Noose filled out the forms while I zoned out. My mind raced through all the possible scenario.
It was not beyond that woman to lie about her financial situation. She could have very well lied to Noose about owning that apartment.
I closely followed behind Noose. We entered the medical bay, filled with all sorts of patients from infected to physically injured to elderly.
Only to stop in front of one particular bed.
That being Ambra's.
I thought that she would look far worse, but the medical staff had cleaned her up quite well.
Without her makeup she looked far older than what normally she should be, no thanks to drugs. As I noticed her naked face was wrought with unnatural wrinkles.
You abuse drugs and the drugs abuse you.
She seemed to be sleeping peacefully, with a saline attached to her veins. But I shook my head to clear such thoughts
A female nurse approached us, "When she was found, she had puked out her all her lunch. So we had administered her light medicine, she should wake up by tomorrow afternoon. If you wish to keep the patient here, you will have to fill out forms Mister...?"
"It's Brian, I-I..." he paused and looked at me, as if trying to figure out what to say.
I gazed at my sleeping mother.
I wouldn't mind if she had to stay in the hospital for her whole miserable life, but that would be unnecessarily costly.
Within seconds, an idea struck me. I turned towards the nurse and asked.
"Can she come home with us?"
The Nurse looked at the patient and then to Noose who nodded, she said, "Let me get Dr. Lisha, she would be able to recommend what to do."
We waited in silence as I breathed in the strong smell of bleach and disinfectant, reminding me of the first memory as an infant. Sometimes I would gaze at her, sometimes at other patients. But we didn't wait for too long.
As the supposed Dr. Lisha walked toward us. She had that signature white coat, and sleep deprived. It seems she was overworked with handling patients, but what doctor wasn't?
"Mr. Brian?" She presumed, and with a nod from him she continued, "Normally we would warn against taking her home, but she has recovered faster than normal. It seems her body is resistant to drugs and seems to be flushing them out naturally, further boosting her recovery."
"She should wake up by tomorrow, so she is in the clear for now and can recover in her home-"
She was immediately interrupted as a another nurse came looking for her, Dr. Lisha left while saying. "You will have to fill out some forms. Nurse Bella, please guide them through the process."
I followed Noose back to lobby, he asked what will be the cost of admitting her compared to recovering at home.
His eye brows rose at seeing the costs.
I knew for a fact that Ambra was coming home from observing his reaction.
Only for the nurse to weirdly ask a specific question, "Do you own any robot, Mr. Brian?"
"I... uh, yes. We have a RD - X robot, it's a 2100 model."
"Great, we will give you an USB drive that has all the instructions for your robot to follow, and what to do when something anomalous occurs. It tends to happens to patients recovering from drug overdose."
I asked for directions to toilet and rejected Noose's help, as it was unnecessary and unwanted. I wandered the wide hallway, until I found the Men's restroom and sat to take a dump.
Hearing footsteps, two people who seemed to be conversing rather loudly entered the restroom as well.
The first man said. "Hey man, you have to convince her to let you drive her around for her safety. I am constantly hearing how shit the public security has become ever since they took control of this city. The situation in this city has only worsened. People dying from drug overdoses has increased. While gangs are becoming more daring than they were a few years. And when the protest happened, their response? A fucking Curfew."
"Yeah, but she gets home early just before evening. It isn't that dangerous, also you do know that she does judo, right? Both of you were close friends and she used to slam your ass to the ground, remember that?" The second man answered.
"Yeah, and I was also the one who introduced both of you. Look man, Lana is like a sister to me. So please, just convince her to move in with you. She wouldn't listen to me but you, maybe you can convince her about where she lives, is no longer safe for her." The first man continued. "I am hearing rumors that people are disappearing, especially small children. To the point many families are moving away from street Bezśnieżnej Zimy."
The second man asked. "Wait, doesn't Lana live quite close to that street?"
"Why do you think I am trying to convince you? You dumbfuck! Today, it is happening in street Bezśnieżnej Zimy, tomorrow it could be her street. Just keep her safe that's all I am asking."
The boyfriend answered. "I will do my best, but you have to back me up. Her paranoia has only increased after her ex-boyfriend tried to control her life..."
Their voices faded away as they exited the restroom.
'Well now I know another street to avoid. Gotta ask Teacher if he knows whether these disappearances are real or fake.'
I washed my hands and exited the restroom, only to see Noose waiting for me.
He held my hand while walking and asked, "Did you wash your hands?"
I shook my head.
***
Creak
The door slowly closed. As the male nurse and an android who had brought Ambra home, had just left.
