ANTECEDENT: CHAPTER 17

MIDNIGHT saw his father nodded in satisfaction after his detailed report. The first thought that entered his mind when he saw that was, 'I won't be punished.', and he felt a fleeting relief that was instantly extinguished when he recalled his betrayal just now.

"Continue playing with him. Build a strong connection with Dominick. Make sure that he wouldn't be able to harm you in any way. Play with his emotions." Kelleon slightly sneered. "Dominick Quinn has always been an emotional fellow. That's his weakness, so use it against him."

Midnight silently nodded.

"As for the therapy, play along with it. Nothing will change anyway."

Nothing will change anyway. These words made Midnight inwardly flinched. After all the therapy he had undergone, it will really not change anything?

Then what was he going to therapy for?

"You can go now. Don't say anything to Dominick." Kelleon sent Midnight away. "Don't contact me to avoid raising Dominick's suspicion. Orlando will contact you instead. Wait for his message."

"Yes." Midnight responded before stepping out of the car.

Orlando then gestured his hand toward the helicopter. A silent order to go back and continue his betrayal.

Midnight went back to the helicopter silently. He entered as if nothing happened, and the pilot sent him back to the farm.

With a 'don't tell Dominick' order from his father, Midnight remained silent even after Dominick and the rest welcomed him home.

"Kid, what took you so long?" Dominick messed Midnight's hair when Midnight just shrugged indifferently. "Acting aloof again?"

Midnight just hummed and continued walking toward the house. Dominick shook his head and playfully smack Midnight's head.

"Have a good rest, kid. Our dinner tonight is your favorite."

Midnight just nodded and continued walking to his room. He had just betrayed everyone in this house, but he did not even feel a thing while looking into Dominick's eyes.

He was really fucked up in the head. There was no denying that now.

After watching Midnight go to his room, Dominick let out a deep sigh. "Klaus."

"Yes?"

"Get a new pilot and investigate."

Klaus nodded and immediately move to do Dominick's order.

As for Dominick, he went to talk to his daughter. He did not want to do this, but he had to warn his princess to steer clear of Midnight for a while. That kid was not in a right head space at the moment. There was no need to question if something happened. He knew something had happened to that kid.

However, even after warning Happy to steer clear of Midnight for a while, everyone treated Midnight the same still. It was just a precaution in case something happened.

A few days after the tests and scans, Silvanus returned to the farm with Midnight's result.

"Where's Midnight?" Silvanus asked Dominick and Klaus, who were playing chess in the living room. "How is he doing these past few days?"

Klaus was the one who answered. "After he returned, he hasn't left his room unless it's having a meal."

Silvanus immediately concluded that something happened to his patient. "What happened?"

"He was taken by Kelleon after he left your laboratory that day," Klaus explained after moving his horse chess piece. "We don't know what they talk about, but it's definitely not a good thing for him to hole himself up in his room again."

Silence fell in the living room.

"We all thought he's recovering." Dominick suddenly spoke, then he sighed heavily. "I don't want to give up on that kid, but maybe you're right, Silvanus. That kid would always choose Kelleon."

"Not by choice." Silvanus said. "He was raised that way. Even though he underwent psychotherapy, honestly, it won't do anything other than unearthing his unpleasant memories."

Dominick sighed again. "Is there really no other way to cure him other than the one you suggested that had a high chance of damaging his brain even more?"

Dominick took Silvanus' silence as there was no other way.

"Go get Midnight." Dominick ordered Klaus.

After Klaus left, Dominick quickly switches some chess pieces to cheat Klaus, then he acted like he did nothing wrong when Klaus came back with Midnight.

"How's your sleep?" This was Silvanus' first question when he saw Midnight's state while holding the cat in his arms.

Midnight sat on the single sofa. "Not okay."

"And your headaches?"

"Bearable."

"Nosebleeds in the past few days?"

"Thrice."

Silvanus nodded as if telling Midnight he understands what had been going on these past few days. "I got your result."

Midnight looked at Silvanus, patiently waiting for Silvanus to continue.

When Silvanus opened his mouth and started explaining Midnight's brain test and scans result, there was no change in Midnight's expression, however bad the results were. He remained impassive, as if the result did not concern him at all.

All the while, everyone kept glancing at Midnight, observing his reaction. But even though the results were terrible, Midnight acted like it had nothing to do with him. He just attentively listens to Silvanus and at the end, he only said one thing. Not a question but a statement that made everyone stilled.

