Pandora's Box

Chapter 37

It’s been days since the incident happened and we all agreed to keep Leon isolated, to keep everyone safe. We still don’t know what is his condition, but there is nothing that we can do since there was no equipment available here.

Maddie was the only one who have access to his room since she is the only one who knows how to prevent infections from his wound.

But the others were warned to never enter the room.

When terra formers are involved, we don’t know if it is something contagious or not.

I saw Maddie recently enter the room; she is wearing her personal protective equipment to keep her safe. Then sanitation every time she exits the room.

I am with Alexander and his sister.

I don’t want to leave their side.

I don’t feel safe if they are far from me. Surprisingly, Alexander agreed to be with me all the time, except when I enter the girls’ bedroom, but other than that, he is always there, ready to accompany me.

I am happy, that he was ready to keep me safe.

Now that I am at my lowest, where I am vulnerable to all kinds of mental attacks or physical, where I can be easily harmed by others.

They understand me, and I am very thankful that they do understand me.

Maddie got out of the room, and she looks nervous. Every time she gets out of the room, we need constant updates from her.

I mean, we need to know what is happening. Since that incident happened, we promised each other that we must keep no secrets from others.

So far, Leon’s condition is getting worse as days go by. She said that she can only prevent infection, but she suggests that they should perform an operation to open his wound to get rid of something, that is inside of it.

Just like what I said, I never really cared.

It’s just, I must be there. It is part of the promise.

But Owen is hesitant, but I can see it in his face that soon he will reconsider what he said and allow the operation to happen. Without it, death seems inevitable for him.

.              .              .              .

She is completely sanitized, and there is nothing to worry about.

She sat in front of us, wearing the same nervous expression that I saw when she leaves Leon’s room.

Echo is with us too, she is like me in this matter, she does not care, since she does not know Leon.

The only difference between the two of us is she does not care all the time. She is here because of the promise too.

“Any updates?” asked Owen. His deep voice is intimidating, and his looks keep getting fiercer as days go by. They said that it is just him being serious, but yeah, it is something that I can’t bear to see.

I prefer to avoid his gaze.

Also, he is the one who has the gun in his possession. Turns out that we don’t know that Echo has a gun, except for Dr. Sarah.

For security measures, she said.

Then turns out that Echo was keeping tabs on the surveillance cameras installed throughout the shelter except for the rooms and bathrooms. But there are many outside.

Despite him being the scariest dude between us, I didn’t expect that Owen is the most trustworthy person inside here.

I know...

I cannot judge a book by its cover but you can’t blame me if I am frightened by the sharp looks that he throws all the time.

He also had some conflict with Dr. Sarah, maybe because of the secrets. Even they don’t tell us, we can completely feel the heaviness of the atmosphere.

I pointed my gaze to Maddie, who can’t stop rubbing the palm of her hands.

She took her time getting some deep breaths and then she looked at us.

Owen just raised one of his eyebrows.

“It’s getting worse,” that’s what she said every time.

“Nothing new?” Owen’s voice is calm and he keeps a straight look towards Maddie. Keep it that way.

Oh, I can feel Maddie’s uneasiness, and with the pressure of his look, I feel sorry for her.

“What do you mean nothing new?” this time, Maddie was the one asking, and even she is extremely nervous right now, I can feel her voice rising.

“That’s what you said all the time.”

“This time, it’s different,” Maddie raised her voice.

“Go on, I am listening,” his tone was calm, but we can feel that he is in authority in this situation.

“The bump became larger, and something is mo-“

She covered her mouth as if she will throw up any time. Alexander quickly came to her side, but she stopped him and looked at him, telling Alexander that she is okay, and she straightened her back and looked at us again.

Owen just keeps the straight look, unfazed at what happened to her.

