'So I lied, and I cried

And I watched a part of myself die

'Cause no amount of freedom gets you clean

I've still got you all over me.'

*ALTHEA'S POV*

October 11, 2023.

'I just landed. Will call you later. xo.'

I texted Jordon as soon as I stepped out of the airport, also sending a photo of my plane ticket to Linda to show I was an obedient employee listening to her advice, and my thumb hovered over the next contact name for a second before I decided against it.

It was barely midday, and Kylie was probably busy. I could wait for the weekend to let her know I was in town for a few weeks, or maybe even stop at the bakery for a surprise visit.

But first, I had to get to Lotus Bay and rent a car to go there.

One step at a time.

It was already enough when at each step, the realization of where I was hit me—the realization, and the sight of the LAX sign, the Californian sun, the hint of sea salt making the polluted air more suffocating than in New York as I lowered the windows of my temporary car, the few locks flying out of my ponytail and into my face with the wind, and the urge to turn back when I glimpsed a bouquet of wilting flowers along the too-long highway.

I wasn't even sure how I managed to reach the Lotus Bay sign when more and more weight pushed my foot on the brake pedal. But thankfully, I'd chosen a hotel on the outskirts of town, with a direct way to the hospital, on which I didn't dawdle.

In fact, as soon as I was changed into a less stifling outfit than my jeans and long-sleeved shirt, I rushed to get to the clinic, telling myself that it was a place I'd never been to before, so no sense of familiarity could suffocate me.

Yet I still choked on my first inhale of the cool entrance air, something all too familiar filling my lungs: the smell of disinfectant and siren echoes from the general hospital on the other side of the road.

Physiotherapy clinic, emergency service... they all held the same uncertain and oppressive atmosphere, anywhere in the world.

A lot like every cemetery was gloomy and heavy, and I knew both settings too well.

The grim lighting, the chairs as stiff as stones... gray granite and darkening marble, wilting bouquets of flowers and plastic versions... polymer handrails along dizzying white walls and endless hallways... aligned aisles... all going into dead ends.

As all the images flashed before my eyes, I couldn't tell where I was anymore, if I was here or there. Like the oxygen around. It wasn't coming in, and yet, my lungs were filled to the brim, searing, oppressed, while heavy ribs laced together, as unmovable as the bars of a rusted metal gate keeping me stuck. No matter how much I tried to shake them, there was no way in or out.

"Push."

—Out the tensions. Pull in the air. Push out the tensions. Pull in the air...

The words guided the movements of my chest until I gasped back into the present time, my eyes blinking around to land on my savior, and the owner of the voice, about two feet under me. "What?"

"You have to push on the button here or the one on the floor to call the elevator. I know it's not like other places, but that way, everyone can do it." The curly-haired boy shrugged, demonstrating for me, as he probably noticed my struggle to get the air in and out of my dry lips.

"What's your name?"

Or maybe he didn't.

However, the innocence of his ten-year-old or so helped more than he could imagine as I focused on his grin.

"Althea."

"Nice to meet you, Althea. I'm—"

"Theo! How many times do I have to tell you to wait for me?" A woman with the same dirty-blond curls but longer arrived, almost as breathless as I was, while Theo stayed calm and unaffected.

"I was helping Althea here with the elevator. Althea, this is my mom."

The woman's annoyed scowl fell into a smile as she turned to me, and I wasn't sure if it was because of her son's gift of the gab or because she noticed the light trembles remaining in my hands.

Anyway, it was Theo that caught all our attention as the elevator doors opened, and we followed his bouncing figure inside the large shaft.

"Which floor?"

"Um, the first, thank you."

"Oh, it's our floor too!" Theo exclaimed, not leaving time for the common elevator's awkwardness to settle in. Not even for a second of silence, as the warning beep of the doors closing resonated while he pressed on the button and quickly turned his clear eyes to me. "Are you visiting someone?"

