Aquata Cove Chapter 82: Precious Loss
Yuri walks along the halls of the hospital. She looks upon the results of the serum Jacob gave to her, as well as a few other conclusive findings on what he's been able to learn. It's been dubbed with the name Thalassactin', a basic chemical base that he was able to figure out after analyzing Merrick's tears. Yuri can only imagine that Jacob made a strung-together name out of the words Thalassa', the Greek word for From the sea', with the hormone Prolactin' that is found in tears.
Almost literally named after a mermaid's tears.
So far since Jacob has developed it for careful use and investigation, Thalassactin has been approved as a treatment drug for mild diseases. Thing is though, it's not a medicine that works for everybody -- Jacob has found out that if it's injected into someone who has particular allergies, or if the patient has been predisposed to blood diseases or Bloodtypes B-, O+, and A- have been noted to be unresponsive to Thalassactin. No negative reactions have been reported, but Thalassactin has had no effects on those patients. But that's just the base compound; Jacob has been able to figure out how to tweak the substance to get around a few of the many similar obstacles this chemical seems to set up. He theorizes that the reason why Thalassactin is so particular about what it effects is because it comes from Merrick originally -- just like with bloodtypes, maybe with different merfolk tears or even tears of different emotions may yield different results.
Of course, the idea that this potent vaccine came from the tears of a merman being tortured and put under forensic analysis would just about put a dent in Jacob's career, as well as the off-chance that another obsessive maniac like Nigel would devote time and resources to hunting down mermaids in the name of discovery. And it's not like Jacob or anyone would be willing to just go up to a merfolk, and ask them to just donate their tears -- they brought it up in passing with Belinda and Syrinx separately, and both of them found the suggestion rather personal and invasive.
So, Jacob will just have to continue his research with what he's got.
"Yuri!"
Yuri gasps as she looks up from the papers, as she sees Merrick trotting over to her. "Oh no." She mutters, `Figured he'd find out... God, get me through this." She thought with fear.
"Yuri!" Merrick comes to her, panting and looking at her, showing emotion for the first time in days. Yuri trembles as he stands there, "I-Is it true??" He whimpered, "A-Adam's awake??"
"..." Yuri sighed, "Y-Yes, Merrick. Adam is awake... He emerged from his coma a few days ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Merrick wept, "I trusted you to tell me if anything happens! Where is he??" He said, clearly trying all he can to compose himself, "I need to see him again!"
"Merrick, wait!" He pushes past her, in a hurry to confirm this for himself, to look into Adam's deep, brown eyes. "Stop!!" She grabs onto Merrick's wrist, and tugs him back.
"What? What?!" Merrick stops as she asked, "Adam is alive! I need to talk to him, please! I need him, Yuri!"
"Merrick, just hear me out, sit down, please." Merrick pants as he shudders with intense feeling, gently pulling from her, "Merrick... I need you to listen to me. Because I have news that's... It's not easy to say, Merrick just let me say it."
Merrick's breathing stays rough and harsh for several seconds, before he stops pulling himself from Yuri's grasp. Yuri takes Merrick to an empty lodging room for over-night stays of the staff. She sits Merrick down on one of the cots, and takes up a chair for herself.
"Alright, Merrick... First off, let me start by saying I am sorry for not calling you when Adam woke up from his coma." She said, her insides squirming with suspense, "I know I should have told you the instant he started to talk, you had every right to know."
"So why DIDN'T you tell me?"
"... Honestly..." She continued, "I was really, really scared to tell you about him, because, and I only waited for as long as three days because I wanted to make sure it was certain, and cemented..."
"Just tell me already, Yuri," Merrick pleaded, "What are you so afraid of??"
Yuri takes a deep breath, "Merrick... Adam has been diagnosed with amnesia."
"What..." Merrick stares at her with bewilderment, "Is that a human sickness? What does it mean?"
"Amnesia," She continued, trembling head-to-foot, "Is a condition where the human brain has been damaged to a point where the patient does not retain their memories."
"What..." Merrick's insides take a dive as he looks at her with horror, "What are you saying..."
