Contraindication

Thirty-Three| Dr. Hendrix

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."
― Mae West

With little effort, I sat down in the chair and watched as Charles grabbed the rope from one bookshelf.

"Thank you.... oh and make sure it's tight!" Mrs. Zip placed her arm on her desk. "We don't want her running now, do we?"

Charles sighed as he took the thick rope and started wrapping it around my body. I felt the circulation leave my arms as he began knotting knots.

Now I had a headache and I couldn't feel my body.

Mrs. Zip smiled and watched the process. Never in my life, I would have thought Zips was some kind of evil mastermind. I don't even know if she counted as an evil mastermind. Surprisingly, she wasn't wearing a sparkly tracksuit. Instead, she was wearing a bright green blazer with matching pants and yellow sneakers. This was a completely different look for her.... but it also wasn't that odd. If she showed up to school in that one day, no one would have question it. We all would have thought she had a meeting or something.

The staring between us was getting a little bit too uncomfortable, so I looked away. I always knew Mrs. Zip always had favourite students. She even hated some students, including me... but I didn't think she would hate me enough to kidnap me or even try to kill me? Who knew?

I slowly let out a breath as Charles tied the last knot. "Is this a way of you recruiting me for the volleyball team because of my thighs?" I tilted my head, "Because I told you 3 years ago that my thighs are not genetic... they're the results of me eating too much pizza."

"Shut up, Evelyn!" She glared at me, "I've always hated your humour. Your jokes reminded me too much of Steve."

Steve? Now I was genuinely concerned, "Steve? Wait, does Steve have something to do with this?" I looked around the room, waiting for Steve to pop out of thin air. I swear, if he set this up to get me to be his lab rat again, then I'm definitely boycotting him, and his stupid pills. I'll happily die a painful death without them.

Mrs. Zip looked offended by my assumption as she held a hand to her chest. "Steve has nothing to do with this!" She snapped, "Steve doesn't even know what's going on."

"I don't even know what's going on?" I muttered.

The corner of my gym teacher's mouth tipped up as she calmed down slightly.

"Let me explain." She adjusted her seat. "My name is Dr. Clare Hendrix. Zip was my deadbeat husband's name, which I changed for personal reasons. I was sadly one of the scientists working at ThriftWay Co. labs, 13 years ago." She said that line with so much hate that she looked like she about to throw up. "At the time, I was a very skeptical researcher. I believed that human life was sarcastic and once our time is up, we move onto a better place. So I was never apart of The Divinidine Aggrekeran Project, and I wanted nothing to go with your Marigold's decease either. It wasn't your time to live..." her voice trailed off.

I didn't know whether to take offence to that or not.

She surprised me when she continued. "Back then, I was apart of a general team that made OCD medications. I remember that very day when we were in the middle of something, and an employee ran in and said that there was a huge breakthrough with The Divinidine Aggrekeran Project... A breakthrough that I couldn't believe..." She laughed under her breath as she recalled the memory, "A child couldn't die, I just didn't believe it. I didn't believe it until my son got involved."

I turned my head to Charles who was now leaning against the wall typing away on his phone like he heard this story a million times before.

Dr. Hendrix continued, "8 years ago, a few months after your mom rightfully left, I was forced to bring Charles into work. The babysitter cancelled, and it wasn't his week to be with his dad. I told that boy to stay in my office, but he ended up walking around and hanging out with the other scientists there. He then got into an unattended lab and ate your leftover meds like candy."