"So, my head is really fucked up."

Silvanus sighed and honestly answered. "Yes. Aside from the prolonged hypnosis, there's the chemical substance injected into you in monthly basis until you were twenty years old. That has the worst impact on your brain. Because of it, you became even more susceptible to brainwashing through hypnosis. Since we don't know the components of the drug used on you, I don't know how to cure it—or if it can even be cured."

Midnight looked down and did not speak. Just holding Loki and caressing its fur. No one dared to disturb the silence until Midnight finally broke it.

"Let's continue the therapy and then do the treatment you recommended. I don't care if I lost my sanity afterwards. That would be better than the me right now."

Dominick scowled. "How could that be better? What if you really went insane?"

Midnight paused, then mumbled in a low voice, but it was enough for everyone to hear. "It's better to be insane than to be a traitor."

The silence became heavy.

Silvanus broke the tense atmosphere. "Alright. After we open the fifth door in our psychotherapy session, we will proceed with the treatment, regardless of the risk."

Midnight just nodded.

"Won't you tell your big brother about your treatment?" Silvanus asked soon after Midnight nodded.

Midnight immediately shook his head as if that would be the last thing he'll do. "If the treatment fails," he raised his eyes at Dominick. "Just kill me. I don't want to be a burden to anyone— especially to my brother."

Dominick unhesitatingly nodded. "Sure. Leave it to me." Although he really didn't know if he could. He had killed a lot in the name of his work and belief, but he was unsure if he could mercilessly end Midnight's short life.

Dominick let out a sigh before turning to Silvanus while gesturing his hand at Midnight. "Tell him about the treatment in detail. At least he knows what will be done to him."

Silvanus looked at Midnight. "The treatment that we will do is kind of memory-focused therapy. It can also be called a suggestive therapy, but more intensive than that."

"How intensive?" Happy asked, worried about Midnight.

Silvanus explained further. "Let's put it this way. Your normal suggestive therapy has minimal side effects like dizziness and headaches. Normally, this kind of therapy is more like planting false memory in your head or manipulating your memory to somehow forget the bad ones. However," he looked into Midnight's eyes, "such an approach will not work on you. Your mind is too damaged to accept a normal treatment. Thus, enters the Orgánosi's neuro-cognitive research headed by yours truly. Behind me is a team of brilliant minds focused on cognitive neuroscience.

Silvanus gave a flat smile. "It has already undergone a thorough preclinical study. It has promising results, however it was deemed dangerous by the regulatory board. Thus, it has not been approved for clinical trials. That means the treatment is illegal and you will be my first patient. In short, this is an experiment, and the risk is high."

After Silvanus's explanation, Midnight fell into silence once more. He just sat there, absorbing all the words Silvanus said. Understanding everything before nodding. "I'll allow you to experiment on me. Let's proceed."

Happy sucked a deep breath as she looked at Midnight worriedly. Klaus showed a worried expression as well. Only Dominick was calm.

Amidst the silence and worry, Midnight added, "I don't care about the danger, just...fix my broken brain and give me my soul back."

Silvanus nodded with a solemn glint in his eyes, as if he was promising to Midnight that he would give it his all. "Let's finish our psychotherapy this weekend."

"Hmm."

Midnight remained impassive and silent, but everyone was comforted by the fact that Midnight did not return to his bedroom to hole himself up again, isolating himself from everyone.

"How are you feeling?"

Midnight did not want to speak, but it was Happy who was asking him. During the days he spent isolating himself in his room, other than GodFavoredMe, who constantly message him to check how he was doing these past few days, Happy was the one who always called him to eat and reminded him to rest well.

"I don't know." Midnight gave an honest answer. "But I seem fine."

"Seem?"

"Yeah. That's what my head is telling me—I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me—"

"What do you mean there's nothing wrong with you?" Happy couldn't help raising her voice. "Of course, you're not okay—" Her father held her hand and squeezed it, signaling her to stop.

Happy sighed and looked down. "Sorry for raising my voice."

"It's okay." Midnight remained impassive.

Dominick looked at Midnight before he got up and reached out his hand to messed with Midnight's hair. "Don't just hole up yourself in your room all day. Come out for a walk. You need sun and fresh air, kid."

Happy hurriedly nodded. "Yes. Sun is good."

