Mioray felt he had reached an impasse. How long had he been standing there in the street, spacing out? At some point, the couple he’d noticed at the bar had left, throwing suspicious glances his way before hurrying off. This forced Mioray to go in the opposite direction. Even though the street was nearly deserted, it was only a matter of time before someone called the police on him, considering how he was dressed in a hospital gown and slippers and the way he was behaving. He could easily be mistaken for the real Dismantler.

  But he didn’t know where to go. Now, out of the hospital, Mioray was afraid to go straight home. Before, he’d lied to himself. He had escaped from the detectives, and maybe they wouldn’t find him now, but he couldn’t entirely forget the incident. He looked down at his arm, or rather, where it used to be. He couldn’t ignore the fact his arm was missing, he couldn’t pretend it was still there. Wherever he went, questions would follow. What happened to him? How had he lost his arm? Mioray needed answers. But he didn’t have any, and so he couldn’t go home. He couldn’t face his parents, not after everything that had happened, not after he’d stormed out in a childish rage upon learning he was adopted, instead of taking it like an adult. But if he was an adult, why did he still feel like a kid?

  Mom and Dad had tried to calm him. They’d asked him to stay home. They were even considering leaving to give him some space, but he wouldn’t listen. They’d begged him to stay safe, and he couldn’t do that. It was as if he’d defied them just to spite them. No, he couldn’t make them go through this. He had to find a way to deceive the whole world, even himself, that his left arm was still there.

  And he already had an idea of how to do it. It was a terrible idea, but better than nothing.

  Mioray continued running through the night, avoiding contact with anyone he passed on the street. Better to keep a low profile. He was heading to the university dormitory where his friend Chris lived. If anyone could help him, it would be Chris. They’d met during their first year at university, and, like Mioray, Chris was studying history. But, unlike Mioray, Chris had connections with all kinds of students across campus, so he could get almost anything he needed. It was incredible, especially since Chris had moved to Reques City just to study; before that, he’d lived in a small town. Yet in two years, he’d experienced the city more than Mioray had in his whole life.

  When Mioray reached the dormitory grounds, he could tell it was the night of September 1st. Life was in full swing, with music pouring out of open windows. Groups of young people hung around the sports ground, drinking and celebrating. Seeing him, someone enthusiastically invited Mioray to join, saying his costume was sick, even though the Day of the Dead was still far off. Mioray declined politely, dark thoughts clouding his mind. That’s right. It’s not the Day of the Dead. Not yet.

  He approached the intercom by the dorm entrance, dialed Chris’s room number, and waited, listening to the beeps. He prayed that Chris would be home. Tomorrow – or maybe today, depending on the time – it would be the first day of the semester. Chris might be at a party with his girlfriend, Julie, who studied with them, celebrating the start of the new study year.

  A minute passed, and the intercom fell silent. Whoever it tried to notify wasn’t there. Or maybe he was, but fast asleep. Mioray dialed Chris’s number again. Again, the beeping sound kept him company. He was thinking about his next steps when a voice suddenly broke through the speaker.

  “Who the hell is this?” The voice was angry and sleepy. Nevertheless, Mioray sighed with relief. “Don’t you get that if nobody answers the first time, it means nobody’s home or they want you to think they’re not?”

  “Hey, Chris, it’s me. Mioray.”

  “Mioray?” The anger shifted to surprise. “What are you doing here so late, man? It’s three in the morning!”

  So it was Monday already.

  “Sure, man, of course. Come on up.”

  A new beep signaled the front door unlocking. Mioray entered and headed up the stairs to Chris’s room on the fourth floor. His friend was waiting in the open doorway, shocked the moment he saw Mioray in the hallway.

  “Man?!” Chris was at a loss for words. It took him a few seconds to remember how to speak. “What the hell happened to you, man?! What kind of trouble did you get into?!”

  His exclamation was louder than Mioray would have liked. He glanced around to make sure no one was coming out to see what the fuss was about.

  “It’s kind of a long story.”

  “Yeah, it better be!” Chris agreed, still loud. He wasn’t usually like this, but seeing his friend in such bad shape would shock anyone.

  Mioray had expected this reaction. It was exactly why he hadn’t gone back home to his parents. He didn’t want to scare them. But looking at Chris now, standing there in a sky-blue bathrobe with his hair a tousled mess and smelling of alcohol from some party he’d recently left, Mioray suddenly lost his resolve. Should he tell Chris his strange theories about what had happened over the past few hours, theories that seemed too bizarre to be real? He himself wasn’t sure what had really happened. He believed he’d met Erinel at the bar three days ago, but then the bartender said she’d never worked there and he’d never even heard of her.

  “Well, funny story,” Mioray started. “You know how they say planes are safer than cars? It’s not just because fewer people are in the sky than on the roads at any given moment. There are other factors, too. Planes are designed with passenger safety as a priority: seats that can withstand sixteen times the force of gravity, fireproof materials, backup systems to handle failures. Then you have strict regulations, safety checks, and well-trained pilots. And even though cars hover now–”

  “Yeah, yeah, spare me the details, man.” Chris lightly smacked Mioray on the head with the edge of his hand. “Are you telling me you got in a car accident?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did.”

