Heartbeats

Chapter 6.2: Then his heart beeped

Gavril woke up in a hospital bed with no memory of what had happened and of how he got there. He sat up, looked around and found that he was put on a drip from a labelless bag filled with clear liquid. A white bracelet was attached on his other hand. He stared at the green blinking light as it synchronized with the beeping sound from the heart rate monitor beside him.

Gavril stayed in this clean white windowless room, accompanied mostly by the unfamiliar machines around his bed. A nurse or two would visit him to check the machines. They don't talk to him though, they would only scan the machines with their bracelets then leave. Even if he asked or initiated a conversation, they would ignore him and quietly leave. He even felt more helpless now than when he was back at the orphanage.

After a few days Gavril had enough, if no one would give him an answer then he would have to learn about it himself. He finally left his bed, grabbing the IV bag overhead and slinging it around his body.

He creeped out of the room, quite surprised that the door was not locked the whole time. He did not really know where he was and could not even take a guess. The hospital looked beautiful and new, with no traces of the war. Beside his door he saw a glass sheet. He pulled it out from its metal frame. It was strong and thick but light to the touch. The glass was translucent with the edge lined with a thin but firm silver non slip material.

He gently tapped on it and his photo appeared up on the glass' surface along with information about him. Gavril clutched his chest, for his heart sank upon seeing his face. He looked worse than before. His jaws pushed forward even more and from the thumbnail of his X-rays his teeth looked odd as well. Gavril swallowed. He was never really a fan of mirrors so he might had looked like this for a while now and he just didn't pay attention.

Gavril looked at his bracelet and swiped it along the the glass sheet, mimicking what the nurses did. Surprisingly it seemed to work, as his whole bracelet lit up.

Gavril's head suddenly perked up, after he sensed someone approaching. A strong smell passed by his nose. Somehow he never really understood why the people in this hospital would wear strong odd perfumes. He had memorized the smell of all his nurses and even the people who passed by his room at night. They really were wearing strong perfumes! Only now, did it come in handy.

Gavril slid the glass back to its place beside his door and went back inside his room. He jumped to his bed and hooked the bag up again. He lifted the blanket and slid inside, just in time for the person outside to peek into his room.

Gavril calmed his heart. He made sure that the beep was in a regular steady beat. He closed his eyes and breathed evenly. He had learned this a long time ago at the orphanage, and used it whenever they played that sadistic game of hide and seek. In order to fully conceal himself, he would calm even his heart, then his breath would follow and then his mind. Even through aching muscles and bruises, he would still be able to hide his presence by just being completely at peace.

This time, concealment was not really his priority. It was to make sure that the heart rate monitor would not give him away. It never stopped beeping. It beeped all day and all night, constantly filling the room with a soft beep timed perfectly with his heartbeat.

The person closed the door and continued to walk. Gavril listened to his footsteps and held on to his smell. When he could not smell him anymore, Gavril finally went out of the covers and sat up.

His bracelet projected a 3D hologram of what he saw in the glass, with just after a few taps. He then proceeded to read everything he copied from that glass.

The doctors kept him there to study what happened to him. Gavril found out that the kids injected him with a mild string of a virus that they were testing to make a vaccine for immunity. Gavril was not a bit surprised to know that they were using orphaned kids for testing. They took him and two other kids to this hospital to study the effects of the vaccine: one with a positive response, another with no response and then there was him.