Chapter 2
“What’s happening? What’s happening!”
“Kyaaaah!”
The comfortable conversations we’d been having while thinking about advertisements had all become ancient history. As the light threading through the sky grew stronger, the force shaking the ground grew more powerful. Massive buildings began to bend like taffy, and people crawled around on all fours, clinging to the ground like ants.
I tried to grab onto a nearby street tree to hide myself. But then, wasn’t there a cracking sound coming from inside the tree? Even amid the chaos shaking everything around me, that sound alone was crystal clear to my ears.
“It’s dangerous, move away!”
I shouted as I backed away from the tree. The trembling pavement blocks separated like chocolate bars, heaving as if trying to grab my feet. As I stumbled and pressed myself against a wall, just as I feared, the street tree swayed back and forth before falling over. A man who had been trying to support himself against the tree like me was trapped underneath.
Screams erupted from all directions, and I covered my mouth. I had never witnessed an accident in my life until now. Nausea rose in my throat at the sight of this human casualty, something I was seeing for the first time. As I turned my head away as much as possible and huddled my body, I heard a sobbing woman’s voice in my ear.
“Help, help me! Please help me!”
A woman trapped under the tree branches was crying, flailing her arms. I crawled over to her. Seeing her face a mess from crying, I was suddenly afraid she might be seriously injured. I had just seen a man crushed to death, and blood was still slowly seeping out. The sight of injured people terrified me, and I felt like I might be sick again.
But contrary to my concerns, she didn’t seem badly hurt. Only her legs were trapped under the dense branches.
I squinted my eyes as I lifted the leaves to check, afraid I might see her legs impaled by branches, but all I saw were her legs, intact except for some bloodstains. I tried to calm the frightened, confused, and sobbing woman.
“It’s okay. It’s okay.”
“Ah, ah-ah. I don’t, don’t want to d-die… huuuuh.”
“You’re not hurt. It’s okay. You’re just trapped.”
“Save, save me, please. I, I have a job interview to go to.”
“Yes, yes. You’ll live to go to that interview. I’ll get you out right away. Just calm down, okay?”
The woman seemed about to pass out, more from fear and convulsions than from being trapped. I started to gently reassure her as I cleared away the branches. Though my words seemed ineffective at first, after repeating them several times, her crying gradually subsided.
“Huh?”
I was startled when something cold dropped on my face. The situation was so chaotic and incomprehensible that my nerves were on edge. But realizing it was just a cold, wet raindrop, I rubbed my face with my hand. It seemed the dark clouds settling over the sky were finally starting to rain. But perhaps because I was in such a sensitive state, the parts hit by the rain stung and felt hot.
“What, what is it?”
Misinterpreting my surprised voice, the woman still trapped under the branches trembled violently. Afraid she might convulse again, I quickly added:
“It’s nothing. It’s just starting to rain…”
“…It’s raining?”
“Yes. It’s raining…”
I looked up at the sky to emphasize my confirmation. But the rest of my words got stuck in my throat. I sat there, dumbly gaping at the sky. The others around me looking up at the sky weren’t much different.
“Excuse me…?”
Anxious at my sudden silence, the woman wriggled and called out to me, but I couldn’t comfort her.
Rain was falling from the sky. Pale blue-green streaks of rain hit the air and shattered. But almost none of it reached the ground, most of it disappearing like a mirage. Though it poured down from the clouds like rain, it couldn’t really be called rain. Rather… calling it a meteor shower would be more accurate.
I touched my burning face as I stared up at the sky raining stars. The stinging spots were where the rain had hit me earlier.
* * *
[…Today around 4 PM, in the vicinity of…, an unexplained… accident resulted in numerous casualties. Emergency vehicles have been dispatched… The authorities state that due to this incident…]
“Mom! Mooooom!”
“Excuse me. Have you seen this child? She’s my daughter and has a scar on her face. I heard she was brought to this hospital… What?”
“Patient! You must not move!”
“I’m leaving! Why won’t you let me go! Why!”
“Youngah! Youngah!”
So noisy.
“This has all happened because you haven’t believed in our Lord Jesus Christ! Everyone, repent!”
“Where did this person come from? Nurse! Help!”
“This happened because the world is corrupt and lacks faith!”
“Ah, is this person crazy? What do you think this place is!”
