IN THE DARK part of the forest, a bungalow made of wood could be seen. The form of the structure was outlined lightly by the soft light from the blazing bonfire, a few meters away from it.

It sat near that bonfire.

It was washing a severed arm from the last victim in an aluminum basin filled with water. Another basin could be seen beside it, made of aluminum, where plucked-out eyes could be seen floating. Its waters were bloody red because the eyes got soaked there for too long because it wasn't yet done washing the severed arms.

A sinister smirk lingered on its lips, exposing its sharp fangs that glistened from the bonfire light that reflected on them.

The basin was eventually filled with blood diluted by water. A severed arm remained soaked in it while the other was held by it. Its smooth hand was cupping some water to pour it down on the severed arm it was washing.

"Don't touch the cut," it grinned when it almost spilled some water from between its fingers onto the area where the arm was cut. It was still bloody and a bit of bone and flesh were visible. "He didn't want it to be touched."

The water sparkled on parts where the bonfire light reflected and dripped gently as the creature poured it like a blazing orange lava from its hand to the skin of the dismembered arm. It chuckled when some waterdrops flicked on its face.

"You will be so proud of me," it whispered while setting down the washed arm on the third aluminum basin which was empty and dry. Then, it washed the other severed arm. Its smirk widened upon seeing a hanging skin from the part where the arm was cut. "You want to kill the evil ones, right? And you'll replace them with people who deserve to walk on this earth." It drew its hungry lips close to the arm. "And..." it moved closer, "I...I help in making your dreams come true..."

It bit the excess skin, making sure that it wouldn't bite too far from where the arm was cut off. The skin was a little too chewy already, so it had to carefully bite it, bit by bit until it snapped off.

It was toying the skin in its mouth before pulling it out using its long, slender fingers.

"This needs some cooking," it grinned before tossing the skin on the basin where the floating eyes were, on the basin where the contents were reserved for his dinner.

⚕

SCREAMING, Kaelee got up from the bed.

"Kaelee, what happened?" she heard Lola Helene ask. Her grandmother, whom she slept beside for the night, was disturbed from her sleep by her screaming.

Kaelee's eyes roamed around the dark room, trying to make sure that she was not dreaming, and that she was in the right place. She got confused upon realizing that she was in her grandmother's bedroom.

'I-Is it all just a dream?' she stared at nowhere while her grandmother was sitting up on the bed. 'No Surgeon Sin? No...'

Lola Helene placed a hand on her shoulder. "Kaelee? Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes," she turned and gave her grandmother an uncertain smile. "I-I'm alright, 'La.... Uhm...What happened earlier?"

She asked that because if everything that had to do with Surgeon Sin was just a dream, then why couldn't she remember why she was sleeping in her grandmother's bedroom? Why was sleeping beside her?

"Doc said, you fainted in the clinic," she stated, concerned.

Her lips dropped open. Lethargy swept all over her body next, upon the realization that everything wasn't a dream, after all.

Everything was real.

Surgeon Sin was real.

Her grandmother resumed talking. "He brought you here and said that you'll be alright soon. Aside from fainting, you completely fell into a deep sleep. So, he was apologizing for making you work for him despite feeling unwell. Sometimes, doctors make the wrong first diagnosis, he said. That's what follow-up checkups are for."

Kaelee slapped her forehead. 'And what is he trying to say with a follow-up checkup? That I should come back to his clinic for a follow-up checkup?'

Her stomach felt funny again upon recalling that she saw so much blood in that clinic...the sticky blood that stained her hands while washing that severed leg. That fishy smell attempted to squeeze out vomit from her gut every time she inhaled.

Kaelee carefully laid down on the bed and closed her eyes because her throat was drying up again and a wave of nausea was consuming her once more.

This was the worst source of her struggle, her sensitivity. No wonder she was performing poorly when it came to dissecting activities in school. She was a nursing student but she reacted so violently upon seeing blood or internal organs. It was really challenging when a person only took a college course just because the majority of their schoolmates were taking it, or because graduates from that course were in demand, hence more opportunities for employment and better salary. It was hard to take a course for the sake of someone else and not for one's own happiness.

She always thought it would be worth it to be a nurse someday. It was an honorable job, after all. Plus it could help her take care of her grandmother better. But if her mind and system could not keep up with being a nurse, how was she going to deal with it?

"L-Lola..." she groaned in pain-mentally, physically and emotionally, all combined.