"Theo!" His mom scolded him while offering me a sorry look. "You know it isn't polite to ask too many questions."

"No, no, it's fine." I shrugged, thankful to have something to push the thoughts out of my mind. "I'm a new volunteer here."

"Oh, awesome! You'll play with us! Come on, I'll show you the way."

From that moment, I couldn't turn back. Because the doors opened at this moment, but also because Theo gestured for me to follow him with his arm, and it was the moment I realized he had no hand, and nor his full legs, in fact.

Granted, my mind had been a blur when he'd arrived, yet only looking at his grinning face, it was impossible to guess, and as I watched him dash through the hallway on his artificial legs, he was the living proof that you could keep moving with missing parts.

So, me, on my wobbly but full legs, I had no excuse—and no choice left either, when Theo announced loudly,

"The new volunteer's here!"

The same welcome Theo had offered me was multiplied by ten when I entered the wide room. Ten pairs of curious eyes, ten excited grins, and ten times more questions.

"What's your name?

"How old are you?"

"Will you play with us?"

"Are you a princess?"

"Can you let her breathe, please?" This last one arose above the others, like the figure trying to walk towards me. "She's just arrived, and you'll have time to interrogate her later. But now, it's time for training."

With a few claps, the young man in a multicolored nurse uniform finally managed to get the silence as he stopped in front of me with a welcoming smile.

"Hi, I'm Oliver, one of the assistant nurses. Welcome to Lotus Bay PT Clinic." His hand gestured around, though all I caught were the curious eyes still on me. "I'll walk them to the gym on the other side of the hallway, and then I can help you settle in. Is that okay if I leave you two minutes with Munisa here?"

"Yes, of course." I nodded as I spotted two pigtails dangling where his finger was pointing, and the thin figure in a wheelchair going with them, once the little crowd dispersed through the door—with 'see you later's, waves, and more grins.

Actually, I found my jaw relaxing into my first smile too as I walked past colorful tables, baskets of various toys, and even a ball pit, to kneel in front of the young girl. Well, the large book she was hiding behind.

"Hi, I'm Althea. You have a beautiful book right here."

"S'new." A pair of chocolate eyes appeared above the cover, and soon, a button nose, a heart-shaped face, a pale pink shirt, and sparkly pearls around her wrists, all fitting perfectly the title I read.

"The Princess and the Frog."

She even had a castle arch that sheltered her and divided the room incidentally, and her eyes turned as big as the anime characters on the cover as she stared between me and the book.

"Do you want me to read it to you?"

"No, no." She quickly shook her head, hugging the book against her chest. "It's Mr. R'bot who reads."

"Mr. Robot?"

Kids and their imaginary friends...

I had to admit her eager nod and sparkling eyes got me intrigued, many questions coming to my mind, which I wouldn't have the answers to as a real Oliver appeared beside us, his voice sounding louder without the hubbub of excited children around.

"I see you've met already. Muni is shy at first. I've been working here for two months now, and it took me a month to get her to speak to me, but I promise, once she's at ease, she's a little daredevil, right?"

The little daredevil, who looked like an angel, hid behind her book in reply, not for long however, and I could catch a glimpse of the mischief twinkling in her eyes as he suggested putting the Miraculous DVD while we talked.

"I'm sorry. As you can see, it's the rush here." Oliver sighed, running his hand through his short afro hair once he'd left Munisa in her TV castle corner. "We're already understaffed in general, but today, my colleague Carol is sick. Plus, we have to prepare for a new patient's arrival. So you come as our miraculous savior!"

"Um, I'm not sure I'm a savior or 'miraculous'." I smiled as echoes of a little voice humming the cartoon theme song reached us. "But I'm glad to help."

"That is already a miracle, especially since you arrive just at the right time. Everything happens for a reason, right?"

Indeed, if we considered the probability of a dollar bill showing up during my work presentation, of my boss thinking she should reward my blank moment with a three-week vacation, of my finger slipping on the phone screen and finding this video, and of the clinic suggesting me to come sooner than I'd intended.

