"Ugh… what happened to me? Where am I? What is this place? Am I… in a hospital?" said the boy who has just woken up from his slumber after what had befallen on him.

Barry, who is now lying on a hospital bed, tries to make sense of the situation unfolding before him. He tries to get up, but to no avail.

He then tries to raise his head to look around, this time he succeeds.

As he scans his surrounding, he confirms to himself that he must be in a ward. But he doesn't know why is he here?

Not long after that, when his mother realized that her son has finally woken up, she came to check up on his condition.

After his mother found out Barry's condition, Barry then takes the chance to ask his mother for answers.

"Mummy, can I ask you a question? Why am I here? What happened to me?"

When Barry asked his mother, she said to him.

"To be honest, I too would want to ask you some questions. But, all I know is that the teacher told me you were sick. So, she asked me to send you to the nearest hospital. That's all I know."

His mother paused for a while before she continues. "Might you know the reason why you always fall ill whenever your birthday approaches? If you know something, please tell me. Okay?"

As his mother asked those questions, his eyes became wide and rolled to the sides. This caused him to think of a reasonable answer for those questions. Unfortunately, he couldn't think up of one.

Finally, he said. "Oh… I see. Well, all I know is that I would fall sick whenever my birthday is approaching…"

This was the most 'reasonable' answer he could think of, though he did actually manage to think up several answers. But he didn't use those because they were downright idiotic answers.

After hearing her son's answer, his mother said. "Oh… okay then."

Soon the doctor and the nurses came into the emergency room to check-up on the patients in the ward.

The first patient they checked up on was Barry.

As they approached his hospital bed, they noticed that Barry has already woken up.

The doctor came up to them and asked Barry. "Hello, Barry. How are you doing? Good?"

Barry nodded his head. The doctor then said. "Okay then." He turned his head to face Barry's mother and said. "You are his mother, am I right?" The mother nodded. The doctor then continues. "Miss, may I ask you to step outside and wait for a while? Because I will need your son to do some more tests before we can discharge him." His mother nodded and went to the door.

Before Barry's mother left the room, she asked the doctor. "Doctor, when exactly can my son be discharged?"

The doctor answered. "If everything is going smooth and normal, he will be discharged… let's say, this midnight."

The mother nodded and stepped out of the room.

After that, the doctor then said to Barry.

"Barry, I just want to say that I'm glad you are now in good condition and you took just a few hours to recover from your illness. Earlier, we didn't know what to do with your situation as it was the first time we received a patient who had an abnormal fever. When you arrived, at first we thought it was just a normal fever. But we were wrong. Your skin turned pale in just seconds. You became heavy to be carried. And your body temperature was also crazy! It went from extremely hot to extremely cold and vice versa. Luckily, we did the best that we could to treat you. So this is the result we received."

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After hearing what the doctor told him, Barry thanked and apologized to the doctor because of the problems he has caused to the doctor and nurses of the emergency ward, which made them unable to pay more attention to tend to the other patients in the ward.

The doctor smiled and said to him. "You don't need to thank me, it's my duty after all." The doctor continued. "You should also thank these 3 gorgeous nurses too, for nursing you back to good condition. Aren't they just beautiful?" The doctor pointed his thumb at the nurses while also teasing Barry. There stood 3 nurses in front of his hospital bed, smiling at him. One is a petite girl. The middle is a tall girl with long legs. The other is a cute, chubby girl. Barry just gives them an awkward smile while waving his hand to them before turning his gaze to the doctor.

After that, the doctor clears his throat and asks him to prepare himself, as they will soon resume the procedure before they could discharge him.

Barry nodded his head and gets himself ready to undergo the remaining procedures.

After he completed undergoing the procedures, the doctor orders him to lie down on his bed while waiting for the test results and the doctor's decision. It was also at this time that Barry's mother was given the green light to enter the emergency ward to befriend him there.

At first, Barry and his mother just remained quiet. This made the situation feel awkward for both of them.

Soon, the mother starts a conversation with her son to dispel the awkwardness in the situation's atmosphere.

The mother starts the conversation by bringing up her son's answer to her previous question earlier. She called out to him by his nickname.

"Timmy, about the answer you gave me earlier, you know that you haven't given me an actual answer, right? Let me guess… you didn't think of one, didn't you?"

The first statement annoyed Barry a bit, while the second statement shot at him like an arrow to his chest, which made him feel pain.

Barry was about to reuse the same answer at first. But he pondered once more, so he dropped his initial intent. "I thought of reusing the same answer by including some explanations about things. But I know she knows I'm going to do that. So I guess I will just shut up for now and reveal to her later. The reason I always fall sick whenever my birthday comes around, it is because…" he thought to himself.

This caused him to become silent and stare blankly at the blankets of his hospital bed. His mother realized this behaviour of her son, so she was about to give up on the question. "You know what? It's fine if you don't want to talk about it for now. You can just tell me later."

Soon, the doctor enters the emergency ward to announce the good news to Barry. As he reaches Barry's bed, he found his mother there standing beside him. So he said to Barry's mother.

"Miss, I have good news to tell you. Your son, Barry, can now be discharged from under hospital care. Please monitor his health from time-to-time and please remind him always to take care of his own health. Oh, if you want to ask about his health assessments, they are all good and he passed! That's all I want to say. Thank you. Have a good day!"

Barry's mother said. "Thank you, doctor. I will keep that in mind and do as what you informed. Once again, thank you."

Barry and his mother then prepared themselves to leave the hospital to head back home. Barry went to the changing room to change from his hospital gown into his school uniform, while his mother was busy packing up the things.

At that moment, Barry was actually still feeling dizzy, but he could still manage it.

The atmosphere of the hospital lobby at that time was dead silent and eerily dark, which gave Barry and his mother the chills. As they walked towards the entrance/exit of the hospital building, they passed by a boy who was left outside the ward on a hospital bed in a state of unfinished operation, where they could clearly see the internal organs of the young patient. This grossed and freaked them out, which made them increase their walking pace.

Before they got out of the hospital, Barry told his mother that he wanted to go to the toilet first. So he heads to the toilet at ground floor.

Not long after that, Barry dashes to the main entrance of the hospital where his mother waited for him. Barry arrived at the main entrance in an exhausted state. His mother noticed but just kept her mouth shut. Both of them then headed for the car and leaves for home.

When they reached home, Barry went straight to his room and hit the sack. At that moment, his thoughts came back to haunt him. He knew about the reason and without him realizing it, he said the reason under his breath.

"… this is the effects of my powers to my health. It has always been. Ever since I realized it, when I was 9 years old. This always happens. But, hey, at least I will only experience this just once throughout the whole year. Isn't that nice?" he said these words with a sad smile that emerged on his lips before he fell in a deep sleep.

Throughout the entire weekend, Barry remained in his room to rest himself.

The Sports Day event, which was held on Saturday, January 23rd, the event Barry has been looking forward. He didn't attend it, in the end.

Even on his birthday on Sunday, January 24th, he remained in his room, except for breakfast time and dinner time.

This is the reality which Barry had to accept and live with it, as how he has been since he was a child.