Chapter 49 Chapter 45 Stealing Time

When I first saw her, she huddled in a corner.When I saw her for the second time, I huddled in the corner of the hospital bed.When I saw her for the third time, she was huddled in a corner under the table.So for the third time, I simply sat cross-legged under the table.Because I no longer expect to be able to sit face to face with her in a serious manner. Me: "Do you remember me?" She nods. Me: "Who am I?" She shook her head. Me: "I gave you wafer chocolate last time, remember?" She shook her head. Me: "Then do you still want wafer chocolate?" She nods.

At times like this I feel like I'm abducting a child, whether it's an adult or a real child.In fact, there is no way, just like the psychiatrist said: "At that time, the need for food was an instinctive response, because many patients' consciousness was weakened, but their instincts were strengthened. So this method has always been very effective. .” Watching her carefully peel off the layer of wrapping paper and carefully take a small bite with great interest, I don't know why I always feel very distressed-even though I didn't know the patient before, and I didn't have any blood relationship.

She is only in her twenties and suffers from severe persecutory delusions with a history of 5 years. I was not in a hurry and watched her eat.She continued to eat very seriously, then carefully folded the wrapping paper and put it in her pocket.Looking into her eyes, I know today is all right. It may be that I have been in contact with more patients. For patients with intermittent attacks, I can tell when I can communicate and when I cannot communicate.When patients are awake, their eyes are spiritual.I can't describe it specifically, but I can be sure, and I haven't made a mistake in judgment.This used to be a secret of mine.

Me: "You like to eat, I still have it here, but I will give it to you later, you will be thirsty if you eat a lot at once." She nodded. Me: "Why are you hiding?" She looked at me silently for a while: "Can I see your hand?" Me: "Which hand?" Her: "Hands." I put down the pen and paper, and slowly stretched out my hands in front of her.She observed for a while and was relieved. What's wrong with me?" She: "It seems that you are not." Me: "What am I not?" She: "You are not someone who steals time."

Me: "Time? Can that be stolen?" Her: "Yes." Me: "How did you steal it?" She: "I don't know very well. There are many ways to steal. It's as simple as patting someone's shoulders with both hands at the same time. I don't understand the complicated ones. There are many ways." Me: "Have you seen it?" She nodded solemnly. Me: "By the way, how did you see it from your hands just now?" She: "A person with four horizontal stripes on the palms of both hands is a person who can steal time." Me: "There will be four horizontal stripes? Is it obvious?"

She nods. Me: "As long as you are that kind of person, can you steal other people's time?" She: "No, some people with four horizontal stripes don't know that they will steal other people's time." Me: "Those who can steal time, what will happen if they don't steal other people's time? Will they die or something else?" She: "Like ordinary people, they will grow old and die." Me: "If you steal other people's time, you won't grow old?" She: "A person who never grows old or dies." Me: "Are there many people who steal time?"

Her: "Not much." Me: "What kind of people are they?" She: "There are all kinds of people." Me: "How did you find out?" Her: "I found out when I was a teenager." Me: "Well, so how did you find out?" She: "When they look at people, they don't look at people's faces like we do, but they look at people's necks." Me: "neck?" She: "It's best to steal from the neck, but it's not easy to touch. So the most is stolen from the shoulder." Me: "How did you steal it? You just said that they slapped other people's shoulders with both hands?"

She: "You don't need to pat it hard, just put it on your shoulders for a few seconds." Me: "How about stealing from the neck?" She: "It needs to be clicked with one hand in front of the other, and it will be enough in less than a second." Me: "What happens after stealing? Will the person who loses time die?" She: "It's not immediately, it's aging faster, faster than others. Very quickly." Me: "I think of progeria..." She: "That's time being stolen." Me: "Really?" She: "If you carefully check the people around those people with progeria, such as neighbors, kindergarten teachers, nurses in birth hospitals, and those who have close contact with people with progeria, there must be someone who is not easy to grow old. That's the guy who stole it."

Me: "Such a simple judgment condition..." She: "There are also four horizontal stripes on both hands." I suddenly felt a little shuddering.Because I have come into contact with such a case: a patient specifically cut off other people's hands.Not everyone cuts, but chooses in your own way.Specifically why, the patient never said, just sneered. Me: "But there are not many people with progeria?" She: "Most of them are very cunning, and they don't steal a lot at a time. They steal a little from this person today, and a little from that person tomorrow. They steal for a few years at a time, and others can't see it. But the person who loses time , a year will be as old as several years."