“Something is moving inside,” Maddie continues, and she cleared her throat. But when she looked at us again, I can feel that there is something different now. It’s like she had more courage now. “Owen, I know that you worry for his life, but that little sweet pea, is young and we must take the gamble if we want him to live,” added Maddie, and I can hear the desperation in her voice. “We must perform the operation as soon as possible, because if we just sit here and ignore what I saw back there,” then she pointed to the door leading to Leon’s room. “He will die, and the only hope we can take right now is my suggestion.”

Honestly, I am shocked, really shocked.

At least I, don’t know that she has this side. She is ready to fight for what she thinks is right.

“I know,” said Owen and he grabbed his head with both of his hands, and looked down on the floor. “But what if this decision cost us more lives?” he then asked and looked at us again. It still has the same sharpness but this time it has more emotion in it.

“But this is the only choice we have.”

“Give me some time,” Owen stood up, and walked out, this is the first time that he did that.

We are left here, staring at each other. The atmosphere is quiet and no one wants to break the silence. Even I don’t want to.

“Erm,” it was Jose. We looked at him and he flashed an awkward smile towards us. “What about we do something relaxing?” he asked us.

I raised one of my eyebrows.

Then he pulled out his laptop on his side and played something. I can hear upbeat music playing, I can mostly hear it being used by vloggers in their introductions.

Then he turned the laptop facing us.

Oh...

It’s one of his vlogs.

“I just want to promote my vlog to y’all, it’s my dream to be known by the world, and it seems like that it won’t happen, so I want to show it to y’all my happiest vlog in my life,” Jose awkwardly said and scratching the back of his head by time to time.

We sat there and watched his vlogs.

He looks really happy just like what he said. He is with his family and friends in a private resort, doing some kind of activities that all of them seem to enjoy.

I did not experience it, because I don’t have any friends that will invite me.

For some reason, I enjoyed watching them.

Despite the camera being too shaky because he is moving around a lot.

Then they splashed around in the pool, with those bright smiles that they have. Honestly, I envy them.

Then the video cuts.

From the first look, it wasn’t edited in some kind of way. It was the raw footage. Since he called it a vlog, I expected it to have some flashy intro and upbeat background music since he said that it was his happiest.

But video logs or commonly known as vlogs are originally like this.

For some reason, I prefer it this way. It captures the emotion that they have in this video.

He closed the laptop after it finished playing and he looked around, to see our reaction. I know that I have a smile on my lips right now.

I felt it forming.

The video was genuine.

After that, I can’t look at this guy the same as ever again.

“What do you think?” he then asked, still wearing the awkward smile.

“I didn’t understand a bit of it,” Echo blurted out. Oh... I can understand that because of the language barrier and Echo is Korean, the people spoke the Filipino language in the video most of the time.

I can see that there is a worried look on Jose’s face.

“But I enjoyed it nonetheless, you are happy in there,” added Echo, I sighed in relief.

“Really?” asked Jose.

“Yea, I agree with her,” Maddie added. “But what happened?” she then asked meaningfully.

I can see that Jose got what she meant in that question, and there I can see the nervousness in him again.

I know that he is afraid because of what’s happening here. I fully understand him. But now I can see that he is different from what I saw on the plane and the airport than now.

He is loud and annoying but now he is just this nervous little kid.

“It’s because I don’t know if I will get out of here alive.”

That hits me so hard.

We suffer from the same anxiety.

I know how it feels.

I also don’t know if I will face my family again.

They were speechless.

We all are.

Wee don’t know what to reply on that, because right now, there is no reason to stay positive. Someone died...

And we don’t know who’s next on the list.

“May-“

A loud bang can be heard from Leon’s room. I was startled by it and the men here stood up, and Maddie too.

Something bad is happening there and we must check.

We saw Owen come rushing back.

“What was that?” Owen asked.

But no one answered as all of them is staring at the door.

Owen opened the door. Since it is an emergency, we have no choice.

But as soon as the door was opened, we saw the insides of the room. Things are thrashed everywhere.

What happened here?

But in the middle of the room.

Leon was there.

Standing and staring at us.