Chapter 4-9 - Bad Health
9 - Bad Health
[2018, MARYLAND]
“Alright kids. Who has any questions about the homework?” Rin asked. Back then, she used to style her hair in fancy braids and wear a round pair of glasses. The classroom felt a little dull, as if only Rin herself was energetic and excited. Though, it’s hard to blame middle school kids for disliking a subject as difficult as chemistry.
The kids all had their desks cluttered with whatever they wanted to amuse themselves with during class. Some of them, however, were very tidy and attentive, trying their hardest to excel at the subject. But everyone, without an exception, loved their teacher. When she explained, they listened. When she went to the lab, everyone quickly rushed to wear lab equipment and follow her.
“In that case, next week we’re going to carry out another experiment, this time, with acids and bases.” Rin responded to the silence. “Don’t forget to turn in your homework. You should really pay attention to it if you want to understand the subject.”
The class was enveloped by an orchestra of small talk and mixed reactions. But one voice specifically stood out.
“Mrs. Rin, how is Peter?” The boy with blonde hair asked.
“Ah, well...it’s a bit complicated.” Rin replied. “We are all busy trying to help him out-”
Her phone rang. She haphazardly picked up the call, and her changing expression indicated that it was something of great concern.
“Speak of the devil...it’s about him.”
“Sorry kids, I won’t be at school anymore. If you have any questions, you can try emailing them to me.” Rin said. “I have to go.”
It only took her 15 or so minutes to reach the hospital by foot from her workplace, only 5 or so if she was lucky enough to catch a bus. That’s what she did that time. The ride had gotten rather boring for her, she memorized the city’s landscape by heart. She got off the bus earlier than she was supposed to, however. That’s where her favorite bakery was, and she wanted to surprise her favorite student with some sweets.
“Considering the treatment he was promised, I can’t even think why he’s not getting better.”
She finally got to the hospital. She felt rather tired, her sleepless nights spent studying and preparing tests were catching up to her. She had no boyfriend or husband at that time, so her life wasn’t exactly lavish. But, she didn’t care much about what brand of wine she drinks or how much gold is engraved in her house appliances.
Rin graduated medical school, but she never practiced medicine directly. She instead found joy in teaching - specifically, teaching the subject which she was undeniably the strongest at, chemistry. Hell, she was even hailed as a child prodigy during her school years.
She opened the door to Peter’s room. He was alone. It looked like he was asleep too. His hair had fallen off from the extensive chemical treatments, and his skin looked pale, almost snowy white. He looked at Rin with his light brown eyes, it was difficult, but he could convey a smile just by his gaze.
“Hey, it’s me.” Rin said, approaching the ill boy. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine...it...hurts...” Peter mumbled.
“Hm? Where does it hurt?” Rin asked, placing the bag of cookies next to his hospital bed. There was an array of tubes connected to his veins, injecting various types of medicine into his weakened body. Peter had a surprising amount of pain tolerance for a 14 year old, but maybe it was the painkillers doing their job.
“My head...” Peter whimpered.
“Do you want me to call the nurse?”
“No...don’t.” Peter said. “Hey, am I gonna fail the class? I’m missing all the lessons...”
“I’ll make sure to talk with the directors’ board, I’m sure they’ll understand and let you get away with this.” Rin said. At that moment, a nurse entered the room. “I told you about this the last time I visited, remember?”
“Get him ready for another round of tests. The new bags just arrived.” She commanded.
“Excuse me?” Rin said. She still had her lab coat on that she forgot to take off. Maybe that’s why the nurse confused her with a worker?
“I’m sorry...there’s been a misunderstanding.” The nurse said, realizing that Rin didn’t have a badge attached to her uniform like she did. “Please forget what I said. Hey, Peter, how are you doing?” She said, approaching the ill child.
“I’m f-fine...”
“You just said your head hurts.” Rin said, turning to the nurse. “Is there something I’m not aware of?”
“Are you his relative?” The nurse asked, sternly.