"Nhhnnn..." Adam whines, his head pounding with low pain. Luther sits next to his bedside as he shuffles through the many photographs. "And here..." Luther said as he brought one up, for his dreary son to look upon, "This... This is where we took you to Big Bear when you were a kid..." Adam groans as he peers at a photograph with a snowy landscape, of that with two adults and a little boy. "Mmnhhh..." "Luther, just stop..." Donna said lowly. Any minute now... "How about this one, y-your school picture, Adam." Luther said as he takes another picture, when you caught a manta ray on the docks, re-remember??" He says, showing him a picture of Adam himself, and the entire staff of the Fish House with him, "I-It took 5 of your coworkers to bring it in...!" "Kay..." Adam tries to think, furrowing his brow, before grunting in pain, "My head..." "Luther, please..." Donna's lip trembled. It's no use, hearing Adam whine. "T-This one was recent!" Luther shuffled through the pictures, "This is where you proposed to Merrick... I-I-I took a picture right when you got down on one knee." "Luther, just stop it, please." Donna sniffled. "If I can just..." "W-Wait..." Adam moaned, "Who... Who are you...?" Luther looks at him. "Adam... You remember me, don't you? At least from 10 minutes ago..." "Who... What're you doing here..." Adam asked weakly, "I'm in the hospital... That much... I know..." Donna covered her eyes, and weeping as she strides out of the room. "Adam..." Luther shook, trembling, "Adam, I'm your Dad... You..." Luther takes hard, deep breaths, "You've met me about 5 times now... I'm your Father, Adam, don't you remember the last few days at all??" "I... You're... My Father?" Adam asked, "I... I really don't know anything..." He closes his eyes, "My head hurts...""Merrick..." Yuri's own eyes begin to water as her voice shakes, "Adam has no memories anymore..."
"Yuri, no, no no no no," Merrick gets up as he walks about the room, "Tha-That's not possible, memories are apart of the soul, they-they can't just be erased just like that!"
"Merrick, I'm sorry, I'm telling you," She gets up out of her seat, "Please, listen to me," Merrick turns to her, his eyes glued to hers, "Adam doesn't remember anything... He doesn't know where he lives, what he did to work, he doesn't even know who his parents are... He doesn't know anything."
"No..." Merrick's eyes flood with his emotions, walking backward, "Nooo, no..."
"Merrick, I'm so sorry..."
"But he and I... Aquata Cove, we met in a cave." His breaths become shaky, "Adam sang to me many times, he took me to his home, he saved me from dying in the Blood of the Earth, after I broke his heart!" Merrick's voice volume becomes unstable, "He took LIGHTENING into his own body for me!!"
"Merrick..." Yuri shook her head as she sobs and cries. He's really not making this easy at all...
"He's lived with you for so many years! How can you say those are gone!!" Merrick exclaimed, "He's a better family to Jamal than they ever were to him!"
"Merrick, I'm sorry... That's how amnesia works..." She sniffs and she watches Merrick suffer, "All of those things... His childhood, his school years, his life... It's literally as if it never happened..."
"But they DID happen!! YURI!!!" Merrick fights himself internally, straining with every ounce of willpower he has not to break anything, his hands digging into his hair, "Yuri, no, please..."
"Merrick... There's nothing..."
"But... He proposed to me..." Merrick sniffled and trembled, "He took me to the docks, and he asked me to marry him..." Merrick cried as the images of Adam's beautiful, perfect moment seems to dry up and whittle away, "I'm supposed to be his husband, Yuri, don't tell me he forgot all about that." Merrick's vision blurs badly as he looks at her.
Yuri shakes her head, closing her eyes and bowing her head.
"Yuri, marriage isn't something merfolk do, and I promised Adam with all my heart that I was going take his hand on the altar, please, Yuri, I can't let that just vanish..." He chokes a little with his intense sorrow.
"Merrick... I'm sorry..."
Syrinx and Kevin walk down the hall, hearing a distinct weeping as they approach Adam's room. They turn the corner, and see a mid-aged woman leaning her side on the wall, gasping and crying as she holds her forehead. "Um... Mrs Bryant?" Syrinx softly says as they come to her. "O-O-Oh, hello, I'm sorry," She sniffs and tends to her face, "I'm sorry, I, I need to a moment." Before they can say anything, Donna strides away from them both, wiping her eyes continuously as she goes. "Should... Should we stay, oorr..." Kevin said, looking into the room, "I think that's his Dad, right?" "Think so..." Syrinx says, right before the thick-built, mid-aged man walks out of the room, rubbing his own eyelids. He looks about, and sees the young couple. "Who are... You a couple of Adam's friends?" "Yes, we are, sir." Syrinx nodded. "We came to visit him," "Yes, alright, but..." Luther sighed, "Ha-Have you seen my wife? She was just here, I think." "She said she needed a moment to herself," Syrinx said, "But she went THAT way," "Alright, thank you," Luther said before leaving the two of them. Syrinx and Kevin proceed to enter into Adam's room, spotting Syrinx's seashell angel sculptor, and Kevin's arcade game-shaped box of giftcards and coupons. They look onto Adam in the bed, groaning silently as he rubs his head. "Hey, Adam." Kevin said, catching the attention of the patient. "Nnhh, hey..." Adam greeted back. "My name's Syrinx," She said, "This is my boyfriend, Kevin." "H... Hi..." Adam whispers as his eyes become sore. "We heard you lost your memory." Kevin said as he pulls up a chair. "I... Guess..." Adam answers, "I... I can't really think straight right now..." "I understand, it's ok..." Kevin said, nodding. "I'm... It's like I feel like... I should be saying something... I feel like I'm missing something... I feel... Kind of sad..." Adam said, without much provocation. "It's ok, Adam, it's going to be alright." Kevin said. "We just came to visit you. We're a couple of very good friends of yours." Syrinx said."What about a cure??" Merrick asked as he looked up at her, his voice trembling, "Y-You humans, you're advanced i-in everything, Yuri, there has to be some kind of pill or injection that can..."
