Glenn was still reeling from all the news he had learned in the last few days; his fifty-year absence and his father's illness were by far, far the worst.

  Everything was difficult to deal with, but right now he didn't know what to say; he was finally with his family. But they were no longer having any conversations, as if time had cut something off.

  Even though Cassia reacted like that when she saw Glenn, in reality, he was the person she knew the least about.

  At the same time, she had only known him for five years and could only remember the year before he disappeared. Her mother, on the other hand, seemed calm; her eyes were closed, but she said nothing.

  They were in the car on the way to the hospital; the person driving was Cassia's husband, John. Glenn, for some reason, was having a lot of trouble accepting this fact; just a short time ago, she was a little girl barely old enough to walk and talk.

  He did hope to see her grow up, but not to the point of having a boyfriend, let alone a husband and child; in fact, she had two. She also had a 16-year-old boy by the looks of it, William, but he was currently on holiday with friends. Cassia had called him to come to the hospital as soon as possible.

  Honestly, Glenn didn't want to know him. For some reason he couldn't explain to himself, maybe it seemed strange that his little sister's son was almost as old as he was, well, mentally and physically, since in time he was long past fifty.

  "86...87...88."

  In the deafening silence of the car, the only thing that could be heard was the occasional sound of Anna, who was having fun counting the blue-colored cars; she had counted 92.

  After an indefinable amount of time, Glenn spotted a huge, rather old building with the word hospital on it.

  They had finally arrived.

  After parking in the hospital's car park, they all got out of the car, also blue, one by one.

  Glenn felt as if he were in a dream, as if everything that was happening around him was a hallucination. He even wondered if he wasn't actually in a dream created by the glowing seed.

  "Uncle? Uncle!"

  A sharp voice brought him out of his dreamy state. Looking at the source of the voice, he found Anna looking at him with a happy expression.

  'She doesn't understand the situation. Well, she's just a little child after all.'

  In response, Glenn tried his best to smile back, but the emotions swirling in his mind were such that he could only give a crooked, false smile.

  "What is it, Anna?" he asked, still wearing that sickly look. "Have you finished counting cars?

  The little girl looked at him innocently, apparently still not understanding the situation.

  "Yes, with the blue car parked next to us, that's a hundred stacks!

  Before he could answer, Glenn saw a subtle change in his mother, as if she had just understood something. She turned to face Glenn.

  "What?" he asked in puzzlement.

  His mother held his gaze for a few seconds before turning away again.

  "Let's go."

  Her monotone voice made Glenn shudder; he had, until today, never seen his mother speak like that or stand like that. He'd never seen her like this.

  She's acting strange today. Maybe she knew as soon as I got back that we were going to see Dad and that he might die.

  Moments later, they were inside the building. It was immaculately white and quite clean. A few nurses were walking down the hall, some hurriedly, some not.

  On the right side of the entrance, there was a long line of black, uncomfortable chairs, as far as he could see. On it were a bunch of different people, but they all had one similarity: they all looked sick, or at least uncomfortable.

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  His mother approached the reception desk and faced the young woman. She was blonde and looked young; she must have been in her early twenties. From the way she looked, uncomfortable and tense, Glenn assumed she hadn't been there long.

  "Ah! Hello, ma'am, "How are you?", The young woman asked

  'Well, I guess Mom comes here a lot.'

  A few formalities later, they all headed for Glenn's father's room. But the further they went, the less comfortable he felt, as if a huge weight was pressing down on his heart and stomach.

  He would never have thought this of himself, but he was not at all happy about going to see his father. Knowing that it could be his last.

  Deep down, he was still a 17-year-old kid who had only been away from his father for a few days.

  The corridor they passed through was empty, as if the world itself had stopped turning. To let the family pass.

  The hallway was, like all the others, pristine white, like a scene from a surreal movie, except that instead of being a charismatic hero fighting evil, Glenn looked more like a phantom who had lost touch with reality.

  Then his mother stopped; they were at the door—the door that led to Glenn's father. He was lost; his contact with the outside world had been reduced to dust, and all he could see was a sign with the words "Gerald Hanta" on it:

  [Gerald Hanta]

  [Patient number: 27]

  Then, with a sound that seemed very powerful to Glenn, the door opened.

