Passenger

Chapter 12

The next morning, I heard a tapping at the door. Krys wasn't awake yet, and I was bored, to I floated over to stick my head through the door and see who it was.

As I'd sort of suspected, it was the Doc, with a clipboard and a good few pieces of paper with it. Clearly he'd been up and busy at work already.

"as to be expected." I remarked aloud, leaning back. "good 'ol eggheads. Always working before the sun's up."

It still struck me how young this kid was. He couldn't be older than eighteen, sixteen at youngest. Yet he had clearly demonstrated that he knew his stuff, and I wasn't going to judge him past that. Still, it was funny – when I was alive, he would've been, what, twelve?

Twelve at the time I died...

I shook myself. "don't go getting traumatized, Rachel." I scolded myself. "there's no point in it. You're dead, you're a ghost, get over it. Let's just see what we can do."

By now, Petre had knocked a few more times, waking Krys. Bleary-eyed, the Avian opened the door, peering out and smiling at Petre. "good morning, Ryan."

"morning to you, too; though how you sleep this late I don't understand." Turning, the doctor gestured for Krys to follow. "come, I've consulted some books, and now I think I know how to help with your wings."

"really?" Krys brightened excitedly, immediately more awake. "how so?"

They reached the first floor, where Petre immediately went over to a shelf full of scientific instruments. "a bit of biology, a bit of magic." He replied over his shoulder. "I just need a blood sample from you, and that should be all."

At the words, Krys tensed suddenly. "h-how are you going to take a blood sample?" he asked slowly.

"with a needle, of course." Petre glanced back at Krys. "why, do they do it differently for Avians?"

"n-no. That's...that's fine." Krys took a breath. He looked nervous. "where should I sit?"

Petre gestured to the same table that had been used for his checkup earlier. Krys obliged, and I peered at him curiously. "uh, hey, are you good?"

Krys nodded. "y-yeah. I'm...I'm fine." He replied, but there was a tremor to his voice. The Avian was more nervous than I had ever seen him.

I eyed him for a long moment. "wait. Are you phobic of needles or something?" I questioned, grinning.

"no! It's not that, it's just –"

"Krys?" Petre glanced over as the Avian raised his voice in protest. "did you say something to me?"

Whoops. I gave an awkward whistle as Krys shook his head. "n-no, I was just...talking to myself. Sorry."

Petre frowned, but didn't question it, going back to rummaging for his tools. Krys turned back to me as I raised an eyebrow at him. "so you are phobic of needles. Even if you don't want to call it that." With a sigh of defeat, Krys nodded. "hey, calm down. It's not gonna hurt you, it's gonna be fine."

Petre had grabbed his tools and was heading over. Slowly, the Avian looked at me. "it's just getting a little bit of blood drawn, right?" he asked softly.

"obviously. Come on, you're gonna be just fine."

The doctor had reached us by now, syringe in hand. "alright, this should be quick. Your anatomy is basically the same as a normal human's, therefore I should be fine with the usual points. Show me your arm, please."

Krys hesitated for several moments. I saw his hand tremble. Floating down next to him, I gave Krys a gentle smile and did my best to sit on the bench next to him. "it's alright. Just look at me, okay?"