Page 16

V alentina went to sleep again.

Ismena realized how tired her mother looked, so, she pleaded with her to go back home, get some rest before coming back.

"No, I can't leave Tina like this." Amelia refused. Her eyes went to the door occasionally because she was also waiting for her husband to come back.

"I will be here to take care of Tina, mom. At least, go and refresh up before coming back here." Ismena pleaded.

Amelia refused. But after more pleas from her daughter, she finally agreed—giving in to the exhaustion that filled her bones.

"Alright, I'll take my bath, change clothes and come back again." She said, getting up from the bed.

Ismena and Sandra waved goodbye to her, as she walked out of the door .

Outside the hospital, Amelia looked around for her husband, but he was nowhere within sight. Has he left the hospital?

Well, maybe he got an emergency call at the workshop.

That thought calmed her down, as she proceeded to the bus station.

Meanwhile, in the hospital room, Sandra took her friend's arm immediately after Amelia left and dragged her out of Valentina's hospital room to another empty hospital room.

As they entered the empty room and closed the door, she let out a huge scream of excitement.

Ismena was taken aback and baffled at the same time. "What is the matter!?"

"Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh myyyyy!!" She squealed, doing a happy dance with her feet and waist.

"What happened?" Ismena asked again, curious. "And keep it down, We’re in a hospital. There are sick patients everywhere. You don't want them to chase us out of here, do you? Keep it down and tell me what happened."

"I ran into him here in the hospital! I saw him in the lobby! Oh my God! I was shell-shocked when I saw him! I never thought I'll see him again, least of all here in the hospital!" She whisper-screamed.

"Wait, slow down. Who did you see?"

"The hunk!" She shrieked, "The handsome hunk we saw outside the mall more than two months ago! The one I told you that I've been dreaming about ever since!"

That was when Ismena remembered that Alphose was also in the hospital with her. "Oooooh, him ? "

"Yes, him. I saw him !."

A grin spread all over Ismena's face. "Really? Here in the hospital?"

"Yes. Oh, God, Ismena... I've never been more speechless in my life, it was so embarrassing."

Ismena snorted, "So, of all the places for a cat to devour your tongue, it had to be in front of him, huh? Tell me, what did he say to you when you were staring at him like a still-life painting, with your jaws cleaning the floor?"

"Stop making fun of me." Sandra smacked her friend's arm, "He looked at me weirdly, cocked his head to the side like he's thinking. I waited for him to say anything to me, but he didn't. Then, I remembered Valentina and hurried away to this place."

"Really?" Ismena arched her brows.

"Yes! Oh, Mena, the way he looked at me. The novel-girl in me wants to believe that he finds me attractive."

"Uh-huh." Ismena teased.

"Stop, Mena!"

"So, you're so attracted to him, huh? Alpho—" she caught herself and added, "That stranger!?"

"Of course, I will totally shag him if I get the opportunity, girl."

"And that's the whore in you, talking." Ismena laughed.

"Oh, come on. You know I haven't gotten laid in ages." She rolled her eyes, "When you read as many novel as I do, it's hard to see a reality-man that does it for you. "

Ismena opened the door and began leading her friend back to her sister's room. "So, you wanna tell me that the 'hunk' does it for you?"

"Totally." There was no question. Just the thought of him has her panties wet. For Sandra, that was strange and embarrassing at the same time.

"Well, calm your heart, for now, my dear friend.

Who knows, your paths with him might cross again.

Then, you can shoot your shot if you can gather enough courage to actually do so.

" Ismena doubts that Alphose would want anything to do with a human female, but that is not what she can tell her friend.

It'll lead to a lot of questions she would not be able to answer.

"Alright then, I will tell you a story. Listen up." Hector crossed his arms together, leaned back on the squeaky chair, and crossed his legs too.

"Eighteen years ago, I finished my morning rounds with the prisoners. I could barely see clearly because my eyes hurt and I've got eye bags beneath them...my eyes were swollen because I was unable to sleep the night before."

