Prologue: Chapter 4. The Spirits (II)
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After a few days -

At the hospital, Kai laid connected to the medical devices in his bed.

Sean and Li stood at the side of the bed, near the hospital doctor who had the results in his hands.

 "I have good and bad news. I'll start with the good." The doctor stated.

"Physically, there is no problem with the child. There is no evidence of a blow or injury. All tests show normal and healthy data levels. The brain shows normal activity for his age. There is no bleeding or abnormal behavior. But, on the other hand…"

 The doctor said as he took a long breath. "The bad news is... you see his condition. We can't explain it..." the doctor shared in wonder. "Since he arrived, he can't talk or walk. We must feed him and clear his secretions. His look looks confused like he's seeing everything for the first time. Just like a newborn." concluded the doctor.

"Unfortunately, that's all we can do... We've run every test scenario possible, but we haven't found anything... We're sorry... but there's no way we can help you." said the doctor, lowering his head in despair. "He will be released tomorrow." he informed.

"What?! Tomorrow?! It's not possible! Look at his condition!" Li complained furiously with a wave of her hand.

"I tell you in the most sincere way there is... we did everything. We have no reason to keep him here..." the doctor repeated as his discomfort with the situation was evident from his body language.

"I.. I... what's going on here?" Li asked herself as she falls to the floor. Sean bent down to her, hugging her as she collapsed crying onto his shoulder.

Clueless, Li and Sean began to tell their story in public.

They would stand in squares and central streets together with Kai, who was in a wheelchair, and tell what happened.

About the strange creature that suddenly appeared.

About the flash.

About Kai's current situation.

But, no one believed them.

Over time, other similar cases occurred. In all of them, there were clear signs.

Mysterious dolls. Flash. Convulsions, unconsciousness, and memory loss.

As the number of cases increases, so does the public's attention. Suddenly, the story of the young parents became into the spotlight. On large stages, accompanied by Kai, they told their painful story about that incident.

About that same puppet.

"Suddenly, my wife saw a flash," Sean recalled in the center of the stage in front of the full hall.

 "I ran to him. He was on his stomach. I turned him over and saw that the look in his eyes was different. My first thought was that he had been bitten by a venomous animal. I tried to look around, but there was no trace of any reptile.

Just before we evacuated him, Li suddenly remembered this doll with which he was playing.

"What's that got to do with it right now?!" I yelled at her. But she had a certain intuition about it.

Despite my objections, she insisted on looking for it. Just for a moment.

In hindsight, she trusted Kai's words more than I did.

She tried to look for it, bring it to the hospital... there might be a slim chance that the doctors knew what it was... but she couldn't find it.

At the hospital, all the physical tests came back.

All of them showed normal levels for a child of his age. They found nothing. But reality showed otherwise." Sean said, disappointed, remembering his 5 years old son trying to crawl on the floor as a toddler after the incident.

"Our little son...was gone. Disappeared. Even though his body was in front of us, it was as if we had a new child. A different one, and taking care of him was like taking care of a baby." Sean confessed.

"M-ma. M-ma. Say Ma-ma" Li recited to Kai over and over again. "E-ah. E-" Kai repeated after her in indistinct mumbles, saliva oozing from his open mouth.

"How to walk, how to talk, how to eat, how to use the toilet correctly... we had to teach him everything again..." he said.

"Why? Why did this happen to us?" Li asked the audience, "Fate? Destiny? Was it for the best or was it just bad luck? I couldn't accept the thought that we were the only parents in the world who were destined to have their young child start everything from the beginning, for no reason. There must be a reason." Insisted Li.

"But, where do I start?" she wondered. "Liars villagers!", "You just want money," and "Tell the truth!" are just some of the sentences that came our way while we were telling our story. No one believed us." Li said.

"What do I do?" she asked herself, confused and depressed.

Eventually, I decided to try to move on... I told myself that it doesn't matter what happened, I had to concentrate on re-raising our son Kai.

But then... I started getting these reports... of similar cases... of a similar flash... of a similar doll.

With each report, I would locate those involved and try to extract as much information as possible. Trying to understand. Until the token fell." said Li as shivers went down her spine.

"A token that was in front of us all this time," Sean continued, "A token that I tried deep down to suppress and not to believe. Not to believe that this was the reason all along." He said ashamed, remembering that he was the one who resisted until the very last moment.

"No... it can't be..." said Li stunned.

"Mom! Dad! Look what I found!" she recalled the moment Kai first introduce the strange doll in front of them.

"Even then... it was our fault... it could have been avoided..." Li teared up as she closed her eyes in pain and sadness.

"These dolls... or rather these creatures... these beings... are the ones causing this. I dedicated my life to telling our story so that this will never happen to anyone else ever again," Li concluded as she bowed her head down. The audience applauded her, thanking them for the sacrifice and contribution of telling their story.

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