Script

Chapter Twenty: Extractions

I woke up the next morning to the smell of French toast and bacon. I sat up on the bed and used the crutches to hoist myself to a standing position. There was a pillow and some blankets on the floor and a felt a twinge of guilt as I realized I had kicked Mark out of bed last night.

I limped down the hall and into the main room. Amy was sitting on the couch with a plate on her lap. She bit the French toast off of her fork in one huge bite because she couldn't cut with her right hand. Mark was sitting at the counter and Dr. Neil was in a bathrobe at the stove serving bacon to Mark. I slid into the seat next to him.

"Morning. How'd you sleep?"

"Fine. How bout' you?" I responded.

"The ground was a little hard, but other than that, pretty well." Dr. Neil gave him a quizzical look, but didn't ask any questions.

"Sorry about that..." I said, "I didn't realize I was that tired."

"It's alright. Whatcha want for breakfast? Doc makes the best French toast." Neil handed me a plate with French toast and bacon on it. I began to eat.

"Doctor, would you mind reexamining Allie's heel?" I'd never heard him call me Allie before so I looked up surprised.

"Sure, why?" He asked looking up from the stove.

"We have reason to believe that there is a tracker in her heal." Mark answered.

"And what is this reason?" Neil asked, staring at Mark.

"She um..." He stuttered.

"I understand. I'll talk to you guys later." Dr. Neil broke in. Something tinged in my brain as I realized where I had heard the name Dr. Neil before. He was the doctor who had written the only believable report about my dreams.

•~•~•~•

Later that day I sat back on the examination table at the doctor's office. Dr. Neil hovered above me adjusting the x-ray.

"Alexis, have you been having unusual dreams lately?" he asked.

"I read the report you wrote. And yes, but it's weird because I don't remember ever having any really significant dreams before I got here. All I can think of is some weather and animal dreams at camp." I answered laying back further on the table and clenching my fists.

"It's probably because after you left, everything was new. There were no patterns to recognize because you had never experienced things like that before. When you got back to the house, memories and patterns came flying back to you," was his response.

"I guess that makes sense" I said, listening to the beeping of the machine. He did another x-ray then had me sit up. Once he retrieved the x-rays, he showed them to me.

"I definitely think there is something in your foot. If you can see right here in your heel, the x-ray softens a little bit. Most likely whatever is in your foot is covered in a layer of modified led, keeping the x-ray from registering it." He said, pointing to the region of my foot underneath the sole.

"I'm going to have to extract it. Sorry Alexis." I sighed and slid off the table. Neil decided it would be better if I was asleep for the extraction, so he brought me into a back room and I laid down on a table. After a couple shots, I slowly lost consciousness and my world blacked out.

•~•~•~•

I woke up screaming. Mark had come into the room and was hovering over me, holding a cold, wet towel to my forehead. I stopped screaming and focused on him. My head felt fuzzy and I couldn't process the room around me. Mark was saying something but I couldn't understand him, so instead I tried to figure out where I was. I was in the same room I was in when I fell asleep but I had a new cast on my foot, covering from my toes, up majority of my shin.

"Allie, you okay?" Mark's voice finally came through. I nodded and opened my mouth to speak. My mouth was extremely dry inside from screaming. I closed my mouth and got it wet again.

"Why was I screaming?" I asked him, my voice hoarse. His eyebrows were furrowed together in concern. His blue eyes were squinting, and sweat patted down his wavy hair. He relaxed a little when I spoke.

"We don't know, everything went fine, but you were out for an hour longer than he expected. You've been screaming for half an hour. Were you dreaming anything... unusual?"

"Not that I remember." I responded, pushing myself into an upward position. Amy was sitting in a corner of the room. Watermarks streaked her cheeks. She rubbed them off her face with her left hand. Dr. Neil walked in then and handed me a glass of water.

"Thank god you're up. You were beginning to worry me. I've double checked the amount of sleep inducing drugs I put you under countless numbers of times, I haven't found anything wrong." I nodded and took a sip from the glass. the water was like heaven to my desert of a throat. Amy made a funky noise in her throat and whimpered.

"Aim, come here." I said, motioning to her. Dr. Neil excused himself and left the room. She then stood up and ran over to me. Flopping down next to me, she sobbed and hugged my side.

"I could hear you screaming from the other room. I was scared you had been hurt during the surgery. I can't get the bloodcurdling sound out of my ears." She was crying again and Mark sat down on her other side.

"I'm fine baby. It was just a bad dream." I responded, rubbing the back of her spine up and down. Her sobs subdued to hiccups and sniffles. Behind her back, Mark mouthed the words, "She was really worried. We all were actually." I gave him a quizzical look and responded

"you? Worried? No, not Mark." He laughed out loud and Amy turned to face him.

"Hmm?" she asked, wondering why he'd laughed.

"I'm just glad she's okay." He said, winking at me. I smiled, and slid myself to the edge of the table, implying that I wanted to get off. Mark leapt to his feet and grabbed the wheelchair by the door.

"My lady." He said, motioning to the seat. I slid slowly into the wheelchair and Amy sat down on my lap. Mark wheeled us both into the waiting room where Dr. Neil was standing whispering urgently to the receptionist. He turned to us when we walked in.

"Alexis, I want you to stay off that foot for now, maybe a month and a half. I'm keeping the tracker with me. I'll bring it with me wherever I go so he thinks you're still with me. Other than that, you are free to go."

"Thanks Doctor" I responded.

"Feel better Alexis, and let that heal." I nodded and Mark pushed us through the automatic door and into the parking lot. I got into the passenger door of the minivan and Amy hopped in the back. After collapsing the wheelchair and making sure all of our clothes from shopping yesterday were there, he got in the driver's side, and pulled out. I set my arm on the center console and Mark turned the music on.

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