In 29 Days

6. Special

March 21, 8 pm

"I also desire food!" Jungkook exclaims looking at the old lady on the bed next to him having soup from a bowl. It has been several days since he last ate and although he hasn't felt hungry, the sight of food makes his stomach now growl loudly.

"I also desire that! Give me that!" He demands the lady in the white dress, who is feeding the old granny.

"You can't have food now," the lady replies.

"Wherefore?" Jungkook asks. "I am famished. I too crave food!"

"There's no reason for you to feel hungry. You are getting everything you need from that," the lady says, gesturing towards a bottle of water hanging on a stand beside him. A tube from the bottle is connected to his left palm.

"That is not food. That is water! I desire food and I wish to consume it with my mouth!" Jungkook insists.

"You can't eat now! Stay quiet!" The lady scolds.

"I wish to see Doctor Kim. Summon Doctor Kim," he demands.

"Doctor Kim isn't here. He went home. He'd come only tomorrow morning," the lady says.

"He departed? You speak falsely! On the eve prior, he was present here. He may yet be present. I wish to lay eyes upon him."

"You wish to lay eyes upon Dr Kim?" The lady laughs. "What do you mean? Gosh! what language are you speaking?" The lady keeps laughing for a while. "Just so you know, Dr Kim isn't here. He'll only be here in the morning. Now lie still and go to sleep."

Feeling sad and angry, Jungkook lets out a groan and settles back on the bed, glaring at the old lady enjoying her soup eagerly. He too desires food. Why isn't the lady in white giving him any? Tears well up in his eyes. He longs to see Doctor Kim. Good Doctor Kim will definitely get him food. Tomorrow he is asking Doctor Kim to give him food.

He closes his eyes and tries to sleep. But he can't sleep as his stomach keeps grumbling. After some time, he opens his eyes to find the lady in white gone. The old lady is peacefully asleep on the adjacent bed. The other bed remains empty. The man who occupied it went home evening.

Suddenly he spots an apple on the desk across the room. His stomach grumbles again. If he wants to go there, he'll have to first pull out the tubes connected to his body which would surely anger the lady in white and possibly upset Doctor Kim as well. Doctor Kim might stop giving him the music box. He sighs and shuts his eyes, wishing he could remember the word he used to utter to get things flying into his hands. What was the word? Oh, what was that simple word?

"Celero!" He suddenly snaps flinching opens his eyes. The apple sits in his palm.

He finally remembered the word!

He sits up and smiles looking at the apple. Then he starts hungrily devouring it. After he finishes it, he looks at his hands. There was a word he could use to clean everything. What was that?

For a long time, he tries to remember the word. But he can't. At last, when he decides to wipe his hands on his clothes, he sees his hands already dried. Still, wiping them on his pants, he lies back and closes his eyes. He continues trying to remember the word for cleaning. And there was also a word to make fire. Also, one to make things invisible. But he thinks he can only do that with his wand. Where did his wand disappear to? Did it slip off on that road when he was struck by that carriage? But where was that road? After a long time, he drifts off into sleep.

He wakes up in the morning feeling hungry. He tilts his head and sees the sunrays filtering in through the windows and dancing across the smooth floor, casting patterns on the wall. Doctor Kim might have come.