Klaus smiled. "Should I prepare a picnic?"

Silvanus nodded at the butler. "That's a good idea. I feel so stressed these days that my stomach has been acting up."

With a picnic planned, the house returned to its jolly atmosphere, and the weekend arrived not long after.

In this weekend psychotherapy session, Midnight returned to the fourth room.

The same fear gripped him. He was terrified to the point of suffocating. Unable to breathe and move. He was nailed in place, trembling at seeing himself inside the room, lying on the hospital bed. Both his inner wrists were connected to IV fluids, while his arms were full of bruises from injections.

His body seemed lifeless. His eyes were open, but they were blank. Soulless.

It was frightening.

Midnight's entire body was involuntarily shaking, but Silvanus continued talking to Midnight. Soothing him, patiently guiding him out of his fear.

Fortunately, Midnight listened to Silvanus' voice. This shows that Midnight had now built a trust with Silvanus. An achievement for the doctor and patient.

Midnight and Silvanus explored the fourth room. Midnight would intermittently tremble out of fright every time he sees himself on the hospital bed, but with Silvanus guiding him out of his fear.

"Explain to me in detail what you're seeing."

Midnight turned his back on himself who was in the bed. "I see myself strapped to the hospital bed connected to a few IV fluids. My head was covered with a helmet-like device connected to a machine that was constantly beeping. There are many people inside wearing lab coats. Their faces... I can't see it. It's blurred."

"And the room? Tell me about the room."

Midnight looks around. "There are vials of medicine all around. Syringes. IV fluids. Chemical substances. Medical machines are everywhere and they're all showing a scan of my brain. I can hear their gleeful voices saying it was a success. There are a lot of blood samples on the table." He paused. "And it's cold."

He'd rather be somewhere else than in this room. This room was worse than the hypnosis room. Because in here; he felt his humanity being stripped away. His soul was being ripped through shreds bit by bit, until there was nothing left.

In this room, he was not a person, but an object to be experimented on.

These people were trying to create an obedient monster, treating Midnight like an animal to be tamed.

After explaining everything to Silvanus, Midnight turns around and decisively left the room without looking back. After closing the door behind him, he was finally able to relax and breathe freely. His fear disappeared, and he had become stable.

Seeing this, Silvanus let out a deep breath. If the fourth room nearly made Midnight had a seizure, he was dreading what would happen in the last room.

"How are you feeling?" Silvanus asked.

"Better now that I'm out."

"Do you now remember the memories you have in that room?" Silvanus assumed that Midnight had forgotten, thus he was surprised when he heard Midnight's answer.

"Yes. I remember now. What they did to me... is something I want to forget. I don't want to remember it. While I lie half-unconscious in that room, what they were doing at that time made no sense to me. I do not understand. I just know that I'm being transformed into something I no longer recognize. And now I know and understand why... it's to make a monster. And they've succeeded."

"You're not a monster." Silvanus said in a soothing voice, then added to himself, just an innocent and unfortunate soul destroyed by the hands of his own father.

Midnight did not speak and just stared at the last door in the hallway. He had no idea what was inside, but just looking at the steel door makes his inside tightened and tremble.

His body felt cold, and he had to clasp his hands together to stop them from shaking. He still hadn't seen the room, but he was already overcome with fear, accompanied by nausea and dizziness.

Midnight wanted to leave. He did not want to open the fifth door, but he heard Silvanus' voice.

"Take a deep breath and relax. Then let's open the fifth door."

It took a while for Midnight to respond. "Hmm."

"Alright. Take your time. Don't force yourself and don't be afraid. You'll be fine."

"Hmm."

Midnight took a step toward the fifth steel door. As he slowly approached the fifth room, he was visibly shaking outside. Silvanus could see Midnight's extreme reaction to this room. He knew that something horrible must have happened inside for Midnight to react this way even before he entered the room.

Midnight's body on the reclining chair curled, hugging his knees as his pale lips trembled.

Silvanus was now convinced that a horrifying memory happened in that room.

Silvanus patiently waited for Midnight to speak, and when he did, Silvanus could hear his extreme fear, his reluctance and his wavering will to continue.

"I-I'm now standing in front of the door."

Silvanus' made sure that he was ready for any grave reaction from Midnight. "Open the door slowly... and take a peek."

"Okay..."

With his quivering hands and disturbed mind, he opened the door and took a peek.

CECELIB | C.C.