The following day, Niel is lounging in the living room by himself. Reed and Lydia are in their rooms as per usual, but Gabriel and Mabel took Illia to have her eyes checked. Now he's waiting for them to return. With all this talk of vision, Niel appeases his curiosity by researching it, and he learns how the eye works and how improper focusing of light leads to poor eyesight. Objects both near and far are crystal to him, so he knows he's not farsighted nor nearsighted. Reed and Lydia don't own glasses and they don't complain about their vision, so he assumes they're in the same boat as him.

The car doors shutting outside tell Niel that the three have returned, so he gets up to open the door for them. He wonders what Illia will look like with glasses. The door opens, and... she isn't wearing any.

"I thought you were getting glasses," Niel says, confused.

"We did," Mabel responds as she and the other two step in through the doorway. "They're being made. I'll get a call when they're ready to be picked up."

"Oh."

"And that will be in, like, two weeks or so," Gabriel adds. "Want to see what frames she picked?"

"Sure."

Gabriel brings out his phone to show Niel what Illia's glasses will look like. The silvery metal of the temples is somewhat tall and slim compared to the wire-like frames Niel has seen online, and there isn't a lot of material underneath the lenses. The temples are tipped with black plastic embellished with a yellow stripe that runs along the length. Niel was expecting more pink, or at least a cutsier design than these mature-looking frames.

"It's not quite what I..." Niel says, but Illia's look of embarrassment causes his voice to trail off.

"The first frames she picked out were all pink, but they were too small for her," Mabel says.

So that explains it.

>>>>>>

"I've got a meal tray here for room 305. Could you take it up there?" a nurse asks Niel.

"Sure."

He accepts the lone tray of food and ascends to the third floor via the elevator. Room 305 sounds familiar, and it becomes so when he finds it—it's the room that he, Rosa, and Illia cleaned in their last shift. Rosa did say a patient had just been discharged, so this must be the person who filled that gap. Niel knocks, steps into the room, and introduces himself.

The new patient is an older man with thin, grey hair that's receding up his scalp, and his blemished skin is wrinkled and beginning to sag a bit. His blanket is pulled only up to his belly, revealing the hospital gown Niel is familiar with. At Niel's request, the man identifies himself as Elliot Torres, age 68.

"That was fast," Elliot says as he sits up, though to great discomfort. Niel lays the tray down and adjusts the dining table so the man can sit up with minimal pain. "I figured it would've taken a lot longer."

"We work as fast as we can for the patients here, Mr. Torres," Niel says as he pulls the heat-retaining top off of the main dish. He doesn't know what it is—it looks remotely like lasagna, or maybe some kind of meat, but it looks a lot... worse. At least the fresh apricot is familiar.

"You know," Elliot begins, "I'm having some trouble moving. Think you could feed me?"

Niel is caught off guard by this comment. "I... Unfortunately, as a volunteer, I can't do that. A nurse would have to—" This response causes the patient to laugh.

"I'm only joking! I'm not that frail yet!" Elliot takes a fork in hand to begin eating. "Though, maybe I should pretend if it's one of the nurses, eh?" He gives a humoured grin, and Niel forces one of his own to look friendly.

Everything seems fine, but it's protocol to ask if there's anything else that's needed by the patient. Before Niel can ask that, however, Elliot begins talking again.

"Y'know, I'm really not sure why I'm here. The doctors say it's acute kidney failure, but I've been sick like this before and I never went to the hospital. I'm just having another one of those days, but no one really believes me."

If he remembers correctly, Niel isn't supposed to give any personal advice to patients. He also doesn't want to say nothing because Elliot's way of thinking is destructive. Perhaps he can word his thoughts in a way so it's not advice per se, but it still gets his message across.

"You're here because someone cares about you, whether it's family or the doctors, and the doctors would rather make certain there's nothing more serious going on than sending you home and risking you becoming more ill."

"Yeah, but it feels like my daughter is getting too worried about my health."

Niel can't think of a way to keep himself disconnected from the topic, so he decides to wrap things up. "Is there anything else I can get you? Any snacks, drinks, condiments?"

"Hm, nothing right now."

"I'll leave you to your meal, then."

Niel leaves the room and reports back to the nurse who gave him the task. With nothing left for him to do, she gives him the green light to take a short break. He decides to go to the volunteer's lounge to sit and have a drink, and it's there where he stumbles upon Reginald and Rosa at the end of their conversation. Reginald declares that it's time for him to 'get back to it,' and after briefly greeting Niel, he leaves the lounge.