“I’m his school teacher, and-”
“Please leave, or I will be forced to call for security.” The nurse said, before starting to adjust Peter’s medicine doses.
“I’m sorry-”
“Security!” The nurse yelled. Quickly, a slightly fat man in a police-like uniform approached the room. Rin had no option but to leave, and her mind was complete with questions.
On her way back outside, she stumbled upon someone she knew very well.
“Oh, hey Stella.” Rin greeted her high school friend. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing much, just the usual. My back is breaking from the workload.” Stella sighed, fixing her ponytail. “I knew it’d be hell, but, wow, four full articles per day? They think I’m some superintelligent being. Are you here to see the boy again?”
“Yeah.” Rin sighed. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“You already asked me something by asking that question.” Stella chuckled.
“You’re deep into medical articles, right? Are you aware of any test rounds that are conducted right now? Maybe, any experimental drugs?” She asked.
“Oh, well, there’s hundreds or even thousands of them. You’re gonna have to specify.”
“Are there any drug tests that are carried out in this hospital specifically?” Rin asked.
“I...don’t know.” Stella said, after a brief pause. “How come you’re interested?”
“Just something I’m trying to figure out. It’s fine if you have nothing.” Rin replied.
“Peter’s condition has been all over the place for the past month or so...”
[1 WEEK LATER]
“Hey, Peter, it’s me again. This time, you’re-”
Rin couldn’t believe her eyes. On one hand, she was happy that the kids she was teaching were willing to show empathy and visit their ill friend. On the other, there was still something that rubbed her the wrong way. Something just felt...off. Unexplainably, but it did.
“Excuse me, are you their teacher? Your class is something else.” An older man in a dark blue suit said, approaching her. “I think you know who I am, if not, I must really work harder in order to upgrade my image.”
“You’re...Bernard Stanley.” Rin said, surprised. “The head of the Bernard Stanley Healthcare Corporation, under Moonstone’s management...It’s...an honor to meet you.”
“I would like to personally thank you for raising such a group of greatly educated and respectful children. Our country and the world needs more people like you, Mrs. Rin.” Bernard said, shaking her hand.
“This is...surprisingly convenient. There are some things I wanted to ask you.” Rin said. The children were busy chatting, messing around, even poking at the various pieces of equipment and medications laying around. They kept Peter in good company, who himself behaved pretty strangely, but he was smiling. And that’s what mattered.
“Feel free to ask about anything you want.”
“A friend of mine did some research, and it turns out that you have made great investments into this hospital.” Rin said. “That is presumably why you decided to visit. But BSHC is also rather notorious for carrying out experimental drug trials.”
“I believe we should have this conversation further away from the kids.” Bernard said. The two left the room.
“Is it true?” Rin said, concerned, as if ready to break down on the spot.
“I am afraid it is true that the child is receiving an experimental form of treatment right now.” Bernard said. “However, it is because of the odd nature of his own illness.”
“His disease is curable by available medicine, no? Why not just...use it?!” Rin asked.
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“What we are doing is working on a complete form of the cure.” Bernard said. “I am truly sorry that it’s happening to Paul. But this is an effort for the greater good.”
“What- okay, his name is Peter, not Paul, first of all.” Rin said, more upset. “But...what greater good could you even be talking about? This is a patient’s life, he’s a human, not a guinea pig or a lab rat.”
“I am sure you understand. There are countless lives that may be saved, including his.” Bernard said, walking away. “I am sorry, but I must take my leave.”
Rin tried to follow him, but a pair of security guards prevented that. And finally, her attention was captured by something else. Why was a nurse headed towards the room? And why were the children being told that they were going to be tested? All of Rin’s personal research on Peter’s condition never indicated that Peter’s disease was infectious. What if her worst fear was true, and it was a different, more dangerous disease that tormented her student?
A spark of curiosity made her enter the pharmacy instead of exiting the hospital. She tried to look for the medication that was often used to treat Peter’s condition, she asked the pharmacist about it. Turns out, that drug was taken off of the shelves a few months ago. It was apparently acquired and after extensive testing, it was ruled out as ineffective.
