Sapienophobia

Chapter 15

"And my stuff? My gear?"

Father's scalpels.

"It's with the nurses, I assume. They're probably disinfecting it so they could give it back to you. I'll get that later too," they slid out into the hallway.

Will they disinfect it from their hands as well?

She started in a jog directly toward the human onlookers.

I squinched so tightly that it gave me a slight headache. The full force of my nine half-bandaged nails dug into Vera's collar.

I couldn't look at the humans. So I watched Vera's footing instead; they didn't need their hands at all to evade the medically trained humans. It was similar to what I learned from the deer only more... efficient.

This infirmary was different from where Father worked. The hallways were wider and there were more people wearing lab coats. The smell was the same, though. It was odd being in the hospital's common patient areas rather than being confined to the head waiting rooms. I was afraid of needles and bored by old folk so Father would tell me to stay there to keep out of trouble when I was younger. Root, however, as the golden child, could accompany Father wherever he worked. This would make me pout and behave worse until eventually Root was assigned to supervise me. I was petty then, and would have rathered failed conjointly than let my brother succeed alone when possible.

I digressed.

The floor glimmered as if it had been freshly mopped.

Isn't it slippery?

Forget tripping, Vera didn't stumble.

However, all the bouncing did pull on the scar tissue forming over my wounds.

Two more lefts and we were at the exit. Or the entrance. Herl was drifting off in an armchair, repelling any human who came too close with his presence alone.

Vera kicked him.

He snorted and reflexively clutched the container in his hands as he awoke.

"Vera," he stood immediately at attention, almost like a knight's salute.

"Perfect timing. Go find Shin's stuff," she ordered.

"Where is it?"

So when I ask you to do something, you mug me but when it's Vera, you don't even negotiate?

My irritation quelled just as quickly as it came when I caught a whiff of what he held.

Food.

Vera didn't respond, informing him that either they didn't know or he would have to figure it out himself.

"You coddle him," Herl mentioned, heading back from whence we came.

"I could promote him if you'd prefer," Vera responded nonchalantly.

Vera didn't seem like the type to indulge in nepotism.

I heard Herl clicking his tongue further behind us. I smiled to myself after snatching the meal.

A fitting punishment for someone who should have a bounty out for highway robbery. I wish I could see his face when he finds my finger.

The walk back to the guild was quiet, not because speaking would've made it awkward but because there was comfort in the silence. The chirping of crickets and other nocturnal bugs soothed me. The roads were some mixture of gravel and tar, flattened into an unnoticeable incline, one that could only be observed at the end of the pathway. Vera walked close to the edge so I could scrape my unsevered fingers against the bricks of the buildings' outer walls. Now that there were no humans occupying the streets, I had an opportunity to take in the beauty of my environment.

Like the intricacies of a spider's web.

Perhaps it was the route Vera took. Her purposeful gait seemed to have forged a shortcut to the guild. No doubt a skill they acquired in their ascent to overseer.

We arrived at a back entrance I didn't know existed. The wooden door arched, supported by evenly placed stone blocks around its frame. Its original rust color had faded to a walnut. I wondered how long it had been there. How much it had withstood to still be standing now. Neither its bolts nor its hinges were disheveled. If the alignment had become unlevel over the years, it only complemented the rustic nature of the foundations now.

A moth landed on my elbow as Vera unlocked the door. A mocking sentiment.

An unconscious Danny was slumped at the reception desk. I tossed the remains of my food into the trashcan on it. With one knock on the table, he groggily staggered away to his bed upon seeing us.

The guilt weighing on my mind heavied after Vera kneed an unfamiliar tenant's door. The weight doubled when they didn't stop, intending to wake everyone up if the occupant didn't answer.

Memories.

The door swung open to reveal a dispatcher with blades adorning his waist.

"I need you to reattach his finger," she commanded, shrugging me off her shoulders and onto his bed.

The old man made a face like he was going to cry before retrieving a bag and his glasses. He tenderly unwrapped my lazily fixed bandages as if his lack of sleep could be put off for later.

It reminded me of Father.

I haven't the right to feel this comfortable now that they're gone.

I heard Vera talking with Herl who apparently had returned while I was being inspected. When she entered the room again, she handed me a glass of what I had assumed was grape juice.

My thirst wasn't fully diminished so I drank.

It tasted bitter, like the grapes within were rotten when they were juiced.

She chortled at my reaction.

"Your stuff will be in your room when you get back," they placed my finger on the dresser.

It was stiff and no longer bled.

I assented with a hum. I had more pressing issues to address.

"Will reattaching my finger hurt?"

I hated the shaking in my voice.

Vera fought to keep herself from frowning. They turned their head away to not make eye contact.

"Not more than losing it," the old man interjected.

I'm scared. I don't remember losing it.

My body told me to pull my hand away when the man fashioned a needle and thread from his bag.

I listened.

"Shin," Vera tried to coax me.

I refused.

"I can't put it back on," the elder interrupted our exchange once again.

"It's all but dead," he held up my rigid finger to the ceiling, "trying to sew them back together would give him an infection. It can't be saved."

I, being a foolish child who could only see the immediate future, sighed, believing some of my weight had been lifted.

"There's nothing you can do?" Vera asked, hope lingering on her words.

"I can get him a good prosthetic. Other than that, he'll need a royally good healer if he wants to regenerate it."

I don't. Especially if a human needs to do it.

My employer groaned and punched the wall.

"Don't worry, it's not like it's my entire hand," I gave her a thumbs up with my good hand.

"And my right's my dominant anyway."

The joke was wasted on them. Given her expression, one would've thought she was the one who lost her finger.

Don't waste your energy being concerned about me, Vera. I'm not worth it.

I didn't survey my surroundings on the way back to my sheets.

I cried myself to sleep that night, like many nights before, and when I woke, I told myself the same lie, that I wouldn't waste the life that I was given.