Now it was just me, Brian and Axel, well if you include Ambra as well. But she was deep asleep. Axel sat next to it's charging station digesting all the data from the USB drive.
Even Old man Brian was laid on the couch. Exhausted.
Seeing it was already late night, I asked.
"Noose, what do you want for dinner? I can make scrambled eggs with bread if you like?"
I was hungry but I didn't feel like heating the frozen food on a pan.
"I am not hungry kid, I am just tired." after a pregnant pause, he continued. "It's just... one moment you are driving back home, and in the next you get a call from a hospital. I was prepared for another bad news... but at least it was not the worst."
He immediately winces from what he had just said, and gets up from the couch looking me in eye.
"Don't worry kid, your mom is going to be okay. She will wake up tomorrow... You know what? Do you know how to cook Bigos?"
Seeing my confused face, he walked past me with a smirk and headed into kitchen. I followed after him.
Opening the fridge, he took out cabbage, tomato, onions and other vegetables placing them on the kitchen counter.
He began explaining. "You see, back in the orphanage, all of us had to contribute something to the dish. So some of us stole meat or eggs, some were good at using and those ones who knew nothing or were too young, had to do dishes."
"We had a system, for who would do what. We only had one metal pot big enough for all of us so we would use it on special days to cook Bigos. It was our way of celebrating birthday, and man, you wouldn't believe how delicious that was to eat, on cold winter nights."
Noose instinctively licked his lips at the thought.
Seeing my interest rise, he showed me how to cook Bigos while also showing-off his knife skills. He gave me small bits of onion to practice on.
Keeping me occupied, he diced up chicken and put it in the hot, oiled pan to brown.
In another pan, he added olive oil and onions, also letting them brown before adding the spices. He let the spices cook over high heat as he constantly stirred them. He then added the other diced vegetables, putting them into the pan one by one. Finally, he added small amount of water.
He stirred the broth for a while, letting it thicken. Afterwards, he transferred the cooked meat from one pan into the seasoned broth, added a small amount of water, and covered it with a lid.
"Shouldn't we put in more spices?" I had to ask, even though it felt improper to question his recipe.
"Hmm... don't worry about that, it will taste great. You see, we didn't have an excess of spices, so we came up with this recipe. We let the meat absorb the broth and spices, reducing the need for spices."
We returned to the Living room, waiting on the couch. As we watched an animated movie, mostly for my sake.
Midway I asked, curious, "How did you guys know the recipe? I mean you can free style it because now you have enough experience, but back then you were all kids right?"
Noose stared at the TV, thinking deeply. A faint smile tugged at his lips as he replied.
"We had a brother who wanted to be the Best Cook in the world, so that he would never go hungry and eat delicious food whenever he wanted. Nicol was his name..." He tested the name a couple more times before he continued. "He always made an effort to learn on how to cook, so we started to call him 'The Cook' and he took that name with strides."
"He was a great cook, but absolutely terrible thief. The very first thing he tried to steal was a cooking book but was easily caught. When we asked why he did it, he said little Ron wanted to eat Bigos."
I continued to nod and intently listening. This was one of the rare moments Noose loosened up enough to speak about his past.
He rarely spoke about his time in the orphanage, and only when Antonio mentioned it or made fun of him. Otherwise it was impossible to pry anything about his past.
After knowing him for years, I had understood that he spoke with his actions, and rarely sit to think about his past. Always looking ahead. Or maybe he just didn't know how to talk about himself.
"Ron was the youngest of us. We didn't even know what Bigos was at that time, so Nicol took it up on himself to find out what it was and cook it. He told us it was for Ron's birthday, so they sent me to steal the cooking book. Oh! I forgot about this fact. Did you know shop keepers keep an extra eye on orphans?"
"Is it because they are the ones, who are more likely to steal something?"
"No... I mean, yeah. But not only because of that. No customer would come back to a shop where orphans were allowed in."
He continued with his story after the side tangent. "Where was I? Yeah! So I stole that cooking book and Nicol made sure we all knew how to cook that one dish, so from then on it became a sort of tradition. Once or twice a month we would cook Bigos from whatever we could gather, as our own way to celebrate birthday."
I felt he had left many things unsaid which didn't take a genius to figure out, as I asked. "Do you think Bigos is done?"
We came to check on it, as he handed me 6 eggs and instructed to mix the yolk in a bowl, as he added small amounts of spices in the bowl.
He heats up the pan which was used to cook chicken. As he pours olive oil and one-fourth of the whisked eggs. Making 4 omelettes and started placing bread slices. And asked me make fried bread while he took care of Bigos. By the time I was done he had already set a table, as I sat next to him and enjoying a warm hearty dinner.
