His eyes suddenly open, as he wakes up. He sits, but quickly realizes the presence of chains around his ankles, keeping him from moving too much.

     A shot of adrenaline flows in his body as he understands what this situation infers. He starts yelling to call someone, hoping that he'll meet the one who brought him here.

     He keeps screaming for a few minutes, feeling like he might lose his voice, until the door of his cell – let's call it what it is, he thinks, even though it looks way more comfortable than a regular cell – finally opens. A silhouette appears, and his eyes open wide. He was expecting a huge, massive guy, but the person that's staring at him is just a petite girl, definitely smaller and younger than him.

     He grins at her, and she crosses her arms, a disgusted look on her face.

"Why did you bring me here?" He asks.

     She doesn't answer, and continues her silent observation. After a few moments, she walks a but around the room and lowers herself into the sofa that sits next to the bed. She buries her head into her hands and sighs loudly. He silently laughs for a second.

"What have I done today?" He stops for a second and continues. "You're not my first kidnapper, you know."

She frowns "I didn't kidnap you!"

     He laughs again, louder, and asks again the reason for his presence it this cell. She looks horrified, and a single tear rolls down her cheek. Just like earlier, he feels adrenaline filling his body, and he just wants to punch himself for making her cry, even though she doesn't know who she is.

"Sir... This is no cell, and you are no prisoner. You've been here for a few weeks. Your wife brought you to us – the hospital – after you started having weird attacks."

"What do you mean, attacks?" He doesn't understand.

"You were becoming crazy, and trying to kill either her or yourself. That's why your chained, by the way. And after those attacks you'd just pass out, and you would have forgotten everything by the time you woke up. And you started losing more and more memories, up to the point where you couldn't even remember who your wife was. You even forgot your own name, which is, by the way, Peter Alpaser."

     His eyes close, as he understands how ill he is. He used to work in a hospital too, and studied this kind of illnesses.
    
"And I guess the attacks are triggered by adrenaline?"

     That, he remembers. And as a tragic harbinger, she nods. He swears, understanding how bad he is. He had worked on this illness for years and didn't find a cure. How he remembers that, he can't say, but it seems like his memory chose what to make him forget.

"Who... Who are you ?"

     She explains that she's just a casual nurse that works in the hospital, and that he had been assigned to her. She also mentions the fact that they already had this kind of conversation about ten times, because be keeps forgetting about it after his attacks.

     They talk for a few minutes, until her phone vibrates. She looks at it and stands up.

"I have to go, sir. I'll see you another day"

     He nods and she goes to the door. The hand on the doorknob, she sadly smiles at him.

"Try not to get excited, will you ?"

     She closes the door and lets her head rest on it, tears rolling down her cheeks.
    
"Goodbye, Dad."

     She leaves, walking fast, trying to get as far of the room as she can. After a moment, she finally reaches the nurse room, eyes puffed but dry.
    
"Thalia!" She hears.

     The other nurses surround her and hug her, trying to comfort her.

"Why? Why do they choose to euthanasiate him now? Why can't they wait a bit more? I'm sure there is still something we haven't tested..."

     They all mourn for her, until she pushes them away, a look of pure anger on her face.

"I have to warn him."

     She leaves the other sites, adrenaline giving her the energy she needs. She runs as fast as she can to her father's room, and violently opens the door, making it hit the wall at full speed.

"Miss? What are you doing here?"

     He notices that she's crying.
    
"Oh my God, what's happening?!"

     She doesn't answer and keeps crying. He opens his arms, and she hugs him. He feels like it's where she belongs, but also feels weird, because he "met" her only a few minutes ago.

"Oh sir... They're going to kill you! They can't seem to find a remedy, so now they want to kill you! But... But you can't die, because 2 way too important, and... Oh God –"

     He stops her and rubs his hand on her back, jaw tight. On the screen next to them, the adrenaline level starts rising, as he thinks as fast as is humanly possible, trying to figure out a way to survive. When Thalia sees it, she starts screaming, desperate.

"No! Not now! It can't be possible, please! There has to be a mistake! And... Hell, is this ever going to stop rising?!"

     Right under her terrified eyes, the adrenaline level reaches the top of the screen, causing it to turn off. She rushes to turn it back on, hoping that it was just a malfunction. As she presses the buttons again and again, her father starts shaking, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly opened. She yells again, and takes his head in her hands, trying to make him hold still. The shaking only gets worse, and his body curves, his hips up in the air and his hands holding the sheets. Her cries echo in the silent room, quickly covered by the gasps of the ill.