She felt Lola Helene's arms around her-warm and comforting. "If you want, you can give San Rafael Hospital a call to excuse you from your shift tomorrow. Tell them that you're not feeling well, my child."

"I-I'm going to my training, 'La," she answered weakly while embracing her arm. "Let's go to sleep now."

⚕

"YOU'RE LATE," Surgeon Sin welcomed her as soon as Kaelee reported to the nurse station.

She almost retorted 'What are you doing here?' Thankfully, she remembered that he was a resident doctor at San Rafael Hospital and they were in front of several nurses there.

Kaelee was really bound to be late today because Ma'am Bella swapped the trainees' shifts. On this day, she, Jonathan, and the other trainee were assigned to the morning shift. And those trainees who used to be on the morning shift were scheduled to report in the afternoon.

Meera, the head nurse, did not spare any minute to brief her about her task today. "Today, you are assigned to assist Surgeon Sin."

Her eyes widened. 'I'm already his assistant in his own clinic! Why do I have to do the same here for him?'

Surgeon Sin just grinned. In Kaelee's peripheral vision, two of the nurses elbowed each other and giggled. She could not tell if they were feeling giddy or if some sort of mockery for her was running through their minds.

'Oh, come on! What's so funny...' she stole a glance at the doctor's face, '...with him?'

He was grinning at her. She figured that he looked worse than Pennywise. Or the mad police officer in Desperation. Anyone who would see his creepy grin, and his snake eyes, in addition, would run out of the hospital. Probably, the staff and nurses here just got used to Dr. Alfred, and that was why they were still working here.

At the same time, she was also baffled. A few days ago, the nurses were just calling Surgeon Sin a psycho, so why did they seem too friendly with him today?

Eventually, Kaelee found herself walking after the surgeon. Both of them were heading to the operating room.

"Today, we will be conducting a very simple operation called Incision and Drainage," the doctor informed her without even throwing a single glance at her.

Kaelee nodded. "It is really okay...for a trainee to be involved in this operation?"

"Yes," he finally glanced at her, "because I specifically requested so. One more thing, we will be accompanied by two OR nurses inside the operating room. One of them will assist me and the other one will co-exist while monitoring you as well because you can't have my whole attention all the time, Kaelee. That will be very unfair." His remark was followed by a mysterious smile followed.

Kaelee swallowed. She was a little nervous about the operation, but she consoled herself by keeping in mind that this would be very beneficial for her. Finally, she was assigned a task that really had something to do with being a nurse. For the first time, she would learn and experience how it feels to be inside the operating room-a real operating room with a real operation going on.

Her thoughts began to float. Kaelee mentally conditioned herself because she didn't want to faint again at the sight of blood or organs inside the OR. She didn't want to fail in this training, so she took a few deep breaths while giving herself a mental pep talk.

'You can do this, Kaelee.'

'Don't get dizzy.'

'Don't faint.'

She gasped when Surgeon Sin placed an arm around her shoulders. He did that simply because he had to reach for her shoulder and tilt her to the left hallway. He redirected her when she was about to take the wrong way.

"The operating room is this way, Kaelee," he told her seriously once he was done guiding her.

She anxiously lifted her eyes to the doctor beside her. He looked so emotionless as his eyes watched where he was going. He was also tightlipped, making it harder for her to read what he must be thinking.

Most probably he was too confident to ever feel nervous. Just like what he said, incision and drainage were simple for him.

Add to that her awareness about his secret, making her feel so sure that he wouldn't get so easily upset when dealing with an operation on a human. He never feared chopped-up humans, what more if he was going to perform surgery on them?

They were welcomed by a beautiful nurse in a scrub suit by the OR door. She wore a mask, too, and handed Surgeon Sin his own booties, cap, and mask.

"She's Kaelee," Surgeon Sin informed her. "Give her the same stuff too, so that we can both get dressed already."

Once Kaelee got her equipment, she entered the OR. There was a changing room in it and the surgeon told her to go first. When it was Surgeon Sin's turn, Kaelee entered the very room where the patient would be operated. Two nurses were already there, preparing the apparatuses and the instruments on the metal table while the other was laying down a bed sheet for the patient to lie on.

The nurses moved swiftly with ease, indicating that they had mastered their job somehow. One of them moved from the table to the operating lights to readjust its positioning by lowering it a bit.

Kaelee shoved in a deep breath.

'This is it, Kaelee.'