In one of the neighborhoods in Velmont, there is a street called Valared Street. Although this street is located in a slum area, it seems to be more tolerable than other streets in Velmont.
A building that looks busy stands on the side of the street. Although it is not as busy as it was five years ago due to the epidemic, the building, which was built to serve as a clinic, still has a lot of activity going on.
Damp stains clung stubbornly to brick walls. Some windows were newer than the rest, replaced after the fever years ago had hollowed entire households in silence. People rarely spoke about those fuve years anymore, yet the clinics built during that time remained—standing like quiet sentinels in the slums.
A little further inside with the smell of disinfectant mixed with the smell of medicine, there is a hallway with doors leading to treatment rooms. There are at least four patients being treated in each room, and in one of the rooms there are four patients of various ages.
However, the most striking is a girl patient who is about nine to ten years old, her shoulder-length white hair contrasting with the white sheets on her bed. Her neck was also wrapped in a thick bandage.
Accompanied by three young men sitting beside her bed, the silver-haired girl seemed focused only on enjoying two slices of bread with meat filling in between. Although she thought the quality of the bread was quite poor compared to the bread she usually ate, she still ate it heartily.
"For a skinny girl, you eat like Fat Paulie from another block," a man who appeared to have well-developed muscles in his arms and was tall complained as he sat in a chair that was almost too small for him.
"Fat Paulie? That guy's got at least two hundred pounds ass on him," joked the guy who's short among the group, he's chuckled.
The tallest man next to him looks annoyed and slaps the short man head. "Watch your language, can you?"
After some time, the girl finally divided her attention among the three men accompanying her. After all, they were the ones who had saved her life from the brink of death, so she thought it would be good to get to know her rescuers.
Her gaze immediately fell on the shortest man in the group, but because he was the most talkative of the three, his presence seemed to bring the group to life.
"I'm tellin' you," he said, gesturing with both hands while crumbs still clung to his fingers, "you're very lucky that beam is snapped."
A nurse passing by shot him a sharp look.
"Lower your voice."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied quickly, though the grin on his face didn't fade. The moment she walked away, he leaned forward again. "Anyway, like I was sayin'—"
Can this guy even take a breath? she thought to herself. Although on one hand she was very disturbed by his chatter, he was even reprimanded several times by passing nurses.
This talkative fella is named Donny, based on what his friend beside him called him earlier.
"Donny, shut up," the tall man beside him muttered without even looking at him
Next to Shorty sat a tall, broad-chested man wearing a brown vest with several tears in a few places. Although he had a well-built and intimidating physique, it all felt somewhat strange when paired with his gentle and remarkably friendly face. This teddy bear-looking fellow is Nino.
And the last one, a man with eyes that stared at her calmly, with a stiff, expressionless face, his right eyelid unlike the left, only half open. Crossing his both arms, the man maintained a speaking posture only when necessary. Because he rarely spoke like his two colleagues, his name was unknown, although he's seemed to radiate an aura that planted a flag of very high presence among the others.
The girl wiped the crumbs from the corner of her lips with the back of her hand, then glanced at the the bed beside her.
"Slowly… that's it."
There's a nurse who was busy tending to an elderly man being treated in a bed not far from hers. The nurse carefully lifted the old man's body onto his side, allowing her to replace the bedsheets beneath him with practiced efficiency. It was an ordinary act of care, nothing unusual within the walls of a clinic.
But for the silver-haired girl, it was not ordinary at all. Because the soul within her did not truly belong to the fragile body lying on that bed.
The soul inhabiting her now was Lucas.
That soul still remembered clearly that, before all of this, he had been in his own room. He had felt suddenly drowsy and drifted to sleep, unaware of anything strange. And yet, it had felt as though something unseen had pulled him away as also drawn him out, and forced him into the helpless body of a dying child whose life had nearly ended because of the reckless decision of her own parents to take a painful shortcut out of this world.
And on top of that, why in the body of a little girl?
Within her, Lucas's soul could only sneer in silence. He had never asked for a life like this. He had prayed every day not for wake up as a ten-year-old child with a fragile body and a bandage wrapped around her neck.
Was this some kind of punishment? Or a joke taken far beyond the point of being funny?
If this was truly God's will, then in his opinion, God had a rather peculiar sense of humor.
"So, what's your name, Lucky Girl?" The man who had previously maintained his silence finally voiced his question, his question also made Lucas realize back to the reality.
Ah right, a name… what is this gir—
Suddenly, flashes of images appeared in his mind. They were memories. Memories that did not belong to Lucas in his previous rough life, but to this girl herself.
Thalia…
The name surfaced again and again as the flashes played like frames from an old film reel.
"Thalia. My name is Thalia," she answered. Unsure of how to explain any of this, she decided to simply play along as the girl named Thalia.
After receiving her answer, the man leaned his body forward slightly, bending a little as he put on a sympathetic expression.
"First of all, you can call me Nucky. Also, let me and my boys here offer our condolences for your parents," he said, placing his hand on his chest before gently releasing Thalia's hand.
Seeing that, she only gave a small nod in response to his words of sympathy. It was true that she had inherited the memories of her previous self, but in the end, no feelings had been passed down along with them.
After finishing his condolences, Nucky straightened his posture again and leaned back into his chair. He then glanced toward where Nino was sitting and gave him a subtle gesture to do something.
Nino, understanding Nucky's intention, immediately nodded. He turned his gaze to Thalia and began to speak. "Do you have any relatives, Thalia?" Before she could answer, he continues, "If you do, you can give us their address. The three of us can take you to them."
