Mates of a Human

Part Five. Chapter Four. Eric

Forcing papers into an already stuffed full file, doesn't work.  Believe me, I was trying my damnedest to prove this wrong at the moment.  This was my 'resolved' complaints file, which I thought should be shredded, but Sylvie wouldn't let me anywhere near the shredder, not after last time.  In my defence, I was taking medication for a fungal infection that my tiger caught from a stray tomcat.  The human part of me reacted badly to the medication and I sort of went a bit cat on all of those strands of paper... they were asking for it!

The other reason, she stated, was in case the letter was needed in the future or it became apparent that it was a repetitive complaint. 

"Sylvie!"

Just as I was about to complain that the file refused to hold any more stupid letters, when I heard a pain filled howl in my ears.  My tiger roared a panicked response.  I tossed the letters onto the floor, leapt over my desk and grabbed my phone. 

"Eric, what is it this time?" She asked, as she entered my office, but by then I had Michael's number dialled and was frantically waiting for him to pick up.  "Eric?" Her voice was more held deep concern.

"Shit," I cursed as there was no answer from the other end.  He must be on shift.  What about Alex then?  But again, there was no response.  I glanced over at my concerned deputy manager, uncertain about what to do next.  And then my phone rang.  It was Michael. "Babe, what is it? What's wrong?"

He let out a long drawn out sigh. "It's Alex," he told me. A small yowl slipped from my lips as morbid thoughts ran across my mind. "It's alright, he's okay, I swear. But can you come and collect him. I'll explain everything when you get here."

I hung up the phone and quickly explained things to Sylvie.  Naturally, she told me to not worry about the gym, she'd take care of things.  "You just focus on Alex."

*****

I tried not to break any traffic laws, it wouldn't do Alex any good if I was held up by the police for reckless driving.  I did speed up while driving through a couple of traffic lights.  Why do they always insist on turning to amber as my baby approaches them?  I swear they are programmed to find any vehicle that happens to be cherry red and change colour to make them stop.  Total conspiracy.

And why was their no decent parking at the hospital?  They were draining my pockets, at least they could provide a spot that isn't like wedging a triangle into a circular space.  I went to fill up the parking meter, only they've suddenly changed them; now I have to pay over the phone.  I mean, are they fucking serious!!  After playing the game 'dial 1 to pay via credit card, 2 to pay via the zen app... etcetera etcetera... I finally am 'rest assured' that my baby won't get clamped and I can focus on collecting Alex.

I rushed to the geriatrics ward and attacked my nails with my teeth as I waited impatiently for the elevator.  Sure I could use the stairs, but I wasn't sure where they were.  Not next to the elevator, that was for sure.  A female doctor got into the elevator with me, but just nodded politely, which I returned, before darting away as the doors opened again.  I quickly picked up Michael's scent, he was in his office.  He was with Alex and a couple of others who I could not place.

"Really, I'm fine," Alex was insisting as I opened the door without knocking.  He was sitting on a chair beside Michael's desk, a cup of tea upon the desk beside him.  His eyes were tinged red.  It looked as if he had been crying at some point.  Michael was hovering over him, wringing his hands and looking panicked.  An elderly woman, who sort of smelled like lavender was sitting on another chair beside him.  And a man a few years older than Michael and myself was taking a blood sample.

"We need to be sure," Michael said to Alex, as he ran his fingers through his black hair.  "That drug incident was only a few weeks ago."

"What drug incident?" The older woman glanced sharply at Alex and Michael with a no nonsense tone as the other doctor carefully placed the vial of blood into a holder before dealing with his equipment and stepping away from Alex.