Hector paused in thought. He shook his head, "I had sleepless nights for the past two weeks after Beloca thought it'll be great to drug up to two siblings and force the older one to rape the younger one. Two siblings." He emphasized.

"Siblings!?" Simon interrupted, "They are animals! All of them! Siblings are for humans, not animals and monsters who should not breathe the same air we do!"

"The girl, Number 26, was barely ten years old." Hector continued calmly, like Simon never interrupted. "I watched the girl plead with her brother, I watched him battle himself badly not to give in to the drugs. I have never seen him battle like that before. It was traumatizing to watch."

His eyes closed tight as if he's trying to unsee those hideous images, "But he can never beat those drugs because I know the drugs I injected him by the orders of Beloca. I watched it all happen through the computers in the Cam-Room. I became unable to get a good night's sleep after that day."

"Then, that morning, I finished my morning routine with eyes that could barely see clearly, I ran into her in the hallway of the labs." Some of the hardness left his face then, "She was the prettiest woman I've ever seen in my life...and the kindest."

A long pause filled with tense silence followed.

"She forgot all about cleaning the labs as she helped me get to my feet, took me to one of the Relax Rooms. She left her eight-year-old daughter to go buy me drugs from the pharmacy, and she helped me take them." Another long pause... "Since that day, I looked forward to seeing her. Claro Smith."

"The Successful's mother?" Simon asked.

Hector nodded once. "I began courting her but she always refused.

Months passed and I was so deep in love with Claro and Hazel, I would do anything for Claro to give me a chance, but she was still mourning her late husband even after all those years.

Hazel was just a sweet little soul. All smiles and sweet talks. She was only eight years old."

"I had no idea that she'd been sneaking down to the underground—which you know is out of bounds to workers that aren’t the lab doctors.

I had no idea how she discovered the secret door.

.." He shook his head, "I was shocked to my bones when Dr. Angor found her one-day sitting in front of the cage of Number 6, talking to him. "

"When I came, I was more shocked to see Number 6.

..that huge wolf... was quiet. None of those raging howls, none of those angry grunts and snarls.

It was quiet, just listening to Hazel speak.

" Even after all these years, his bafflement still reflected in his tone, "All the other prisoners, even from their own cages were quiet too.

..just listening to her little voice tell Number 6 a story. "

"Angor was as shocked as I was. Number 6 hated humans so much that he kills all the women we'd thrown at his cage to sleep with, in the hopes that he will get any of them pregnant.

his hate for humans was never mistaken, which made the sight all the more baffling.

We secretly left without interrupting anything. "

"After that day, we always watched from the Cam-Room.

..her interactions with Number 6, and every day, my fears rose higher because I can see the wheels in Angor's head-turning.

Claro does not even know there was a secret door or an underground, she had no idea what was going on.

I begged her to quit work, and I'll help her find another job but she refused because I was still a stranger to her.

..I could not tell her why I was trying to get her to quit work either. "

Pain flashed in his eyes, "The Facility paid its workers well, Claro was just a single mother who was happy to find a way to make a good living. Hazel was everything she lived and breathed."

Although filled with curiosity to know everything that happened, Simon was bored with the story at the same time. He wanted out of that captive chair. He tugged on his reins.

Hector completely ignored him, sadness in his eyes as he continued.

"When Angor told me his plans to kidnap Hazel, bring her in to know if Number 6 can sleep with her and successfully impregnate her without killing her, I went cold all over.

Everything I feared was about to come to pass right there. "

"I can still remember begging Angor not to use Hazel for that, the girl was just eight for crying out loud. JUST EIGHT!!" He shouted .

Simon startled at the unexpected shout, he stopped tugging at his restraints. "Oh, you scared me."

Hector breathed deeply to calm himself down. Took a while, but finally, he was able to get a semblance of calmness.

When he continued, his voice was calm again. "She was just eight." He repeated, "I did everything I could to dissuade him, I actually thought I succeeded at a point until one evening, I arrived at work to see little Hazel drugged and tied up in a cage of her own. I knew I'd lost the fight."

