My Dear Doctor

Chapter III

Michael gasped in pain. The wound was not very deep, yet it hurt terribly. He forced himself to his feet so he could go inside to dress the wound.
      His side stretched as he stood, sending a new wave of pain through his side. Peering through the window in the door to make sure the front room was empty, he entered and snuck his was upstairs to the bathroom. Other than a close call with his mom nearly spotting him, he made it t0 the bathroom undetected.
      In the bathroom he opened the cabinet and grabbed the antiseptic and some bandages. The plague doctor outfit flowed away from the site of the stab wound in a rather unnatural looking fashion as Michael poured some antiseptic on the cloth and pressed it into the wound. Fortunately, the mask muffled his cry of pain upon first dabbing the wound. Reaching into one of the pouches on his belt reflexively, he pulled out a needle and thread to stitch the wound shut. He didn't know how he knew, but it was like his hands moved with the grace and skill of a practiced surgeon.
      With the injury taken care of, Michael breathed a sigh of relief and the outfit covered it once more.
      “You will be fine.” said Natasha, “The wound was relatively shallow and did not hit any vital areas.”
      Micheal just nodded nimbly and went to his room. Inside, the outfit flowed back into the mask as he took it off. Just before he set it down Natasha said, “Sleep well, Michael.” He replied, “Thanks…”
      After getting ready for bed and doing his homework Michael had some free time to spend.
      He wanted to see if he could find any information at all about Natasha online. He figured that a myth, legend, or some kind of written account about Dr. Greene must exist.

       There was nothing.

      There was not a single page or scrap of text that he could find. Michael sighed and closed his computer. Laying down on his back in bed, he turned off the light and stared at the ceiling. Tomorrow would certainly be interesting.

The next morning Michael was sore all over from the previous night's events. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his room.

Michael took a deep breath and rolled out of bed onto the floor. Pulling himself into a standing position, he stretched and winced in pain. The memories of the previous night became all to real. Sighing to himself, he got dressed and made his way downstairs to the kitchen.

Pulling out the toaster, Michael made himself a breakfast of toaster waffles, orange juice, and a banana. The rest of his morning routine went smoothly. He put Natasha's mask in his bag and headed out the door. On the bus he opened his bag and touched the mask. The inside of the mask formed part of the sleeve so Dr. Greene could speak to him. “Good morning Michael. Your injury feels better, I hope?” Michael replied quietly, “Yeah, thanks for asking.”

Despite not being on his face, the image of Natasha nodding appeared, unbidden, in his mind. “Of course. I owe you everything, after all. Because without you I would likely still be in the ground or someplace far worse.”

The remainder of the bus trip was fairly uneventful until they reached school.

Michael stepped off the bus and walked through the school's front gate. A number of people stopped what they were doing to stare as he went past. News spread fast.

As he made his way up the staircase to where his friends like to meet up he kept seeing more people staring at him. Michael ignored them. He spotted his two friends Jamie and Isabella and made his way to them.

Jamie was of an average height, pale, skinny, but he was an overall chill dude. Isabella was a bit more densely built, with a positive and bubbly personality.

“Hey guys.” said Michael as he approached. Jamie was the first to speak. “Dude, are you alright? Word around school is that Zack essentially marked you for death. What happened?”