"Merrick..." Yuri shook her head, "There is no cure for amnesia." She hushed, "If there was, I would've administered it to him a long time ago."
"Yuri... Yuri, come on, there has to be SOMETHING to bring him back..." He cried, "Yuri, isn't there some kind of treatment- some medicine, some kind of surgery you can do to bring back his memories??"
"Merrick, it's not the same." Yuri protested sadly, "Memories are... Intangible," She says, trying to put the explanation as best as she can. "We doctors, we can only treat a person's BODY. We can do our best to treat and mend the brain, but memories..." She shook her head, "Merrick, that's out of all of our hands..."
"W-What about Donna??" Merrick asked, his chest feeling itself stab again and again inwardly. "Sh-She works with and for humans' minds on a regular basis, doesn't she???"
"Merrick, it's not that simple." Yuri answered, "Psychologists and psychiatrists work with patients who have mental and emotional issues, but with how Adam is, I... I'm not sure if Donna would be able to..."
"No... Of course not..." Merrick shakes his head, "That... Yuri, no..."
"And..." Yuri holds onto her left arm, rubbing it up and down, and looking to the side, "Merrick, I am so sorry, but... It gets worse..."
"What...?" Merrick gives her a look of hurt and rising ache, "Worse? Yuri..." Merrick breathes deeply as his insides continue to flow and churn in unending disbelief and shock, "Yuri, you just told me... The man I love, my soul mate for my life, has no memory of anything of his own life, least of all, me. H-How can you tell me it gets worse...?"
"From... What I can tell..." Adam said, looking at some note, "The only person I know is Dr Yuri... I know she keeps telling me things, but... I can't really grasp a lot..." "Like everyday, you're meeting strangers who you think you're supposed to know?" Kevin asked, "And while you don't know anyone you meet, or remember anything that's happened, you feel like there's something there." Syrinx blinks as she looks at Kevin, "But you have no idea of finding out, and after you forget that, you feel guilty or down on yourself for some reason." "I... Think... Most of that... KINDA makes sense..." Adam says, "Do I... Know you from somewhere too?" "We're friends, yes." Kevin nodded. "My girlfriend here, is very close to someone you know." "Yeah, to Merrick, your-" "No, Syrinx, stop." Kevin halted her. "What? I'm just..." "I know, honey, but let me talk." Kevin said, "Now look, Adam..." Kevin leans forward in his chair, "I understand what you're going through. But chances are, you're only going to forget meeting us today." "But... I don't want to forget..." Adam said weakly, "After talking to you guys, I... I feel like things are starting to make sense." "I know... And I know how to help with your case." "How do you know?" Syrinx asked. "You remember my brother, Kyle, right?" "Oh... Him?" "Yes..." Kevin turned back to Adam, "My brother was in a train accident about 9 years ago. He survived, but it took a huge hit to his own memory. He was diagnosed with Short-Term Memory Loss when he was just 23 years old after it happened." "Is that... Like he can't remember, like me?" Adam asked, his eyes rimming with slight moisture. "Yes..." Kevin reached over, and held Adam's bandaged hand, "He's gotten a lot better since then." He breathes deep, remembering how more often than not, his own brother didn't even know him. "Kevin... I'm scared..." Adam says as he shakes his head, "I-I don't, I don't want to spend the rest of my life meeting strangers. I-I-Is that going to happen to me?" "Look," Kevin said, "I know you're scared, and when you forget this-" "Kevin! Come on... Just," Syrinx says. "Syrinx, please," Kevin says, before turning back to Adam, "And when you forget this, you are going to feel a little worse, and-" "Just... Kevin, all I can think about now is how my life is going to be from now on... J-Just like those people who left the room before you came in, that man said he was my Father, and th-that woman who was crying is my Mother, the-they're upset because of me," Adam starts to panic as he grows more excited with anxiety, "I'm hurting everyone I ever met, and I will never know why!" "Adam, Adam, just, calm down," Kevin calmly said, "Now listen to me. It is not your fault"Yuri, you can't be serious." Merrick says as he breaks little by little, "He can NEVER have any memories again??"
