Off Planet (Asterism Chronicles Volume One)

The Doctor

I awoke to someone standing over me. Startled I jumped up, the pain in my side increasing. I looked again at the man. He was old, in his seventies, but he didn't seem like it. His shoulders were strong and his stare was hard.

"Lay back down." He spoke with the voice of a young man.

"Who are you?" I said trying to stand up, my stomach churning and my head pounding.

"It's fine, Rae. He's the doctor I told you about. He needs to make sure your fever goes down before he operates."

"Operates?" I asked calming down.

"That bullet is poisoning you. You should be dead." He pushed me to lay on my back.

Shocked, I lay there while Jack sat next to me.

"You scared us." He said placing a cold rag on my head.

"Why?" I asked.

"I thought you were going to die. You started talking about how you wanted to see your mom. And you started to talk to her while you were unconscious. You sounded like you wanted to die."

Confused at my lack of memory I tried to look back on the previous night. The last thing I remember was Jack giving me the medicine. Had I really talked about her? 

"Did I really? I only remember taking the medicine."

Jack shook his head yes as I closed my eyes to find the missing memories. The doctor put a thermometer in my mouth as I opened them again. He pulled it back out and showed that I had a 102 degree fever.

"Your fever has gone down some. And if you really saw her you could have been dead for a couple minutes and kept talking to her when you came back." The doctor spoke as Jack looked at him shocked. "I've seen that a lot, but the person usually didn't stay alive for long."

I felt my chest tighten and anger grow. Breathing heavily I spoke "Why did you have to tell me that? I don't want to die!"

Jack grabbed my arm as I started to get up, still breathing heavily causing my side to pulse and my hands shaking I smoothed down my hair repeatedly. "It's okay." He spoke softly, "we have a doctor here." 

"You're having a panic attack, calm down" The doctor handed me a small pill. "Here, this will calm you down."

I stood up and started walking back and forth as Jack handed me a water cup. I swallowed the pill and waited.Jack walked with me until I had calmed down and sat beside me on the bed. The doctor left the room and locked the door behind him. Jack put his arm around my shoulders as my breathing slowed to normal. As that happened my headache came back, pounding every couple seconds. 

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." I said softly.

"It's okay, but you scared us. And you started telling your mom about us, which scared us even more."

"What did I say?" My head has stopped pounding but was still a dull pain. Jack looked at me with an embarrassed face and removed his arm from my shoulders. "What?"

"You told her about how you met me, and about your dad. You also told her how much you love Martha and Alex, and about going to the pirate ship. And you mentioned that you got shot, but you said that it was your fault not mine."

"It isn't your fault." I told him, his face still red. "What else?"

He waited a few seconds to finish, "You said that your living with an, and I quote, 'amazing person who you've come to love.' And you said you were leaving the planet"

Embarrassed I covered my face. Did I really say that? Jack sat there until I uncovered my face and looked at him. "I don't know what to say."

Jack started to speak as the doctor came back in the room, carrying scalpels a gauze pads. He placed them on a tray and put on gloves. "Your fever isn't dangerous anymore, we need to do this before it goes higher."

Jack stood up as the doctor handed me a hair net. I put it on as he pushed me to lay back down. Picking up a knife he started towards me.

"Wait, your just going to start while I'm awake?!" I asked sitting up, pushing my shirt back down.

"I have to, there's nothing to give you. That pill you took will help you fall asleep."

Jack stood between me and the doctor, "lets wait til she goes to sleep. She's gone through enough pain with this while awake."

The doctor put the knife down and left the room mumbling.  Jack turned to me and helped me to lay back down to try and sleep. I lay there with my eyes closed waiting for the pill to take affect. Jack sat beside me and stroked my head silently as I waited. I opened my eyes as Jack started singing softly. Again it was Careless Whisper.

"How do you know that song?" I asked, sleep coming over me.

"Erin found an old mp3 player and that was my favorite song on it." He said as he continued.

"Mine too." I said falling asleep. "My mom would sing it to me."