Jesse in The Refuge

Chapter 2: The Doctor

Jesse needed to figure out what to do. He couldn't just lie on the forest floor in pain forever. Fighting through the agony, he found a sturdy branch that had fallen from one of the trees and, putting almost all of his weight on it, used it to excruciatingly hobble through the forest, dragging his leg along. An eternity later, he made it to town where there was a doctor's office. Even though it was nearly dark he got many stares from curious and concerned passerby. Mothers turned their children away while mouths gaped and men just looked. Sweeping their eyes over him, lingering on his various injuries, longest on his mangled leg and the tree branch he was clutching in order to stay mostly upright. He could tell the sight blanched the faces of a few onlookers. Jesse didn't like the attention, he always tried to blend in, to not be noticed, lest someone recognize him. It was very unlikely for that to happen, he didn't really talk to people, but he kept his head down anyways.

Jesse struggled the last few feet to the door of the doctor's and knocked once he had finally made it. The door opened to a young man in his late twenties who looked very shocked by the sight at his door but pulled it open and helped Jesse to a table to lie down on. The office was a small room with a large table in the middle, parallel to the door, which had a window on either side. The rest of the room was lined with shelves and a few smaller tables and chairs. On the far wall, there was an opening to a staircase which led up to the doctor's apartment. He carefully helped drag Jesse up onto the large table where he could lay down while the doctor retrieved a thin pillow. Then the doctor began regarding Jesse's many wounds. He lifted Jesse's shirt to look at his bleeding arm and cracked ribs. Jesse winced as he touched a large wound on his head. Lastly, he peered at Jesse's injured leg, a look of great concern on his face.

"Don't cut it off!" Jesse begged as the doctor scrutinized his leg. He hoped, maybe, it would heal, with the help of the spring's magic, but no amount of magic could grow back a leg. "Well, alright then." The doctor sighed, "I'm not sure how much I can do to heal the bone but hopefully I can at least get it looking nicer and feeling less painful." Jesse smiled meagerly, "Yes, yes, that would be good!" The doctor introduced himself as Bradley and then began gathering his tools and several glass bottles filled with liquid, talking as he did. "How did you manage to do this to yourself, young man?" Jesse froze, he had been in so much agony and too preoccupied with getting to town that he hadn't come up with a story. Oh, why had he come here! He knew he couldn't die and he could wear out the pain, maybe. Well, hopefully, the truth would be so unbelievable that he could get away with it. What even was the truth, though? It had all seemed like a blur. "Uh, lightning hit a tree I was sitting in, during the storm, and, um, I--I think I fell out." Jesse couldn't see his face but he was sure the doct-Bradley looked shocked. It seemed like he had decided to not ask any more questions about the subject though and then, after a while, he just asked Jesse's name. He started to say 'Jesse Tuck' but stopped himself. This struggling, miserable, crippled thing he was now wasn't Jesse Tuck, fearless and spunky, it was something--someone else entirely. He racked his brain, trying to find the right name. What about Charlie? That was his brother's middle name. Then, maybe his own, Morris, for the last name. "Uh, Charlie Morris, sir" He didn't like the words but it was definitely better than 'Jesse Tuck.' "Well, alright Charlie, I'm going to get to work now."

Jesse stared at the ceiling, clenching his jaw and balling his fists, while Bradley stopped the bleeding on his arm and leg, then got to work on his burns. He put a mixture of oils on some thin, layered fabric and carefully laid it on his leg, cooling the burns. Then, Bradley gave Jesse a wad of thick fabric to bite down on saying "Now what I'm going to do next is going to hurt quite a bit." Then he started pulling on Jesse's leg. Jesse yelled and bit into the wad in his mouth as Bradley tugged on his leg, carefully trying to pull it straight. The pain grew and grew until Jesse was screaming and crying and clutching the table with white knuckles, scarcely breathing. Then, Jesse passed out into a comfortable oblivion.