His breathing was heavy, looking like he just ran a couple of miles but in truth had only just drunk a glass of water. The breathing itself wasn't normal. It was more like pants. Heavy pants. The question he had asked earlier had taken a lot out of him and his brain felt like it was shutting down. But he wouldn't dare. He wanted to know…
"Where's Hinari?"
Dok and Mr Kisharu were taken aback. Earlier the boy was as quiet as a log. But now there was a lot of energy babbling through his question, evident by the pulsing blood vessels by his cranium.
"Hinari?" Mr Kisharu asked.
"Who is that? We know no one by that name."
Dok was standing at the side of the bed. He watched as the boy panted for his breath. He could tell that whoever this 'Hinari' was, she meant a lot to the boy.
He smiled.
"Yes, we know who Hinari is and where she is." Dok said that smile still on his face.
Kisharu's eyes turned to Dok with a stinging glare. What was he thinking.?
The boy's eyes turned to Dok with a bright glimmer. "You do…" he asked then to a series of coughs.
"Yes, but she wasn't in good shape when she was brought to me. Some pretty serious burns, don't you think?"
Just as fast as it rose the glimmer in his eyes fell. As for the smile on Dok's face, it turned to content.
"Where is she now?" the boy asked. His face sulked in grief.
"That part I can't tell you." Dok answered. "I understand that there are things weighing on you right now. I can see it in your eyes and the horrid look on your face. It looks heavy and it is a pain to see that in a young kid like you. But you should also understand that we asking you for who you are helps us know how we can help you and know a little bit more about you. So until you are ready, that information of where she is will remain with me. Okay?"
Dok's words made sense. The shift in his eyes showed that he understood or… maybe not. But whoever this kid was and whatever he was doing at the old mansion could be the key to solve a mystery that aired all over the kingdom for the past month.
Dok took his silence for uncertainty. He gave a quick look to Mr Kisharu. Kisharu sighed.
"As such until you are able to co-operate, we have no choice but to lock you in here. As from now, unknown 12 you are a prisoner of Himo village."
Dok's words came with a cling. One minute the boy's hands were on his lap the other they were cuffed to the metal arms of the bed he laid on.
Dok and Kisharu left the room, leaving the uncompliant boy struggling with his cuffs. he seemed like good person, they really hoped that he would break.
***
Hours passed and before he knew Lozo was in his third day of captivity. They had been long tiresome and brutal days, which is to be expected when one's hands are tethered an immobile bed. Especially at night where sleeping is a pain in itself. Not that Lozo could sleep in the first place.
His dreams smelt of nothing but smoke and burning wood. The smoke would choke him back to reality and rob him of the rest he needed. On the first day he looked terrible. It was to expected for a person who had been asleep for a month. After his wake he met some annoying people who queried him none stop like he was some type of book. Today on the third day his brain had given out and could bare hold his head up.
His skin had palled to white and to add to it his cheek bone had started showing. Not that he wasn't feed rather but it's extremely hard to eat when the nurse feeding you gives you an unnerving snare, giving you the idea that she might have as well poisoned your meal. He had to eat. He needed to eat actually, especially for what was to come.
His nurses perfume always lingered when she walked by. It smelled nice, a flowery fragrant. It was also a change from the alcohol smell all around him. She had her hair tied into a bun held by a hair-pin with rings that jingled every time she walked. She had just finished feeding him, hot soup with giant lumps that tasted like bread dipped into it, and on her face that cold look was never too far. she placed the bowl onto her cart and walked out of the building. At least today she hadn't "accidentally" poured the hot soup on him like she had on the previous day.
"Um…" Lozo spoke. He hadn't spoken to anyone after the conversation with the Dok and Kisharu.
So, when the nurse heard him speak, she couldn't help but be startled.
The nurse turned.
"Can I go outside today?" he asked.
Her reaction and answer were to be expected. "I… No, I can't decide that." She said and immediately left.
Lozo sank back into his bed with a sigh.
'She must be a normal.' He thought.
In his understanding having have initiated the conversation the nurse would hurriedly go and report to her higher up, possibly the two men who came to see him the other day. Now he would just sit, wait and engage in his new hobby… looking out the window.
…
One would expect that when a criminal or a captive says something, the information would be passed along and immediately reach the higher ups. Then they would act not immediately but under a time frame that spanned between one day to two, in order throw of the captive of their purpose and value to the captors.
But to Lozo's surprise it seemed his captors had something else better to do. The much-awaited response to his question took an entire week to be met. He didn't have a clock but relied on the rising of the sun to estimate it to been a week. On the days of his wait, the nurse assigned to him was changed and a new one was brought in. just like the previous she was quite unwelcoming but atleast knew how to hide it.
Every day he watched the sun rise and set, boredom choking his throat with the help of whatever was in that soup they kept throwing at him. On the seventh rise his answer finally returned.
Breakfast was as usual; bread mushed in whatever soup. But today his first nurse returned and was to attend to him. Accompanying her was Dok and Kisharu. Dok had his usual cheery look and as for Kisharu, Lozo could swear his scar had gotten bigger.
"Hello. You look like you're doing great." Dok greeted him.
"I heard you had a request. Sorry I couldn't answer it immediately there was something we needed to handle." He continued.
"Now then what is it that you wanted to ask?"
The nurse dropped her cart by Lozo's bed and left the three in the room.
"I was wondering whether I could touch some grass today?" Lozo asked. His eyes meekly paved across his sheets not daring to look into their eyes. He held his breathe. Obviously, anyone would think that was him asking for a chance to escape and say no to the idea there and then.
"Sure, why not." Dok said with an odd sense of enthusiasm. "For you to open up you should not see this place as a prison, so once a week you should be able to feel the grass under your feet."
"Kisharu…" Dok said looking to Kisharu.
Kisharu brandished a set of keys and uncuffed Lozo.
"But before you go, you'll have to eat up."
Lozo looked at the bowl on the trolley to his side. He reached for the fork placed next to the bowl. His fingers trembled as they picked it up.
He smiled then said. "Thank you."