Monday July 3rd, 2056

It is 9 o'clock in the morning. The sun fills all of the patient's rooms with a warm orange hue. Andrew's face is enlightened by a soft sunbeam, waking him up. Shortly after dressing up, Helen knocks on the door, and Andrew tells her to enter. She is holding a piece of paper, with something printed on one side. The paper is almost glowing orange from the fiery summer sun.

"You don't close the curtains while you sleep?" Helen asks while putting her hand over her eyes. "I couldn't sleep like this, our rooms light up at around six at this time of year."

"I'm not an insomniac, it's easy to sleep in this light." Andrew responds.

"Easy he says. Anyway, did you rest well? Because I got good news for you."

"What is it?"

[I'm allowed to go outside, what else could it be.]

"You're allowed to go outside from now on, but only in the walled section. We call it The Garden." Helen says. "I already notified the others, so we can go after breakfast."

"Let's get going then."

They leave the room and walk through the hallway, to the cafeteria.

Upon entering, Mike, Chris, Joe and Wilhelm are already at a table. A few other people are there too, mostly in groups but some are alone. Andrew and Helen get their breakfast and sit down at the table. The others have already finished their meal.

"First of all, congratulations Andrew." Mike says. "You might not realise it, but going outside is quite a big deal for patients here."

"Ah, thank you." Andrew responds.

"You're recovery has indeed been great." Helen says. "The time from waking up to going outside is probably a new record."

"I think so too, I haven't seen anyone being earlier than you, Andrew." Chris adds. "Let's hope you'll be allowed to go into the city soon, we'll join you."

"Don't force yourself." Andrew responds. "And I shouldn't be rushing either, I have nothing to rush for."

[Actually, I do. I've been dreaming about them ever since reading that letter. I want to see them. I want to see May.]

Andrew and Helen eat up their breakfast, and they talk for a little while longer. At around 11 a.m., after everyone is already long gone, the six of them leave the cafeteria, and head for the Garden Gate.

The Garden Gate is a large door located just outside the recreational area. It is opposite of the hallway Andrew enters from. Helen enters a password, and a smaller door behind them closes and locks up.

"After this, you'll get your own password." Helen tells him. "And the other door is to prevent air from going inside. To prevent diseases, you know?"

[I get that, but this is way too extravagant for a simple door. The word extravagant should be enough to describe it.]

The opening of the door is slow and steady, and a gust of cold wind blows onto their faces. After the door comes to a halt, Mike and Joe go outside first, followed by Wilhelm and Chris.

Andrew takes a deep breath of the warm, fresh summer air, and steps outside. He is followed by Helen, who closes the door behind her using a button. Andrew walks passes Chris, then Wilhelm, then Joe and finally Mike.

He looks into the garden.

Lush green, almost exotic looking bushes and trees fill the Garden. Beautiful flowers from all kinds of colours brighten up the walled off area. The walls have vines growing on them, and a large, clear pond resides in the centre of it all. A gate with a large metal door serves as the exit to the outside world. Andrew takes another deep breath, and looks up at the sky. The sky is blue, with a few thin clouds settled just over the wall, and the sun sitting just behind the main building. Pigeons and jackdaws fly around the walls, some settling on it to take a breather. Andrew notices a ladder that reaches up to a small platform, next to the wall.

Helen walks up to him, and points at the platform. "Should we try to find Clifftell?" She says.

Without responding, Andrew follows her to the platform. Mike and Chris also follow, while Joe and Wilhelm sit down on a bench next to the pond.

"How do you know about Clifftell?" Andrew asks.

"We have your data, lots of it actually." Helen answers. "We mainly need it for the medical subjects, but things like your birthplace and the high school you went to are on there too."

[Periwinkle isn't visible from here I assume.]

Helen and Andrew walk up the stairs, while Mike and Chris stay on the ground.

"Be sure to look at the ocean too!" Mike says. "It looks gorgeous from up there!"

Andrew looks down and nods.

"Why don't they come up?" Andrew asks.

"The four of them are all afraid of heights, Mike especially. They only went up here once or twice." Helen responds.

They arrive at the platform, just below the height of the wall. It has a few spikes on it, and they are denser around the platform.

"They're to prevent people from escaping." Helen says. "Not that that has ever happened, to my knowledge."

Andrew lifts his head over the wall, and sees a few buildings close by.

"We're in the town of Frigital." Helen tells him. "And that city all the way over there, is Clifftell, which is, for the time being, the most technologically advanced and sci-fi looking city of England."

[That's not right. She has mistaken it with London, she should've. But why? There's no reason to. There's no way that small, medieval town is the most 'technologically advanced' and 'sci-fi looking' city of England. What does 'sci-fi looking' even mean? Sci-fi based on my time, or hers? I don't believe it. I can't believe it.]

"It is?" Andrew asks. "I don't remember it like that."

"It might have been different in your time, even though that isn't all that long ago." Helen responds. "I only heard it was radically changed once, because the government wanted to make it a prosperous city, and not some old town."

