Want (Numbered #1, YA Scifi Dystopian) Wattpad Featured Story

Chapter Eight

The door closed behind Elza. Wait. Had the head of the hospital just named her the new head of trauma? Aurelia saw that her hands were shaking, and Jonathon clearly noticed.
"Congratulations," he said dryly.
Aurelia grabbed a scanner and turned to him. If she kept her mind on work, perhaps she could deal with all of this. But she was so tired that the situation was threatening to overwhelm her.
"You learn the politics of Lunar fast," Jonathon continued. "Kill your predecessor and take his job - not bad for a newbie."
His smile showed her that he didn't mean to offend, but still, the words cut her. She'd had no intention of any of this happening, no intention of making trouble or getting involved. Aurelia had spent her whole life doing the right thing, studying, behaving, working. And now, suddenly she was up to her ears in things that she didn't understand, things that her gut told her were just plain wrong.
Jonathon put his hand on her arm. "Calm down, Aurelia," he said to her softly. "Try to go with the flow for a while."
"Why did she make me head of trauma?" Aurelia stuttered. "I don't get it. I'm new. There's no reason for me to be pushed so far up the ladder so quickly."
Jonathon gave her another of his flashing white smiles, the ones that made the dimple in his cheek stand out. "Remember what I told you about power?" he said. "It gets thrust upon those who don't want it purely because they're the best able to handle having it. Perhaps that's what Elza is doing. By making you head of trauma, she prevents the job from going to an unknown entity, someone who might abuse the position like Ellis did."
Aurelia switched on the scanner in her hand. "Do you really think that?"
Jonathon paused in thought. "Partly," he said. "But I also think that Elza sees something in you, something special. Something that you won't understand for a while yet."
Aurelia began to scan Jonathon's leg, her movements brusque. "I'm sick of this. Nobody will explain to me what the hell is going on. I'm suddenly stuck in the middle of something that I don't understand and being pulled in eight different directions and..."
Her voice broke, and to her horror, she couldn't stop the tears. Jonathon sat up, pulled her onto the edge of the bed, and put his arm around her.
It was long moments before she could speak again, and when she did she just said, "I'm sorry."
Jonathon rubbed her arm. "Don't be sorry. I can't even imagine what you must be feeling right now."
"Jonathon, I've killed someone!" Her breath was still coming in hiccupping sobs. "I've been in a shuttle attack, and now I've suddenly become one of the top people in Lunar Hospital, and I've only been here for a few hours. I don't understand anything."
He rubbed her arm again, sighed, and lay back on his bed. "Aurelia, I know you don't. I understand more than you do, but even I don't get everything."
"So explain things to me," she demanded.
"Right now, I can't. There are things that I need to check and people I need to talk to. And now is neither the time nor the place."
"So people keep telling me," said Aurelia, dully.
He looked at her and moved his hand to her leg. "Aurelia, you have my word that as soon as I'm able, I will tell you as much as I know, as much as I can without endangering you or anyone else."
"Fine," Aurelia said, nettled by the fact that she wasn't going to understand anything any time soon.
"Take my advice, Aurelia. Just go with the flow for a while. Accept that things are happening and you'll learn more later. You have a job to do, so do it and put everything else out of your mind. There's no point worrying about things you can do nothing about."
She went back to examining his leg. But Jonathon clutched her arm once more, so she turned to look at him.
"I can tell you that you might just be a part of something very, very important," he told her. "You wanted to save people - well, this might be your chance."
He said nothing more, and Aurelia didn't press him. She concentrated on the scan. As she'd suspected, Jonathon's leg had a hairline crack in the bone. Looking around her, she found a small device and ran it over his leg, reconstituting the bone in seconds. She then did a more thorough exam but found nothing else of note.
"Okay, I think you're ready to get out of here," she said. "Can you stand up for me?"
He did as he was told.
"No pain?"
"Nothing," he said. "All good."
"Then you can go; I'll discharge you. Do you need sec Workers to escort you out?"
"I'll deal with that, don't worry."
She pulled out her screen and tapped into the hospital system to clear Jonathon's record but was stopped by his hand on her elbow. Looking up, she saw that he was much closer than he had been before, and she could smell his citrus scent. Her stomach jumped a little, and his mouth curved into a slight smile.
"Aurelia, I will contact you," he whispered. "You'll hear from me in a few hours, okay?"
She nodded.
"In the meantime, stay in the hospital. And try not to think. I'll get you as much info as I can the next time I see you."
He leant in and very softly kissed her lips.
She was so shocked that she couldn't speak until he had already reached the door, and then the only thing she could say was goodbye.