  Another lie, straight to his friend’s face. Chris looked skeptical, but his eyes were still a bit unfocused, so Mioray figured it wouldn’t be too hard to convince him. Who knows, maybe he’d even convince himself that was exactly what happened.

  “Okay, okay,” Chris muttered. “Because after you ditched us at your birthday party and then vanished altogether, I was starting to think maybe the Dismantler got you. And when I saw you just now, I thought, man, he did get to you! Took your arm, but you escaped and ended up in the hospital. Yeah, you getting into an accident makes more sense.”

  “You’ve got a wild imagination, Chris,” Mioray replied, managing a nervous grin. But was it really so far from the truth? “Anyway, I just need to stay here for the night. I got into a car accident and lost my arm, but my parents don’t know yet. I need to figure out how to keep it from them.”

  “You mean... you want to keep this a secret?” Chris pointed, somewhat tactlessly, at Mioray’s stump. “Not to sound rude, but I don’t think you can fool them for even a second. Oh, shit, man!”

  Chris’s face suddenly went pale.

  “What?!” Mioray asked, expecting the worst.

  “Your parents called me a few days ago, told me what happened, and that you ran off. So, being the good friend I am, I told them you were crashing here for a while.”

  “Wait, so they think I’m here, at your place?”

  “Sounds like it, man.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Mioray couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. At least it explained why his parents hadn’t been out looking for him or reported him missing.

  A door opening down the hall startled both of them. Mioray and Chris turned to see a girl in a beige bathrobe with a violet towel wrapped around her hair stepping into the hallway, holding shampoo and soap. She was likely heading to the shower. Mioray tried to hide his face and his stump as she walked by, but luckily, she didn’t care to look at him.

  “Man, sorry, I was so shocked seeing you like this, I forgot to actually let you in.” Chris stepped into his room. “Come in. Want anything to eat or drink?”

  It was a little concerning. Mioray had been unconscious for three days and awake for only a few hours, yet he hadn’t felt even slightly hungry or thirsty. It didn’t seem normal. Somehow, he doubted he’d been fed through a tube or IV during his coma. He’d been busy being dismembered. But that last part had to be a delusion. It couldn’t have happened.

  “No, thanks,” he answered, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

  Chris’s room was small, just eight square meters. It was supposed to house two people, but Chris had it all to himself, thanks to his parents covering the cost. The room contained a bed, a wooden table cluttered with books and a laptop, a chair, a built-in wardrobe, and a fridge with a microwave on top. Only the essentials, nothing more. Who ever said young adults should live in comfort? In this society, students are expected to make do with the bare minimum, sometimes crammed in with complete strangers. Who needs privacy or personal space, anyway? That was exactly why Mioray had opted to stay with his parents, to have a room all to himself. They couldn’t afford a single dorm room for him like Chris’s parents could. Property and rent prices keep going up like crazy.

  “You’re sure you don’t want anything?” Chris glanced at Mioray’s stitches. “You look pretty beaten up.”

  “No, I’m alright,” Mioray replied, settling into the chair.

  Chris took a bottle of water from the fridge and sat on the bed.

  “I think your parents are going to kill me,” he said, taking a sip. “They’ll realize I lied to them about you when they find out about your accident.”

  “Not if my plan works.”

  “What plan?”

  Mioray smiled, a mysterious glint in his eyes. Yes, it was a terrible plan, indeed.

  “I could buy one of those prosthetic arms. Now, I know you’d think I can’t afford it because they cost too much and you’d be right. For now, I could just wear a cast and tell everyone my arm is broken.”

  Chris grinned incredulously.

  “And how long do you plan to pretend it’s broken? A few years? Not suspicious at all, man.”

  “I’ll think of something. For now, I just need a cast,” Mioray said, looking at Chris expectantly.

  After a few seconds of silence, Chris caught on.

  “Wait, so that’s where I come in? You know I know a guy… Sneaky bastard, man!”

  “Well, your life’s on the line, after all,” Mioray laughed. “Do you want my parents to find out or not? With the cast, I could just say I broke it accidentally, let’s say, yesterday. They’ll never know anything about the car accident.”

  Chris didn’t reply, just gave Mioray’s knee an approving slap. He was always this carefree; it probably hadn’t crossed his mind that this could hurt Mioray, given his rough shape. But that was okay. Mioray didn’t feel any pain.

  Thanks to Chris being friends with everyone, he knew a guy in med school who did some side jobs and would probably be willing to make and sell a cast from under the counter. Without further ado, Chris stood up and called the guy, despite it being three in the morning. Surprisingly, the guy answered, and they started making arrangements. While waiting for Chris to finish his call, Mioray wondered if he should call his parents, but decided there was no rush. They were asleep; no need to wake them up. If all went according to plan, he’d see them in the morning. Of course, they’d be shocked to find out he’d broken his arm, but that was nothing compared to finding out he didn’t have it at all.