"When he drugged Number 6 up and took little Hazel to his cage, I was unable to watch from the Cam-Room. I was too heartbroken." He paused, tears in his eyes, "I did not watch but I heard it all. Her screams... Her pleas..."

His eyes squeezed tight. Tears flowed down repeatedly. "I heard and remembered every bit of those agonizing screams..."

"Uhm...don't you think you're being too emotional about this?" Simon's unconcerned tone filled the air.

Hector's eyes opened. He fixed them on the man.

Simon shrugged, "They are just experiments. It was all for a good cause."

Hector's eyes squeezed shut again. He balled his hands into fists, and squeezed, imagining it to be Simon's head.

"Heartless monster." Hector intoned.

Simon caught himself. This is not looking good for him at all. If he's going to get this damned man to release him, he has to pretend like he cares, even if he doesn't give shit .

"I'm sorry about that, uhm...don't mind me. What happened was awful, truly awful." He pursed his lips and shook his head, "You can continue now."

Hector glared at him. Hard.

Then, he sniffled, wiped his tears, and looked away.

"I was already mourning her in my heart after crying in the bathroom while doing everything I can to make sure Angor did not get a hint of how I felt.

I was already mourning her death, when Angor came into the Lab I was in, carrying a bloody and fainted Hazel in, while shouting: 'She's alive!

She's alive!!!'. I was too shocked but indeed, Hazel was alive. "

He paused. "Even though she looked worse for wear. But she was still alive and breathing. She was bleeding badly from what happened, but Number 6 did not shred her to pieces." A look at the ceiling. A wet smile. "I was relieved."

"But my joy was short-lived when I found out that Dr. Angor had no plans of letting her go after that. He kept her in the labs while poking and prodding her every day to know if she was pregnant. When I met Carol a week later, she was a shadow of herself looking for her child."

"She looked like she was barely alive...her eyes all swollen up from crying constantly. I was called one day because she fainted from starvation. My number was the first they could call, and when I got to the hospital...my heart could not take it all..."

A thought was starting to build in Simon's head. Surely, it cannot be...

"I was hoping that Hazel would not get pregnant, and hopefully, Angor will see that it didn't work and let her go home. I was hoping against all hope..." He has a miserable shake of his head, "But that was not the case."

"She really got pregnant...?" Simon asked in awe .

Hector closed his eyes, and tears dropped from it.

"Yes, she did. My hope was dashed to the mud.

Angor, that monster was so happy to have gotten an eight-year-old girl raped and pregnant.

Every day I visited Claro to help her in the hospital, she kept talking about her little girl.

Even when she was discharged and I had to visit her home to help her eat because she was starving herself, she was always crying about her child. .."

What was a mystery for the past eighteen years was starting to make sense to Simon then... But surely, it cannot be...?

"Hazel was barely alive in the lab. Angor was so engrossed in his results, he was too blind to see that Hazel was dying every day because of that encounter with Number 6.

Her privates were a big mess, an open wound.

He did not bother to get her treated or anything, he just gave the pills that'll keep her alive a little more every day.

" He exhaled painfully, "That child was dying. .."

"It was you." Simon cut in then, his eyes widened, "It was you, right? You were the one that helped the prisoners escape, right?"

"I knew I had to do something then. I could not take it anymore," Hector continued, "I just could not take it anymore.

So, Immediately Angor turned his back, I walked into a sleeping Number 6's room and unlocked the padlocks of his chains.

I left the lock of his cage unlocked too when I stepped out. Then, I took Hazel and ran."

"It was you, all along. You bastard! The facility was burnt to the ground because of you! Everyone died because of your useless feelings!" Simon raged.

Hector smiled then, "I was so glad to hear how Number 6 killed them all. I was so happy to hear that the facility burnt to the ground."

Simon was in a rage as he watched Hector. He tugged hard at his reins.

He cannot wait to get out of here and tell all this to the Facility!

But Hector was not done telling his story.