"How's everything going on your end, Niel?" Rosa asks, both to check on him and to serve as small talk.

"Fine. I just brought lunch to a patient."

"That's good. At least it was something for you to do."

"Yeah."

The air feels a bit awkward and Niel isn't sure why. Though, both of them being here works out as he wanted to talk to her, but never had the chance to until now.

"So, who was that guy you were with at the park again?" Niel asks.

"Liam. He's a friend of mine. He works in the animal hospital close to Veil Watchtower if you know where that is. He's really kind to people and great with animals, he's also really cool, and..."

This isn't a response Niel was expecting. The awkward atmosphere has morphed into a different kind with Rosa's gushing over her friend. She soon realizes her unprofessionalism and straightens herself up before she embarrasses herself any further.

"Sorry about that," she apologizes after clearing her throat.

"Are you two... in a relationship?"

Niel can see in her eyes that this question sparked something greatly unpleasant.

"W-well... no, n-no. Not... exactly."

Now this is flat-out strange, but there's at least one thing Niel can pull from this response: whatever bond Rosa and Liam share isn't going her way. The conversation has gotten too uncomfortable to continue, so Niel breaks it off there. Nothing else of note happens during the rest of this shift.

>>>>>>

Wednesday arrives and Niel isn't feeling very well. He isn't sick, just exhausted. He's been spending several of his mornings excessively lazing in bed, leading Mabel to assume this fatigue is due to him oversleeping. It makes sense since he used to be one of the earliest risers, and now he's tied with Reed for the last one out of bed.

Regardless of how he feels, he has a job to do, and his job now is to assist Reginald with the snack cart. Despite being called a snack cart, there's more than just sandwiches, salads, and fresh fruit being hauled around. Toiletries and magazines are also sold, and all for a cheap price. Niel wonders internally how patients are meant to pay. He and Reginald make their rounds going door-to-door through the inpatient wings and checking if any patients are interested. To Niel's surprise, many are, with the fruit in particular being very popular. He also learns that transactions are made through the patient's phone or a specialized card.

They have to restock a time or three, but they eventually reach Elliot's room. The older man is quite happy to see Niel again so soon, so much so that he ends up buying an apricot. Not much else happens, though.

"And that's the cart done! Thank you, Niel," Reginald says once their cart-related duty is complete.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"No problem."

With that out of the way and nothing else to do, Niel decides to have a quick break at the lounge. Moving around helps keep him awake, so he doesn't plan on sitting around for long as his fatigue is doing him no favours. He grabs a bottle of cold water and takes a seat. The plan was to drink a mouthful now and again while he killed time, but he ends up greedily draining the entire bottle in one go. So much for that. He gets up and disposes of the bottle, but before he leaves the lounge, Rosa walks in.

"Good afternoon, Niel," Rosa greets. Niel can tell just from looking at her that she's exhausted.

Niel skips over the greeting. "I guess I'm not the only one who's tired."

Rosa now realizes that she's being transparent, and she places a curled hand over her forehead as she sighs. "Twelve-hour shifts will do that to you."

"You work twelve-hour shifts?" Niel feels lucky he only has to work five.

"Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's my job as a nurse practitioner."

Looking closer, it doesn't seem like Rosa is just tired. The way her eyelids and brows droop makes her look... sad.

"Did something happen yesterday?" Niel asks.

Rosa's ears twitch once she registers the question. This has her full attention. "No. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"So nothing with Liam?"

It's been nothing but strangeness whenever Liam is brought up, so Niel guesses him as the culprit. The nurse's reaction is more than telling.

"It's... not Liam..."

"Does he..."

"No, he doesn't hit me or anything... He's just too nice."

"How is he too nice?"

Rosa scans the lounge with her eyes to make sure they're alone. She then sits on the arm of one of the chairs to brace herself for what she's about to say.

"I really like him. He's really sweet and kind, and he's handsome, too. I fell in love."

"Did you tell him how you feel?"

"A while ago. He doesn't feel the same way about me." Rosa's dejection is potently contagious, even though Niel doesn't know what rejection feels like. "I can't get enough of him. He's so amazing, but it hurts seeing him talk to other girls. It feels like our friendship is crumbling because of it..."

