“So…. Mr. What’s your name?’

“Ra- Steve Roddy.”

As Rayan corrected himself, remembering he had just become a criminal from a renowned detective, the nurse quickly scribbled something on the clip board.

He wasn’t surprised at the fact that he crossed over, more like speechless. After thoroughly examining his body in the bathroom, he noticed numerous stabbing injuries all over his now lanky body. Especially, the left side of his stomach had the deepest wound, the reason why he felt the most pain there. None of them were actually deep enough to kill someone, unless the person bled to death because of the number of holes in his body, which is why whoever attacked this guy threw his body in the stormy sea.

What bothered him though he didn’t know who would attack someone like Steve Roddy. The guy was reckless as hell, despite being older than him. His parkour skill always helped him slip off the hands of police whenever they tracked his location. The gang he led, the Roddy Boys, were a considerably new gang around the area which had just started to gain reputation, not the good kind, of course. As it’s normal between gangs, he also had quite a few enemies apart from the police. But who exactly could be so bold enough to kill the leader of a gang was a mystery to him.

‘Not like I can’t figure it out. I just gotta get out of here first.’

“Mr.? Mr.?”

As Rayan got lost in his thoughts again, the nurse anxiously called out to him. He nodded, indicating he was listening, which compelled the nurse to ask the relevant questions.

Of course, he knew a fair share of information about Steve Roddy, but he couldn’t reveal them all to a local nurse who seemed more anxious to get him to pay the bills than his health. So he mixed truth with lies, creating an identity that perhaps only existed in a novel, but the problem came when he was questioned this.

“So…. Would it be possible to tell me your card number? Well, it’s just a part of our procedure to make sure the patients have paid for the service…..”

The last part was said quietly, almost like a whisper, and if Rayan didn’t know better, he might have requested to repeat what she just said. But as his profession required him to visit the hospital almost regularly, either for information or for himself, he knew how crazy staff were about ‘service’ and ‘payment’.

“Can I pay on the day of discharge? I currently don’t have my card with me and I haven’t memorized the number.”

“I see….. then, do you have any family members we can contact? You see, your injuries weren’t the usual people get when hit by a car. So, it’d be better if any family members or friends could come and clarify it wasn’t a criminal attempt.”

Rayan paused this time, it’s not like he couldn’t make anymore lies, but the nurse’s words this time were logical. If it were in the past, the police would already have been here to greet him good morning the moment he woke up. But after a certain celebrity got stabbed by a crazed fan on a lonely night and died because the doctors were too busy calling the police rather than tending to his injury, the public flared up and demanded to disband the law that required to inform the police in cases of abnormal accidents.

That’s why nowadays even if the person lying on the hospital bed is a criminal, the doctors treat the patient first before identification. It’s not like they can’t call the police later anyway. The only regret is that it led to frequent ‘unpaid’ services, which only made the doctors and nurses despair.

“I…. don’t have a family living in the city. But I have a friend working in the police.”

The nurse’s expression brightened. Noting something on the clipboard, she asked.

“May I know his name?”

“Byron Franklin…..”

‘Sorry for throwing you under the bus, bud.’

With a quick hand, the nurse noted the name. Then informing him that he may be discharged in a week or so, as the injuries were small and didn’t affect his internal organs, she left with upturned lips.

‘No way in hell I’m gonna pay for this bastard.’

Rayan felt bad for the nurse, especially knowing the chaos that would unfold if Byron was contacted because of him, Steve Roddy. But he couldn’t bring himself to clean the mess after a criminal when he didn’t know whether his current situation was long-term or short. Not to mention, he didn’t have a penny on him at the moment. Since Byron was a cop, contacting him to inform a criminal was lying in the hospital seemed fitting.

Looking outside the window, where the sun shone proudly as if putting the previous night’s storm in shame, he made a decision.

* * *

After Ann hurriedly left the apartment, for a moment she wandered here and there not finding any places to go. It was only when Byron called her to have breakfast together did she remember what he said yesterday. Rejecting his invitation, she hopped onto her car and drove to meet a certain Dr. Hopkin.

Whether it was fate or something entirely creepy, Ann surprisingly remembered who Dr. Hopkin was. Perhaps the reverie of the previous night was what triggered the memories, but now she could look through a lot of details in her, Rayan Lancel’s, mind. Just as she thought yesterday, Dr. Hopkin was indeed a forensic doctor at the Mael City Hospital, and her current body was a frequent visitor as per his profession.

Thinking she might as well meet this doctor and trigger more of his memories if possible, Ann pressed on the accelerator.