The more Rin thought about the situation, the more she wanted to let go of those terrifying ideas and theories. But in the end, she got herself together.
“Peter’s going to be fine.”
“The kids are cheering him up. He’s in the good hands of a trusted healthcare company.”
“Everything’s gonna be fine.”
[1 WEEK LATER]
“No...”
“There’s just no fucking way...”
Email after email, Rin’s worst fears were starting to come to fruition. Four of the kids that visited Peter were admitted to the hospital, showing the same symptoms as Peter himself. It was a cruel joke played by fate.
Her class had ended, her students were trying their hardest to inquire about their classmates. All Rin could say was “I hope they’re being treated right.” and smile. Inside, she was panicking. The class had ended, and she instantly rushed to the hospital. Instead of taking the usual bus commute, she ran as fast and hard as she could. While sprinting through the streets, she got a phone call.
“Huh? Stella?” Rin picked up the call. “Look, I’m really not in the right place to talk right now-”
“Rin, you need to hear this. I managed to persuade one of the workers into sharing some information...I had to get him drunk...”
“Are you crazy? You slept with him?!” Rin said, barely stopping herself from running into the busy road. She stood in front of the pedestrian crossing.
“The BSHC is very well involved in experimental drug development. But apparently, they also run tests on the kids themselves. Peter had a liver condition, right?”
“Yeah.” Rin said, her throat coarse, her voice slightly shaky.
“They conduct tests on the kids. They measure their physical activity, tolerance to various chemicals, test their digestive systems and even their sexual organs...”
“They what?!” Rin shouted.
“Exactly what you heard.” Stella said over the phone. “Apparently they’re trials for a new experimental drug for that condition. They’re gathering data by testing the entire body.”
“That’s...do the parents know what happens to their children?” Rin asked.
“Nothing ever gets reported.”
“There’s no way. You have to report this.” Rin said. “There’s just no way. You have a presence in the press, right? And whistleblower protection...make an article, or...something...”
“No. Don’t forget that I work for an outlet that is directly associated with them.”
“What?!”
“I’m scared.”
“Just listen to what I said! Y-you know that you have whistleblower protection, right? Surely all of that shit is illegal! It...it has to be illegal!”
“Everything is much, much more difficult than that. Rin, I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything. Even if you have rights or protection, they’ll get to you. You’re underestimating the power that they have.”
The phone call ended. Rin thought about cursing her, or even whistleblowing the information herself, but she realized that there was nothing she could do. Especially in this context, if the tests were legit and for a good cause, she had nothing to object to. A company was conducting research to develop a cure to save more people.
She decided to go home. In her cluttered apartment, she found some tobacco for herself and decided to unwind her nerves. She couldn’t do anything about that entire system. A few hours had already passed after that revelation.
“It’s all for a better cure...”
“In the grand scheme of things, this shit is bound to happen.”
She sighed.
“There’s nothing I can do about it except maybe make my own cure.”
“Theoretically, if I used the old medications, I’d probably figure something out.”
“Wait...why were the old medications discarded in the first place?”
She took her phone out, quickly trying to find out as much information as she could about the drug.
“The research that resulted in the removal of the drug...taking place in august, 2018...the decision was finalized by an investigation from Bernard Stanley Healthcare Corporation, which acquired the rights to the drug after a lengthy legal war?”
“Why would they get a product just to discontinue it?”
“Besides, there’s another alternative...the Hitchkin-Mosley Pharmaceutical Institute is working on their own version, it’s basically their only competitor in the market, right?”
“If they want to get ahead of them, they’d need some real evidence and data...”
At that moment, everything clicked.
Rin stared at the screen. At some point, she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and ended up vomiting. Her hands shook.
“It wasn’t about medicine.”
“It was never about medicine or helping people.”
“It was about the money...and selling more...”
“They’d get the data, prove to the world they’re ahead of the competitors, buy them out, shut them down, and they’d relaunch their product constantly and inflate the price...”
