Survival

•Two•

^Evelynne^

A couple days went by before anyone else came into the room. No one brought food or water and he grew hungry. The only sound besides Arlo's growling stomach were the quiet humming of machines. He looked around the room for the hundredth time, and saw nothing and nobody. He was freezing, hungry, and just plain angry. Finally, Arlo decided to do something about it. "Anybody there?" he croaked.

Silence.

"Please! Someone answer me!" Arlo begged, pulling on his restraints desperately.

The only sound was the low hum of machines in the background and the occasional flicker of the florescent lights.

'I'm going to die.' Arlo thought to himself. He sighed mentally. There was nothing he could do about it.

Another day slowly went by. Finally, the metal door creaked open, sending a gust of warmer air into the sterile room. The same woman walked in, staring at her clipboard again.

Arlo shivered slightly, trying not to seem weak. "What do you want?" He asked weakly.

She ignored him and kept writing something down on the papers.

As his stomach growled loudly, Arlo flinched. It hurt, but he didn't say anything for awhile.

Then, no longer able to contain himself, he croaked, "Can I have something to eat or drink?"

She clicked her pen off and went over to the table that held the medical instruments and other various things. Her slender hands rooted through the items, looking for something. Still, she ignored him, intent on her task.

"Please!" Arlo begged, forgetting about trying to act tough.

She sighed exasperatedly, turning to face him, "Calm down." Then, she left the room for a couple of minutes.

When she returned, there was a sterile tray in her hands, and a plate consisting of a sandwich and a cup of water. She set it down on the table full of items and pulled it over to him, "If you answer one question, I'll give you this food."

Arlo looked skeptically at the lady. "I might be able to. What do you want to know?" Inside, Arlo felt a nagging doubt begin to grow slowly.

"How did you come to have that object inside you?"

"What object?" Arlo looked confused, but his nagging fear told him that he was right.

"You know what I'm talking about." She replied crossly. "The thing I removed from your stomach."

"What?"

"How did you come into possession of the object?" She repeated, slightly cross.

"I don't know what object," putting an emphasis on object, "you're talking about!" Arlo declared desperately.

"Fine. Then no food." She stood up and headed for the door, the tray of food in her hand.

"No! Please! I honestly don't know what object you're talking about!" Arlo insisted.

She snorted and turned around, "Seriously?" She pulled out the object from her pocket, holding it up for him to see, "Tell me how you got this in your stomach and then I'll let you eat."

"I don't know! The only thing I remember is that I was told to give it to someone. I swear I don't remember anything else!"

"Who were you to give it to?"

"Someone by the name of, of...," Arlo faltered, then continued, "Oh yeah, Bloodyhand. I was supposed to give it to someone named Bloodyhand." He looked at the sandwich greedily and asked, "Can I have the sandwich now?"

She rolled her eyes, "Fine." She set the tray down and pulled off the straps holding him down. He sat up slowly. Then, she handed him the tray. Arlo snatched the sandwich quickly, then devoured it in the blink of an eye. He then grabbed the water and drained it as fast as the sandwich had gone down.

"Hungry much?" She muttered to herself.

"Could I possibly get one more?" Arlo asked cautiously, not wanting to anger the woman.

"No. Sorry, that's all I can give you." She took the empty tray and cup from his hands and set them down.

"Wait. What's your name?" He asked curiously.

She raised an eyebrow, "Evelynne."

"Okay, thank you." Arlo said. He laid his head back, then asked, "Do I have to get tied up again?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Evelynne nodded, "But you can have a moment to rest first. I'll be right back." She took the tray out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Arlo sighed as she left the room. The freedom felt so good, and he loathed to have it taken away, but he didn't want to risk getting put right back in here or worse.

Evelynne came back quickly, "Come on now. Lay down." She waited expectantly by the table where Arlo was sitting. Arlo slowly laid his head back down, shifted around to get comfortable, then laid still. Evelynne wasted no time and retied the straps tight. She glanced at his face, seemingly conflicted or worried.

Arlo's face dropped. "Okay..." All of the sudden, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He raised his head and looked down and saw that the incision was bleeding badly. Arlo felt himself himself getting dizzy, then he passed out.

She reached over and placed the back of her hand on his forehead, feeling for a temperature. "Goodness, can't even withstand simple procedure." She carefully finished cleaning his stitches and pulled a nearby blanket over him.