The doctor's heart and stomach dropped instantly when he saw his worst last memory all over again. He felt the warm drops fly and cover him. His face turned a sickening white with red spots, and he dropped to the ground on his knees, next to Chan.
Chan was gasping for air, his face twisted in agonizing pain. The doctor regained his professional atmosphere, and investigated the scenario. All of Chan's left leg was gone, and a chunk out of his right calf was missing too.
The doctor felt a warm liquid flow around his knees, and he realized Chan was loosing blood fast. "Hang in there, okay? I'm going to wrap your wounds, and I'm rushing you to the hospital, okay?" He got a whimper of pain as a response. "keep breathing Chan. Stay with me!"
He grabbed some giant leaves and firmly wrapped the wounds. He took some vines and wrapped the bandages tightly so they wouldn't unravel. Then he picked Chan up gently, and ran out of the woods, heading for the hospital.
~~~~~
He arrived at the hospital eight minutes later, completely out of breath, and the tendonitis in his legs throbbing. He told the secretary to let him into the operation room, and he ordered his nurses to clean the wounds and prepared him for urgent surgery.
The doctor rushed to the bathroom and washed every inch of him as fast as he could. He then threw on his white operating coat, mask, and hair cover.
He rushed into the operation room, and pulled on his blue, latex gloves. He rushed to the side of the operation table, and looked onto Chan's unconscious face. He took out his appropriate tools, and started the surgery.
~~~~~
An hour later the doctor was finished. He instructed the secretary to call the matron over, and she was there at Chan's bedside as soon as they brought him out of surgery. Her face was tear stricken, and had a questioning look on her face.
As soon as the doctor was out of his coat and mask, he got to the matron in the waiting area. He took her into his office, and then they were able to talk.
"How did this happen?!" She asked ecstatically.
"We visited his old home, and we were taking a shortcut through the jungle.....I should have never let him in there! I wasn’t thinking about the dangers! The only danger that occurred to me then was a mosquito!" He said, on the verge of tears. "It's all my fault...."
"It's no one's fault..." The matron said. "Will he be okay?"
"I don't know....I performed the surgery like any others. If he doesn't get an infection, he might live. He only lost one leg, and I wrapped his leg to hopefully keep the blood in..." The doctor grasped the bridge of his nose. "I hope he'll be alright."
The matron and the doctor sat in the office, and wept for the sake of Chan.
~~~~~
When a nurse popped her head into his office to tell him that he was conscious, both the matron and the doctor jumped up and rushed to his room.
When they got there, Chan was sitting up, looking very sickly. "Doctor, what happened?" He asked.
"You stepped on a landmine, Chan. You lost a leg, and have severe injuries on the other. " The doctor replied grimly.
Chan looked down at his pale hands in his lap. His hands match the bed sheets in almost the same color tone. "Will he be able to play tomorrow?" He asked.
The doctor replied, "I hope so, but we'll have to see how you're doing in the morning." Chan nodded, and lay back down. He soon fell back asleep.
"Let's leave him for now, he needs to sleep." The doctor told the matron.
"I suppose I need to head back to the orphanage now...I'll check back in in the morning, alright?"
The doctor nodded, and saw her off. He then went into his office, looked at all of his scheduled appointments, sank into the nearest chair, and held his head in his hands, sobbing.
