If We Ever Meet Again.

Chapter 2

{{Neil's POV}}

I sighed so deeply I thought my lungs would pop out of my mouth. Today had been very, very taxing. I came into my office and was greeted with a whole pile of patient reports to file, followed by a lady who had suddenly gone into cardiac arrest. She survived the attack, just about, but it's not fun to deal with that first thing in the morning. Then, I spent all afternoon with a patient who was a teenage boy who'd been plagued with lethargy, headaches and nosebleeds,  who'd been diagnosed over and over again with anaemia, but he was actually suffering from "the big C", and who I had to pass on the message to from the oncologist that he had six months at best. Just when I thought I could leave for the evening, there was a knock on my door, followed by a prim looking nurse entering, practically unannounced.

"Doctor, you have another patient. An emergency..." She showed the patients into the room, and once she was behind their back, she lowered her voice and spoke as she turned away. "Apparently." She closed the door as she left, leaving me in the room with a tall man and his wife who was snivelling, along with their daughter who was about five years old.

"How can I help you then?" I asked quietly, moving a few papers off my desk and into a drawer, since I knew having a thousand files on a doctors desk could be intimidating.

"It's my daughter, Alice, I think she's broken her knee!" The mother flapped, lifting her daughter up onto the medical bed. She obviously hadn't broken her knee, else she would be wailing, not simply a little runny-nosed. Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to calm their nerves a little. So, I give my friendly smile at the three, pushing the wheely chair that I sat on over to the girl, grabbing a couple of things out of a drawer on my way.

Firstly, I just assessed the wound, which really was nothing more than a graze. A little nasty graze yes, but not a broken knee.

"You've come a bit of a cropper haven't you? How did this happen then, hm?" I said with a little grin up at the girl, hearing her quickly start to babble.

"Well, I was playing in the yard with Fifi - She's my puppy - and we were chasing around and I tripped over her favourite stick, I couldn't see it under the snow..." As she was talking, on and on like young children do, I flexed her knee which made her wince since it moved the wound, but nothing else. If she'd broken it, then she would be howling, so I didn't even bother checking her reflexes with the tiny hammer. But, she still continued on, "And I cut my knee and it bled and bled and bled, mummy nearly called an ambulance!" She cried melodramatically, making me chuckle a little bit as I started to clean the graze with a little antiseptic.

"This might sting... But I have to agree, dogs leaving their sticks everywhere is a pain. I have a dog named Puck, named after a magical sprite, which is a bit like an elf." I chatted back with her, disposing of the cotton wool ball I used to clean her knee off, before bandaging it a little. I secured it with a safety pin before returning to my desk and getting the bowl of candy I have for brave kids like her.

"Here you go, have one of these. The best ones are the red ones, they taste like strawberries." I say with a little smile, before turning to her parents. "No break at all, she'll be running around again tomorrow. Just make sure to keep the graze clean, change the bandage every other day and wash it carefully with saltwater." I nodded once to finish my sentence, helping Alice down from the high table-bed. Her mother thanked me and her father shook my hand, which was a little odd since I only gave her a bandage, but I wouldn't say no to someone's politeness.

I did sigh in relief as they left the room, since now it was officially past the end of my shift, I wouldn't be lumbered with any more worried parents or dying people. I organised all my papers into my full-to-the-brim briefcase, just about managing to squeeze it shut. I took my coat off the coat rack in the corner, slipping it on over my shoulders and a scarf around my neck, packing my pipe with tobacco before I picked up my briefcase to leave, walking out with it balanced in my teeth.

I hopped into the car and my stomach growled. Did I have the energy to cook? Absolutely not. I lit my pipe as I pondered where to go for some dinner, before deciding that food at Mollies Diner would be my best bet. People came from all over the country to Mollies, usually on a Friday like today and especially at the end of terms, also like today. It made me think, what if I could find Todd there? That was basically impossible, but I hoped and hoped... I had no idea where he even was. He could be in another country completely for all I hoped, but it was a one in a million chance that I didn't hesitate to take, since the food at Mollies was excellent too. I drove off along the familiar roads, puffing away at my pipe, only driving for about ten minutes before I parked in the near full car park. I turned my head to the right to look down the road, smiling a little.

"The road to Welton Academy over there... It's only two minutes away, it wouldn't hurt to go and visit the old cave again."

Truth be told I visited there often, and I thought about the cozy little place as I walked into the diner, sitting at a booth near the window. I didn't change anything in the cave, I didn't move "the God of the cave", or the broken up bottle, both of which remained there after the ten years I spent in school. I did, however take Todd's discarded coat. He must have taken off his own to wear mine that I gave him, and I thought it was quite nice of him, like he was leaving it there for me, almost.

I gazed around the busy restaurant in mild hope that Todd would be there. It was to no avail though, and the only person who made any contact with me was the waitress who took my order. She wandered to my table and asked in a monotone, obviously tired of repeating the little spiel to every single table of customers.

"Hi, welcome to Mollies. Can I take your order please, Sir?"

"Uh, yeah... I'll just have the soup please, and some tea. Black tea, no milk or sugar, thanks." I said, handing the menu back to her, which she took almost in a snatchy way, but I wouldn't put it past her, she was working here because she had to, not because she wanted to and I almost knew the feeling. Sure, I'd grown on being a doctor, but it didn't give me the same joy as acting. Realistically though, it would be difficult for me to make a living in the drama career line, but I did enjoy doing it in my spare time! I was learning lines for a play now actually - Macbeth. It probably wasn't fair on the rest of the acting group how I was almost always cast as main part (Yes, I was cast as Macbeth), but once they had overcome and jealousy they were generally glad.

Once my food was delivered to my table, I took out my script from my briefcase and lay it out on the table as I ate, eating pretty quickly since I was completely ravenous. Once I'd finished the soup, I knocked the tea back quickly, excited to go to the cave and leap about and practice my lines, rather than having to sit and mumble them to myself in the middle of a diner, gaining quite a few odd looks. I managed to close my briefcase once more, with some difficulty, and lift myself out of my seat, leaving the money for my food and a generous tip on the table. I carried my script along, so I didn't have to battle with my bag much more and left swiftly to the car, making haste towards the cave that was down the road. I hummed softly to myself as I drove, some of the music that the orchestra was doing for the play, since I never usually got very good signal for the radio to work in this area.

Once I reached the path, I gazed around smiling at the familiar place. However, my eyes widened in shock as I saw a car... a bright red Ford Mustang to be specific. Now, I don't have a massive interest in cars, but I remembered something to do with this exact type... Todd wanted one. He said he wouldn't drive any other type of car, in fact. Wether I was being hopeful out of my mind or not, I leapt out of my car as soon as I had it parked and peeked into the window of the red car... is that... Is that my coat? My old coat that I gave to him?...

I froze for a second, before running like a madman towards the cave, however, stopping quite a few metres away, since I hadn't time for much exercise in the past few years. I walked more slowly, heading down to the mouth of the cave from the right, I couldn't quite see inside of it. I did however hear a soft voice from inside, which seemed a little... scared? Hm, no... Unsure, more like.

"Neil?..." It called, barely audibly. The figure of a person stepped up out of the darkness, and his features were slowly made clear by the moonlight and I could barely say a word. Once he saw me properly too, he seemed awestruck as well, and for a few moments we both just stood, staring in awe at each other.

"Todd?..."