Koji looked so small in the hospital bed of the infirmary. The guy had been pale the day before, but now he was nearly as white as the sheets. What had happened during the night? Sam knew the day before had been rough on Koji, but he didn’t think it had been so bad to make him sick.

With a sigh, Sam reached out to brush black hair away from Koji’s eyes. He was worried, but felt better now that he knew for sure where his roommate was.

Koji moaned slightly. He squeezed his eyes closed a little tighter. Sam noticed how sunken and shadowed those eyes looked. Then, Koji opened his eyes.

“Sam…?” Koji murmured. He looked confused. Then his eyes widened. “Wh…what happened to you?”

What was Koji talking about? Shouldn’t he be more worried about himself? Then Sam remembered. Experimentally, he touched the side of his face, wincing at the pain. Not that he’d had a chance to look in a mirror, but no doubt there was a bruise from Max’s punch.

“Nothin’.” Sam answered.

“Liar. Tell me.” Koji tried to sit up. Sam shook his head, more at the look of pain on Koji’s face than anything else.

“I’ll tell ya, just relax. Don’t try t’ sit.”

Koji relaxed. “So?”

They weren’t alone. A nurse sat nearby at a desk filling out forms. Sam decided to choose his words carefully.

“A disagreement ‘tween me and Max,” Sam shrugged.

“Max did that?” Koji’s eyes widened. “Why?”

Sam gave the nurse another glance. “I…might not ‘ve wanted t’ take m’ pills until I knew where you were.”

“And he hit you?”

“And…other stuff…”

Koji lifted his hands up, pressing them over his eyes. Sam didn’t think his roommate was crying, but he wasn’t sure. Slowly he began to realize that Koji’s body was shaking. Oh geez, he was laughing.

“This is insane,” Koji gulped for air. “He hit you because you wouldn’t take your pills.”

“I’m glad y’ think it’s funny.”

“No. No. It’s just…this place is crazy. I’m not sure how I ended up here.”

Sam frowned. “What d’ y’ mean? Dr Brown told me y’were moved here during the night.”

Koji shook his head, hands still over his eyes. “That doesn’t sound right. I have this vague memory of being out in the hallway, but when I mentioned it, I was told it was impossible. I mean, of course it is. Our doors are kept locked. But I swear I remember the voices being bad last night. And I remember going to find out where they were coming from. How could I do that if the door was locked?”

Sam snorted. What the hell was going on? Koji was right. He couldn’t have left the room. And even if he had, someone would have just brought him back to his bed. Right? Wait, Dr Brown had said something before helping Sam up off the floor. What was it? He couldn’t remember it exactly, but it was something about it being interesting that it had been all because Koji was missing. This couldn’t have been some kind of test? No, no way, that was…well…crazy.

Suddenly, Sam realized that Koji had moved his hands and was staring at him.

“What are you thinking?” Koji asked.

“It’s crazy. Doesn’t make any sense.”

“Tell me anyway. You have this strange look on your face.”

“It’s somethin’ Dr Brown said. She seemed all interested I put up the fight just ‘cause I didn’t know where you were. I’m just bein’ paranoid, but hell, that’s part o’ m’ diagnosis. I mean, there’s no way they’d move you just t’ see what I’d do. Right?”

Sam sounded hopeful, even to himself. Like he wanted Koji to agree with him so he could convince himself he wasn’t being paranoid. Koji always seemed to be a little more rational about things. If he thought it was crazy, then it was crazy. Sam would just ignore the feeling.

Koji was quiet for a long time.

“Right?” Sam said again.

“No. I mean. Right. But, on the other hand…Dr Brown does seem…” Koji shook his head violently. “I don’t know Sam, I don’t know. I should be able to answer this, but I can’t. I know what I remember, but that couldn’t have happened. They probably just gave me something to help me sleep and it gave me strange dreams. That’s the sane answer. But…somehow I can’t give you the sane answer. I…just can’t.”

“I know. And why couldn’t Max just tell me where y’ were? He said it wasn’t any o’ m’ business. If he had just told me right away, I would’ve taken the meds.”

Something moved behind Sam. He looked up. The nurse had stopped working on her paperwork. Now she was watching them. Damn.

“How can we know if we’re being messed with or it’s our disease?” Koji asked. God he sounded miserable.

“We can’t.” The answer was simple. “We can only trust each other. That’s it. Yeah?”

The nurse slid her chair back from the desk.

“Yeah,” Koji nodded.

“Okay I think that’s enough excitement,” the nurse said, coming over to the two of them. “This young man needs his rest. Dr Brown did say you could only have a short visit.”

Koji looked from the nurse back to Sam. He looked downright frantic. No way he wanted to be left alone, but what could Sam do? If he argued, the nurse would call Dr Brown. Or even worse, she’d call for an orderly and Max would come.

Sam gripped Koji’s shoulder.

“It’ll be okay. Y’ get better, and y’ ll be out o’ here in no time.”

“But, Sam…”

“I’ll see if I can come back later.”

“Don’t worry about your friend, he’ll be just fine.” The nurse smiled. Either she didn’t understand why Koji was so upset, or she was choosing to ignore it. Gently, but firmly, she put a hand in the small of Sam’s back, guiding him towards the door. Apparently there wasn’t going to be any more room for arguments. With a last look at Koji, Sam left the room.