Artificially Alive

The Doctor

When Isaac woke up it was 6:00 in the evening. His hands were shaking even harder than when he went to bed. He walked downstairs to tell his mom. He found her in her office, she ran an online boutique from home and made enough to have Isaac go to a private school and also give him anything he wanted. You could say he was pretty spoiled. He leaned down and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Oh you're awake." she said, a small smile on her tired face, but once she looked at his trembling hands the smile was wiped away replaced by a look of worry. It was a look Isaac had seen often. It had been just him and his mother ever since The Accident. He never consciously thought about The Accident but the gruesome images often cropped up in his nightmares. He had gotten past the screaming but he always woke up in a cold sweat, body shaking, a migraine hitting him a few minutes later.

"Are your hands bothering you again?"

"Yeah kinda. It's not just my hands anymore, my arms started shaking too. I could barely drive home from Anthony's house this morning."

"Well I'll have to make an appointment for you to see the doctor as soon as I get off work."

Isaac nodded. Then he fainted. Then he was on a stretcher. Then blackness. Then some paramedic was putting a mask over his face that made it easier to breathe. Then he was gone again. In and out of consciousness he went, seeing flashes of what was happening every once in a while when he forced himself to wake up. He finally managed to stay awake for more than a few seconds once they had him situated in a room in the emergency hospital. An IV was in his arm, pumping fluids into his body. He groaned and his mom awoke with a start and a relieved look on her face.

"Isaac, honey, how are you feeling?" She asked breathlessly.

"Shitty." His voice was gravelly and thick. He felt as if he had been hit by a truck, and to top it off, his arms still hadn't stopped shaking.

"Well, the doctor said he'd be here in a few minutes, as soon as an x-ray room was open. Isaac had never had an x-ray. He'd never broken a bone or even come close, so there was really no need. The doctor rapped on the door and stepped inside. He said a few words to his mom that didn't register with Isaac. He was very good at selective hearing. When the doctor brought in a wheelchair for Isaac, he denied, his pride flaring up. The doctor brought the chair with them anyways. Isaac used the wall for support and made his way to the x-ray room. When he laid on the table the doctor strapped his arms down, to Isaac's immense displeasure.

"It's because your arms won't stop shaking and we don't want to give you any muscle relaxers in case you have to have surgery. X-rays only take a few seconds anyways." said the doctor.

Isaac relaxed slightly. He heard the doctor count down from three, and then everything went wrong.

When the doctor turned on the machine, Isaac knew something was wrong. You weren't supposed to feel x-rays but this, this he could feel. The pain was like electricity crackling through his bones. He swore at the top of his lungs. This was bad, very, very bad. His stomach churned and his whole body started convulsing. And then it was over. The crackling in his bones stopped and the nails being hammered into his skull disappeared. He leaned over the side of the table and vomited.

"What. The. Fuck." He said slowly turning his head toward the doctor who was clutching the door frame with white-knuckled hands.

"I have no clue." he said, releasing the doorway and heading over to unbind Isaac's hands. "I'm going to analyze your x-rays and get back to you, in the meantime do not tell any other doctors what just happened. I said that I had to re-position a broken bone and that is why you yelled all those profanities." He said with a disapproving look on his face.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that." said Isaac sheepishly.

The doctor inclined his head and offered Isaac his arm to help him get up. When his feet touched the floor it was like there were millions of buzzing ants crawling around under his skin. He turned and threw up again, wiped his mouth, and walked back to his room without assistance. When he sat back down on his bed he gasped, letting out the breath he didn't know he was holding. It took him a few minutes to recover and tell his mother what happened. She was speechless, a horrified look painted on her pretty face. Behind Isaac's back all his friends, Adam, Anthony, Hunter, Wolf, Jesse, P-Dog, and Luke, the seven boys plus Isaac in their elite group, all call Ava a MILF. One look at her and you could tell where Isaac got his ridiculously good looks . There was a hesitant knock on the door and Ava answered shakily, telling him to come in. He sat down in a chair facing Isaac and Ava.

"I'm going to have to take a sample of your, er, bones." He said placing his clip board on the tiny counter. Ava clapped a hand to her mouth and Isaac laid a hand gently on her shoulder.

"it's ok mom."

She sighed and took the release form that the doctor, Doctor Gibson, handed to her and started signing. Doctor Gibson started explaining the procedure to Isaac while she did that.

"I'm going to put you to sleep and numb your arm, then I am going to make a small incision, about an inch and a half, give or take. Then I will take a small scraping off your Humerus and then I'll sew you up and you'll have a small scar. Nothing to worry about."

Two hours later Isaac was waking up, a dull, slightly numb ache in his arm, and burrito sitting next to his phone. He grabbed them both and saw texts from his mom, Adam, and Ashlynn. He ignored Ashlynn and Adam, resolving to text them back after he knew what was up. His mom's text said she was packing their bags in case he had to be transferred to the actual hospital, promising not to be gone long. Just as he tapped respond, she opened the door and rushed to his side.

"Isaac, I'm so sorry I was gone for so long, traffic was bad and I couldn't find your pajamas." He quickly assured her that he''d only been awake for ten minutes at the most. She turned on the TV and they mindlessly watched some cooking show, both worrying about the results but not wanting to talk about it. About an hour later doctor Gibson knocked hesitantly on the door and was let in by Ava. He sat in a chair facing Isaac and his mother. He nervously readjusted his glasses and looked up at them, some expression expertly covered up by years of having to hide his emotions.

"There's no easy way for me to tell you this," He said, pausing to gather his thoughts as Ava took a sharp breath.

"Isaac's bones are all made of... of metal. And more interesting still, the metal isn't even on the Periodic Table."