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Chapter 4

"Are you okay? Why are you screaming in your sleep? Did you have a nightmare?”

"Sleep?" James raised his head, which had been stuck to his desk with lots of papers scattered about.

James took off the glasses that were still attached, only then did he realize that he had fallen asleep in his study. James got up and took a glass filled with water on a wooden shelf in the corner of his room. James drank the water in the glass until it was finished. Miyuki frowned, she didn't know what happened to James. Why did he dream while screaming in fear like that?

“Are you calm now? Can you tell me what you just dreamed about? Seems bad?” Miyuki asked while leaning her arms on the table and looking up expectantly.

“No, nothing. I'm fine!" James said evasively, he didn't want to tell his best friend about the dream he had just experienced.

"Is it true? Ok, I understand if you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But James, if I may say something, you should be more careful with all your actions. "We are doctors, we should not make a fuss that will ultimately frighten the patients in this hospital." Miyuki said. James didn't answer, his mind was still wandering somewhere.

"James can you hear me?"

"Yes, I understand. I really didn't realize that I would fall asleep here.”

"You'd better go home and rest, it will be better for you!" Miyuki got up from her seat and stood right in front of James who still looked pale.

“Okay, this time I will follow your words. Are you happy?”

"Umm...you're actually cute, I think a doctor who is used to dealing with scary things could be scared too." Miyuki said while laughing amusedly.

"You think that's something worth laughing at?"

“Why are you upset? I'm laughing because you're screaming because you're just having a bad dream, that's all!” Miyuki raised an eyebrow, she was confused as to why James would be angry about something like that.

James sat down while taking a deep breath, he massaged his forehead which had been aching for no reason since he woke up from sleep a few minutes ago, he just kept quiet and let the room be filled with silence.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry if my words just now bothered you, I was just joking." Miyuki said feeling guilty, this woman was showing an 'innocent face'

“No, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired lately, I think I need some rest.” James smiled slightly and then got up from his chair. He tidied up the sheets of paper that were scattered on his desk, sheets of paper containing data on the patients he had treated in the last few weeks.

"You want to go home now?"

"Yes, I will come back tomorrow morning or as soon as possible if needed."

“No, you really need to rest. I want you to forget for a moment all about your patients, you also have a life James. Just leave the problem here to me, you understand?”

"But what about that girl?" James asked, he felt hesitant about leaving a patient who was his responsibility under the supervision of another doctor.

"You mean Eli?"

“Yes, Eli. I'm worried about leaving her alone!”

"Come on James, you are not his parents, you are just a doctor who is responsible for taking care of him until he recovers. Don't worry, I will take care of it for you!” Miyuki said while patting James' shoulder lightly. He was silent for a moment and then followed his friend's advice.

James came out of his room down the hospital corridor, he passed the room where Eli was being treated, James really wanted to make sure that the girl would be okay under the supervision of the doctors and nurses at this hospital.

Because previously the girl's emotions were really unstable, and that made her often hurt herself if she felt threatened. The girl looks like a small, helpless, having no protection to save herself from other people who she considers like predators who want to eat her.

***

James meets the police who are looking for the identity of Eli and her family, who really is the girl and how has her family raised her all this time? The injuries on her body were certainly not the result of an accident that happened to her, but there were other causes, such as physical violence which was carried out repeatedly on the poor girl.

"As I said, approximately three weeks ago, some of our colleagues who were on duty in the area where the accident occurred admitted that they had met the girl. The girl came to the police station with a couple of lovers who claimed to have met the girl in the area of ​​an old toy manufacturing factory which had been closed for almost 30 years."

“Yes, I know, the accident also happened not far from the factory. That night my partner and I passed through the road in the area around the factory, it was raining heavily and the road looked very dark, I only lit the road with car headlights. But the girl suddenly ran right in front of the car, I really couldn't avoid the accident." James said, recounting the chronology of the accident that happened to Eli.

"Doctor James, our colleagues have told us where the girl lives and they also met her parents. According to the girl's parents' explanation, they said that Eli has had a mental disorder since childhood, she likes to travel in the middle of the night when her family is asleep and they are not around to watching her. Because of their poor condition, they could not take her to a doctor or a mental hospital.”

"Is it true? But why until now is there no sign of the family looking for her, even though the girl has been in our care at the hospital for more than two weeks. Aside from that, the girl's entire body is covered in bruises, some of which are already rotting and what's more, the girl is very malnourished, this cannot be tolerated." James clenched his fists, he really couldn't wait to meet Eli's parents and ask them directly how they raised her in such terrible circumstances.

“I understand, we will investigate further and will soon meet her parents. If it is proven that they committed acts of violence, we will immediately detain them until this case reaches court."

"But before I go there, I want to see the environment where the girl lives. Apart from that, I want to ask her neighbors, maybe they have seen or heard directly how her parents treated her all this time." James said.

“Okay, I understand. If you find any information, report it to us immediately!”

"Yes I understand. Excuse me, good afternoon?" James hurriedly left the police station.

***

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