"I, i-it's not as simple as that." She said, "It's just-"
"That's what you're telling me though." Merrick shakes terribly as he looks to her, "Yuri, what point is there ever going to be with me now?!"
"Merrick, please, I understand," Yuri feels helpless, at fault even as Merrick grasps onto one of the bedposts of the room, his face red as he's on the point hyperventilating, "Listen, it may not even be permanent, it could just be his brain recuperating from the damage and the trauma. And even then, the hospital has a mental health ward where Donna works, if he does have psychological problems, he will be in good hands."
"I can't, Yuri." Merrick manages to sob out, his free hand holding and grasping his chest, "I can't!"
"Merrick! Merrick!" She rushes over to him as Merrick's legs give in, almost tumbling before she caught him, "Okokok, easy there, sit on the bed, sit on the bed."
"Ghhhuu... Ghhuu..." Merrick wheezes and cries as Yuri moves him onto the mattress, and has him settle down.
"Breathe now, take it slow," Yuri instructed gently. Merrick can barely contain himself at all, in between bawling his eyes out, with one hand pulling his shirt, and the other clutching his knee.
"He's dead, Yuri! Th-The man I knew, the one I fell in love with is GONE!" Merrick harshly cries, "He-He doesn't know me anymore, all those years- GKGHGHGK!" He coughs as everything hits him all at once. "10 years of us, and they're all fucking killed!"
"M-Merrick, no! That's not how it works." She grows more anxious and worried as he continues to get hysterical, "Look, YOU still have those memories, o-ok? You have to remember them for him... H-He lives with you, o-ok??"
"Ghhlllkk," Merrick chokes as he breathes louder, more tears cascading from his eyes.
"We'll find a way to cope, and when he gets better, you will make new memories, right? You'll-"
"I don't WANT that!" Merrick raged up, coughing out as he staggers an attempt, his emotions spiraling out of control as his whole being becomes entirely irrationally traumatic, "I want HIM to remember! It's not FAIR!"
His left leg buckles as he stumbles down.
"Merrick!" Yuri goes to his side, and holds him. Merrick cries as he clutches his head, trying to keep his convulsing heart somewhat steady, just try to prevent another emotional crash like last time. Yuri rubs his back as she sits on her knees while he sobs into his hands.
"It's not fair... It's not fair..." Merrick wept, "Why should we have to cope with it... Why do we have to manage out of petty hatred..." Yuri can't say anything. She can only hold his shoulder and his back, "They killed him... They killed my Adam... They killed him... Hhh Hhh, why him... Why him..."
"Can you um..." Adam blinks, trying to remember what he was about to ask, "Maybe... Come here everyday to help me?" "I would, buddy." Kevin said, "I live on the other side of the island though, so I can't be here all the time. But, I do have something that got my brother through his ordeal..." Kevin then picks up a magnet and metal marble kit. "What's... What's that for?" "This kit has a set of instructions made by my parents to have my brother build and set up specific models, and dissemble them by the end of the day, and then tomorrow, you set them up all day." "O... K..." Adam breaths, feeling drowsy. "The point of the exercise is to use the repetition to help reconnect the memory process by inducing a sense of routine." "Ok... Thank you..." Adam groans as he rubs his eyelids, a weak headache starting to roll into his head.Donna cries nonstop on an outdoor patio, feeling her husband hold her shoulders, the box full of photographs cast aside on a nearby bench.
"Luther... I-I... GhhHhh... I don't know if I can do this." She wept.
"I know, honey, I know..." Luther hushed, "I know it's hard... We'll get through this."
"I-I know we are, but... Guhh, why does it have to be so hard??" She sobs, "I'm not going to abandon my son or anything, but I can't... I can't keep calling myself `Mother', and seeing that sad, blank expression on his face, like he's never met me before!" Donna covers her face once more."
"Donna, honey, it's... It's going to be alright..." Luther said, trying to convince the both of them, "Look, Yuri said the short-term loss can only be temporary... Sh-She said it's 7/10 chances..."
Donna gasps and sobs into her handkerchief, shaking her head.
"Honey, you know I've always been a take-chances kind of guy. Those are good odds." He said softly. She refuses to speak, but to nod with a whimper, "It's getting late... How about we say bye to Adam, and head back home?"
"O-Ok... I-I-I-I I still want to co-ome and see him tomorrow..."
