Ashes Diagnosis and Treatment Record

She was the orphan girl I rescued from the fire, and ten years later she became the psychiatrist in my clinic. At the end of every consultation, she would tie my wrists with the same rubber band I gave her back then: Sister, you always said that you dreamed of a woman being burned to death, but have you forgotten? That fire was lit for me with your own hands. The air conditioner in the clinic is always three degrees cooler than the body temperature. I stared at the medical rubber gloves on Lin Wu's wrist, watching her use tweezers to pick up the sky-blue rubber band - exactly the same as the one that I stuffed into her palm when I was twelve years old. The edges had been frayed, but stretched into a cold curve at her fingertips. At this moment, the force of the rubber band embedded in the skin was 20% stronger than last week. When her fingertips traced my wrist bone, I felt a very shallow bump - it was a new tattoo, shaped like half a burnt sycamore leaf. The woman I dreamed about this time suddenly came closer, her eyelashes casting butterfly-wing shadows under her eyes. Was she wearing a beige sweater? Is there a red mole on the left neck? I tightened my grip on the armrest of the sofa. The sterilizing lamp casts cold light on the ceiling, lengthening her shadow on the medical records. This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.