The old mirror in the infirmary room showed a very different picture from the crazy, noisy lunchroom. My eyelids felt heavy and a bit rough, like they had dust on them. My ribs and leg hurt with a dull throbbing, a familiar pain caused by Kael and his friends. But under the pain, something unexpected was happening. A soft warmth seemed to come from inside me. It wasn't the hot feeling of being sick, but a gentle energy that made the sharp pain feel softer. It was like something inside me was slowly fixing the bruises. The stiffness was going away, like when the water goes back into the sea. I felt lighter, which was strange after being hurt so much.
The young doctor, his name tag said "Kai," carefully changed the bandage on my wrist. He looked worried. "Your body is stable now, Iskandar. Very stable, considering… well, considering what happened. You got better quickly. Do you still have pain?"
I moved my arms and legs slowly. The sharp pains were now just dull aches, and I wasn't as stiff as I thought I would be. "Less than I thought," I said, surprised by my own voice. Could this be because of… whatever happened in the lunchroom?
Kai looked at me with a mix of worry and curiosity. "Well, keep an eye on yourself. If it happens again…" He didn't finish his sentence, leaving the scary possibilities hanging in the clean air.
As he went to check on another patient, my hand went under my shirt to touch the necklace. It felt cool and smooth. It felt… different. Not just the small buzzing I had felt before, but a deeper feeling, like it was quietly singing with something inside me. A soft warmth came from it against my skin, a gentle beat that seemed to match the way my pain was getting better.
A soft sound told us someone was coming. The door opened, and it was Nanny. Her small body, which was usually strong, looked more weak today. Her face, with all the lines from her life and worries, was pale under her warm, brown skin. Her black hair, which had some silver in it and was usually in a neat bun, had a few loose pieces near her kind but firm eyes. They looked very worried now. She wore her usual colorful sarong, which looked very bright in the plain white room, a familiar sight in this strange place.
"Iskandar!" Her voice, usually strong, shook a little as she hurried to my bed. Her small, strong hands held mine. Her touch, rough from taking care of things for many years, felt comforting. "What happened? They said… they just found you on the floor."
I tried to smile a little, feeling a real lightness in my chest that hadn't been there a few minutes ago. "Just felt dizzy, Nanny. The air in the lunchroom was heavy." Another lie, but easier to say than the truth.
Her hand held mine tighter. Her dark eyes, which looked so much like mine but had seen so much more, looked into mine carefully. "Those… those Volarians and Petrovs… they were part of it, weren't they?" Her eyes showed she wanted to protect me, like she always did against the world that felt too big and too mean.
I didn't answer right away. Telling her about the bullying was always hard. It made her remember bad times that she tried to keep me from knowing. "It was nothing, Nanny. Just some… pushing."
She didn't ask more, but her eyes looked sad, like she understood more than I was saying. After a quiet moment, she reached into her old bag, which looked soft from being used for a long time, and took out a small wooden bird with carvings on it. It was old, and the wood was smooth and dark from being touched a lot. The carvings were very detailed and looked like they were from a long time ago.
"Your mother… she gave me this," Nanny said softly, looking far away as if she was remembering the past. "She said it would… help when things were hard. I haven't shown it to you before… I didn't think you needed it." She put it in my hand, her warm, a little rough fingers touching mine. The wood felt surprisingly warm and familiar, like holding a memory I had forgotten.
As I looked at the bird, I saw a quick picture in my mind – a woman's soft hand with long fingers, and a gentle laugh that sounded like wind chimes. It was gone very quickly, but it made me feel a little sad and uneasy.
"Thank you, Nanny," I whispered, holding the bird tightly. The pain in my ribs seemed to get even less, and a soft warmth spread through my chest.
Her eyes looked softer, and the worry in them went away a little. "Rest now, child. I'll stay here with you for a while." She sat down in the uncomfortable chair next to my bed. Just having her there made me feel a little safer.
The quiet feeling inside me stayed, a silent buzzing under my thoughts. As Nanny sat next to me, the faint smell of the herbs she often used on her clothes was a comforting familiar thing. I looked at the wooden bird in my hand, feeling a strange connection to it, to my mother, to a past I didn't really know. The lightness in my body was real, a small but big healing that didn't make sense.
Later, when the infirmary became quiet, the doctor Kai came back to check on me one last time. As he changed the bandage on my wrist, he looked at the simple necklace I was still wearing under my shirt.
"That's an old style," he said casually, his fingers touching the pendant. "Haven't seen one like that in years. Is it something special from your family?"
I felt like I needed to protect it. "Something like that," I answered, pulling my shirt collar up a little higher.
Kai just shrugged and looked back at his computer. But what he said stayed in my mind. Old style? Why did that feel important, especially now with this strange healing and the buzzing feeling inside me?
Back in my small dorm room, the old mirror on the window showed a pale, unsure face that looked a little bit healthier than before. The dark circles under my eyes weren't as bad, and my skin had a very faint, healthy color. The buzzing feeling inside me was stronger now, especially when the school's computer system seemed very busy. It was a quiet feeling, like I could hear something just beyond what my ears could hear.
As I tried to read my old history files on my tablet, the words looked blurry. My mind kept going back to the voice, the bright lights and information I saw, the warm feeling from the necklace, and now, this surprising healing. It felt like my body was slowly changing, getting used to something new.
Sleeping wasn't really restful. My dreams were still mixed up, with strange pictures and the voice echoing. But now, in the middle of the chaos, there were quick flashes of bright energy, a feeling like I was connected to something big and complicated.
Waking up felt different. The heavy feeling of school was still there, but it felt a little lighter. The dull pain in my ribs was almost gone, and my leg was only a little stiff. I was still afraid to see the people who hurt me, but now there was also a small curiosity, like something inside me had changed. The healing, the buzzing, the quick connection – it all felt like there was more to my life than I knew. And the quiet voice in my head, which was always there now and felt a little comforting, felt like the first sound of a strange, new song.