sometimes i hear howlin' in my head

1

Groggy.

That was the immediate feeling that crashed over my body in waves as I awoke from my sleep. My eyes, not yet opened, felt heavy as did all the rest of my limbs.

It was then that I realized, as I tried to rub an itch on the side of my head that I couldn't move or better yet, that I was restrained. The initial realization had my heart beat quickening, chest rising and falling with sudden fear before I took deep, slow breaths inwards and outwards to calm myself down.

When the beating of my own heart stopped being a pain in my chest, I slowly but surely began to peel my eyes open. Wherever I was had bright lights on that caused me to hiss and close my eyes once again.

"Oh. You're finally awake."

An unfamiliar voice said, startling every fiber of my being. Once again, I peeled my eyes open and blinked my eyes at the bright lights.

Finally getting over the lighting, I began to focus my eyes on what was infront of me. A wall. A white wall. On the wall was a small, muted TV.

Slowly maneuvering my head to the right, opposite the voice, I see a wide window that was slightly cracked open causing the wind to blow the white curtains as it pleased.

Right next to the hospital bed was another hospital bed. I looked away from the bedside drawer and at the bed. I noticed the white sheets and the rails and the handcuffs attached to my wrists. My breath hitched, and I slowly turned my head to the left where I heard the voice speak to me.

There was a male standing there with shoulder length hair and a white cardigan, doctor's coat, that probably extended all the way down to his knees. He was staring at me, calculating eyes watching the whole time as I became more and more aware of my surroundings.

"I'm glad you're finally up Mr. Tuan. I'm sure you are very confused and maybe even scared, but all of your questions will be answered shortly. First thing's first, try to speak."

My mouth felt so dry, my brain barely catching up to what was just asked of me. It seemed as though it took all of my energy just to part my lips and even more energy to have the slightest hint of a sound escape me.

After a few more attempts at speaking, I finally managed a, "who are you, where am I, " except each word had a noticeable pause after the previous and due to the obvious unuse, my vocal chords were straining making my voice come out weak and gravelly.

The doctor, I assumed, seemed to write something down in the notebook I just realized he had and then took a seat on the armless chair beside me.

"Good. You can speak. My name is Lim Jaebeom and I am on a detective team that is looking into your case. "

Case.. My case?

"Sorry about the cuffs. We were not sure if you would be able to move after the catastrophe or whether or not you would have any memory of it so these were just a precaution."

The more he spoke, the more I grew antsy and uncomfortable.

What case? What catastrophe? Why can't I remember anything?

Before I could even begin to ask, Doctor Lim spoke.

"Let's cut to the chase, yes? Your name is Mark Tuan and you are under arrest for arson."

Arson? Me?

No. That can not be possible. What happened to me? What is going on?

Once again, my breathing began to pick up, more noticeably this time. My chest rose and fell quickly, my eyes darting around the room for the quickest escape despite the cuffs preventing me from going anywhere anyways.

In the midst of my obvious panic, Dr. Lim continued speaking.

"Or at least you would have been if my team had not discovered your case."

What?

"We have reason to believe that there is more behind the story of why you set fire to an abandoned building that was just outside of the city."

Then why are you wasting time talking to me when you should be working on clearing my name.

"I am sure that you are wondering why I am here talking to you and not investigating this case with the rest of my team? Well, we actually got to you before the cops did. You are currently in our base. I am a doctor and thus have plenty of rooms for all my needs."

My mouth parted slightly, but–

"Hold that thought. In order to solve this case, we need you to remember everything that happened, so you are hereby going to be working with us to solve your own case. Just know that we will take all necessary precautions against you should it be found that you have done any inexplicable acts of violence. You also have no choice but to work with us unless you want to serve between one and ten years in prison with a class four felony. Are we clear?"

I just nodded slowly. What the fuck am I supposed to say to that? I only know my name because the man told me, and I'm to be expected to help solve an arson case that I am actively apart of?

"Good. Then on that note, get up. You have no physical damage to your body other than the knot on your head from when one of my partners decided that the only way of restraining you was by wacking you in the head. My apologies."

Well that explains the headache.

In the next second, the cuffs were being removed from my wrists and I was being aggressively tugged up and to my feet. The lack of usage caused me to fumble forwards into the doctor's chest and–

"Huh. You are a lot shorter than I remembered."

I hate this guy.

After helping me regain my footing and talking a few trial steps with me, the doctor released me and handed me a cup of water and two pills that had been sat at the bed side table.

"For your headache."

I placed the pills in my mouth shakily and had to have the doctor help steady the glass of water as I swallowed it down with the pills.

He took the glass from me, then turned his back, starting towards the door.

"Come with me. It is time you meet the others. We have no time to waste."

-

Just wanted to get this out there to see what everybody thinks about it 😳 (And to gaslight Deescent into making another book)