"Ok, honey... I'll meet you at the ward when I get off work."
Luther picks up the box of pictures and mementos, and walked his wife back into the building, with his other arm around her shoulders. They walk down the hall, to see the younger couple from before.
"Oh, hello," Syrinx said, "Um... You are Adam's parents, right?" Donna sniffles as she nods. "My name's Syrinx, and this is Kevin. I don't think we've ever been introduced."
"Thank you for visiting Adam." Luther said, "I... I can't tell you how much it means to know how many people care about him."
Donna glances to the side, and sees Adam playing with short toy rods with tiny magnets in them, attaching small metal balls to them, and building with them.
"Did you uh," She takes a moment to wipe her eyes, "Did you bring those things in?" Donna asked.
"Yeah, it's something my Uncle came up with years ago -- he's a psychiatrist who specializes in recovering patients with brain damage. He had a theory that by giving a patient a puzzle or building toys to work with everyday on a routine, the repetition would imprint into the mind, and have them retain some sort of basis of processing memory. Or something."
"I-I see..." Donna cries with a weak smile as she nods, "That, that actually does sound helpful, thank you."
"I wish we can help more." Kevin said.
"It's fine, we really appreciate you two coming all the way here to visit our son. I understand the two of you live far away from here? Merrick and Adam has spoke about you on occasion." Luther said.
"Yes, me and Merrick both go to the Kenovani." Syrinx digressed, "We keep in touch, and we usually take the train to stop by here."
"I see, alright." Luther nodded, "We won't keep you then, thank you again, so much."
"No problem," They shook hands, and left the building. Donna and Luther then turn to the door, and walk in on Adam, having already made a few simple structures with the magnet link toys.
"Hi baby..." Donna whined, her eyes brimming all over again.
"H-Hi," Adam greeted back, "You're... My Mom, right? And Dad?"
"That's right," Donna sniffled as she tries to compose herself.
"We just wanted to say goodnight before we head out."
"Ok," Adam smiles as the woman came first to hug him. He hugs back, still feeling little kinship with these two people, but still sensing the slightest bit of familiarity as they both hold him for several seconds each. "Will I see you tomorrow?"
"Yes..." Luther smiled as his eyes glistened a little, "We come in everyday for you, son..."
"Ohoooo~ooo ~You gonna top this~" The audio sings a frisky male voice as the neon lights shone around the dark-lit club, "~Ohoooo~ooo ~You better hit this~ Ohoooo~ooo~" A couple of muscular, near-naked men twirl along the poles, one wearing a golden thong and a silver harness, and the other one sporting a silver jockstrap with a golden harness, "~Coz I'm a hot trip~" "~We got on Grindr to find ourselves a hung top~" Pablo Hernandez's voice sings his parody song, "~I bought an enema and then I flipped the top off ~The waters pumping and someone's gonna top us~" The two dancers stylize their movements, "~We're going home with someone who can pound us~" "~I just wanna get done tonight~" The hot men swerve their hips and pump their arms about, "~Get a piece of my ass tonight~" "~Ooooh ooooh ooooh ~I really wanna get laid tonight~ (GO PABLO!)" "What, so like," Sasha said at the bar next to Jamal, "He can't remember anything? Like he has that thing from 50 First Dates?" "When Drew Barrymore had one-day amnesia thing?" Jamal answered, "I asked Yuri if that was it, but she said it was a made-up from the movie." "Still, it's the same thing, yeah? It's not like Finding Nemo where that blue fish forgets things every 5 seconds." "It ain't like that neither. Not sure how often he's forgettin things. Gotta say, this really gets me down." "You think YO sad?" Sasha asked, "Merrick's been a total zombie at work. Poor guy can't even think straight -- which isn't saying much for a gay bloke, but still." "Makes me wonder if the wedding's off." Jamal mentioned before drinking his bourbon cocktail, "Merrick hasn't said anything bout canceling it." "If mermaids don't have weddings, he probably just thinks it's not happening altogether." "Eh, I think it's a little soon to fuck it. Even if Adam forgets every thing, chances he and Merrick will get back together in a couple a months or so. Heck, maybe Merrick'll propose to Adam at some point." "That would be so sweet." She smiled, "... Hopefully he can get better by then... How about his Mum and Dad? How ah they coping?" "Luther's tryin to show Adam a bunch of old stuff to try and remind him, and Donna... Well, she ain't doin so good. Her boy is lookin right at her, and askin who the hell she is. That's gotta kill something inside..." Jamal said sadly, "Happened a couple a times with MY Ma for a while..." "Oh? What hap-" "I'm not talkin about it." Jamal said. "Ok, alright," Sasha drinks her own sugary cocktail as the various male strippers prance and whirl around. "Hey Sash, can't we go to a lady bar or somthin?" Jamal said, "I've had a lot of man action fo a while. I need some pussy game or I'm gonna be cumming rainbows and glitter or sumthin." "PPFFFF!" Sasha