To be honest, when I'd called, I hadn't expected I would come at all, seeing it was on such short notice. Yet everything happened for a reason, and here I was...

"The downside is that it's Carol who was supposed to welcome you, and I think her fever is serious because she assured me over the phone your flight was today, so I didn't prepare anything."

"No, I mean, yes, my flight was this morning, but I thought I could start today," I explained before he could worry about his colleague's fever, though instead, the attention under his furrowed eyebrows switched to me.

"Oh, no? You must be tired with the jet lag! Did you get to settle and rest a little at least?"

"Yes, yes." I'd settled my bags in some corner of the hotel room and taken a shower, if that was what it meant. "I'm here to help. Don't worry," I repeated the two words I'd pronounced a worrying amount of times in the past 48 hours, the muscles in my neck starting to strain from the nod that always went with them.

"You're really our savior! Well, I can't give you a tour right now, but I'll explain everything quickly. First, here is the game room."

"Yes, I've noticed. It looks like a kids' wonderland." I let my gaze trail around the room again, this time with all my focus, so I could take in the colorful paths on the floor, each one leading to a different activity area from toddler's toys to board games, and of course, the TV corner with many shapes of poufs, and many more details like the paint on the wall imitating a castle, and the clouds chandeliers.

"It's the place you'll spend most of your day." He caught my awed stare with a sideways glance. "The kids come here to wait between PT and until their parents pick them up. That's why there are two parts: one to rest for the ones that are tired, and the other for the ones like Theo who are inexhaustible. And there are also the lockers here."

Multicolored lockers, near the doors I'd entered earlier, and I would have admired the rainbow order detail instantly if all the kids' grins hadn't outshone it then.

"It's where we keep the kids' belongings because you'll see, it sometimes looks like a station platform here between the kids who come for the day, half a day, after school..."

"After school?"

I didn't know more about motor disabilities than what I'd googled yesterday; however, it was enough to understand how physically and mentally demanding physiotherapy could be. So, on top of a normal school day, it must have required so much energy and strength.

"Yes, Theo is one of them," he replied, his knowing smile echoing my thoughts.

The real superheroes were these kids.

"Oh, and we also have night residents like Munisa, who stay for a few days or weeks during intensive PT. The dorm part is behind that door, with also the staff room, cafeteria, and a family space.

"On the other side of the hallway you've come from, there are most of the therapy rooms. The next floor is for the doctors' consultations, and downstairs, we have a pool and more therapy rooms. But you'll get to see everything later." He paused for a deep breath, and I took one too as my head was spinning from trying to follow his rushed words and direction gestures in every corner of the wide room.

"For now, I'll let you get changed into our official uniform, and then, if it's okay with you, you can watch over the kids while I welcome the new patient?"

"Um, sure. Are there some things I should be careful about?" I asked because if it looked like any kid's dream game room, I'd also noticed the space under the tables to fit wheelchairs, the handrails everywhere, and the easy access to every game.

"No, don't worry about that. They're pretty much like any other kid, and if they can't do something, they'll tell you. They won't take it badly. They're just happy to have new faces and new people to play with. Plus, I won't be away for more than 30 minutes, maybe not even 15, since it's a teen..."

I wasn't sure whom he was trying to reassure as he nodded, but his shoulders were tenser than mine when he added an 'it's gonna be fine'.

"Is it complicated with teens?"

"Generally, yes, they're already like adults in the way they react to their disability, and the older they get, the harder it is for them. While kids have that carefree wonder making them see the good side in everything."

"'Liver!" As if to illustrate his words, a small voice arose lightly above the heaviness, calling our attention toward the TV corner.

"Yes, I'm coming!" he replied, his wince already looking lighter as he turned to me again. "I think it's the bathroom call, sorry. But you can go change in the meantime. The laundry room is the door at the end of the hallway, and then, you'll find a volunteer box on the shelf."

