Haru snapped his eyes open. The sound of cars. People screaming. A white light pierced his vision. He was lying on the ground, his body immobile. A woman's voice screamed his name: "Haru!".
Then... darkness.
He woke up again. But this time, he was on a bed. The smell of disinfectants. The sound of medical monitors. He tried to move but couldn't. Suddenly... he laughed. A strange laugh—the laugh of someone who realized that everything he had lived through wasn't real.
A man in his mid-forties entered. He wore ordinary clothes, but his gaze was steady. He approached.
The Man: "Calm down... I am the doctor who was driving the car".
Haru looked at him with empty eyes. "You... hit me?".
The Doctor: "By accident... but what I saw on your face was more dangerous than the accident itself".
He sat beside him.
The Doctor: "That laugh... it's the laugh of losing meaning. If I had left you to it, you would have been lost".
Haru closed his eyes. The doctor began to speak calmly, as if holding Haru's mind in his hands.
The Doctor: "What you saw was your mind trying to protect you. It's not madness... it's a defense mechanism".
The laughter slowly died down. His mother entered, and seeing him conscious, she broke down in tears and embraced him.
Mother: "Forgive me... I thought the pressure would make you better".
Haru did not speak. But he was... present. Truly present.