Capítulo 8: The Enlightenment
It was late afternoon. The sun dipped below the horizon, slowly losing its brightness, as the moon is constantly rising and giving light to the surroundings along with the stars blinking. It was so quiet and peaceful, unlike his everyday scenario, where he needs to deal with his loud neighbors, the piercing sound of his alarm, and the busy road. Christian slowly opened his eyes to see where he was. His vision was gradually revealing the situation. "Am I in heaven?" He said weakly, as he only sees white. He tried to make his fingers move but it felt heavy. It felt like he was dead and doesn't have the ability to control his body. Because of that, he panicked. "No, I still have a lot of milestones to go!" He shouted. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his arm. "No Grim Reaper, I don't want to go with you!" He violently argued with his thoughts, as he shuts his eyes close because he is terrified. He doesn't want to die young. He thought of something unconsciously while dueling against his negative thoughts about dying. "I still wanted to win a novel prize award--"
Christian opened his eyes and saw a group of person surrounding him. One guy is wearing a lab coat with a metal apparatus hanging on his neck. The guy is currently looking at a some kind of monitor that has lines. One lady is holding a 'board,' wearing a face mask. And, the other people have a worried expression on their faces. "Where am I?" Christian subconsciously asked, which caught their attention. The guy with a metal apparatus on his neck told something to the lady besides him. The lady rushed outside the room, as the guy snaps his finger in front of Christian's face to get Christian's attention. "Can you hear me?" The guy said, waiting for Christian's response. Christian nodded weakly, as the guy let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, you gain consciousness." The guy said. "I am Dr. Steven, Steven Howard." He introduced himself. "Let me explain to you what happened. So, your friend here saw you lying on your bed covered with blood three days ago. Do you remember anything about it?" He asked. Christian shook his head, as he realizes that Ezekiel and his mom were here. "I don't remember anything about blood. As I recall, I went home early to work on my novel. While I was working, I felt hungry so I cooked something and after finishing the food, I felt exhausted so I fell asleep." Christian explained. Steven took a glance on Christian before walking towards Ezekiel and Christian's mother.
"The blood his friend saw on his bed is one of the symptoms of food poisoning. Christian, being unconscious for days is caused by dehydration. It is a severe loss of important minerals in his body. Luckily, his friend saw it before he ran out of fluids his body can replace or else, it would be fatal. Some medications and treatments are still needed, but his situation is now stable. He can be discharged once his body fluids went back to normal. If you will excuse me." Steven explained Christian's condition. After explaining, he went out of the room.
When the doctor went out, Christian's mom namely Cristy, and Ezekiel rushed towards Christian to check him. "Are you fine? What's hurting you? Do you need some medicine?" Cristy asked, worried about his son. Christian let out a small chuckle after being bombarded with his mother's question. "Mom, chill out. I'm fine and still kicking." He joked, as Cristy hits his son playfully. Christian faced Ezekiel with a questioned look. "How did you found out I was lying half-dead in my room?" He asked. Ezekiel stared blankly at Christian before responding. "Well, I have super instincts." He shrugged. Christian gave Ezekiel a stern look in response to his statement. "Okay okay. I called you a billion of times for an update, but you never even answered once." He said reluctantly, letting out a deep sigh to ease the tension. Christian released a sigh as well, trying to recall what have he done wrong that day. The room was filled with silence. Until, Ezekiel broke the ice. "Well, about the Novel Prize Awards. We could pull off our request to join." Ezekiel softly said while fidgeting his fingers. "All you have to do is focus on your recovery. Health must come first." He added. Christian felt the world is against him. He feels like the tables have turned. 'I just come up with a plot that I can have fun writing.' He thought while trying to hold his tears.
Writing is an essential piece of his life. It is one way to express his feelings and emotions. More importantly, being an author made him a better person. He learned how important punctuality is. Just him, missing the deadline that Ezekiel had given to him, affects the whole team. From the editor itself, the sales department, the publishing team. It will delay everything, and it would be chaotic. Because of writing, he experienced a lot of things before, during and after the writing process. He faced struggles, hardships and difficulties, which he eventually conquered and made him a stronger person. Thinking of a plot, that is not cliché and will also caught a massive target audience is extremely difficult. Also, creating the interior content of the story takes so much work and effort. The biggest enemy a writer could face is themselves. Christian sometimes felt that his novel is not good enough. Even a famous author like him experienced sleepless nights because of anxiety. But as time goes by, he is slowly gaining confidence about his works, and also to himself. After those struggles and obstacles, money is not his goal. It's the fulfillment to finish the story wholeheartedly. He loves to write. No. He wanted to write.
