Oscar and Mer 🍆🪼

XVII

Oscar opened his eyes and looked around. He had no idea where he was and just laid there; he had no desire to get up and his arm was still killing him to try and gather strength to sit up. He was in a dark room of some sort with a dimly lit lamp that showed a desk piled with papers. The door opened a few seconds later, the door opened and the woman from before set an empty, smelly bucket on the floor. Oscar wrinkled his nose at the smell and the woman flicked the light on, making Oscar squint.

"Oh good, you're awake. I know you kept telling me not to call the ambulance, but you've been in here for three hours. Trent came to check on you since he remembered sending you up here and you never came back down. I decided that if you were still out when I got back from the sea lion show I was gonna call the ambulance anyway."

Oscar just nodded, feeling nauseous. The woman -Kyle- watched him for a moment and then grabbed something off of the desk and held it out to him.

"Some person named Mer has been calling you nonstop for a while. I tried to answer the phone but all I got was a high-pitched squeal that almost busted my eardrum. You should look into your phone service."

"Yeah..." Oscar managed to say.

Kyle still held out the phone, but Oscar didn't move to get it. "You gonna take this?"

"If moving or talking didn't feel like going to Hell..."

Kyle frowned and walked the phone over to him, lightly tossing it next to him. She grabbed her desk chair and rolled it over to him. "What were you coming up here for? You look like you're in a lot of pain. Plus, Trent said you were asking about a vet."

"I... got bit by a type of fish and it..." Oscar grimaced, the pain in his arm and head making talking a chore.

Kyle seemed to understand and got up, going out the door and then came back with a black bag. She rummaged through it and pulled out a bottle that rattled that familiar noise of pills. She opened it and shook out two of them. She grabbed a cup and went to the water cooler next to the door and got some water. She went back to Oscar and showed him the pills.

"Got some Ibuprofen for the pain and inflammation. I'll help you take them."

Oscar nodded and she put her hand behind his head to help him drink the water. She put the pills to his mouth so he would take them then helped him drink them down with water. He swallowed and laid back down.

"Where were you bitten?" He pointed to his shoulder. "You owe me big time. I had to make an excuse for you about why you abandoned your job and why I would need you to stay up here with me."

"Why?"

"Cuz you never came back from lunch-"

"Why help me?"

Kyle pushed her brown hair behind her ear. "You helped me the other day when I dropped my stuff. Everyone's kind of used to my klutzy behavior, so they sometimes ignore me. I appreciate you helping out."

"Sure thing."

"I'll take a look at your arm."

He nodded and she helped him sit all the way up. She helped him get his shirt off and then threw her hand over her nose.

"Oh my god, that is putrid!" She looked at the pus covered napkins and red, swollen bite wounds that had a slight sheen on them. "What in the hell..."

"I couldn't reach some of them and I didn't have any gauze in the house. I did the best I could with the antibiotic gel..."

"So you put napkins on it?"

"I didn't have anything big enough..."

Kyle made a face and put some gloves on, getting behind him to look at the wound a little better. She also grabbed some tweezers and started working on getting the napkins unstuck from the wounds.