The white hot pain tore through his thin body making him want to scream his throat raw, but when he opened his mouth all that emerged was a pitiful moan. Nano clutched at his stomach feeling sweaty skin and gauze under his fingers. Slowly he allowed his eyes to open. He was in a room. His room. Someone sat in front of him but he was unable to make out who.
"This is going to hurt. A lot. Just try to lay still." Said a familiar, soothing voice. He felt the gauze being unwound from his bare chest and watched as it piled up on the stone floor. He looked down as best he could and groaned at what he saw. A long black chunk of stone sharpened into a thin arrow protruded from his stomach. Just seeing it made him want to puke. The person in the room held a wet rag to his lips.
"Bite down on this. It will help." Reluctantly Nano opened his mouth and bit down lightly on the soft clothe allowing the water to drip down his throat. "I'm going to pull this arrow out." The voice said.
"Hmph" Nano felt his eyes widen and he struggled to scoot away from the person, sending a fresh wave of pain washing over him.
"I promise it will only hurt for a second. Trust me Talon, it needs to come out." The figure grabbed his hand and gave it a slight squeeze. Blinking a few times the fog cleared slightly and he saw John's kind eyes looking into his own. Relief overpowered the pain and he nodded that he was ready for John to take out the arrow.
John got a tight grip on one end of the stone pausing to look into Talon's young but wise black eyes full of pain. He couldn't stand seeing one of his students in pain. They were his family. Everything he did was for them. That's why he needed to pull out the arrow.
Slowly he counted to three in his head before giving the shaft of the arrow a slight tug. Talon let out a muffled scream as he bit down hard on the wet rag. The arrow didn't come very smoothly. A closer inspection revealed small barbs along the body of the arrow. Sighing John grabbed hold of the arrow again. It needed to come out. Another tug. Another muffled scream. Wiping sweat from his forehead John inspected his work. The arrow was more than halfway out, one last pull and it would probably be all the way out.
"Be strong it's almost out." He said, more to himself than the boy. Every scream ripped deep gashes into his heart. Seeing Talon, the youngest and kindest of the kids, in this much pain killed him. Wiping the gushing blood away from the opening of the wound he again took hold of the blood slick arrow. One last pull was all it would take. As gently as he could he tugged at the arrow. It slid smoothly into his hands leaving a gaping wound in the boys side.
Blood streamed out onto the bed. John doctored as best he could, trying to stop the blood flow enough to start stitching it close. The double pointed arrow lay on the side table, momentarily forgotten.