“The best way to get real data was to test, with specific results as a goal...and the best way to get test subjects...four of the kids from my class...the liver condition is in no way infectious, but their parents don’t know about it...they can just...lie.”
“Holy shit.”
It felt as if Rin’s entire worldview collapsed. Her breath was rapid and uncontrolled. She vomited again, she was sweating. And most importantly, she was crying.
“Peter’s memory was bad...”
“The testing...was never reported. Because they were forced to forget...”
She barely stood up, her body was trembling from shock and rage. Without even changing her clothes, she went outside. It was already night, the streets were mostly empty. She wanted to get to the hospital.
“I can’t believe...I let that piece of shit shake my hand...”
“Why did I never think they were capable of doing these things?!”
“I have to get him out of there.”
“I have to get Peter out. And talk to his parents. And the police...”
The sound of screeching tires derailed her train of thought. From a black car, a pair of masked men quickly exited. Their target was Rin.
They got their batons out, and one of them struck Rin in the back, dropping her down. She hit her face on the concrete ground, hurting her nose. Confused and scared, all of her determination was quickly shadowed by the pain. The man continued striking her, targeting her stomach and chest, even swinging twice at her legs.
The other man kicked her in the face, causing a mouth bleed. Rin tried to stand up, but the barrage of strikes was too much for her to handle. She was on the ground, getting destroyed. Tears were starting to mix with the blood, her torso hurt like hell.
The man that was kicking her crouched down and tried to tear her clothes off. Rin shrieked in fear, trying to fight back, but to no avail. After her clothes were torn beyond recognition, the man stood back up.
“That’s enough to scare her.” He signaled to the other man.
“Such a shame, if she was younger, I’d have some more fun.” The other man said, again striking Rin’s leg with the baton. “It’s not like anyone would listen to her.”
“We have more important shit to do.” He said, putting her foot on Rin’s face. “We’ve watched you for a while. If you ever, ever, tell anyone anything suspicious about the corporation, we will kill off every single one of the kids we run tests on, and we’ll make sure nobody ever believes anything that comes out of your garbage mouth.”
The men left and drove away in their car. Rin was left there, on the ground. Her soul was crushed...
...
She slowly opened her eyes. The ceiling was plain white, she saw the edges of an IV bag with the corner of her eye. The morning light penetrated the windows and their pale curtains. She didn’t feel the pain anymore.
“Ah, you woke up...” A short and friendly nurse said. Her voice felt soothing and charming. “You can hear and see me fine, right?”
“Yeah...” Rin said, mustering up the courage to respond. “How long...have I been out for...”
“Some pedestrians called the ambulance when they saw you bruised on the ground...you had torn clothes, but when we examined you we didn’t find any signs of sexual activity.” The nurse said. “I’m sorry that you had to go through this, if you need psychological counseling, we have experts available-”
“Yeah.” Rin interrupted. She couldn’t reply with anything else.
“Then, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me.” The nurse left the room.
Rin was left alone. All she could do was cry.
She cried from powerlessness. She cried from seeing the BSHC badge on the nurse’s uniform, she was yet another unaware pawn. She cried from the grief of her students being taken away from her. She cried from the fact that she’s in a hospital that was managed by the corporation that did everything to her. She cried from the fear of what else they were capable of.
She was a mere human, there was nothing she could ever do to a multi-billion corporation. She could never dream of stopping them, all she could do was watch.
So she just cried.
“I left the state for Tokyo. I had to work as a private tutor.”
“It was after the global soul event that I met him...”
“I trusted him, and I told him my story. He promised that one day he would get the chance to exterminate them.”
“But more than that, he gave me a new purpose. He introduced me to his cause. I looked after them, taught them, helped them...”
“I could try and atone for my powerlessness.”
Ichika and Ausra woke up, both of them were almost completely patched up, except a few scars that would take a bit longer to heal.
Hayk, Tsunehiro and Ausra were the only ones aware of Rin’s past. Considering the pain Rin went through, and the lengths she went to to assure their safety, Ausra decided to prepare a small gift for her. She made a call to her friends in America...