"I already faced a lot of challenges, being sick is one of them but I still managed to finish a book that I'm satisfied with. So why am I wasting an opportunity If I know that I can. I can write, I'm not disabled." Christian said with eagerness. "You even hired a grammar analyst for me because you become the editor-in-chief of our department." He added. Ezekiel was in the state of shock. He did not expect Christian to say something like this. But what made him shocked the most is, Christian saying that he hired a grammar analyst, and him being the editor-in-chief. "Hey, do you know what you are saying?" Ezekiel confusedly asked. His response made Christian furrowed his brows. "Yes, I'm in the right mind and I know what I am saying." Christian said. Cristy felt the tension is rising, and spreading an unpleasant atmosphere. "Boys, I'll get you guys a drink. Chill out." She said taking his purse with her, as she exits the room leaving the two.
Christian glanced at the door before looking back to Ezekiel. He cleared his throat to get his attention. "So, why did you ask me that kind of question?" He asked. Ezekiel took a deep breath before answering Christian's question. "Because I never hired a grammar analyst for you, and I'm not the editor-in-chief." Ezekiel said. Christian eyes widened, completely shocked to what Ezekiel had said. "W-what do you mean?" He stuttered. "What do you mean by what do you mean? It's the truth." Ezekiel replied. 'No. It can't be.'
Christian stared at the wall as if he was staring at the oblivion. He was lost in his thoughts and a lot of questions are running in his mind. 'What events were actually real? Am I just dreaming?' He doesn't know what to say, or how to react. 'Did I actually wrote something, or I wrote nothing?.' He thought.
Christian snapped back to the reality and called Ezekiel immediately. "Hey, what happened before this incident?" He asked eagerly. "Do I even have to narrate it? It's only a pain in the head." Ezekiel argued. "Tell me." Christian said with deep tone that made Ezekiel flinched. "Fine..."
"I asked you to write a winning piece for the upcoming Novel Prize Awards. Unfortunately, we wasted a week because you couldn't come up with a good one. But four days ago, you proposed a weird, but kind of interesting plot. At least it's not cliché, so I gave you the go signal. You were so eager to write something about it, so you took an early shift. You were so pumped up, so we let you go. Then, the night came. I called you a lot of times to get an update but you weren't answering so I decided to stop by at your condo unit. And that's when I see you lying on your bed, with a lot of blood stains in your mattress and bed sheets. And now, you are here lying on a hospital bed." Ezekiel thoroughly narrated.
All of the sudden, it became windy and sends shivers to Christian's spine. It felt like he was a protagonists of a horror story. "So that means, everything that I thought happened after the incident is not true?" He asked as his voice becomes more shaky and unstable. "Perhaps." Ezekiel nodded. Christian felt uncomfortable because of the sudden events and realizations. Ezekiel noticed that Christian is uneasy which made him worried. "I'll leave you alone first. Clear out your mind and have peace." Ezekiel said heading towards the door. He closed the door behind him, leaving Christian alone.
Christian looked at his palm. "I was asleep for about three days, and everything I thought was real isn't real. Meeting up with a grammar analyst was also not real. Wait, does she even exist?" He asked himself. Christian gazed around the room and saw his mother's phone that is located at the desk besides him. He reached the phone with all his strength, and he succeeded. He unlocked the phone, as he searches the name of the grammar analyst. Unfortunately, Christian could not remember the full name so, he searched "Haris Grammar Analyst" instead. The page did not load any information at all. It made him startled. Christian deleted the set of words in the search bar, and searched for other informations. "The Season of Novelists" The page load some information regarding to the one he searched. But none of it is relevant to what he knew. 'They do not exist.'
Christian felt tired and exhausted. He was about to rest for a bit but, his writing journey popped out in his mind. He recall how he started writing, from middle school until now. How he found his purpose in writing. How his middle school english teacher motivated him. How he experienced his first heartbreak during highschool days. How he met his friends and colleagues.
Suddenly, Christian felt unease again. "If The Season of Novelists are not existing, then who are my friends during college? And most importantly, who is the mentor Ezekiel introduced to us." He talked to himself, as he started to breathe unsteadily. He felt something familiar. He only felt that he knew the person, but in reality, he doesn't know. It is just so familiar. These thoughts kept running through his mind. "Who am I?" He doubted his identity, and his existence. By this time, his head is filled with a lot of questions. He wanted answers but, he couldn't find them. Due to his frustration, he forcefully lied on the hospital bed trying to calm himself.
'Is this a different world?'
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