155: Poison

Poison

Oliver woke up sometime at night. Other than the nurse who was to cater to him, none of the four men were present. He did ask for them either. All he did was eat and then he went to sleep again. He needed some time to cope up with all that happened. He was still not ready to believe that he had woken up after three years. The news was a huge blow to him. He had not spoken to anybody and had gone back to sleep after eating.1

The night passed quickly. Ian came to check Oliver health in the morning to see him wide awake. He was staring at the ceiling, his eyes not blinking. Ian presumed him to be deep in thought. He did not disturb the man and started to check his condition. Oliver looked great, his vitals were stable. Other than the fact that he was weak, everything looked normal.

Oliver had sensed Ian's presence as soon as he had entered the room. However, he had remained quiet, allowing him to do his work. He waited for him to complete what he doing when finally he spoke.

"What had happened to me?"

"Mr. West, let's not talk about it right now. You are not in your right state of mind and I don't want you to get agitated again. Your health which is improving might deteriorate again. And we do not want that happening."

"It's fine, doctor. I want to what happened to me. And I have another question I want to ask you." Oliver fixed his eyes on Ian who was sitting beside him.

"Yes?"

"Why aren't my daughters and my wife here to see me yet? Have you not informed them about me?"

Oliver's question took Ian off guard. This was one of the questions which they feared answering. Whenever they had imagined this situation, shivers had run down their spine and now it was actually happening, Ian did not know what to say. Seeing him silent, Oliver raised an eyebrow. He had not asked that difficult of a question for the young man to remain quiet. 'There is something I am missing here.'

Oliver waited for a few minutes to see if Ian was going to answer. Time passed and when he couldn't take it any longer, he sighed. "Are you going to answer my question or not?"

"I guess I have no other choice than to tell you the truth. But Mr. West, please remember this. Whatever we did, whatever we are going to do, we will have your best interest at heart. So, I hope you will not misunderstand our actions."

Oliver pondered for a while. "By we, who all are included? My family and you?"

"What? No. No. It includes the three men who came to visit you yesterday along with me. Your family has no idea about it." Ian answered him patiently. While he looked calm on the outside, he was actually sweating from within. Oliver was an observant man, he would have grasped that there was something wrong just by seeing Ian's face.

"Who are they? Are they your friends?"

"Yes. I am Ian, Ian Davis. You have already familiar with Noah and the other man was Joshua Martin. The man who was standing by the door was Ronnie. He is Noah's right-hand man."

"Now, will you tell me what happened to me?"

"Do you remember what happened to you three years ago?" Ian questioned him back, trying to see if he could remember everything that he had experienced.

Ian's words made Oliver to rack his brain to see if he remembered something that had occurred long back. It did not take him much time. All the events that had occurred on the dreadful day flashed before his eyes. He could see himself running form those monsters who were hot on his trail. He shivered the next second. It was like he was reliving the nightmare again. 

Ian noticed him flinch for a second and he was afraid that Oliver would start panicking again. He tried to soothe him. However, the man had calmed down faster than he had thought.

"Do you want to talk about it, Mr.West?"

"My colleagues and I were being chased. At one point, Paul.." Oliver paused suddenly. "That's my colleague. Paul and I got separated from others. We couldn't outrun them, they were several of them. They caught us immediately. Then I saw them shoot Paul in the head." Oliver could still remember Paul's face when he had fell down after being shot. It was horrible to see a good friend die right in front of his eyes while he could do nothing.

"Then, what happened?' Ian bent forward to listen to him. He had to get all the details from Oliver as he was the only one alive who knew about this scandal more than anybody else, and only with his help could they get justice to their mentor and end the issue.

"I don't know. I thought they would shoot me next. But nothing like that happened. They injected something into my body even though I tried protesting. Then everything went black." Oliver was confused as to why the men had not shot him. It was highly unexpected. The worst part was he could not remember anything that happened after the incident. His mind was blank and how much ever he tried, he couldn't recollect anything.

"Why can't I recall anything after that night?" Oliver was anxious. His thoughts ran wild and he started imagining the worst. 'Did somebody tamper with my brain? Did somebody erase my memories?'

Ian could see the gears turning. "Mr. West, since the day you had been injected the drug until yesterday, you had been unconscious. This is the reason why you cannot remember anything."

Oliver looked at him dumbfounded. Ian's words sounded like a puzzle to him with no answer he could deduce. Everything was utterly confusing and scary.

"Did you save me from those men or are you one of them?" Oliver asked as he shifted in his bed, trying to move away from Ian.

"Mr. West, we are not them. It was Noah who saved you from those bastards and brought you to me. Since then I have been treating you."

"What had happened to me?"

"The drug they had given you had weakened your body. It was more or less a poison. You had to be stabilized first, else your organs would start deteriorating slowly. I did everything I was capable of to stop the poison from acting further. The poison had affected your brain by then. Since you were already weak by the time you were brought here, you couldn't tolerate my medicine strength and you fell into a coma. "

"Then, how was I cured?"

"My medicines are stronger than the poison. But it took three years for the poison to be completely eradicated from your body."

"Hmm. If what you are saying is true, I must thank you whole-heartedly. Thank you for saving me." Oliver gave him a grateful look. His heart was still unsettled. He wanted to see his family and only in their presence would he finally calm down.

"Now, may I see my family?"

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