Chapter 117 Volume III - Chapter 38: Paul Demens
The sun had set and after minutes of waiting in my room, my watch finally rang. I was so nervous that I was sweating, I quickly answered the call.
"He looks normal."
I stood still as Ulka's voice entered my ears.
I guess I could say I was relieved, but I'm not sure if this feeling was relief or not.
"You are sure, right? His past, the things he's done and plans to do, his relationships, his psychologist and hospital recor-"
"Yes, I've looked at everything you've said and everything you're going to say. I can send you the file."
"Send it, I want it."
After a few more words I hung up the call, and soon after a message came through on my watch.
<<------------------------------
Paul_Demens.rcd
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I quickly entered the file and started to examine it.
Normally, I would have been able to do it in a second with the help of artificial intelligence to see if there was anything wrong, but I didn't care.
His family, his background, his hobbies... I literally read everything. The file was endless, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss any details. I read page after page of words and when I finally finished reading the file cover to cover, I found myself staring into space.
Did Sue's death really make him the way he was?
Paul was innocent. At least that's what all the details in the report, which was dozens of pages long, said.
Paul was clean. That seemed to be the truth, even if I wanted to believe it but couldn't.
I leaned back and took a deep breath.
Am I overthinking it? Could Paul Demens... could he really be a good person?
~knock ~knock ~knock
Huh?
I raised my eyebrows involuntarily.
Who could it be?
I grabbed my cane and walked to the door, peering suspiciously through the peephole.
Suddenly, I felt as if the world had frozen again.
~knock ~knock ~knock
I just stood there for a few seconds. Then I calmed myself down and transferred a little bit of mana into the Absolute Mind.
I was in shock, yes. I never thought I could see the view I saw through the peephole, but I was curious at the same time.
So I went to the door again, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
The person behind the door had turned his back, he was walking away, but at the sound of the door opening, he turned back toward me. He fixed his yellow eyes on me.
It was Paul who came to my door.
"Am I disturbing you?"
He had that innocent smile on his face again.
I felt the influence of the Absolute Mind intensifying, but I ignored it.
"No, I lost my balance for a moment on my way to the door."
I gestured with my eye to the cane in my hand and Paul's smile instantly fell.
"Oh... I'm sorry."
"It's okay, what did you come for? Weren't you going home with Sue?"
"We couldn't find an open train ticket, and the only one we could find was a bit expensive. So we bought tickets for tomorrow, she's sleeping in her room."
"And why are you here?"
A smile appeared on his face again, but it was not as joyful as the one I had seen before.
"Do you mind if I come in?"
What exactly is the purpose of this?
"Yes."
I stepped aside, letting him in.
I don't really have a reason to do this. Who knows, maybe he's here to kill me, but I'm not sure if he's really a good guy or a bad guy, and even if I'm powerless, he's not much different from me.
Paul is weak, at least for the moment. He has a chronic... actually more than one chronic illness and so it's not easy for him to do anything to me unless I let my guard down.
As soon as I stepped aside, Paul went inside, quickly found himself a seat in the hall, and then I stood across from him, all the while continuing to channel mana into the Absolute Mind. My focus was on him.
"I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Go ahead."
He sighed deeply, the smile fading slightly, but he continued.
"I... I want to thank you in person."
My eyes widened and again, I just froze. I had no idea that what he was going to say would be a 'thank you'.
"I don't know how much you know about my sister and me, but I heard that you were the one who helped her. My sister... I know she was bullied, even though she tried so hard not to show me any of it. I know what she went through, but not being able to help her was something that really bothered me."
He raised his emaciated arm and took a deep breath.
"I have osteoporosis, asthma, and anemia. I'm weak and... I don't have a lot of money."
He lowered his arm back and made a face of helplessness.
"That's why I couldn't help my sister when she was suffering, even though it was very hard for me, all I could do was watch her wear herself out. That's why I've had so many nightmares, but recently I didn't know what to do when I suddenly heard joy in my sister's voice. She shares most of her secrets with me, there are no secrets between us. In fact, the only problem I didn't know about was the bullying problem I mentioned earlier, but when she solved it, she opened up to me herself. She told me that she was better now and not to worry. Then, as time went on, she sometimes told me about you, and that's how I found out that you were the one who helped her."
He bowed his head and closed his eyes. His body trembled, a reaction so natural that it seemed impossible to fake.
"I really thank you. I can't thank you enough for supporting my sister instead of me. I just wanted to say that, and thank you again for listening to me."
He put a smile back on his face and stood up. Then he held out his hand to me.
"If you don't mind, I would like to get to know you more, please consider this another way of saying thank you."
I looked at the hand he held out to me.
His gestures, his demeanor, his facial expression... Everything about him made him seem like a really nice guy. I could feel his affection for Sue, no... He was expressing it in such a way that I could literally see it.
I took a deep breath and thought.
I thought and thought, I spent seconds just staring at Paul's hand, and finally... I sighed.
Okay.
I took his hand and put a slight smile on my face. Then, the smile on Paul's face widened.
"Let me introduce myself again, I'm Paul Demens."
For now, I'll let it slide.
"Aiden Tenebra."
But... that doesn't mean I'm going to ignore you.
I look into Paul's yellow eyes, I squint slightly.
I'll still keep an eye on him.
*******
After Paul left, there was really nothing left for me to do.
A holiday until I recovered, a period of rest... whatever it was called, had officially begun. That night, just like the night before, I slept soundly and comfortably.
When I woke up in the morning, I found myself reflexively thinking of things I could do, and then I went to have breakfast with a deep sigh.
It was at this point that I received a notification on my watch.
<<------------------------------
10:34 Thursday, November 26, 2043
One new message from Clara:
Good morning! - 08:33
---
27 new messages from the Study Group:
Julian: Good morning! - 08:56
Adrian: Good morning. - 09:03
...
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A smile formed on my face as I looked at the messages that had accumulated under the name Study Group, and I thought of my days as 'Ethan'.
When I woke up in the morning back then, there was no one texting me like this, the only messages I received were the ones I saw in the class groups. And now... I realized that this was really pleasing.
I talked to everyone in the group like this all morning long. And after a long time, I had a smile of happiness on my face rather than a fake, self-deceived smile.
So I spent the whole time until noon 'resting', not thinking for a minute about plans or work or anything else. I surfed the media and even laughed at people on the internet doing strange gestures and begging for money, and at noon I went to the hospital to see Celine.
When I looked at the other side of the room, which was divided in half, I saw that the door was closed. I leaned myself against the door, just like last time.
"Celine, I'm back."
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