Akina's Reflection

VI

"Ahh....Ahhhhh..."

"Why are you just....staring at me Sayoki....Help an injured guy.... geez.."

Aubrey winced in pain, I just stood in the doorway.

"I think I should call 911." I finally got the courage to say. Even laying on the ground, bleeding out, Aubrey glared at me.

"Do not....Call... that number..." He said.

"Let's play a little game then, huh? You want to be a doctor when you graduate, right?"

"A pharmacist, actually... Aubrey, don't have the idea I think you have..."

"Ever played the game 'Operation?'"

"Aubrey...I'm dialing. I can't even see why you're so calm!"

"Doesn't matter! I'm going to die before the damned paramedics come, pull the darn bullet out!"

I stared at him. A lot of blood has pooled around Aubrey from this conversation. He won't make it if I called.

"Okay then, but I don't have any tools." I said, trying to be as calm as Aubrey in this situation.

"I have some tongs in my clothes drawer, bottom shelf." Aubrey said, before wincing in pain. "Get your first aid kit too, I know you have one."

Following my roommate's orders, I went to his bottom shelf. Sure enough, beneath some clothes, there was a pair of tongs. I collected them, then went for my first aid kit. I also grabbed scissors.

"I hope you don't like this plaid shirt a lot, even though you have several million of them." I said, cutting his clothes away to reveal the wound, a gunshot to his lower left side, maybe two inches under where his rib cage should end. Aubrey did not say anything back to me, he just kept still and paid mind to his breathing.

I cleaned the hole best I could, then rolled up the remains of Aubrey's shirt.

"I don't have any pain killers, so bite down on this, okay?" I said, trying to be calm. Aubrey nodded, and clenched the rolled up cloth in his mouth.

Then I pushed the tongs into the wound. Aubrey cried out in pain. I carefully used the tongs to feel around for the bullet. Clamping the tongs down, I grabbed on to something small and hard, the bullet.

I slowly pulled the tongs out of the still bleeding hole in Aubrey, and let the bullet drop into my hand. Aubrey pulled the rolled up cloth out of his mouth.

"Quickly..." He said, quieter than before. "Needle...thread.. They're in my desk drawer..."

I nodded, and headed to Aubrey's desk once again. This time, I opened his drawer, and dug around through it.

"Ow." I pricked myself on the needle, where a droplet of blood was forming. The needle was stabbed through the thread roll. I got back to Aubrey, who had leaned himself against the wall. He was holding his wound shut best he could. I passed him the needle and thread, after pushing the thread through the needle.

I watched him in silence, as he calmly sewed the hole shut, only pausing every time he stuck the needle into himself.

"How could you be so calm, even after being shot and almost bleeding out?" I asked Aubrey. After a few hours, he was able to walk himself to his bed, where he laid now, fiddling with Stybba's front legs.

"I have experienced worse." Aubrey said simply, not facing me. He put Stybba down, on top of the fresh bandages I wrapped around Aubrey's waist for good measure.

"I don't agree with Charles much, but I have been through a lot."

"Can you tell me? I won't tell anyone else if you don't want me to."