me.

During breakfast, we talked about the experiment I would undergo for the second time. She explained to me some details about her work as an intern and some scientific notions. I pretended to understand again.

After breakfast, as she said, we went to her small private laboratory. She sat me down again in the chair while she kept watching my brain analysis.

Two hours passed and she was still immersed in the vision of those sheets.

I have risked many times falling asleep, but I was afraid of dreaming other strange things... I was afraid of making uncomfortable predictions.

"Endo!" exclaimed Suzua, frightening me. I was too focused on many thoughts.

"Look here... " she said, showing me more sheets with other lines.

"These are the analyses of the brain of an average person, the lines are all undulating and continuous... Yours stop for a few centimeters becoming completely straight... Plus, I found some strange marks in the veins of your brain, it almost seems like your brain has been tampered with somehow... " she told me, shocking me.

In what sense "My brain had been tampered"? What did it mean? Someone had done something like... Experiments on my brain? I should have remembered... But at that moment, my memories came back until I arrived at the home of my foster family.

She offered me another analysis, and I accepted... Maybe they were only mistakes? Probably after further analysis, everything would be settled... But why those dreams? Well... Suzua put those gadgets on me again and turned on the machine. She wrote something on the computer, but I couldn't see her... I was forced to stay still.

After about a quarter of an hour, the results were printed. Nothing to do, those damn lines were still straight.

She couldn't understand how it was possible, but the only explanation she gave was that someone had tampered with my brain somehow.

"Someone might have experimented on your brain... I don't know, maybe some secret association... Do you have any memories of when you were a child??" She asked me, but I didn't know how to answer her. I had no memory before my eighth year and couldn't give her any explanation.

"Anyway... I can probably try to get your memory back somehow... " she said.

Well... It wouldn't be bad... I thought. All this story started to stress me a lot and I wanted to find a solution and some answers to all of that.

Someone knocked on the door. My eyes went out.

My mind projected the images of that dream to me and my fear began to rise.

Are they? I thought, but... Underneath I didn't really believe it.

"Ohh, somebody knocked... Will you answer the door?" asked Suzua, but I didn't even hear her at that time. 

I tried to calm down by breathing in and out slowly, and with apparent calmness, I answered her.

I would have gone to see who it was, so I started to walk towards the living room where there was the main entrance.

I asked who was behind the door, but received a strange answer.

"We are of the Humanitas Association of Australia".

Humanitas Association? The association to prevent hunger in the world? Why did they arrive at Suzua's home?

I decided to trust and open the door.

They were four gentlemen dressed in black and with black hats. They had sunglasses on. It was them... the guys of my dream.

My eyes were stunned. I couldn't believe it, even that dream had come true. Those four men were watching me with strange smiles, which I was very intimidated by, I admit...

"Good morning... are you Endo Watanabe?" they asked me..

~~

Meanwhile, at Endo's house, the situation was quite agitated.

Endo's family was worried, they had not seen him for two days and the police were called to investigate.

The school had also called Endo's home several times to find out why he was absent for two days without explanations, but the only responses the school secretaries received were negative. Endo's parents had no idea where their son was and even told the school that they also alerted the police to find him.

Endo's sister, however, was still unsure whether to reveal the whole thing to her parents. She was adopted too, shortly after they adopted Endo. She knew that Endo had been away for a few days, so she wasn't too worried at the time.

~~