  “Alright, everything’s sorted,” Chris said, flopping back onto the bed. “We can see the guy in a few hours, but first, I’d like to get a little more sleep, and you could use some too. Man, I still can’t believe it. You got hit by a car, lost your arm… How are you so calm? I’d be losing my mind.”

  “I don’t know,” Mioray replied, standing up and looking out the window. In the night, he could just make out the outlines of pine trees under the orange glow of the streetlamps. There was a nice, small grove near the dormitory. “I was just crossing the street, and the car appeared out of nowhere. I went into a coma for three days, and when I woke up, I was already like this. And yeah, you could say I freaked out, because I ran away from the hospital.”

  A simple lie, easy enough to pass for the truth. Mioray was trying to convince himself more than Chris, and it seemed to be working. Detectives, Reyna Kayree – it felt like the interrogation never happened.

  “Damn, man, in a coma! Running away from the hospital! What else are you hiding? Maybe you even met a girl at a bar?”

  “Well, actually…”

  A smile played at the corners of Mioray’s lips as he remembered Erinel and her hazel eyes. Had she been at the bar and at the hospital? He couldn’t be sure, but he wished he could meet her again.

  “No way, man, no way!” Chris laughed, spilling some water as he waved his hands. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing! So much for the holy boy act!”

  Mioray frowned. He didn’t like the nickname, but how could he explain that to Chris? His friend found it amusing. Mioray had earned it in their first year when he’d turned down a beer at a party. He hadn’t drunk alcohol before enrolling in the university. That small hesitation was enough to earn skeptical looks from his classmates, but the final nail in the coffin was when they found out he’d never had a girlfriend.

  It didn’t help that Mioray had actually had a crush on Julie since he’d first met her. Before he knew it, she’d started seeing Chris, with whom he’d since become close friends. He’d never told a soul about it. At first, he didn’t believe they’d last; Julie was modest and studious, while Chris was easygoing and always looking for excitement. But somehow, they fit, and their relationship had blossomed for almost two years now. Mioray was a little jealous, but he was perfectly fine with Julie being out of reach. Chris truly cared for her.

  And besides, there was another woman now who had hijacked Mioray’s heart.

  “How come you didn’t think to mention this even once?” Chris waved his hands in disbelief, looking more shocked than he had been when he first saw Mioray without his arm. “Tell me everything right now!”

  “Can’t it wait until morning?”

  “There’ll be plenty to worry about in the morning! No, man, I want all the details now!”

  Mioray sighed. Chris was so straightforward, and it was almost frightening how he could come up with ideas that seemed too close to the truth, without realizing it or taking his own words seriously. Which was a relief, because if he ever did, he might start to suspect that Mioray hadn’t just woken up in a hospital room, but perhaps even in a morgue. The thought made Mioray glance down at his hospital gown.

  “Can I at least change into something else first? You got any spare clothes?”

  “Sure, anything for my guy, man.”

  Chris stood up and rummaged through his wardrobe, tossing clothes onto the floor as he looked for something that might fit Mioray. However, everything he owned was a size too big. It wasn’t that Mioray was particularly short; it was just that Chris was taller and more athletic. Sometimes it was hard to believe Chris was a history student. He could have easily passed for a basketball player. But, the truth was, he was smart and genuinely enthusiastic. He loved parties and was usually the one throwing them.

  “Anyway, you’ll have to make do with what I’ve got,” Chris said, handing him a shirt and jeans. “I’m not buying you new clothes, man, sorry.”

  “It’s fine. Thanks,” Mioray took the clothes and started changing. “By the way, where’s Julie? I thought she’d be here with you.”

  “We were together at the club, but she left early. She said she wanted to rest up before tomorrow.”

  “Oh, so that’s where you got drunk?”

  “I’m not drunk!” Chris protested, grabbing the bottle from the bed and draining the last of the water. “Okay, maybe a little.” He tossed the empty bottle into the trash. A perfect three-pointer, or whatever it was. Mioray wasn’t exactly a basketball expert.

  “Are you done changing? Come on, man, you can’t keep the juiciest details from me!”

  The juiciest details, of course, were how Mioray had met Erinel. There was no way to dodge it, so he started telling Chris about the bartender he’d met just before the accident. The story took longer than expected. Chris hadn’t been kidding when he said he wanted all the details. Like a true interrogator, he demanded nothing be left out and asked Mioray to be as specific as possible, right down to the exact words Erinel had used.

  By the time they finished talking, it was nearly sunrise. Chris inflated a mattress he kept for guests in the middle of the room and let Mioray lie down. They still had an hour or so before they needed to meet Chris’s contact, so they decided to get at least a little sleep.

  Chris fell asleep quickly, tired from the night of partying and talking with Mioray. Mioray, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. He wanted to, mentally, but his body refused. He felt oddly energized, like he could leap to his feet and run around the city. It was maddening, the feeling of being awake, alone, and unable to rest. His mind needed stimulation, so he lay there, listening to Chris tossing and turning, and to the early birds chirping in the pine trees outside.