The Taken

10

"You're not gonna want to look," Clarence started.

"Believe me I've seen worse shit," Veronica explained.

Clarence stifled his breath, trying his best to relax himself for the stitches. "Well good for you then," He said, relinquishing his dominance of being more street tough, not wishing to further converse with a senseless brute. He didn't want to help her. He barely even got to understand where she came from, or who she was. He had to heal her nonetheless.

He had already wiped away the mass of crusted blood and pus from her wound and thigh. Clarence started to rub a numbing cream around her stab in circles before cleaning it with antiseptic, being careful and gentle.

"That feels kind of nice," Veronica laughed.

There was a long silence.

"It'll take about a minute before it's totally numb," Clarence said bluntly.

Veronica gave a loud sigh through her mouth, letting the carbon dioxide flow out of her lungs lazily.

"You guys have a pretty nice place here," Veronica said, breaking the awkward silence. "Why are you helping me anyways?"

"If it was my choice, I wouldn't be. But I was given orders," Clarence said.

"Uh-huh. Don't you get tired, y'know, getting bossed around?" Veronica asked, slightly teasing Clarence.

"I have quite a bit of freedom you know." Clarence sat on a single cushioned armchair across from Veronica who had her arms folded.

"Oh, I'll bet. What do you even do here? Are you like the only medic? Does it get boring?" Veronica seemed to be asking too many questions for Clarence's liking. It made his head spin. He never enjoyed talking with others, always made his stomach queasy and his brain lightheaded.

"Are you sure you're even twelve?" Clarence asked with slight scorn.

Veronica laughed, "I'm fifteen, dude, but thanks for the compliment."

Clarence rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze to a set of books, trying to ignore her as she gave the snarkiest laugh he'd ever heard.

"It should be done now,"

"Nah, buddy. The pain is still there."

"The pain is placebic," Clarence said, getting up and readying himself for what was to come.

"The hell does that mean?"

"The pain is just in your head is what I mean. Now can we just be quiet?"

"Fine,"

"Thank you," Clarence said with a sigh of relief.

Clarence analyzed his set of tools on a small silver tray, placed on a tiny coffee table in front of them.

Clarence braced and crouched in front of Veronica. He slipped his hands into baby blue latex gloves and carefully pinched the needle with his thumb and forefinger.

"Okay," Clarence muttered with a shaky voice, trying to stop his hands from trembling. Clarence gave out a big exhale of air, releasing the built-up energy of nervousness in his system.

Clarence cupped Veronica's thigh, gently sinking the needle deep into her skin over and over and threading the stitch above her wound, tightening together the two walls of mutilated flesh.

Veronica grunted not feeling a thing but was slightly disturbed at the sight, it was different when you were the one getting sewn together like a doll.

"Weird," Veronica said in awe.

"Pretty much," Clarence said with an exhausted sigh.

He finished the stitches and cut the leftover thread, and wiped off some excess blood.

"I'm gonna give you some light painkillers, just take three today and two for the rest of the week. Make sure the stitches stay dry."

Clarence seemed to know everything about this surgery stuff, he was a weird kid.

"So when do I take this thing off?" Veronica asked, clearly irritated with the stitches already.

"Since it's such a small wound, I'd say two weeks tops,"

"Two weeks! Won't the stitches like mesh with my skin or something?" Veronica said, a little too loudly.

Her words hurt his ears causing a sudden wave of an intense migraine.

"The stitches dissolve. But can you please be quiet, you're hurting my ears," Clarence said assertively and yet in pain.

"Whatever you say, Doc."