     During a few minutes, he only gets worse and worse, until his weak body falls back down on the bed and he takes a deep breath, exhausted. Thalia gets up, desperate. She knows that when his eyes will open, he won't remember anything. She knows that he is a lost cause. She knows that she can't do anything. She has a tight-lipped, sad smile.

     As she turns around to leave, she hears movement coming from the bed. She looks back at it, hopeless, to see her father's eyes open slowly.

"Who... Is here? I can't see properly, everything's blurry..."

     She sits back on the sofa, ready to explain him everything one last time.

"Close your eyes, sir. Your sight will be back to normal really soon."

     He frowns as if what she said had reminded him of something, but does as she says. They don't move for a few minutes, until he tries to open his eyes again. He sighs in relief when what he sees appears normal, but freezes when he sees the girl.

"Thalia, baby? What are you doing here? Have you been crying, sweetie? Also, may I ask why I'm chained?"

     A huge smile appears on her face when she realizes.

"D... Dad? You remember me?"

"Of course I do! I mean, why wouldn't I? You're... You're my daughter, the most important thing in my life! How could I possibly forget you?"

     She sobs, not knowing whether to cry or laugh.

"Dad... Remember this adrenaline illness you were studying?" He nods. "Well, that's what you had. And like the others, you lost all your memory. And... And you've been in here for a few weeks now, and they wanted to euthanasiate you. So I came to warn you, but it triggered another attack... And now you remember!"

     His jaw drops. He breathes in, about to say something, but the door suddenly opens, revealing two nurses. The first one holds a huge needle, and the other one pushes a cart, on which one can see gloves, bandages and another sheet, that Thalia identifies as a mortuary sheet.
     She steps forward to put herself between the two girls and her father, protective.The nurses stop, confused.

"T, why are you smiling, what happened?"

"Chloë, you won't believe it, but... He remembers! He remembers me!

     After a few seconds, they hear glass break, and only then realize that Chloë, shocked and petrified by the adrenaline shot she had just gotten, had let the needle fall down.

"Is it... Are you for real?" Thalia nods happily. "Gosh, this is amazing honey! I am so so happy for you! Okay, I'll leave the two of you alone, and... Well, I was going to say I'll talk about it to the doctor in charge of this cure research, but... That would be you, sir."

     Peter nods with a smile.

"Chloë, Vicky, I'll see you later and I'll we explain what happened."

"Of not course, sir." The two of them answer.

     They gather the glass pieces, put it back on the cart and leave the room.

"Vicky!" He calls when she has her hand on the doorknob "Will you please call my wife, and tell her we need her here? Don't say I'm better, I want to surprise my Annie. And Thalia baby, when you hear her coming act as if I was worse than ever, okay?"

     The nurse smiles, nods briefly and closes the door, leaving the father alone with his daughter. The latter lowers herself on the bed and lays next to her newly-cured father, her head resting against his shoulder.
    
     Hours go by, and she explains him everything, from his first attack to his last one. She retells the whole story, from the moment they understood what was happening to the moment he recognized her.
    
     They end up resting silently, imprinting themselves of the other's presence.
    
     Meanwhile at the entrance of the building, a woman darts inside, worried for the life of her husband. She yells at every single nurse she sees, asking they did to him, and why they needed her. She stops when she sees a short, brown-haired nurse coming towards her.

"Vicky! Finally, there you are! Why did you call me?"

     Vicky doesn't answer, and the only words the other woman hears her say are "Follow me. I'll show you."
    
     Worried sick, she obeys, and they enter the labyrinth that the hospital's corridors are. After a few minutes, they stop in front of a door, only decorated with a huge golden number : 394

"There you go, madam Anastasia."

"Vicky ! I already told you, you can call me Anastasia. Anyways... Thank you, sweetie."

     Vicky smiles and leaves, letting the older woman alone before the door. She puts her hand on the doorknob and takes a deep inhalez scared as she has never been.
    
     Anastasia opens the door, slowly, silently. The first thing she sees is her daughter, prostrate on the sofa, crying. She then notices how still her husband is, and Rush's to the bed, horrified.

"Peter! Oh no, please, tell me you're okay... Thalia, baby, what happened?!"

     She yells, adrenaline and terror flowing through her veins and driving her crazy.

"Mum! I don't know, he... He had an incredibly powerful attack and... He fell back on the bed, and... And now he's better!"

     A smile appears on her lips as she pronounces the last sentence, and her mother freezes, her hands clutched around Peter's shoulders.

"W... What?"

     A deep voice answers, and she feels a well-known calloused hand cover hers.

"Hello, Annie. I've missed you."