Burnt (book1)

talking about it

                                                            **********

"Hello Scarlett, I'm Dana and I am the manager here. You worked in vet clinics when you were younger right?" Scarlett nodded as she maneuvered around the tiny but efficient building. "Well, you will learn as you go but you will be shadowing for a few days until you get the hand of it... oh Mollie come here a minute." A tall African American woman came up to them, pearl white teeth smiling down at Scarlett. "This is Scarlett and she is going to be our newest assistant." Mollies eyes lit up.

"Oh cool, I'm a veterinary assistant too so we will gossip about the doctors together." She had a smile on her face that made Scarlett feel at home. Scarlett could tell Mollie was mainly joking but Dana wasn't as sure. "I'm joking, obviously." Mollie winked at Scarlett. "We are going to be friends, I can already tell."

"Show her the ropes and try not to scare her off, would you?" Mollie gave Dana a salute and Dana headed off to the back office.

"Alright," Mollie started to walk around the hospital. "You can put your wallet, keys, jacket, whatever you brought and don't want on you in here." She gestured towards a row of storage containers and a line of hooks on the wall. Mollie slapped a letter S on the top drawer and opened it, Scarlet put her purse, and phone in the drawer and her coat on the hook. "Next we have the front desk area" the phone was already ringing constantly but they didn't open for another 20 minutes. "Don't worry about answering the phone yet and you can do filing once you have learned other... more important things." They moved around the counter and down a small hallway there were four exam rooms. "Here are the needles, vaccines, test tubes, etcetera, etcetera..." Mollie opened and closed drawers and cabinets revealing lots of different medical tools and medications, Scarlett had a lot of places to remember.

"Next," Mollie moved out of exam room 3 and maneuvered back to the back area. "This is the kennel area. Where animals board and animals that had surgery recover." There were two rows of cages, large and small and then just past a door was the ward. "This is the everything room" Mollie stated waving her hands around pointing at food, cleaning supplies, cats and dogs that were boarding, extra supplies from needles, to cotton balls. The laundry was also running already and the pile to be washed was still high in the basket. "Come on you can shadow me today. I'm working with Dr. Boon and he's really nice and really smart." Mollie turned to Scarlett and smiled, "Do you have any questions?" Scarlett shook her head eyes wide, just trying to absorb everything. "Don't be intimidated by my awesomeness" she said all seriousness is her voice but humor clouded her face.

********

It wasn't the first night that they re-met and Evan revealed his face to Scarlett but the second official day when Evan revealed his false eye and the plate in his head. She was more than happy to learn all about him and his different bionic functions, which pleasantly surprised Evan.

"Does it hurt? Can you feel it? Can you control it? I saw in a movie that his eye could do all this stuff and even see new places..."

"Like in Harry Potter? You think I'm like Mad Eye Moody?" Scarlett froze her jaw dropped open unable to produce words.

"No, no, no... umm, I didn't mean..."

"Scar I'm joking."

He already felt so comfortable with her. Her cat even liked him, which was shocking but Evan was grateful for the added affection. There was nothing Evan wanted more than a normal life. Years ago he got past the idea of having a normal life, it was just his reality. Who would want to hire a disfigured man, who would want to be friends with someone they were embarrassed to be around, who would want to be date a man they felt ashamed to be with but Scarlett wasn't like that. She asked him if he wanted to go out in public with her, to go places like shopping or to a restaurant but also knew that he didn't want to go anywhere. She asked to be polite, she didn't like to go out much anyway but being offered to go out with someone he liked was amazing. It made him feel normal, Scarlett made him feel normal.

Talking about it- Now

Psychiatric care was not what Evan thought. He liked his doctor and she didn't look at him like he was a monster. But, he was paying her to not look at him like he was a freak but still, she cared for him.

"You went out? Met a girl? And told her your story?" Dr. Anne asked as she sat up straighter in her tall leather office chair.

"Yeah" Evan said nonchalantly as if he did this all the time. He most certainly did not do this all the time, or ever. But, making a big deal out of it, would make her make a bigger deal out of it.

"I'm so proud of you" she started and Evan could tell the motherly love insider her was coming out. "You never would have left your apartment when I first met you and now" Almost two years later Evan thought "you left your home and made a friend and-"

"Told her my story, showed her my face" Evan finished as he shoot a tiny basketball into the hoop that hung on her door.

"Very proud" she said again.

"Me too" Evan said surprising himself. She was right, this was a big deal. He made a friend and possibly a future girlfriend. He should be celebrating but instead he shot and made a basket giving himself a small victory fist pump.

"Oh before you go, I sent in a refill for the next few months of your..." she looked down to her notes and named off 5 different medications. "Was there any other medications you wanted me to refill before I see you again? Or anything you want to try and get off of?" Evan wanted to stop all his medications but knew it wasn't possible.

"No, that should be good, thank you."

"Then I will see you in two weeks, on the 3rd, sooner if you need anything. Or want to tell me more about this girl."

"You will be the first person I tell if anything happens doc." Her smile made Evan feel loved. She was like another mother to him here. She sent him birthday cards and gave him a friends and family discount for her services. It wasn't just because she felt sorry for him but, because she grew to know Evan and wanted the best for him.

"Good because I want to know more about her. Does eleven o'clock work?"

"Yeah, see you then. Have a good week." Evan said as he placed the tiny basketball down on her desk and headed out, back into the real world.