I took my time savoring Bigos with fried, crunchy bread. Using the bread as a spoon to scoop up Bigos.
'It definitely deserves the praise.'
By the time we were done, Axel was up and running and was currently doing the dishes.
We just sat on the couch watching the animated movie as it neared its end, our stomachs full, when a thought popped into my mind.
"When is Brother Ant's birthday? We could make Bigos for him."
His wondering expression was replaced with interest, as he answered. "Yeah, that is a good idea Arwin. Yawn. And also, I think you should go to sleep now, and I need to-"
He immediately stopped when he saw my expression. "-And I can stay with you for tonight, Kiddo."
I nodded thankfully.
'Yes! Now even if something were to happen. I have Noose to help me.'
It felt wrong to manipulate Noose like this, but I immediately extinguished such thoughts as I prepared to sleep.
***
A hand gently but monotonously shook me awake. As I rubbed my blurry eyes, looking around. I slowly got up and walked to the bathroom. My eyes closed, as I continued to rub them.
Upon entering, I started to brush my teeth and looked in the mirror.
I had come far from being home-schooled Chinese to now learning under Teacher Antonio for a few years.
I had learned crazy amount of things and scientific advancement in the last Eighty years.
Although much didn't change about cars, the way they worked had only become more efficient. Both the diesel car and the electric car had seen major technological improvements, from more advanced and efficient engine to better and geo-friendly fuel to way better and efficient batteries with cycle life ranging in 30,000+ cycles.
From what I had found. Planned obsolescence was under strict regulations. Thus many manufacturing companies were under government and public pressure to produce higher quality products which lasted longer, leading them to have less revenue and grow more reliant on the government.
'At least some things haven't changed from the novel.'
Exiting the bathroom. I glanced at Noose closing Ambra's closet.
He looked ready to leave.
I immediately approached him, "Where are you going, Noose?"
"Kid, I have to go. Today is a big delivery and I will be out for the whole day."
As if trying to placate me, he continued. "Ron will come to pick you up in half an hour, so you don't need to worry about Ambra... You know what? You should sleep at Antonio's house for tonight. Axel will take care of your mother."
I muttered. "Let me think about it."
He patted my head and said. "Arwin don't be afraid of her. As long as she can't hurt you here-'he points at my heart'-she can never hurt you. Ever."
"I-"
His phone rang, interrupting him.
He nodded at me and took the call. His lips pressed into a thin line as he talked on the phone, as he reached for the door.
I closed the door after wishing Noose Best of luck.
As I turned to look at Ambra, who was still asleep. Then at her closet.
Checking the clock. 6:07 am.
I still had about thirty minutes before Ron would arrive. I immediately went into the bathroom, and speed-ran my bath.
Getting out, I immediately put on some clothes. As I walked towards Ambra's closet. Placing my hand on its handle.
"Br... do.... l.."
I immediately turned around on instinct, only to see Ambra murmuring in her sleep.
Sigh
I almost had a heart attack.
Ignoring her, I reached for her closet once again.
Ring
The doorbell loudly rang at that exact moment. Once again, I turned around. And thankfully, Ambra had not woken up.
"Fuck. Who is it now?"
I walked towards the couch as Axel opened the door.
Creak
"Hey there, Noose 2.0." Said Ron, with a grin spread across his face.
'Of course, it's you. The only time you arrive early is when I need you to come late. Great.'
"Good morning, Little Ron." I replied teasingly, with a bit of snark.
Ron's teasing expression crumbled within seconds, as he muttered something beneath his breath.
He raised his hands up in surrender. "Okay, Kid. I will not tease you, as long as you don't share it with young Camron. Deal?"
Camron was kid Brian's family name.
"You don't like your nickname?" I asked.
"You don't like the deal?" He countered.
"Hng!!.. Brian! Don't... don't leave me..."
Ambra sleep-talked, causing both of us to turn toward where she was sleeping.
"Okay. Deal. You stop annoying me, and I won't tell Brian about your embarrassing nickname."
"Deal." He said.
He continued. "Now pack up, young chick—Sorry, force of habit."
I shook my head and grabbed my tablet, as I exited the apartment. My eyes still on Ambra's closet.
---
AN: The old ch "13" was posted on 6/1/2026. This is part 1.
ch 18 was posted on 1/10/26 GMT.
Now finally, for what you guys have been waiting for. The old ch 'Chapter 13: A home' is the longest ch, having around 4681 words.
(Yeah, I don't know what I was smoking back then to even think of posting such a long Chapter.)