The Doctor's Assistant

Mortality

I discovered a new ability while walking toward the front door with Madds. It was the ability to move as slowly as possible, only going a few inches per second. Every bone in my body was telling me no. My brain was telling me no. Time stopped around me and the world was frozen in place.

Alright, alright, I'm exaggerating a little bit. Fine, a lot, but if you were about to do what I'm going to do you'd feel the same way.

We made it to the door a few minutes after the first knock. Madds was mildly irritated by my snail-like speed, it showed on his face, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he made me open the door and greet the volunteer.

Behind the rotting door was a red haired boy with blue eyes and a frown. He was skinny, shivering, tears tracking down his cheeks, and looked to be around my age. His face had a look of sadness on it. The moment he saw me, however, his expression changed to that of confusion. "Am-m...am I at the right place?" His voice was cracking a bit.

"Yes. My name is Elliot, I'm the doctor's assistant. Come in, volunteers are always welcome," I said, echoing Madds' greeting from before. The boy was reluctant at first, he seemed to be fixated on my eyes, yet stepped inside anyway.

As I shut the door, the boy introduced himself. "My name is Jared. Nice to meet you."

'Heh, give it an hour, it won't be nice then.' I thought while turning to see Madds talking with the victim...I mean, volunteer.

Formalities done, Jared looked thrown when Madds asked him to sit down by the steel table whenever he felt ready to have his hour-long conversation. Instead of expressing his surprise in words, Jared took a quick walk around the room, never looking up once to see what was on the walls or acknowledge the lab in the back. Madds stayed silent the entire time.

After coming full circle, the strange red-head said that he was ready to talk. The doctor gave me a signal to get some chairs. I remembered their location, so finding them was easy. After dragging the chairs over, Madds and Jared took their seats. I went to get the tea kettle and cups, but the doctor shook his head no and instructed that I sit down. Taking my seat next to Madds, the conversation began.

The doctor started with the same boring questions he asked before, slowly making his way toward more serious material. Jared gave timid, shy answers, bouncing in place a lot. I learned that he came here because he couldn't live up to his parents' expectations or deal with the amount of pressure they were placing on him to succeed, and, rather than be shunned for his imperfections, Jared would rather die. It made me sick to hear that, as well as pissed off that two people would pressure their kid to this point. Madds seemed unfazed by Jared's reason, he probably heard similar accounts of the same thing happening dozens of times before.

Questions and answers soon came to a halt. A strange silence filled the dim room, lasting for only a minute, but it was long enough to make me feel very uncomfortable. In an attempt to end the lack of sound, I got up and told Jared to lay down on the table whenever he was ready. He nodded, got out of his seat, and climbed onto the cold steel, slowly lying down, flinching from the cold metal touching his skin. I heard Madds pulling the chairs back to their spot before asking me to step out of the way to adjust Jared's straps. As each strap was pulled tighter, I could see the fear in the boy's eyes increase. He was scared out of his mind, terrified of what he had gotten himself into, yet didn't say anything. His already wide eyes widened further when I pulled out the anesthesia machine, placed the mask over his face, and told him to take deep breathes. Jared complied anyway, breathing in and out until his eyes finally shut.

"Good work, Elliot," said Madds. "All you need to do now is snap his neck. I trust that you are able to perform the kill correctly."

I stood there in shock for a second, wondering if I heard the doctor correctly, before shaking my head no rapidly. I straight up refused to do it, expressing my unease in a number of ways. Madds insisted, ignoring my pleas. He gently nudged me toward the sleeping boy, and when I was close enough, placed my hands on either side of the boy's head in an attempt to guide me.