The Doctor

Chapter 13

For three days, Albina just lay in her bed and said nothing; she refused to eat or even sneak out of the hallway every once in a while. Every time she went to sleep, she would get nightmares of Ames being tortured by Smok performing surgery, disfiguring his face by his electric tooth or using his fang-like teeth to bite his head off. She would also have nightmares of the dead guards being killed by Ames and Thomas throwing her into an empty void. Albina got even sicker: her scar got even itchier, she felt unusually hot, she vomited twice and she felt pain in her stomach and chest. Her chronic headaches would sometimes turn on and off, add to the pain of her nightmares, and wake her up in the middle of the night.

She had lost two friends: one had handed himself over to Smok and the other had blamed her for Ames's death and cast her out. She felt so alone and empty; there was no one at her side anymore. Albina did not want to pray or eat or think but to just fade away. She wanted to put herself out of this misery and leave this cruel world. No one wanted her in this world anymore so Albina saw no point to living anymore. Rejected by her family and friends, she felt like there was no one who would love or accept her anymore. Albina felt like even God hated her and rejected her despite the fact that God loves everyone. This world was cruel.

The teenager wished she wasn't here in the first place, that way none of this would happen. There would be no mysterious illness from Smok, there would be no way that she would be getting her organs illegally sold to strangers and there would be no way that Ames would have to risk his life for her. She wouldn't feel the heavy burden of being responsible for this whole escape plan to free all the patients. If she wasn't stuck in this place, she would not have to be responsible for everyone's life if her plan failed. Also, she wouldn't have to get recurring nightmares of Ames's torture and of Smok. Since Thomas cast Albina out of his life, she wondered if she was still part of the escape plan, probably not.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the banging on the window of her door. At first, Albina thought that it was Smok and she wondered why he wanted to start her appointment so early. But it wasn't Smok or Snynnister, to her surprise it was Thomas. His face showed no sadness, or anger or cheerfulness; in fact, he was showing no emotion at all. Albina felt like she hasn't moved in half a century so her muscles ached everywhere. She slowly dragged herself out of bed and shuffled to the door. At first, she hesitated but then she pushed the metal doors open and unlocked the metal chains. It was strange of Thomas to come to Albina like this, she wondered whether he came back to rant some more about his brother's death.

"Welcome," she greeted him with a weak smile after she unlocked her door.

"Good afternoon," he greeted without a tone as he stepped into the room. After he came in, she slid the chains back into place. Thomas tried to make eye contact with Albina but she avoided it and chose to stare at the ceiling. She did not want him here not because she was angry at him but because she wanted to avoid an awkward conversation.

"Listen," he spoke "I am very sorry that I blamed you for Ames's disappearance, I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I didn't talk to you for a couple days because I wanted to be alone so that I can mourn for my brother. I am honestly sorry that I took my anger out on you and that I slapped you...and for all the cruel things that I said. I was so devastated that my brother, my only brother disappeared and I don't know what the doctor is doing to him. I am also angry at him because...because...because...I told him very clearly...to stay in his room and not go anywhere...and that he did not need to help us. That idiot did not listen and he got taken away."

A single tear was streaming down Thomas's face like a raindrop on a window. Then came another teardrop and another and another one on his already red cheeks. He was trembling terribly and clenching his fists tightly. Albina's face dropped from fear to silent sadness. She leaned toward Thomas, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer to her. Although she didn't like her sister very much, she felt great pain for this man who had loved his brother very much. Even though she knew that the two brothers for a brief time, she loved them both like they were her own brothers.