Once more, I was left with no possibility of turning back when he opened the door that led to the said hallway. It didn't cross my mind actually, as I walked through the colorful surroundings that looked more like an enchanted forest than a physiotherapy clinic. Neither when I reached the end of the hallway and found two doors, both exactly the same with branch and flower designs that continued the painting on the walls around.

Seeing that I hadn't taken any turn, I knew I was at the right place, though. Besides, going back to ask Oliver would have only lost time he already didn't have.

So the most logical thing to do was to try both doors.

One was surely the laundry room, and the other maybe a broom closet, or maybe a secret passage to a magical world?

It would have explained why my hand had reached for one of the handles, the left one, before I could even hesitate, and how the shakes that I'd still been fighting five minutes ago got replaced by the tingling assurance of someone on a quest as my fingers gripped the cold metal, and...

"No!"

I jumped as high as if I'd fallen back from another world, although the handle hadn't moved yet when I turned to a wide-eyed Oliver, his voice quieter than before.

"This one is a resident's room, and we can't disturb him during his work hours."

"Work?" I repeated, my own voice dropping to a whisper as I furrowed my eyebrows, only now noticing the small number 15 above that differentiated this door from the other. "Workout? Homework?"

"No. Oh right, I forgot to tell you we have one adult resident. He's kinda part of the furniture because he's been there since a few years and rarely gets..." His rushed speech wavered as a thud resonated from the other side, and we both snapped our heads towards the closed door, waiting in a thick silence for whom or what?

An annoyed man? A mystical beast? Many possibilities crossed my mind during these three long seconds, but I certainly didn't expect the 'fuck, I'm fine' that seeped through the door. It sounded too normal for the breath I let out as Oliver continued to explain,

"... Out. So you probably won't see him, but he's around our age because yeah, sometimes we welcome young adults. It's more motivating for them than being in centers where most people are over 60." He gave me a half-smile, his gaze flickering to the door again, while mine followed, lingering a bit more on the greenery painting like his words remained in my mind.

Not Oliver's words, though. The three words from the mysterious man, whom I realized I didn't even know the name.

"What's his..." My question got lost as I glanced around, and Oliver had vanished from beside me, making me wonder for an instant if I was really in an enchanted forest until his voice arose from the other room.

"S or XS?"

"Um, what?"

"Your size?"

"Oh, XS, sorry." I shook my head, even if he couldn't see me from the laundry room, and I hadn't moved, not even my hand, which was still on the handle, the metal now warm from my grip.

It was almost as if I'd been hypnotized, hypnotized by a voice too muffled and inarticulate for me to imagine a face beyond that door, and three little words, the last one tugging me from the depths of my chest to the tip of my fingers.

'Fine.'

I knew too well how much a fine could hide, as much as the colorful door I was about to open when Oliver reappeared with the uniform, and I jumped away like a kid caught red-handed about to do something forbidden.

It was what I'd been about to do nonetheless, wasn't it? Open the door and disturb the mysterious man, just because of some itching curiosity?

That thought alone was enough to pull me back to my senses as I grabbed the clothes Oliver was handing me and followed him down the hallway. Not without one last glance over my shoulder at the closed door, however, because it didn't resemble an itch you could choose to scratch or ignore. It was a tug, stronger than curiosity.

A tug stronger than curiosity? Who else is feeling it? 👀

I know nothing much happened in this chapter, but it can't be so easy. I have to build the suspense 😉. Do you think Althea will ever meet this mysterious resident? 🤔🤭

Also, tell me all your thoughts about the kids! Aren't they the cutest and strongest superheroes? 🥰

I hope you liked this chapter, and if so, don't forget to vote ⭐ and comment all your suppositions for what's to come! 🤭😘

I love you, my little peaches 💕!

PS: @munisa90 the little Munisa has your name because she's as sweet and daredevil as you, and also to thank you for all the times you've featured me in your books. I hope you'll love her as much as I love you bestie 😘💕.