1 Rebirth

In year 2031, on a normal school day, the class 10B was having an important English lesson for the coming exam.

"Hello everyone, today we will begin with the analysis of the novel "Crooked letter, crooked letter". I hope everyone already read the five first chapters because we won't be reading it together. To begin with this lesson, I would like somebody to summarise the first chapter in their own words." The teacher introduced the topic of the lesson.

"Yes, Victoria." Seeing hands being raised by students, the teacher chooses the first person.

"The novel, set in the Southern United States, begins with an attack: specifically, the attack of a masked intruder on white mechanic Larry Ott, long suspected of the murder of one teenaged young woman, and more recently suspected of the disappearance and possible murder of another. Meanwhile, black police constable Silas Jones discovers another murder victim and participates in the investigation into the man's death, the whole while experiencing an intuition that Larry, whom narration reveals is an old friend, is in trouble. When he learns that Larry has been shot and seriously injured, Silas begins an informal investigation into that crime as well." Victoria summarises.

"Excellent! What can we conclude from the first dialogue between Silas and the other police officer?" The teacher asked.

At that point, 16-years-old Ben Lupus already gave up on this lesson. He tried to read the chapters, but he couldn't follow the story. The novel had just too much details about the environment that you would have to google translate every third word. He wasn´t stupid, he was very weak in languages, he´s strong point are math, biology, physic, and sports. Even so, he couldn´t be proud of it, he could be mostly described as average. In comparison, his sister was a top student, her weakest subject is sports. She was even better in socializing then him.

Thinking about his future prospects always dampens his mood, he didn't have any special features. He was 1,79 m tall, above average muscle, nice looking brown-green eyes, short brown hair and a nice introverted person.

At this moment, something incredible was happening without anyone noticing, in the head of Ben a life-changing event was happening, the process began and Ben already noticed it.

´Why do I feel so weak, it is as if all my energy in my body is being absorbed. Ahhh! I feel a big headache.´

At this moment, Ben completely laid down on his table and was giving a low but strong groan.

The sound interrupted the lesson, resulting in irritating the English teacher.

"Mister Lupus, I already saw that my lesson doesn't interest you, but the least you could do is to not disturb your classmates. If you continue with your attitude, I will give you a 5 for this year's oral grade." The teacher irritably warned.

With all his forces, Ben responds to his teacher with:

"Sorry, Mister Opasky, it won't happen again."

"If you are really sorry, please come to the smartboard and write down everything you know about our protagonist Larry." The teacher ordered.

The more Ben tried to focus on the voice of the teacher the more he felt like he could faint at any moment. With his last forces, he says:

"Don't feel good. I need h…" His last words were cut off, his head hit the left side of the table, his head swiftly slid to the point that he fell on the left side of his chair. He finally fainted. The class was shocked, the teacher immediately looked after Ben and called 112.

The ambulance shortly arrived and transported Ben and his best friend Alex to the next hospital. His parents were informed at the same time and they directly left their workplace to look after their oldest child.

One hour later, the doctor examined Ben and found out that his body just needed nutrition and sleep.

"Miss and Mister Lupus, your son seems fine, but strangely he doesn't wake up. I think he will wake up in the coming days and you should go back home and relax a bit. We will supply him with nutrients by a feeding tube. Nurses will inform you directly, the moment he wakes up." The doctor explained.

"Thank you very much, doctor. Please take good care of my son!" Miss Lupus thanked hurriedly.

The days passed one after another, however, no call came from the hospital. On the seventh day, the whole family visited Ben.

"Excuse me, doctor. Why didn't Ben wake up?" Mister Lupus asked, concerned.

"Most patients, who are in a coma, would wake up in this time period. Strangely your son did not show any improvement, he is still in a very deep coma. The longer he stays like this, the more unlikely he will ever wake up." The doctor informed with an emotionless voice.

"No, he can't die this young. He is still 16. How could he die like this?" Miss Lupus said, while having a breakdown.

"Calm down, the doctor talked about probability. Our son is strong and young, you don't have to think about him dying." Mister Lupus tried to be strong.

"I, myself, don't know why he doesn't wake up. The good news is that his brain seems to work hard about something, afterwards, he should wake up. As I know how stressful this situation is for you, I would recommend to just wait for the good news and not to visit too often." The doctor tried to comfort the couple.

"Doctor, I heard that talking to coma patients helped in many cases, shouldn't we try that?" Miss Lupus asked, still in tears.

"We naturally fought about that, but your son's brain doesn't receive any senses while he is in this state. So, you should go home and sleep a bit more?" The doctor recommended.

"We understand Doctor, thank you for your time." Mister Lupus took the advice.

"See you hopefully soon." The doctor gave his farewell.

On the tenth day at 16:35, Ben finally wakes up. He slowly looks around the room. After discovering that he was in a hospital, he looks at the feeding tube, which goes into his mouth and ends in the gastrointestinal tract. Most people would panic seeing that a tube goes to their tract, however, Ben was as calm as a clock. He took hold of the tube and slowly pulled it. Just as he finished, a nurse came in. Ben looked at her and gently greeted her.

The nurse was momentarily stunned. She washed and nourished the boy for 10 days. But now he was looking at her as if nothing happened. She immediately ran out of the room and searched the doctor, who was responsible for Ben.

15 min later, the doctor came in with the same nurse.

They examined and questioned the boy.

His parents came an hour later, they first had to talk with the doctor about the condition of their son.

The doctor responded with a smile:

"You don't have to worry, your son seems physically fine, he just lost a bit of mass. He also doesn't have any memory problems and just didn't show emotions when I talked to him. You can directly go into the room and talk to him. If he shows any strange behavior, you have to inform me directly!"


The family enters the room, they see Ben looking at them, smiling while tears descended his face. They directly rushed to the bed and hugged Ben lovingly. After a long time of chats and laughter, a nurse came in and informed that Ben can go home tomorrow, as long as he feels fine. Following this, the family reunion ended as they decided to come back tomorrow to bring him back home.

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