Mael City Hospital was also the same place where she was taken after her accident. The hospital has a good reputation because of its service and experienced staff members, also the fact that it was directly under the jurisdiction of the city mayor. However, rumors have it that if you don’t pay the bills, the people there will have your organs for sale.

Ann shrugged, not wanting to waste her energy on silly rumours. She drove through the metropolitan roads of the well-developed Mael City, and soon reached her destination.

Parking her car in front of a bush of flowers, she turned off the ignition, got off, and made her way inside.

Just behind her, behind the bush of flowers, on the back of the building that held the patients of the general ward, someone was hanging from a pipe. His lanky body wobbled as he tried to find his grip on the slippery pipe. The person, wearing a hospital gown, looked around and made sure no one was watching before climbing further down.

Once his bare feet touched the ground, Rayan held his aching left side and quickly made his way towards the exit.

Not before quietly snatching the purse of a guy heatedly arguing on his phone, oblivious that he just got pick-pocketed.

* * *

The hospital was exactly how Ann remembered when she came here a few days ago as Ann Mackenzie. White pristine tiles reflecting the LED lights above, doctors, nurses and other staff hurrying around, patients wandering around in hospital gown, some accompanied by family members or friends. The typical image of a big city hospital.

Unlike the previous time she came here, this time she had a person to meet, so she dug through the memory of this body and made her way to her destination. As she walked down the hallway, a pair of doctor and nurse hurriedly rushed past her, the nurse even shouting ‘The guy has escaped, call the police!’, which made her raise her eyebrows thinking who it was that escaped, but soon she shrugged and continued her journey.

Not long after, she arrived in front of a door labelled ‘Dr. Vincent Hopkin’.

Taking a deep breath to ease the nervousness in her now massive frame, she raised a hand and politely knocked twice.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

Immediately after, a thick male voice echoed from inside. Ann wiped her sweaty palm on the trousers, which were actually not sweaty at all when she checked, before she slowly opened the door.

The first thing that entered her eyes was a wooden study desk, littered with all sorts of files, notebooks, a few pen holders, a paper weight, and a table calendar. A big bookshelf stood at one side of the desk, holding titles so complex Ann gave-up halfway trying to pronounce them. On the other side had a small hospital bed, the colour of the bedsheet and pillow mirroring the sky. Behind it stood a tall inanimate plant, swaying gently at the breeze coming through the window beside it. And just in front of the window, on the leather seat, sat Dr. Hopkin, who was giving her a questioning stare as if asking why she wasn’t coming in.

Ann swiftly entered the small office and closed the door behind her. Glancing around once, her attention shifted to Dr. Hopkin this time.

Dr. Hopkin went back to reading the file he had in front of him when Ann entered. Silver strands of hair, poking through the forest of greying ones on his head seemed to speak of years of experience, and the gold rimmed glasses reflecting light seemed to warn her the sharpness of the eyes behind them. His body was adorned in a typical doctor’s apron, beneath which a green shirt was peeking out. Perhaps aware of her gaze, he lifted his head and stared at her with his green eyes.

“Uh, good morning…. Doctor.”

Caught off guard by the sudden eye contact, Ann hurriedly let out a greeting, which only made the older man squint his eyes. He closed the file in his hand, as if he had found something more interesting than whatever was written there, then rubbed his stubbled jaw and stared at him up and down.

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

Contrary to his appearance, his voice was friendly, almost soothing. Ann looked away at the accusing tone and stared at the inanimate plant at the corner.

“Not at all….. I just felt like greeting.”

“Is that so?”

Ann cleared her throat, trying to sound aloof, and looked back at Dr. Hopkin. She was thankful this body had a great talent for maintaining a poker face. Otherwise, her real face might have given away how awkward and nervous she was feeling just by her facial expression.

Dr. Hopkin nodded thoughtfully, as if digesting her word, before he stood up. Grabbing the file he had been reading, he approached Ann as he spoke.

“Well, I suppose you’re in a good mood because you’re about to unravel the secret you’ve been chasing so long.”

Ann perked up at the words but remained silent. She assumed the reason Byron told her to meet Dr. Hopkin was because he was the one doing the autopsy on her now dead self, and she came here hoping that she would gain more information about how she died. But the way he was speaking seemed to hint something different, something only he and Rayan Lancel knew.

“Let’s get going, shall we?”