spits up her drink as she snickers harshly. She takes several deep breaths as she turns to him, "Cumming?? Rainbows, and glitter?! Where the bloody hell did THAT come from??" "I dunno, I just need a bitch or two. And Nick can use some new meat too." "What, you two breakin up?" "Naw! Course not." Jamal said, "He just needs to heal his ass, and I just wanna get some breasts on my dick for once." "Gay sex is awesome though." Sasha dismissed. "I love this place, I just wish I can get the fags here to bend me over each other." "... Dayum, you a bigger slut than I am." Jamal said. "Seriously, can't we go to Hooters or the Bird Cage or somethin?" "The lesbian bar?" Sasha asked, "Why, they're not going to do me any favors. Let me know when they turn into guys, then we'll talk." "I'm sure there's a couple a trans here and there." "Not what I meant." Sasha says while ogling some black cowboys grooving his thighs and package against a pole.Yuri and Merrick walk along the hall, to where Adam's room is, Merrick finally having calmed himself down. Yuri's insides churn with anxiety and sorrow as she senses him behind her. After Merrick made himself stop, his face just... Lost its expression again... His eyes have been dulled and lost their light again, just like for the past week or so.
"...Ok," Yuri said as she pushes the medicine cart next to the door, "I need to give Adam his pain killer and his vaccines, and that's going to knock him out in a few minutes... Do you sill want to see him?"
"Yes, Yuri..." Merrick nodded, barely able to whisper. His throat is so sore, as is his eyes. His whole body feels as heavy as it did when he first saw him in the operating room, as is the dark agonizing pounding in his chest through this whole ordeal.
"Alright, just wait here..." Yuri said before going in. Merrick watches her with exhausted eyes. He sees Adam there, in that bed, smiling at Yuri and talking to her. His heart quivers as she prepares a sharp needle to go into Adam's arm. How and why do humans need to be invasive with sharp and obscene objects?
Merrick huffs with emotion as Yuri finishes injecting the medicine, before having Adam take some pills as well.
"I... I think I met someone, di-didn't I?" Adam asked, "I... I can't seem to remember, Dr..." "Yes. You've met your parents, and two of your good friends." She answered. "Oh..." Adam looks down at the magnet toys on his lap. He could swear he had something to do with these things a while ago... "It's a good sign you have some inkling of meeting someone." Yuri smiled, gently tapping her knuckles on Adam's bandaged head, "Means you're getting better." "Reehh-" Adam gives a slow yawn, before quirking his head, "Really..." "You're really sensitive to the medication..." Yuri noted, "If you can hold on a bit longer, you've got one more visitor who wants to see you." "Mmm... Ok..." Adam sighed, feeling drowsy a little quickly. "Alright..." Adam closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, relaxing smoothly before peering his eyes open, seeing a rather sullen looking blonde man walk in, very handsome to boot. Adam's vision gets a little blurry as he yawns again, before he can tell the new comer has taken a seat next to him. "H... Hi, Adam..." The young man muttered. "Hey..." He greeted back. Adam's tired eyes catch a glimpse of those blue eyes... For some odd reason, Adam's mouth can't help but smile, while also feeling a foreign warm prickling sensation across his face, "Hi..." He chuckles very lightly as a rush of endorphins flickers inside him. Merrick quivers with emotion again as Adam looks at him, smiling at him, having no clue as to who he can possibly be. Merrick sniffled as he reaches and holds Adam's hand, wiping his eyes as he seems to grow more forlorn from being here. "Did I..." Adam glanced down at their hands, hold each other, before looking back up at those translucent eyes, "Did I... Do something to you...?" An awkward question for a first meeting like this... But this stranger seems to be upset. "Nnno..." Merrick shook his head, "I'm just..." Merrick's eyes flood as he finds a weak, wry smile on his own face, "I just can't believe you're here again... I-I... I know that doesn't make sense..." Adam starts to frown as he looks at this poor fellow. The more they look at each other, the sadder he seems to be. Adam can't seem to find the right way to put his feeling... He's sure he's never seen this sunshine-haired man before, but the way he's crying... Adam feels as though he wants to take some sort of action to somehow put an end to whatever is making this kind, sorrowful man suffer. "I'm sorry, I... I don't really know anyone here..." Adam said, growing more sleepy as the seconds pass by. "Is there... Something I can do... You're... You're crying..." "... My heart is fractured." Merrick said, "I'm not sure if you can do much for me now... I've been trying to keep together, but I keep falling apart... I'm so sick of the hurt and being weak..." "I... I can try though." Adam said, "I wanna..." He yawns again. Merrick watches their hands rub and tighten softly together. "Awwhhh... Sorry..." "Adam...?" "Hm?" Adam turns to face Merrick, looking at him through semi-dazed