Trust the doctor. -Michelle Liew
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Liam tossed and turned in his hospital bed, the medicinal odour of antiseptic burning his nose—and underneath it, something else—sharp. The walls were too white, too—sanitized, as thought they had something to hide.He couldn’t remember how he got there.
A doctor stood at the foot of his bed, combing through his charts. “Mr. Loong,”he said, his voice professionally polished but his eyes—distant. Can you remember anything from your accident?”
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Liam’s mind swam with fractured memories. Flashes of dark roads. A loud crash. A garbled, static-filled voice. Headlights, but they didn’t belong to his car. He gripped the armrest, his knuckles white.
“Your car–took the worst of it. But your injuries are…odd.”
She pulled back his blanket. No cuts. No bruises. Not even a scratch.
The way she said “odd” unsettled- as if he knew more than she let on.
Liam’s throat dried up. “That’s impossible.”
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The doctor set his chart on her desk grabbed a package marked “radiology”. “Your scans came back. They’re clear…but we need to treat… something else.”
He held up a small mirror. Liam took it from him, his hands shaking. He held it up.
He wasn’t looking at himself.
At least, not the self he knew. His color was wrong. The shape—looked odd. His lips moved in the way his didn’t. A stranger returned his gaze. Watching from within.
Then, the reflection lagged, a breath behind reality.
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Liam’s chest moved up and down. “Doctor…why do I look like this?”
He didn’t respond. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe filled with a viscose, black liquid. It wasn’t medicine. It pulsed, alive.
“Liam,” he cajoled, “You need to stay calm.” His smile was too professional. As if he’d done this before.
Liam’s heart pounded. His instincts told him —RUN.
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Liam’s fingers clenched into fists. The mirror slipped from his grip, shattering on the floor.
The second it broke, his mind wrenched open, and a flood of memories rushed in. Ones that didn’t belong to him.
He ran for the door.
The doctor lunged, too late.
Darkness won.
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