As Ann was pondering the meaning behind his words, Dr. Hopkin had already opened the door and stepped out. In a fluster, she followed him, holding onto the tongue that wanted to ask where they were going. The memories of Rayan Lancel told her that his interaction with this Dr. Hopkin was always minimal, almost bordering on being cold. So she bit her lips and swallowed the words that wanted to slip out as they walked to the unknown.

When Ann reached their destination, her whole body froze as if electrified.

On the door where Dr. Hopkin just slipped through, hung a sign that read ‘MORGUE’ in large letters.

‘I should have known…..’

Ann fought the urge to facepalm as she followed Dr. Hopkin into the freezing grave of corpses. If she came to a doctor, a forensic expert at that, she should have known the first place they would visit was this. It’s just she had forgotten for a moment that she had become a detective now, whose usual routine was to perhaps greet the corpses daily.

Ann entered with trepidation, but the view inside surprised her a little. The interior of the morgue wasn’t as typical as Ann always imagined or saw on TV. Unlike the dark, cramped space shown on horror movies or dramas, the place was actually very spacious and bright, with LED lights hanging from the ceiling at few intervals. And it wasn’t devoid of any living being, rather, Ann could see a few ward boys hanging name tags on the corpses’ toes or spreading new sheets on the beds.

Overall, it was big, bright, and bustling with activities.

However, no matter how bright the lights were or how many people were inside, being surrounded by rows and rows of dead bodies would creep out any sane person. Especially when your mind suddenly starts playing all the horror movies you saw and you start imagining the corpses suddenly sitting up straight just to scare you. For a moment, Ann considered if she should turn around and get the hell out of there.

‘Stop thinking Ann, stop thinking!’

Ann scolded her mind for scaring her. Her mind was always active at the worst of moments. She furiously shook her head and hurriedly followed Dr. Hopkin, who was leisurely walking ahead as if he was strolling in a garden, except this garden had human heads instead of flowers.

When at last he stopped in front of a dead body, for the second time on that day, Ann felt like turning around and just running away.

The corpse lying on the cold hard bed was none other than hers. Although Ann had firsthand witnessed the miserable state of her body yesterday, it still didn’t help her push down the nausea creeping through her throat.

If the state of her corpse she saw yesterday was a bloody mess, then now it looked….. still. Ann had always thought her skin was pale, not the kind looking like a sheet of paper, but more like it had a milkish creamy texture. Although being exposed to the sun still made her look like a lobster, which compelled her to always wear long-sleeved clothes or socks to hide her exposed skin, at least whenever she stood in front of the mirror, she looked healthy and alive.

But now, her cold corpse lying on the hard bed looked more like a porcelain doll than a human.

Whether all the blood was drained from her body, or that’s just how corpses looked, Ann didn’t know, but her body had an unhealthy sheen of paleness. As if her skin was made of fresh snow piled up on the sidewalk right after a blizzard. Her once red lips, now pale to the point of turning blue, were cracked like a dry land. And her long eyelashes that hid her beautiful blue orbs were still, as if frozen in time. The only thing that remained the same was her long jet-black hair, but they seemed to lack the usual luster and looked like tangled yarns.

“Okay. So here’s the file that contains the details. I’ll just brief you for now.”

Dr. Hopkin handed Ann the file he had been carrying, which she took in a fluster, as he pulled down the white sheet of the corpse and rested them just above her chest. Even without telling her, Ann knew her corpse was stark naked below this thin sheet of fabric, which horrified her even more, but she decided to keep quiet and focus on what he was saying.

“I don’t think I have to tell you the state of the body since you have already examined it yesterday. No signs of assault, either before or after her death, not even a scratch. The bullet hit her straight into the cerebral cortex, which resulted in her death. The bullet, though…..”

Ann could hardly understand what he was saying before he turned around and picked up a small plastic bag lying on a metal tray, which was on top of a table just beside the bed, and showed it to her.

“9mm, micro combat. Mostly used in Glock 17 type of guns. The most basic weapon for self-defence.”

Ann took the bag and stared at the tiny metal object inside. To think that such a small thing killed her, a living human being, was bizarre to her.

“It seems whoever killed her didn’t plan it beforehand and just did it in the heat of the moment.”

Ann looked at the small bullet in the plastic bag, then at her corpse, and fell into a deep contemplation. She could never consider her family members on the suspect list, and placing her friends or colleagues also seemed a bit far-fetched. But if it was someone who killed her in the spur of the moment, then that person must know her. Maybe they had an argument or something? But she couldn’t remember meeting anyone else other than her family members after her accident.

Then who could it be, that killed her so brutally, that too for a reason unknown to her?