"If that's the case, then maybe you should stop seeing him."

"I don't want to do that. I value our friendship, and so does he. And it's lonely without him." This is quite the oxymoron, and Niel can't wrap his head around it. It hurts to be around Liam, but it also hurts to be away from him, too. Rosa continues her morose ramblings. "Maybe he just needs more time. Feelings don't always develop quickly, after all. He calls me pretty a lot, so maybe there's still a chance he'll like me back?"

Niel is at a complete loss for what to say. He's so far out of his depth on this topic that he can't even begin to help her. Rosa again realizes how much she's embarrassing herself and pulls herself together.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes. "This stuff's been getting to me, recently."

"It's okay. At least you were able to vent."

"Yeah. I don't have anybody to vent to other than Liam, and I don't want him to know about this."

"How come? Wouldn't talking with him help make this better?"

"He's happier not knowing. I don't want to upset him."

"It's not much of a friendship, then."

"But he's happy."

It seems Rosa is adamant about this, so Niel backs down. It's a losing battle anyway with his sheer inexperience with love. He'll need to think this over when he gets home. Suddenly, the door to the lounge opens and a nurse steps inside.

"There you two are. You're both needed," she says. Rosa and Niel walk with her out of the lounge and past reception. "Niel, a patient in room 305 is requesting you. Sounds like they want to talk."

305 is Elliot's room. Why does he want to talk to Niel? As there's only one (acceptable) way to find out, he breaks off from the two nurses and climbs to the third floor.

"You called for me, Mr. Torres?" Niel asks once he arrives.

"Ah, there you are. Yes," Elliot responds. Niel notes how he looks the same compared to Monday, but the room has been prettied a bit with the inclusion of a bouquet of artificial flowers. Niel pulls up a chair and sits at Elliot's behest. "My son was here yesterday. You've already noticed the flowers," he continues. "Today, he's busy with his nephew."

"So you have no one coming today?"

"My daughter will be coming later in the day, I believe after your shift ends. That happens at four, right?"

Niel is surprised by Elliot's observational skills. "That's correct. How did you know?"

"I tried calling for you yesterday, but you weren't working then. A nurse told me you'd be here today until four."

"Yeah. I work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from eleven to four until the end of the month." Niel doesn't know the point of this conversation nor where it's headed.

"I hope you're not too busy, then. There must be a lot for you to do."

"There's surprisingly little for us teen volunteers to do. On our first day, we looked high and low for even the smallest task to do."

"Ah, well that's no good, either."

"I don't mind it as much as the others do."

"And who are these others?"

"My friends. We joined together and work at the same time."

"Ah, I see. It must be nice to work alongside friends."

This back-and-forth continues longer, and Niel eventually realizes why he's here: to keep Elliot company. Their conservation has no purpose other than to exist. Niel feels like he could be doing something more productive, but the older man seems to enjoy his company, so perhaps he's doing just that. Elliot tells stories from his and his children's younger days and Niel listens on attentively. Eventually, it gets to a point where Niel needs to leave before people start wondering where he is, so he bids his farewells and returns downstairs. This likely won't be the last time they'll talk.

>>>>>>

Illia, Reed and Niel all wait in the living the next morning. It's Lydia's turn to venture out with their guardians, but instead of getting glasses, she's out to do her Knowledge Test so she can get her driver's licence. The trio is waiting for them to return so they can hear how Lydia performed on the test—Reed doesn't exactly want to be here as he knows that this will only lead to him being voluntold to get his licence next. After roughly an hour of lazy waiting around, the other trio arrives back home with the news.

"I passed!" Lydia triumphantly exclaims, spurring cheers from the other children.

"Let me guess, it was only barely," Reed jabs after his short bout of congratulations.

"As if! I ace it! Something you couldn't do!"

"She got three signs and four questions wrong," Gabriel inserts to pop Lydia's bubble of lies.

"Don't say that!"

"Ha! You really DID almost fail!" Reed teases.

"How many are you allowed to get wrong again?" Niel asks for clarification.

"Four for each," Mabel answers. "If you get a fifth wrong, then you fail and have to do that part of the test again.

"So you did nearly fail."

"Oh, shut up! The scenario questions are terrible anyway! Most of them mean the same thing! What matters is that I passed!" Lydia exclaims defiantly.

"Exactly," Mabel chimes as she places her hands on Lydia's shoulders. "So when are you going for your test, Reed?"

