Chapter 8: Allies

In the morning, Matthew woke up with the voice in his ear. “Your meal will be brought in 10 minutes. For all humane needs, please follow the gray line on the floor.”

Matthew came back to his room after visiting the bathroom. It was not very much different from the usual. Apparently someone came in and dropped the paper box again, he found it on the table.

This time there were 3 pills in the box and two pieces of vegetable paste, as Matthew called it. It was more delicious than he expected.

He wanted to go out and decided to take action. Should he perhaps have expected Nate to come first? His anxiety won, and he moved the wall, going out by himself. The hall was crowded this time, it felt strange because the walls felt thin, yet he didn't hear a single sound in his room.

There were many people with different colors of dresses. It was the first time he saw people with white dresses, just like the one he was wearing. And they all looked like they were from different age groups. The youngest patient looked like she was 20, the oldest was around 80.

Matthew walked to the oak tree outside that he became quite fond of. He looked for Nate but couldn't see him.

He heard a few sentences. Some people were introducing themselves in pairs and sounded pretty formal. But Matthew felt excited.

A slightly older woman came to him. "I'm Helen. You?" She sounded demanding. Matthew was a bit surprised.

"Matthew. Nice to meet you." He wanted to remind her of a proper introduction. But the woman was in a hurry.

"Okay." Then she suddenly left. Matthew was just a piece of information to her. He decided to let it go and turned to see other people. He saw a woman standing alone looking around and walked up to her.

"Hello, I'm Matthew."

"Hi, I'm Inna." She shook his hands. She was pretty tall and the white dress made a good contrast to her brown skin.

"What was your disease?" Matthew couldn't think of anything else to say or ask. Apparently these people were from his timeline, at least close to it. But how could he talk under these circumstances?

"Lung cancer, 4th degree." She shook her head. "Yours?"

"Encephalitis."

"How long will you stay here?" She asked with a curious tone.

"Around two weeks, I'm trying to get used to it. And you?"

"I have one week here. I woke up this morning. Since I'll be going out sooner than you, you can find me when you get out." She smiled.

"Yeah, an ally would be nice," Matthew laughed.

"Okay, I'll see you around."

After her, Matthew saw Helen again, that unnecessarily quick woman. She was sitting and it looked like she was memorizing names and saying them aloud. Matthew walked in the opposite direction of her.

Some people were leaving to go to their rooms. Matthew tried to find more people to talk to before no one was left. Maybe this meeting type of thing would be held tomorrow, and maybe not. Finding more people from his time would help him stay sane or grounded. He would spend his alone time thinking about the past, but he had to move on.

Soon, a man came towards him. "Hey, I'm Rex." He was one of the most muscular men Matthew had seen in his life. His body was enormous. His arms looked like he used to work out for 10 hours a day. His face was big, but handsome.

"I'm Matthew. What was your disease?"

"Well, I had a car accident, then a stroke came as a side effect, you know. It was pretty bad."

"Yeah, that sounds bad."

"What about you?" Rex asked, and sniffed loudly while putting his hands in his pocket.

"Brain infection. There was no cure."

"Yeah, I know that feeling."

Matthew heard a voice in the speaker asking them to go back to their rooms. The doctor was about to pay a visit.

He sat down in his bed and waited for Po. He came with a paper and a pill. His vegetable paste was also there.

"Reed, how are you feeling?"

"I'm surprisingly fine."

"All those years did a nice job on you." Po smiled. In his last visit, Matthew felt imitated by him. But now, he was more sincere. "Your treatment. You'll be checking out next M."

"M?" Matthew asked.

"Oh, Monday. We keep things short outside." He winked.

"Okay. And then, I'll be perfectly healthy, right?"

"Yes. It won't be enough outside. But you'll be fine." Matthew was about to ask what he meant but Po cut it short and left after putting the paper and the pill on the table.

Matthew took the pill quickly and ate his vegetable paste. Then, he looked at the paper. It was not a white sheet just like he got used to. It was a different kind, like very thin wood. But it felt light and soft.

The paper read:

"Matthew Reed. Personal number: 41324.

The Kit(headphone) should be put on the table before leaving Cryolife.

The room will be cleaned by you.

Remember, no beings can harm other beings."

Matthew tried to make sense of it. These must be very important to Cryolife since Po gave the paper to Matthew way before his checkout.

The Kit, as they called it, would stay with them. Apparently he wouldn't need it outside. Cleaning his room before leaving, that must be seen as a grateful act since they healed him. But he wasn't sure.

He was still trying to remember Po's exact words and what he meant.

Someone knocked on the door, Matthew was startled. It was Rex.

"Hey, it's Matt, right? How are you?"

"Yeah. I'm good. " Matthew was still shocked.

"Did you get the paper? It sounds silly." He laughed and sat on the edge of the bed.

"It really does." Then Matthew decided on asking Rex what Po meant with that sentence.

Rex put this left hand on his chin before answering.

"Yeah, man. That sounds suspicious. What does he mean?"

“I really don’t know,” said Matthew. He emphasized every word.

Rex left and Matthew continued sitting with a more confused mind. Even though only Po could answer him at that moment, it felt nice sharing. It felt nice to have an ally beside him.

He wouldn't call anyone a friend yet, maybe he would never find one in this new world. But someone to talk to was what Matthew needed. With the help of conversations he had that day, his loneliness was eased. And after a while, he finally got to sleep without any nightmares.