Oracle

Part 9

Elison was still being gentle with Jaspar as he pulled off his clothes. He took the top of first, Jaspar putting his hands in the air as Elison pulled the material off him. The sensation of the soft material rubbing over his skin, leaving him cold and shivering in the bathroom, was almost enough to make him throw up again. His nerves digging into his stomach tightly. A hand ran over his shoulders, gripping him tightly for a moment.

"Need a moment before the bottoms?" Elison asked in a strange tone.

Jaspar could feel the heat from Elison's body close by, the cold air in the bathroom making a clear difference. He was shaking, both from nerves and from the cold. The smell of sick still faintly in his nose. He shook his head, his hands moving down to push himself out of the sweat pants. Elison didn't stop him, just helping him tug them off finally. Leaving him naked in front of Elison.

"I'm going to pick you up now," Elison told him, hands shifting under his knees again and behind his back to sweep him up. He moved slowly, Jaspar thankful for it because his head was starting to spin. A strange sensation given he could no longer see.

Warm water surrounded him as he was lowered in the still filling tub. Elison let go of him and Jaspar let himself sink into the warm water, taking comfort from the warmth which swallowed him up. Elison's arms wrapped around his chest and forced him to sit up before he could fully submerge himself in water. The water sloshing violently in the tub. Jaspar felt his head land against Elison's chest again.

"Not so fast," Elison said seriously. "We can't get your bandages wet."

"Oh," Jaspar said dumbly. It made sense when he thought about it, it made sense. He didn't have anything in his eye sockets to protect them at the moment and most injuries needed time before they were put into water. He was let go again, Jaspar slowly falling back against the hard surface. His fingers running over the smooth surface he was now sitting in. The bathtub was ceramic, he mused.

He curled his knees up to his chin and hugged his arms around his legs. "I don't suppose you guys are going to take me to a doctor to have my eyes checked out? I'm sure cancer eye patients usually have something put into their sockets," Jaspar said grimly.

Jaspar didn't really want to think about it but was also painfully aware he might be living for a while yet given that he was being treated with care. His stomach churned uneasily again as he thought about what he knew about people who had lost a single eye and the care they needed. He had never heard of people losing both before, but it must have happened to someone. Fate wasn't exactly always kind after all. As the feeling began to make him feel ill again and weak, he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. He would worry about the future as it came. For now, he just needed to work out if he actually had a future to be concerned with.

"I..." Elison hummed thoughtfully. "As far as I know nothing has been planned. I will talk to my superiors about it. I..." he trailed off, the tone changing from thoughtful to regretful and slightly embarrassed. "I am not normally involved with the after care," he admitted, by the sounds of it sitting next to the bath tub. "I think the middle house are normally responsible for all that stuff. I'll make contact with them."

"Involved... I guess not," Jaspar murmured under his breath. It made sense that the man only had one real role in the process. The one who hunted down innocent university graduates to ruin their lives for money. "Was the middle house where I was supposed to go then?"

"Yeah," Elison said in an affirmative tone. "The people there are trained to deal with these situations," he continued, Jaspar not stopping him but not really wanting to know either. "Most have been through it themselves under less kind regimes."

Jaspar bit his lip to stop himself from yelling or making a comment about 'kind' regimes where people had their limbs and organs stolen from them. Anger was starting to build up instead of fear but anger wouldn't be helpful at that moment. "Will I end there if the vision I had was a fluke?" Jaspar asked, clenching his fists gently.