Damian stayed at the church.
The pastor noticed that Damian was smart for someone his age. He once tried to help Damian take a bath, but Damian refused.
He saw that Damian was bruised on his body and there was a big mark on his chest, like something went through him.
He never asked Damian and just let him stay at the church. He would bring food, blankets, and clothes to Damian almost every day.
He asked Damian to stay with them. Damian wanted to accept the offer but refused.
Damian started attending church services. At first he didn't want to, but since he lived there, he had to attend. He started looking forward to it afterwards.
Staying at the church was the most peaceful time for Damian.
Days went by, and on September 15, Damian started coughing blood. The pastor became worried when Damian started coughing blood.
He panicked and took Damian to the hospital.
The doctor did a checkup on Damian but found nothing wrong with him.
"He's perfectly healthy. Maybe it was something he ate."
When the doctor said that, Damian became worried because he knew his body was getting weaker by the day, and the doctor had just told him he was perfectly fine.
"Hey, Damian, I noticed that the pastor only filled in your first name. Can you tell me your full name so we can contact your parents or your guardian?" the doctor said as he looked at Damian.
Damian looked at the floor and said nothing. He knew he only had one name, and no one was probably looking for him because they thought he was dead.
The doctor noticed that Damian wasn't saying anything and just decided to let it go. The doctor was going to file a missing persons report because it's procedure and so on.
The pastor was the one who was worried for Damian and wanted Damian to find his guardian if possible.
"Damian Cross. My name is Damian Cross."
Damian said his name out loud to the doctor, and he wrote it down.
Damian chose the last name Cross because that's what came to mind. He was staying at the church, and every night he would look at the cross of Jesus and question his life.
He would sometimes look at it but say nothing. He would ask for a better day tomorrow and sleep afterwards. He would thank the Lord for the day even though he's a non-believer.
He felt that Cross as a last name was probably representing peace for him because every time he looked at the True Cross, he felt peaceful.
The pastor was called to fill up forms about something, and then they returned home.
The pastor wanted Damian to come stay with them. He begged Damian to stay with them, but Damian refused, and he felt defeated.
Three days later, child services came to take Damian away from the church and let him stay at the orphanage.
Damian realised why the pastor was desperately asking him to stay with them. He realised why the pastor stayed at the church with him the whole time before child services came.
Damian was in the orphanage contemplating everything that happened while he was staying at the church.
The conversation he had with the pastor.
The conversation he had with himself while looking at the cross.
The pastor's plea.
He didn't realise it, but tears started coming out of Damian because he realised that the pastor was the first parent figure ever since he came to this world.
Damian could feel that they would never meet again for a while, or ever.
Not taking the pastor's hand was Damian's first regret.
Damian spent his life at an orphanage getting weaker every day. The director of the orphanage was concerned about his situation because they couldn't identify what was making Damian sick.
He talked with the other kids and played with them. He was known as the Sick Kid because he would cough up blood in the middle of the day or while playing with them.
The pastor tried everything to adopt Damian, but he was denied the privilege because they said Damian was too fragile to be adopted and needed to go through certain procedures first before everything.
After 3 months in the orphanage, Damian stopped feeling his legs and was brought a wheelchair. He didn't know why that was happening to him.
He watched a New Year celebration sitting in bed.
By the time he turned 5, Damian was losing the feeling in his hands. After 30 days, he could no longer feel his hands and was made to lie in bed all the time.
Someone cleaned him up and looked after him. Damian could no longer do anything by himself except turn his head left and right.
He lay in bed all the time. Even when he was taken out, he was left near the garden or the porch.
30 days passed, and Damian's entire body became completely immobile, and he lost his voice. He could no longer turn his head or talk.
30 days passed, and Damian lost his sight and hearing. He could no longer see, hear, touch, taste, or smell, but he somehow knew when someone or something was near him.
Damian could somehow tell the day had gone and it was nighttime without his five senses. His mind was active all the time, and he couldn't sleep.
4 months passed without Damian being able to sleep during those 4 months. Not a single day did Damian sleep.
No one could tell if Damian was sleeping or dead when looking at him. They did regular pulse checks every morning when they woke up and every night when they went to sleep. That's how they knew he was not dead.
On September 15, Damian died, and the people taking care of him noticed before they went to sleep that he was dead.
They reported Damian's death to the hospital. The EMT arrived shortly afterwards, and they took Damian's body.
They did some tests on Damian to determine how he died. They found out that Damian died of old age.
It wasn't a homicide. He wasn't sick, poisoned, or injured but died of old age.
The doctors didn't believe it at first because the person was 4 years old. How could he die of old age? But the results came back the same.
The doctor thought it was reverse Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), also known as Benjamin Button, but it was not.
They told the orphanage about Damian's death. They asked how they wanted Damian to be buried, and they said they needed Damian to be free in the world.
They asked for Damian to be cremated so they could release his ashes in the river.
After 96 hours of Damian's death, Damian woke up butt naked on the table in the morgue.
The person checking on Damian didn't panic but lifted his hammer, hit Damian on the back of his head, and Damian died afterwards.
The person struck the base of Damian's skull, damaging both his cerebellum and medulla oblongata, which caused him to die instantly.