eyes. "... Please, Adam..." Merrick pleaded as he puts his other hand onto Adam's hand, "Do you remember me... At all..." "I..." Adam forces his eyes to keep peering under his lids, just inches away from sleep, "I dunno..." He breathed. Merrick sniffed and rubbed his eyes, "I see..." He then moves his legs, and stands up. "No..." Adam's hand tightens around Merrick's. "Don't go..." "What?" "I can't... Remember things..." Adam said, barely conscious, "Buh I..." He groans, "I don' wanna be alon righ noh..." Merrick's lower lip tenses as more tears pushed through his eyes, "I doh... Wa't you tah go..." "O-Ok..." Merrick whined as he sits back down, sniffling and rubbing Adam's arm. His chest still feels like a box of crippling glass, breaking shard by shard... This request only prolonging his suffering... Yet at the same time, giving him some glimpse of what hope and light is supposed to feel like. "I sorry..." Adam mumbled as his eyes stay closed. "Errff... Mnnh..." Merrick cried incoherently. "I'm making you cry... I'm sorrh... I'm sor..." Adam breathes calmly, before letting himself fall into slumber. Merrick slowly leans forward, his eyes heavy and sore, pushing his elbows onto his legs, sniffling and rubbing his eyes. "... When can it all stop..." He mumbled. ()()() A stranger falls headfirst through the endless space. His form whirls around a curve once or twice, bits and pieces of his being falling from himself as he goes, until his momentum slows down, and his body turns over so his feet now faces down, before meeting a solid surface. The stranger walks into the black and grey abyss. His eyes scan over the vast emptiness around him, looking to his left, and looking around to the right, noting the only clue he has of a kin to a floor, are cards. All of them arranged in perfect alignment. Playing cards with tribal frames and designs on them. The cards are scattered all across the universe, they're endless, an infinity of cards, all lying face down, all of them with the same patterned across their backs. The man bends over, and picks up one of the countless cards, and turns it over. His eyes sees the counterside as a window-like surface, glass-like, and immediately flashing with an image of a waterfall, and a glimpse of a swarm of orange and black butterflies. The card vibrates in his fingers, before it flies from his hand! Once airborne high, the card disintegrates into diamond dust, disappearing entirely. The man looks sad onto the card, before looking down, and stooping down to pick up two of them this time, one in each hand. One card depicts that of a hilarious moment of watching a ridiculous show with an young, Asian woman, and the other card shows him a man with dark brown skin wrestling a white, shirtless man to the floor for what seems to be a discarded pizza box. Both cards ring out before shooting from his grasp, and turning into glittering vapor. The figure looks sadly onto the nothingness that remained of the cards he touched. He didn't get to look at them long enough, they seemed to be fun to watch, but they are so very fleeting... It's not very fair, is it? The stranger looks down. Some of the cards flash glimpses here and there, even with all of them face down. One glance shows of an adult man taking a child out to learn how to fish in a big, lush forest, while another depicts a woman taking him to a large school with other young adults. On another slip of light from a card is of both adults taking the boy to a musical about a red-haired mermaid. The passing lights flicker here and there all around the stranger as he stands there, turning about, seeing memories in a flash, before they're forgotten. All he can reckon is the regret of not taking the chance to pick up the cards to see what they have to show him, even with the knowledge that they will just leave him as soon as he sees their image. The stranger turns again, and then looks out, seeing someone else with him. A man with white skin, a subtle tan about him from good access to sunlight. The man has short hair, as well as a fuzzy chest and a layer of hair on his stomach, abs covered with a thin layer of fat. A thin layer facial hair covers his jaw as his eyes look into the stranger's eyes. This man has absolutely no hue of color, whatsoever. "... Who are you?" The stranger asks. The man doesn't answer. His face is almost blank, with only a hint of sadness in his expression as he looks at him, "Who are you?" The stranger asks again. "..." The man glances down at the cards. "Who are you?" "..." The man looks back up at the stranger, "I am something that is supposed to exist." He answered. "But who are you?" The stranger asked again. "... That is what you'd like to know." "I know. Who are you?" "Who are YOU?" The stranger hesitates, before glancing around at the cards again, "I... I need to know who you are..." The stranger said, "How am I supposed to know anything when I don't know who you are?" "..." The man glances down. Aside from the cards being placed everywhere, the only other spot without them is in a circle from around the man's feet. "I am nothing." He finally said, "I am something that was supposed to have meaning. But you lost me a long time ago." "What did