Me: "So it's like this..." She: "Is there such a person around you: I haven't seen you for a few years, and I'm still the same, not old at all. If there is such a person, you have to be careful." I tried to think about it, and it seemed that someone had said that to me... Me: "Actually, if it's those people, maybe they usually pay attention to maintenance or put on makeup, or are they born not easy to age?" She: "I haven't finished yet; that kind of person usually doesn't have a deep friendship with anyone. After a few years, you ask all the people who knew him before, and they don't know where he is. Have you ever done it?"

Me: "It seems to be there, but I didn't pay much attention to it. There are too many such things in a person's life." She: "Those who steal time exist like this. Because many people can't remember." Me: "So that's how you look at this question." She: "I've seen people who lived a long time." Me: "Live a long time? Those who steal time? When? How did you meet? Where?" She: "I was not in the hospital at that time. My friend and I were eating, and I saw him when I looked up. At first glance, I thought something was wrong with him, but I couldn't tell what was wrong, I just thought it was strange. He also paid attention Until I found out." Me: "Male and female?" She: "Male. When I first saw him, he was about thirty years old. But when I looked closely, I found that his eyes, demeanor, and expression were actually very old. I vaguely felt that he was a very old man, but his appearance No matter how you look at it, he looks like a young man. At that time, I understood that he has lived for a long time by stealing time." Me: "You just said he found you?" She: "He saw that I was paying attention to him, so he quickly touched his face, thinking that I saw something. Then he smiled very slyly, and that expression was smug." Me: "Satisfied? Is it the attitude of 'what can you do to me if you see it'?" Her: "That's it. He's not handsome, just average, nothing special, no one will pay attention to him. My friend also took a look, didn't look any more, and asked me what's wrong, asked me if I knew that guy people." Me: "Well, how long do you think he lived?" She frowned and thought carefully: "I can't say, but he feels that old age is not ordinary old, it's a terrifying feeling, he must be at least a few hundred years old. I can't see more details I was very angry at the time, and I wanted to catch up and ask him how many people’s time he had stolen. I thought about it later and thought that he would not admit it if he caught up, unless there was no one around, but if there was no one around, I dare not gone." Me: "Only you can see that kind of time-stealing person?" She: "At first I thought I was the only one like this, but later I found out that there was another person who also knew. But then I was transferred, but she didn't." Me: "So you are in the same ward? Do you remember the name of the person who can see stealing time like you? How old is it?" She: "It's about my age, I forgot what it's called, and it's not in the same ward. She can see more than me." Me: "You mean she has seen many people who steal time?" She: "No, what she sees is different from mine. She can see that the time thief grabs something from someone else's shoulder and walks away." Me: "Take time? What kind?" She: "She can't tell, she just feels that those people sucked something into the palm of her hand, and then quickly stuck it to her chest." Me: "Can't you see this?" She: "I've seen it sticking to the chest, but I didn't see what was taken away. All I saw was a pat with both hands." Me: "Can you see those people who steal time every day?" She: "Not necessarily, sometimes I don't see one in a month, sometimes I see several in a day. They all steal in crowded places. Commercial streets, shopping malls, buses. They only steal from young people." Me: "Have you ever been stolen?" She: "No, those people will understand when they see me and they will usually leave quickly. Some of them will give me a hard look, which is to warn me that I will hinder them from stealing time." Me: "Here, is there someone who steals time in the courtyard?" She: "Not here. There was one in the original hospital. She was a female doctor in her thirties. She knew that I had noticed it, and she warned me alone, telling me not to meddle in my own business, or she would make me look good. So later I Transferred." Me: "Do you... want to be discharged from the hospital?" She froze for a while, then slowly shook her head. When I left that day, I gave her the big handful of wafers I had in my bag.She thanked me very solemnly and carefully packed it in her pocket.Promise me to eat only two a day. I used to tell myself to visit her once a week and bring her snacks, but I forgot about it within a few weeks.Regarding the fact that there was another case of the same case in the hospital where she used to be, half a year had passed when I remembered it. Whenever I think of this patient, in addition to those bizarre time stealers, and the way she eats seriously-I have never seen anyone eat so seriously.Every bite, every time is so serious and careful.It seems that the whole world no longer exists, only myself, the bar of chocolate in my hand, and the taste that slowly melts in my mouth exist. After getting in touch with her, I am very jealous of someone patting my shoulders with both hands at the same time. Am I crazy? But I don't believe in time stealers.So maybe I'm going crazy?