  Even though he didn't want to go in, his body moved independently, and a second later he was inside the room.

  The doorway and the bed were separated by a white curtain, and Glenn heard the harsh breathing of someone on the other side.

  Glenn's mother opened the curtain, and the light from the window shone on Glenn for a moment. As he got used to it and looked more closely, he could see a man. A man who looked like his father but was sickly.

  But worst of all was his body—a skeleton. He was so thin that Glenn wondered if he was still alive, a thought that was shattered the moment Glenn's father turned his head to look at his wife.

  He couldn't see Glenn, who was still partially hidden by Cassia.

  "Oh, you came today too. Thanks, honey."

  His tone was slow and tired. While his voice was hoarse and bruised. Glenn pursed his lips tightly.

  "Yes, and look, we all came." Glenn's mother looked calm, but her voice broke for a moment, reflecting a pain she was struggling to hide.

  Meanwhile, Glenn's father looked around, and then the inevitable happened: his eyes met Glenn's. And his face fell.

  And his face fell.

  "Glenn? Is that you? Glenn, is that really you?"

  He was so shocked that he couldn't say anything more. He tried to get out of bed, but his body refused to move. He just watched Glenn. But before he could say anything, Glenn's mother spoke:

  "Let's go; let's leave them alone...", Even now, the tone of her voice conveys an unmistakable regret. She was suffering from having to leave her husband in what would probably be his last moments.

  Then, without Glenn being able to say anything and without anyone challenging his mother's words, the room was empty. Glenn found himself facing his father alone.

  "Yes, yes, it's me.", He didn't seem sure, and he didn't meet his father's gaze out of shame.

  "Look at me, my son.", The fatigue in his voice was growing. "How are you?"

  Glenn forced himself to look up, met his father's eyes, and then smiled weakly.

  "I'm doing pretty well, as you can see, and you, Dad?"

  Glenn wasn't comfortable facing his father's gaze for much longer; he wanted to look down, but he knew he couldn't. Some unknown force came over him to tell him he couldn't.

  "It's okay, as you can see too."

  A dead silence reigned in the room for a few more seconds. But then someone broke the silence.

  "Come here, my son."

  Immediately, Glenn complied. Then he sat down less than a meter away from his father's bed.

  "I've been looking for you for a long, long time. I've been looking for you for a long time, a very long time, to the point where I went crazy...but here you are, in front of me, after fifty, and you haven't changed."

  Glenn tried to speak but was cut off.

  "I won't ask you why you look so young... I'll just ask you to listen to my next words carefully, okay?"

  Glenn gritted his teeth but held back an unknown feeling from invading his heart.

  "Okay..."

  His father looked at him for a moment, then smiled weakly.

  "You know, since you disappeared, a lot has happened in the world, but you've probably already heard about it."

  "Every day, absolutely every day, I hoped you weren't one of the monstrosities coming out of that damn cave. I shook with fear every moment."

  "For me, the world was no longer spinning; I could see nothing; my heart, my body, and my mind were unable to initiate the search. I knew you would come back and fight for my life until now, at this very moment."

  "I know what you may think—that you are not worthy, that we should have forgotten you to live a happy life—but it would never have been happy without our son. You deserve to be searched."

  His words opened a door in Glenn's body, and a steady stream of tears flowed, yet he did not look down and stare at his father, as he had asked.

  "My son, I know who you are better than anyone; I know your past and your present, and I know what you will do in the future because I have seen it."

  "It will be difficult, very difficult, but you will live your life as you have always wanted to; the life you have always sought will be yours. Well, I don't want to give you a cliché father-to-son speech, but..."

  "Know that you will always be our family and that even if you forget us, suffer, go crazy, and the universe turns its back on you, you will surely make new friends and a new family."

  "Inside you, we will always be there."

  "My son, I regret not having seen every moment of your life; I regret not having seen you grow up enough, but..."

  "My son... Go, live, and become. Whatever you want...whatever you want..."

  The high-pitched sound of a machine echoed through the silent room, accompanied by silent weeping and a man lying in a bed.

  Who was not moving.

  The last sound that could be heard in the room was so low that no one, even close by, would ever hear anything.

  "Goodbye, Dad."