They are still looking at the faint image of the city in the distance. A large metal beam goes from Frigital all the way to Clifftell.

[I wonder what that beam is. It could be a form of transport, but it looks odd, settled on thin supporting beams like that. The blue glow makes it look really high-tech. I have to check it out as soon as possible.]

"When am I allowed to go there?"

Helen looks at Andrew, but looks back at the city before answering. "I'm estimating less than a month, but I'm not sure. It mostly depends on how you'll do mentally."

[Is mental health really that big of a problem? Just looking at the positive side of things is all you need to do, right?]

"Mental health is the hardest to deal with." Helen continues. "If a patient leaves insecure and uncertain about his or her place in the world, the worst of things can happen."

She's just trying to scare me off from escaping, I get that.

"I'm also not going to help anyone, who said they would be fine mentally, but turning out they weren't. I've done it too many times, in vain."

[I'm guessing she's been through a lot, and just doesn't want someone as young as me to turn out like that. But I won't. I'll leave once I know I can handle it. I promise.]

"Sorry for all that heavy talk." Helen says. "Anyway, it's almost arriving."

"What do you mean? What is almost arriving?"

"Look at the blue beam." Helen says, and she points towards it. Andrew follows the beam into the distance.

A spherical shape slides quickly across the beam, coming their way. It expands from just a small dot in the distance to a large ball in a matter of seconds, following the beam into the town of Frigital. A distant fizzling noise can be heard at the centre.

"That was it, right?" Chris yells from below. "Did you see it?"

"I did!" Andrew yells back. He turns back to Helen. "That was fast, faster than the trains we had in my day."

"I wasn't even around when they were constructed." Helen says. "And I've only seen trains in history museums. I still want to ride in one someday."

[How do they make them that fast? I never expected a transportation system with that speed.]

"So are they in every city?" Andrew asks.

"Not in, but around. Except in some larger cities like London and Clifftell, but they are mostly used to connect cities throughout England." Helen answers. She starts to climb down the ladder, and Andrew follows her.

"They're from a company here in Frigital, called TerraConnect, and one of those capsules is called a Forb."

Andrew chuckles.

[Forb. Why would you call it a Forb?]

"What's so funny?" Helen asks.

"Forb." Andrew says, and he starts laughing a bit louder. "I don't know why it's so funny."

"I don't know either." Helen responds. "But it's good to see you laugh, most patients have trouble with that."

[Forb.]

Andrew keeps chuckling at the thought of Forb, and Helen shakes her head.

They arrive on the ground again, and Mike and Chris walk up to them.

"I see you're having fun, Andrew." Mike says.

Andrew nods, and suppresses his laughter.

"Well, how was the view? Did you see Clifftell? It really is different from our time, don't you think?" Mike continues.

Helen starts talking with Chris.

"The view was great. Are you from Clifftell too?" Andrew responds.

"I was born there, and went to middle school, but when I was about to go to high school we moved out to London because of my dad's job."

"Have you been back there ever since?"

"No, I don't want to." Mike responds. "I liked it there, but I want to keep the medieval part in my memory. If I go back there now it'll ruin that."

"Oh, I see. Well, after I am allowed to go I probably will." Andrew says. "Might even go back to school if the college is still up."

Helen turns around. "So you're going back to school? That's a good choice."

"There isn't anything else I really want to do anyway, I just want to return to a normal life."

[And it doesn't matter if everyone is older, I just want to live normally again.]

Helen smiles, and Mark starts talking with Andrew about his time in Clifftell. They talk about how they experienced the city, and how it hasn't changed at all in the time between them being there. The four of them return to Wilhelm and Joe, and they head inside.

They have lunch together, and each of them head towards their own rooms again. The latter half of the day passes without occurrences, and Andrew heads to the cafeteria for dinner. In the hallway, he meets up with Helen.

"Hey there, Andrew." Helen says. "Want to get dinner together? It's been awhile since we had a meal with just the two of us."

"Sure, the others already ate at this hour probably." Andrew responds. Together they walk towards the cafeteria.

"Yeah, I saw them leave at around six, so an hour ago. They always eat early."

"Everyone has their preferences."

They enter the cafeteria, get their food, and sit down at a table, on a couch, together. They talk about many random things, mainly to keep a conversation going. Eventually the conversation dries up, right before they are done eating.

"So, Andrew." Helen starts. "Do you think you're reading to read the next letter tomorrow?"

Andrew is thrown off by the sudden heavy question.

[The next letter? The red card?]

"If not that's okay too!" Helen quickly adds. "It's just because, you were in such high spirits today, so we might as well take the opportunity."

[She's curious too. I think I can take it, and her reasoning is good as well.]

"I'm fine with it." Andrew responds. "After lunch, so I don't have to bother the other with it."

"Sure, I'll be there at lunch, and we'll read it right after, in your room." Helen says.

The day is over, and Andrew heads to bed early, thinking about the letter while trying to fall asleep. Who it's from and what's inside, Andrew can't stop thinking about it.