“Get out now!”
The commotion made my head throb. Heat rose from the top of my head, like a hangover after downing a bowl of strong alcohol. When I tried to hold my head, my hat fell off and rolled on the floor.
Why is this falling off my head? I picked up the dusty hat and stared at it for a while before finally realizing it was mine. Even though I’d bought it not long ago, it looked like it had aged ten years, making it hard to recognize.
I clicked my tongue and was about to dust off the hat when I noticed an elderly person coughing beside me and stopped. It didn’t seem right to do that in a hospital full of injured patients where life and death hung in the balance.
With nowhere else to put it, I was about to put it back on my head when I noticed a TV that was barely audible amid the hospital noise. On the screen, a neatly dressed announcer with a face detached from the incident was explaining the situation moment by moment.
Waaaaaaail—
The white vehicle wailed loudly, flashing red lights. I rubbed the tip of my nose as I watched it stop at the entrance, unload patients, and then back away, repeating the process. The people who had just arrived at the hospital clutched their blankets protectively and sniffled.
The nurse, seeming to have a headache, held her forehead and took a brief moment to catch her breath as she saw the new patients to be received. Anyone would feel the same way looking at the patients who had disorderly occupied the hospital corridors and emergency room. Even at a glance, they were clearly short-handed due to the sudden influx of patients. The nurse would herd people in and assign them numbers one by one, but when the siren sounded again, she would look devastated.
“Emergency patient! Please make way!”
“We have no more room! Please take the remaining patients to another hospital!”
Once again, the vehicle pulling up to the entrance spewed out a red mass. A small argument broke out between the rescue workers and hospital staff. Soon nurses and doctors rushed to receive the emergency patient, exchanging worm-like shouts with each other. It was a bizarre conversation that people like me would never understand even if we heard it hundreds of times up close. As the emergency patient came in, the people gathered nearby scattered like ants hit by water.
After watching the silent TV, I looked around at the people crowding the hospital. It seemed my turn was a long way off. At a glance, my body only had scrapes, so the hospital probably put my name way down on their list. To be honest, these kinds of wounds could be healed with some ointment and saliva.
But the hospital staff strongly objected, saying they didn’t know what might happen, and even when I tried to sneak out, a nurse at the entrance somehow recognized me and stopped me, so I just sat there endlessly. Besides, moving around in the hospital would only add to the confusion, so there was nothing to do but watch.
“Excuse me…”
A small trembling voice tapped at my ear as I stared vacantly into space. I thought the voice was looking for a nurse or another patient, as usual. Just a moment ago, a frightened voice like this had searched for a nurse, resulting in an argument about getting treatment, shouting, and even a fight breaking out. Come to think of it, do hospital staff get bonuses after incidents like this? Seeing how hard they were working, I hope they do.
“Um, excuse me.”
But the voice seeking someone continued persistently. Thinking that a real big fight might break out this time, I was about to lower my head when a blackened, dirty hand tapped on my blanket.
“You finally noticed.”
A woman with a face covered in filthy water gave an awkward smile while flinching. I just stared with wide eyes. I couldn’t understand why this strange woman was looking for me. Did I do something wrong during the commotion? As I hesitated, trying to recall, the woman spoke first, seeming to notice my confusion.
“You saved me. This…”
The woman briefly showed her scratched and wounded leg before tucking it back under the blanket. Only then did I remember the woman trapped under the street tree. In the chaos and rush to help, I hadn’t had a chance to see her face. After the meteor shower stopped and paramedics appeared to rescue people, she too had been wrapped in a blanket and disappeared, so I didn’t know we’d end up at the same hospital.
“You remember now? I wanted to thank you… I’m glad we met. Thank you so much.”
She bowed and smiled, her face dirty with dust but remarkably clear. I cleared my throat and shook my head to say it was nothing, then she held my hand, thanked me again, and disappeared. Or rather, she was led away by the hand of a tall man. Before moving away, the man glanced at me and bowed his head. Probably her boyfriend.
I felt a strange chill in my side as I rubbed my face. My face stung slightly where my palm touched it. I must have gotten scratched somewhere. As I was feeling the injured area with my fingertips, a tired-looking nurse approached.
“Come in.”
It was already my turn? I hurriedly dusted myself off, stood up, and entered the examination room.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