I do?" "Nothing." The man answered. The rushing sounds of breaths could be heard from behind the stranger. He turned around, and sees an ethereal presence. Suspended horizontally is a smoky image of an upper half of a humanoid, with the lower half of what appears to be a fish tail. White and grey smoke wisp and cloud around it as it lifts softly in the air, before descending about an inch or so, before moving down again. "And who are you?" The stranger asked the ambiguous being. No answer comes from the mist-like creature. "That was something you were supposed to go." The man said, "It's supposed to be here... Always supposed to be here... No where to go..." The stranger looks down on the cards, having heard a few flips. Some of the cards have turned themselves over, flashing vague images again and again. "What are these things..." The stranger asked again. "They are nothing..." The man said, holding his head, "They hold nothing... They show nothing... They mean nothing..." "But they... They are doing something..." "Nothing... There is nothing..." The man said, grunting in pain as he holds his head. "But there's something here. If you can just-" "NOTHING!!!" The man suddenly shouted, his head driving him mad with agony, "THERE IS NOTHING! THERE IS NOTHING!!" The stranger looks in fear, seeing the man start to writhe where he stood. "What is happening to you? Who are you?" "THERE IS NOTHING! THERE SHOULD BE NOTHING!" The man started to shift and change. His dark hair turns a grey-blonde. His tan turned fair as his muscles blur smaller, and his body hair dissolved. His voice even started to change. "Who ARE you?!" The stranger asked. The man seethed with hurtful energy, groaning loudly as he repeats himself. "I... Am... Nothing..." The changed man said, looking up with eyes full of rage and pain, his appearance completely changed into someone else, "I am nothing... YOU are nothing... There is nothing in this world..." "Is there really such a thing as nothing?" The stranger asked. Just then, the stranger began to hear subtle, clinking glass. The cards seem to be breaking apart, turning into shards as they lose their light, and break away, like dried leaves flying up in nonexistent wind. "The world is nothing." The man said, "Anyone is nothing. There should only be nothing. Nothing does not hurt. Nothing does not love. Nothing is the only reliable answer." "But there has to be something..." The stranger sadly protested as he looked down. He gasped as he sees the man from before! The tanned man with a hairy body and manly features, standing where the stranger's shadow is supposed to be. The stranger whips around, looking at the fog-like merman. The merman of smoke swims away, his vapor slowly disappearing as it tries to make a circle around them, quickly extinguishing itself as it goes. The stranger bows his head back down to his human shadow. The image of him stays blank and emotionless, before a jagged web of black lines broke out from the middle, with a sound of a hard piece of glass hitting hard. More cracks appear on the man's previous image as the stranger walks backward, confused and terrified, the man's image still following him as it continued to break. The stranger looks back up in desperation back at the new man, yelping in fear as the man who preaches nothingness is now himself turning into rolling smoke. His eyes of apathy glaring at him as his features dissolve, his legs melding together into a single tail before turning into a humanoid cloud over again, and floating into the air. The cards shatter and waft away in an eerie blizzard of destruction and reformation. "Who are you?" ()()() "Hhh!" Merrick gasps awake, his chest rising and falling as looks around, soon realizing that he is still in the hospital. He looks down on himself... Checking and wondering just which part was the dream... He looks over to Adam, catching a glimpse of a fretful twitch here and there in his sleeping lover. A few seconds later, Adam seems to calm down, as he groans, and his eyes flutter slightly, whimpering lowly, peering slightly before resting his eyes again. Merrick moves his shoulders, feeling slightly heavier than usual. Feeling a hand up onto his back, Merrick locates a small blanket that's been placed over him. He sighs as he puts his hand on his face, finally taking notice that it's almost completely dark in this room, with only a few lights to illuminate the surroundings. Merrick digs his hand into his pocket, and pulls out his phone. 12:13AM His eyes look up to the big window to the hallway, seeing no one there, only a nurse or two behind the far-away counter around the corner. No one is coming to make him leave. They allowed him to stay... Merrick looks to the floor at his shoes, his eyes glazed over with grief. Part of him just wants to let go... And another part just wants to hold on... Feeling nothing at all just seems so much easier... But what if there's a chance that everything can really work out for the best... "I don't know what to feel or do anymore..." He whispered to himself. "... I wish you were here, Adam..." Merrick leans forward, putting his arms on the bed, and putting his head down on his hands. He's just so, so tired.