"Do you want me to accompany you to the hospital?" asked the girl in a worried tone. She took Friedrich''s arm and looked at him worriedly. "If I come, I''ll be able to tell you right away what happened, in case you forget again."

    Friedrich gave Hannah a long look, lowered his head, and then nodded slowly. Instantly his mind was also filled with various bad thoughts. He had heard of several types of diseases that had symptoms like what he was experiencing.

    However, he tried to get rid of those negative thoughts and focused his attention on all the positive things he was doing. He hoped ... not the disease he suspected.

    ***

    Doctor Smith was surprised but only briefly to see Friedrich come to see him. He was happy to see, this time, the young man was accompanied by a woman.

    Was this his girlfriend? Or relatives? Judging from their rather formal attitudes, Doctor Smith could conclude that the man and woman in front of him did not have a romantic relationship.

    At least not yet.

    He can see the look full of love from the woman to the man. This made Doctor Smith somewhat relieved. At least, in his current condition, Friedrich was accompanied by a woman who seemed to care for him and loved him.

    He knew exactly how important it was to have people who loved and support patients with conditions like Friedrich, so that their quality of life could be better, along with the slow destruction of the young man''s brain cells.

    "Doctor ... my secretary said that I''ve checked in here a few times, and at the last meeting, I''ve received the diagnosis." The young man seemed to be trying to look calm when he conveyed the situation. "It seems ... the diagnosis was so bad that I decided to seek a second opinion ..."

    Dr. Smith nodded. "I am sorry."

    Friedrich felt his chest stabbed by a sharp object when he heard the sympathy and pity tone from the doctor in front of him. It looked like his guess was right.

    "You don''t need to say sorry. You did nothing wrong. You only conveyed the results of my medical examination," said the young man. "Unfortunately, I can''t remember what the diagnosis was ..."

    Friedrich''s voice trembled as he tried to control himself not to cry in front of Doctor Smith. As a thinker, the situations where he couldn''t control his thoughts and forget important things like this really hit him hard.

    Doctor Smith sighed. His forehead twitched with worry and surprise. He did not expect the worsening of Friedrich''s symptoms to be so fast. Friedrich shouldn''t have forgotten this badly, thought the doctor with concern.

    In a calm voice, he repeated the diagnosis of the disease that Friedrich had. This time, he had to witness for the second time how a young genius had his big dreams snatched from him by force.

    Doctor Smith explained in detail about Lewy Body Dementia, what were the symptoms, and what to expect as his condition worsening, and his life expectancy.

    Friedrich just listened with a stiff body as if he had suddenly turned into an ice statue. Meanwhile, Hannah pursed her lips in shock, and her body trembled, trying to hold back her tears.

    Even though she was not the one who had the malignant illness, Hannah felt as if her heart was breaking.

    What a waste. This young genius''s life was taken away by a very violent nervous disease. Soon, it would take away his consciousness and mind.

    Unknowingly, tears rolled down Hannah''s cheeks. She didn''t even know that her cheeks and upper garment were soaked with tears.

    This is so unfair!

    God, this isn''t fair. Why are You so mean?

    Friedrich is a good man ...

    He contributed so much to mankind ...

    Why did you give this malignant disease to him?

    Friedrich took a long time to pull himself together. When he finally calmed himself down, he turned to the side to find Hannah in tears. The girl''s cry made him dazed.

    No one had ever cried for him. Now, the beautiful girl beside him looked devastated when she learned of the diagnosis.

    He never thought Hannah cared so much for him.

    Friedrich was deeply moved. He touched Hannah''s cheek, which was wet with tears, and rubbed it.

    "Don''t cry," whispered the young man.

    Hannah looked up and stared at Friedrich with teary eyes. She wiped her tears and nodded. "I-I''m sorry."

    The girl didn''t even know that she was crying over Friedrich''s misfortune. Ah, she should stop crying and don''t make things sadder. At this time, she should be able to console the man and Charles.

    Oh, Charles didn''t know what happened to his brother yet. How could they break this bad news to him?

    Friedrich and Hannah then went home together. Along the way to the house, they didn''t talk to each other. Both of them were busy with their own thoughts and sadness.

    Dr. Smith said that with Friedrich''s current deterioration rate, it was likely that the man had less than three years left. Slowly he would lose his ability to think, speak, and move ...

    Friedrich could not imagine himself going to experience such a tragic end in life. In fact, there were so many projects he was working on. He had so many dreams!

    Together with Sam Atlas, they had prepared a big project to take humans to explore outer space.

    Now everything seemed so remote and out of reach.

    The journey back home, which lasted only fifteen minutes, seemed like an eternity. When finally the car entered the yard and stopped, the driver immediately opened the car door for them.

    "Uhm ... you just come down first. I still have something to do," Friedrich said to Hannah. "Thank you for accompanying me to the doctor."

    "Where are you going?" asked Hannah. She felt reluctant to leave Friedrich in the car and going somewhere.

    "I have to go to my boss and talk about this. He must know my condition so he can take appropriate action," Friedrich replied.

    Hannah greatly admired this man''s calmness. Even though he had just received devastating news, Friedrich was still able to act calm and

    calculating.

    "I''m coming with you, okay..." Hannah begged him. "If you meet your boss and you forget what to say, I can help."

    She gave Friedrich a pleading look. Finally, the young man gave in and nodded. He realized that Hannah was right. It would be pointless to see Sam Atlas if he forgot what to say to him.

    This thought made him feel very bitter. His mind was his most valuable treasure, and now slowly, it was being taken away from him.

    "Dave, let''s go to Sam Atlas''s house," Friedrich said to his driver. Dave nodded swiftly and closed the car door again. He then drove the vehicle to Sam Atlas''s house.

    .

    .

    From the author:

    When I read that Robin Williams killed himself, I felt so sad, even though I didn''t know the man personally. I love his movies and I got so much joy from his work. When I read further, I found out he had Lewy Body Dementia and it had been eating him from the inside before his suicide.

    I will never know why he killed himself, but his suffering from Lewy Body Dementia was engraved in my heart deeply.

    I thought... why did someone so worthy of life was deprived of it? Why did someone who brought so much joy to so many people have to suffer?

    And, I realized... there are many people that are so worthy of life, who could have done so much more for humanity and the world, but they are taken away early from us. The thought really bothers me and makes me feel sad.

    That''s why I wrote about Friedrich Neumann. I want to show my respect for such people, who could have done so much for the world... but they couldn''t, because they''re gone too soon.