In response to Nino's question, Thalia crossed her arms and closed her eyes shortly after. She tried hard to dig through the fragments of memories inside her head, searching for whether this family had anyone who could be called relatives.
But all of it was useless. At least based on what she managed to dig up, there was nothing that had anything to do with relatives.
After a moment, Thalia finally opened her eyes again and looked at Nino while slowly shaking her head.
A trace of disappointment appeared on Nino's face, but he quickly covered it up and continued, "Are you sure? Don't worry, we won't—"
"Hold on."
Not letting his friend finish his sentence, the other man, Donny, immediately took over. His sudden movement made the wooden chair beneath him creak loudly.
"Look, girl. Your parents owed us money. That means you take us to your relatives, and maybe they'll be kind enough to let your parents rest in peace," Donny said, without a trace of shame, his tone slightly intimidating toward the ten-year-old girl.
He thinks I'm scared just because of this? I've already going through more worse than this, amateur.
Not reacting to Donny's intimidation, Thalia simply looked at him while occasionally taking a bite of the ham sandwich in her hand, which only made him more irritated. Whether it was only her imagination or not, considering the others did not seem to notice, Thalia thought she heard a faint snort from where Nucky was sitting, as if he was holding back laughter.
Suddenly, another a flash of insight appeared in Lucas' mind. It showed that the three young men had indeed appeared three times in the last three weeks. It was clear that this had something to do with debt collection from the girl's parents.
Figures, I wonder why these thugs is so cared with this girl, business is business, huh?
Responding to his associate's aggressive behavior, Nino quickly raised his right hand and blocked Donny's body.
"For God's sake, Donny!" Nino scolded. "The girl just lost her parents. At least give her some compromise."
Donny clicked his tongue and shifted back into his seat. Under his breath, he muttered something that sounded like a string of unfamiliar words, laced with irritation, almost like a curse.
Throughout the exchange, Thalia remained silent. Her silver hair brushed against her shoulders each time she lowered her head to take another bite. She chewed her sandwich without the slightest trace of guilt, as if nothing unusual was happening in front of her.
"So there really are no relatives, huh?" Nino asked, still keeping a cautious eye on Donny to make sure he would not try anything again.
"Nope," Thalia replied flatly, her mouth still half full of bread.
Nino scratched the back of his head, clearly puzzled. "For a kid who just lost both her parents, shouldn't you be a little more… shaken?"
The men sitting beside him nodded in agreement with Nino's statement. In response, Thalia merely shrugged.
Although it felt very strange to him, Nino eventually decided not to dwell on it any longer. He shifted his gaze to Nucky, who had been listening quietly the whole time, and asked, "Nucky, so what should we tell Evan?"
Without much change in expression, Nucky fell silent for a moment before saying, "Let me think. For now, let—"
The rest of his words faded as the heavy rhythm of boots thudded against the wooden boards outside.
A uniformed policeman came into view, the afternoon light catching the neatly arranged brass buttons running down his dark navy jacket. The coat was long and well-fitted, stiff wool tailored tightly at the waist before falling straight to mid-thigh. A worn leather belt, cracked with age, cinched it firmly, holding a baton at his side. His trousers matched the coat, sharply pressed, disappearing into polished black boots sturdy enough for mud and cobblestone streets.
On his head sat a tall guard's helmet, rounded at the top with a short brim, a metal badge proudly fixed to the front. The emblem gleamed faintly, bearing the city crest and a number engraved beneath it. A neatly trimmed mustache lined his upper lip, and his pale gloves standing out against the dark uniform, tightened as he calmly adjusted them.
He paused at the doorway, scanning the room with controlled authority, like a man accustomed to giving orders.
Oh man, another bozo.
Thalia watched the uniformed man frown as his gaze settled on the trio accompanying her.
"What the hell you boys doin' here?" the officer asked in a gravelly voice. He quickly added, "Don't tell me you're the ones who found the body?"
"We are, officer. We are," Nucky replied without rising from his seat. "And you, officer? What brings you here?"
"Me? Unlike you guys, it's obvious I'm working and carrying out my duty," he said, raising his voice slightly. "Now you can leave. Let me take over and handle this little poor thing," he added, glancing at Thalia lying on the bed after finishing her bread.
Responding to the officer's remark, Nucky smirked and shoots back, "unlike us? If we weren't working, how would your wallet stay full, officer?"
Realizing the implication behind Nucky's words, the officer tried to brush it off with a forced cough so no one else in the room would dwell on it.
Meanwhile, Donny struggled to suppress his laughter, lightly bumping his shoulder against Nino, who was also chuckling under his breath.
Feeling it was enough, Nucky finally rose from his seat, and the others nearby followed suit.
He straightened his collar as he stood and said, "well then, I suppose we've done our part for the community. We'll be on our way." Nucky glanced at Thalia and added softly, "Get well soon, Little One."
Walking away from the bed, the three of them passed the officer, who remained standing and watching their movements with guarded eyes, without the slightest compromise in his stare.
"Wait."
Just as the group reached the space between the corridor and the room, the officer stopped them when they were nearly out of his sight.
"Don't forget to give your statement at the station first," the officer said, his posture still rigid. "And also, good job saving the girl."
Nucky, whose face was usually filled with confidence, showed a brief flicker of surprise at the praise. His brows lifted slightly before he quickly regained his usual composure. He responded with a small, respectful nod, subtle yet sincere, as if unsure how to properly accept the compliment.
The group finally disappeared completely from Thalia's view, leaving only herself and the officer, who had positioned himself beside her bed.
Watching the officer take out a small notebook and a feather quill used as a pen, Thalia could only let out a quiet sigh and brace herself for the coming barrage of questions.