36: A Novel Read Online Free Page B

some balm on your lips.  They’re very dry.”
    The sound of a metal lid being twisted off a glass jar.  A moment later she lightly rubbed something that felt oily onto my lips.  The burning from where the upper one had cracked immediately eased.
    “Who are you?  What’s happening?”
    “You’re being taken care of,” she said.  “Don’t try to talk.  Just rest.  The Doctor will be in to see you in a moment.”
    I heard the lid twist back onto the jar, then her footsteps began to retreat.
    “Wait,” I wailed.  “What the hell is going on?  Where am I?  What happened to me?”
    She didn’t respond, and by the sound I could tell her steps didn’t falter.  The door closed with a pneumatic hiss and I was left alone with my thoughts and the goddamn infernal beeping.  I didn’t know what it was, but it was driving me nuts.
    It wasn’t long before the door opened again.  This time, two people entered.  Both were wearing harder soled shoes than what I assumed had been a nurse.  And by the sound, I was guessing both were male.  I didn’t know how I could tell this by ear, but I was pretty sure.
    “Who are you?  Where am I?  What the fuck is going on?”
    I was shouting in a hoarse voice.  Fear was leading to panic and I yanked against the soft restraints that kept my arms at my side. 
    “You’re fine,” a gentle male voice said.  “My name is Doctor Freeman.  You’re in the hospital.  You’re alive and well.  I’m going to touch your face now.  Don’t be frightened.”
    Despite the warning, I sucked in a breath and flinched when his fingers came into contact with my head.  I didn’t feel the touch, rather only the pressure.  There was the sound of tape being pulled free.  Then something that I hadn’t realized was wrapped around me began being unwound. 
    It seemed like it took him forever to finish removing what I now thought was a bandage.  Cool air caressed my skin as the last turn came off, but I still couldn’t see.
    “Get the lights,” he said.
    The other person walked away a few steps, then I heard a faint hum from overhead.  I recognized the sound light bulbs make when they are dimmed.
    “There is a shield over each of your eyes,” the Doctor said.  “I’m going to slowly remove one at a time.  Close your eyes until I tell you to open them.  OK?”
    “OK,” I said, tightly squeezing my eyes closed.
    He carefully removed something covering my right eye, reminding me to keep my lids shut.  Next came the left, then a damp cloth was gently rubbed around each orbit.
    “These are artificial tears,” the Doctor said a moment before I felt several drops on the inside corner of each eye.
    “OK, I want you to slowly open your eyes,” he finally said.
      Even though I was pretty sure the lights were dimmed to their lowest setting, my eyes hurt when I opened them.  Blinking rapidly, I reflexively tried to raise a hand to shield them, but my restraints hadn’t been removed.  As I kept blinking, the drops spread out and eased the feeling of gritty sand beneath my lids.
    After almost half a minute I was able to keep them open, but everything was blurry.  Like looking through a fogged windshield.  The Doctor leaned over me and I could see the shape of his head but not make out his features.  He held a hand up and there was a soft click preceding a brilliant light shining in my left eye.
    “I’m just checking to make sure you’re healing properly,” he said as he leaned closer and held the instrument only inches from my face.
    “What happened?”  I asked, noting the smell of garlic and cigarettes on his breath.
    “Excellent,” he said, ignoring my question.  “Let’s look at the other one.”
    The light moved, and when it did the vision in the eye he had just been examining was improved.  I could make out some of his features, noting a jagged scar that ran horizontally across his forehead.
    “Also coming along very nicely,” he declared after a long