Chapter 827: Looking back [3]

I sat in front of the computer, the light from the computer flashing across my pupils as the recording continued.

Liora went to report the situation to the Guild Master.

As for me…

I was to stay in my room. But that was fine with me.

The room was dark.

The light from the screen reached part of the desk and the empty chair beside it. Everything else remained difficult to see, although I didn’t have any interest in looking around me. The only thing I could focus on was the recording in front of me.

I moved the recording back to the beginning.

On the screen, I watched as I entered the examination room and sat down, hands settled against my knees.

Then…

Nothing.

“…..”

I watched until the doctor entered.

Then I played it again.

There was nothing different the second time.

Or the third.

But the more I thought about it, the more I was certain that someone had been there. I could remember the entire interaction even now.

And yet?

None of it appeared on the recording.

Ding!

My phone lit up beside the keyboard, flashing across the darkness.

I looked down.

[Silver Lantern Guild Master].

There were several files attached to her message.

?These are the recordings you requested. I included the ward footage as well.

My hand remained on the mouse for a moment before I reached for my phone and looked through the files she sent me. With everything that had happened, I contacted her to see if the situation repeated back then.

I had visited the doctor quite often lately. For that… I needed to check every interaction with it.

I played the recording.

The first recording showed the room where their Guild member was staying. The one that Joanna and the others had rescued.

I recognised the bed and the room he was in. I also remembered the entire interaction.

Unknowingly, I moved closer to the screen.

Guild Master Maren stood beside the bed while I leaned forward, looking at the man beneath the blanket. A moment later, his eyes opened.

?…He does this occasionally.

Maren’s voice came through the speakers.

?He’s not actually awake.

I remembered that.

I also remembered what happened afterwards.

A doctor came inside shortly after. He adjusted the pen in his pocket, checked the chart, and did a few other things that any normal doctor would do.

I waited for the door to open, but…

It never did.

I held my breath.

“…..”

?Was there anything before this?

My own voice echoed quietly from the speakers.

?Any sort of illness, an injury… anything that might explain it?

I watched the empty space where I remembered the doctor standing. That question… It was directed to none other than the doctor.

“Nothing in his history that would account for his current condition.”

That was what he told me.

But the speakers remained quiet until Maren answered.

?He was usually healthy. Just the occasional fever or cold. Nothing special, though.

The conversation continued.

?Usually?

Maren paused.

Then she started explaining how the man mentioned feeling sick before leaving for his mission.

I watched her face.

There was nothing strange about her expression. From start to finish, she spoke as though my questions had been directed at her.

To anyone watching, we were simply having a conversation.

The questions made sense.

So did the answers.

There was no awkward interruption where the doctor was supposed to speak. Maren answered what she could, and I continued asking about the patient.

“…..”

I slowly moved the recording back.

Then I watched it again.

In my memory, there were three of us, but on the screen, there were only the two of us. And somehow, the conversation flowed smoothly with neither one of us noticing anything wrong with the situation.

And that was what made it creepy.

For… I knew I was talking to the doctor. Even though he was not present, I could practically see the doctor and I speaking on the screen.

My hand tightened around the mouse.

The recording continued until I started looking through the reports.

I remember feeling sick at this point.

On the screen, my hand caught the table.

?Seth?

Maren approached.

?Are you okay?

“Lightheaded?”

I could still recall the doctor’s words.

But of course, he wasn’t there.

?I guess I’m… a little lightheaded.

Maren looked towards my hand before suggesting that I get checked.

Again, it sounded normal. And looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, it did seem normal, but…

The back of my neck grew cold.

?I won’t contact them without your permission.

The version of me in the recording nodded.

The conversation continued without a problem.

Eventually, I stood up.

?Thank you, floor.

“…..”

I would’ve normally laughed, but nothing came out this time as I watched myself leave alone, no doctor in sight.

My fingers slowly left the mouse.

‘All of it… It was fake.’

The realization bothered me.

It… almost felt as though I had imagined the entire thing. But I didn’t. I knew that I hadn’t.

My jew clenched as I proceeded to the next recording.

The actual examination room appeared.

The bed stood beside the equipment, with the desk a little farther away. I could see the chair where the doctor was supposed to sit.

It was empty.

I entered shortly afterwards.

After closing the door, I approached the bed and sat down.

My back straightened, and… both hands settled onto my thighs.

“…..”

The same position.

Again.

But this time, there was something else.

I leaned closer.

My lips were moving.

For a brief moment, I thought I was finally speaking. That there would at least be something on the recording to match what I remembered.

There wasn’t.

The corners of my mouth slowly curled.

My hand stopped beside the keyboard.

“…Oh, shit.”

A curse slipped from my lips as I stared at the version of me in the recording, sitting completely still, with a wide smile and straight back.

And this continued for several minutes.

I kept waiting for something to change.

Some words… or anything. But the entire time, I just remained in the same exact position as Roy’s parents had been when I had seen them.

My jaw clenched with even more force.

“Are you telling me that I imagined the entire thing?”

The medical checkup?

Five minutes passed.

Then six.

My chest felt increasingly tight as I watched the clock change.

At ten minutes, the door finally opened.

Dr. Bell entered with a tablet.

As if snapping out of it, the version of me in the recording turned towards her.

?Mr. Thorne? I’m Dr. Bell. I’ll be carrying out your examination.

?Seth is fine.

I watched her enter the room as she placed the tablet beside me. Afterward, I was handed a form, which I read through before signing.

Just as I remembered.

Only… the doctor standing beside the desk was missing.

I continued watching. Dr. Bell proceeded with the procedures I remembered, and she finished the scans shortly after and left to collect the remaining results.

The door closed.

That was also the moment my body froze in place, my hands returning to my thighs as my lips curled into the same smile as before.

“…..”

I pulled my chair back a little.

A soft scraping sound filled the room, making me look down before I realised it came from me.

For a moment, I couldn’t bring myself to look at the screen again.

I knew that even if I looked, nothing else would come from it. My fingers tightened against the armrest.

Ding!

I flinched.

My phone lit up again.

Another message from Guild Master Maren.

?Seth, what’s going on?

I stared at the message.

She seemed to be watching the recordings too.

My thumb moved towards the screen, but I couldn’t quite decide what to tell her. The phone shifted slightly in my hand, and I tightened my grip when I noticed my fingers trembling.

Before I could answer, another message appeared.

Geneva.

?We’ve been wrong the entire time.

I remained still.

A second message followed.

?The anomaly was never a plague. It’s…

“…A doctor.”

The words came out softly from my lips.