Page 100 of Encounter

I stepped away, pointing to the bedroom. “In there.”

The doctor moved past me without a word, while Gregory stepped in, immediately observing the bloody mess we made in the dining area and then turning his attentive, green eyes at me.

“Galen, right?” He smiled, putting his right hand up as if this was a regular introduction. Shaken by his lack of worry, I accepted the handshake, but barely had the power to use any strength. “Jeez, you look really pale. Come sit down, have some water. Come on,” he ushered me right away, surprising me even more.

“Are you not going to—”

“I’ll talk to Chast, don’t worry. The doc’s takin’ care of him now, so don’t stress,” he said calmly, his back to me as he skillfully made his way around the kitchen—taking out a glass out of the cupboard and filling it with water.

I sat at the opposite side of the table but couldn’t help but home all of my focus on the chair Chast sat on—the blood, the needle on the ground, the dirty cotton pieces. The horror of it kept coming back to me—the way droplets of blood appeared where I pierced the skin, the look of the wound inside. Red, meaty, painful.

“Here.” Gregory placed the glass in front of me, making me jerk. “You don’t wanna pass out. I know this must’ve been real carnage for you, so drink up,” he said, urging me with a snap of his ring-adorned fingers.

I grabbed the glass and pressed it against my lips—my body longing for it—but my mind and eyes were focused on the half-open bedroom door.

“Was this your first time suturing a wound?”

Nodding, I took slow sips, feeling like I might throw up if I drank too fast. My knee jerked, making my foot tap the floor, completely out of my control.

“Don’t see any vomit anywhere, so I’d say you did well,” he said, smirking at me.

Instead of being relieved, I wanted to scream at him about why he was so damn aloof about it all. Everyone acted like it was fine!

Reacting to my silence, Gregory sighed and rested his palm on the clean corner of the table. “I get you’re in shock, but Chast’s been through this before. You must’ve seen his body. Those weren’t scars from some unfortunate shave, kid.” Glancing up at him, I kept drinking. They did seem like they would be friends. Had the same disregard for what was normal. It was starting to make me feel like maybe I was the atypical one, for being so shaken by it all.

I nearly dropped the glass when the doctor came out of the bedroom, and Gregory had to hold my shoulder to stop me from jumping up. “Sit,” he ordered, clearly not giving me much space to argue.

Thankfully, the man came to us, closing his bag and briefly looking over the contents of our makeshift hospital area. “He lost some blood, as expected. I've put him on an IV drip, which should bring his blood circulation back to normal. He isn’t in shock, which is good. Even the stitches look pretty good, considering,” he noted with an approving smirk aimed at me. “Overall, it’s the regular treatment. Rest—first and foremost. Have him check with me when he can, so I can advise if he’ll need antibiotics.”

Gregory nodded, crossing his arms. “We know the drill, doc. Thanks for the help.”

“I assume you’ll want to talk to him. He’s still awake, but probably not for long. Let him rest. I’ll find my way back, got some business in the area anyway.” Giving Gregory a lazy two finger wave, he made his way to the door and left.

Still a little shell-shocked by the whole situation, I blinked and looked around the room, having to remind myself I wasn’t in some action movie. Some black-market doctor’s visits, self-treated stab wounds, Yakuza?!

“See? It’s all good,” Gregory said breezily, slapping me over the back. “I’ll go talk to him. You stay here. Get yourself some food from the fridge if you feel faint.”

I thought he would’ve been weirder about this. About me.

Him closing the bedroom door was probably a sign that they were going to talk about some shady, illegal stuff I didn’t need to burden my mind with. Instead of relaxing, I stood up and started pacing around the room with the half-empty glass in my hand, tapping it and biting my lip at the same time.

Everything is okay. The doctor said Chast’ll be fine.

Why couldn’t I calm down? Was it the blood?

To avoid it, I walked further into the room, getting it out of my sight. Kitty sat in front of her nearly-empty bowl and slowly nibbled on the kibble with her few remaining teeth.

As I finally stopped, I found myself standing in front of Chast’s work area. Not exactly something that was going to calm me down. It only reminded me of the same reality this whole fiasco did—that he wasn’t superhuman. That even though it might seem like it to me, he wasn’t invincible, and there were bigger and stronger killers than him out there.

All these books on combat, military techniques, self-defense, tactical stuff. None of it I understood, but it was everything to Chast. This was his life. This was his life, and it was probably going to cost him his...

I shouldn’t look at this.

As I was about to turn around to spare myself more grief, a highlighted piece of file attached to a corkboard got my attention, covered with other things but clearly poking out and visible on purpose. I knewwhyit caught my eye—the date was my birthday.

Frowning, I stepped closer.

Is that... myfile?I couldn’t see much, but it looked like a simple form with all the basic information. My birth date—why was it highlighted and the time circled?

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