This is why Reed didn't want to be here.

Not only did Lydia get her Learner's today, but as Reed puts it, today is also therapy Thursday for Niel. Medova arrives on schedule and the pair talk again in the private room. Medova catches up with Niel by asking him if he's had any serious episodes or stressful encounters since the last time they spoke, and apart from specific stressors before or while working at the hospital, Niel hasn't contended with much. Now Medova picks up where she left off last by discussing with him concepts of stress and how the body and mind react to it, even if subconsciously or unintentionally. It isn't a one-sided lecture, though, as she uses questions, thought experiments, and Niel's own experiences to sway him into collaborating and being an active participant in the session.

One such concept she touches on is appraisal, where people 'appraise' how stressful a situation is depending on if it's a threat to them, and if they have the means to cope or respond to the event. Hearing this is almost like an epiphany for Niel since he immediately relates it to the attack he suffered over a week ago; he believed his life was in danger, and that he had no Dust to defend himself with. Those were always constants before he awoke to his Dust, and were still a long time after.

The discussion and stress talk takes up all of their time, so anything more will have to wait for next week. In the meantime, Niel spends his day off lounging, playing games with Reed, and watching Mabel paint. Suppertime comes and goes, and he finds his guardians in the dining room scratching a small number of cards with toothpicks.

"What are you doing?" he asks, curious.

"Scratching lotto tickets," Gabriel answers.

"Lotto?"

"The lottery," Mabel explains. "The money that people spend on these tickets goes into a honey pot, and the person with a winning ticket gets some or even all of the money." When Niel hears the word honey pot, his mind draws up a mound of cash inside of a pot made for storing honey.

"The jackpot's at... 83 million I think? So whoever wins gets a ton of money," Gabriel adds.

"That's a lot of money," Niel says.

"A life-changing amount, but the odds of winning that much are only one in several million, if not worse." Gabriel selects an untouched card and slides it toward Niel. "Want to try?"

"Sure."

Niel takes a toothpick and sits down, and Gabriel explains the card's game. It's a pre-completed crossword, but you reveal letters in a word bank to scratch out letters in the puzzle to complete words. Three words formed awards the smallest prize of $3, with more words giving more money. Niel plays this game methodically, but the bank only provides enough letters for a single word.

"You pay five dollars for this?" Niel found it strange that you could just buy a ticket that could earn you exorbitant amounts of money, but the price of a ticket along with the abysmal odds makes the prize the least exorbitant aspect.

"Sometimes you win a smaller prize. I once won a hundred bucks!" Mabel gleams.

"If you want money, you're probably better off not buying any in the first place."

"That's true, but scratching tickets is fun in its own way. You don't always win something, but it feels great when you do, even when you've lost more money than you've made," Gabriel says.

So you're not just buying a chance to win, but also a small amount of entertainment as well. Niel supposes he can't knock this, even if he has no plans on wasting his money as well.

With nothing interesting happening in the dining room anymore, Niel returns to the living room to watch TV again, but he finds something abnormal occurring on the couch. Illia was awake when Niel went to the dining room, but now she's fast asleep in the dimming light. She looks... not peaceful. She's grimacing ever so slightly in her sleep and her breathing is unsteady. Is she having a nightmare? Niel doesn't want to wake her up in case he's wrong about that, but he also doesn't want to risk her having one and leaving her to suffer. Besides, they have work tomorrow and napping now will make it harder for her to sleep tonight. Niel reaches out to wake her, and...

...a signature, more defined than his Dust, but not dissimilar. It's the same one he felt the night after his large attack, when Illia was waiting for him in his room. What is this? The singular pulse of this signature makes it hard to tell if it came from Niel or Illia, but with its history, he's inclined to believe the latter. But how? And why? Niel looks closer at Illia and finds that her expression has become more fearful. And then it happens again—another pulse on his internal radar. It is coming from her. Niel places a hand on her shoulder to stir her awake, causing her to jolt as if jumpscared.

"Good morning," he says as she looks up at him. She rubs her eyes as she sits up. "Were you having a nightmare?"

She groggily nods her head.

So he was right about the nightmare. Could that be why the signature appeared? From heightened emotion, like fear in this case? But Illia has been scared before, so why did it never trigger then? Niel can draw up question after question, but there's no way Illia will be able to answer any of them. He decides to keep this secret until he figures it out himself.