Page 28 of Heartless Legacy

If this is a hallucination, it won’t matter which option I choose. I’ll be pissing on myself either way. But if this is real,and this new guard forgot to lock me down, I won’t waste this opportunity. I have to try to get out of here.

“Bathroom.” My throat is dry, my voice hoarse from disuse. Had there been a tube down my throat too? She nods her head, coming closer to the bed.

“Just take a deep breath and I’ll pull the catheter out.” I hate the idea of her hands on me, but once again, if this is a hallucination, it won’t matter. She moves quickly, and I barely feel it release.

“There. Now let’s get you upright.” She pushes a button on the remote, looped around the bedrail, maneuvering the bed into a sitting position. “Let’s go slow and lean on me as much as you need to.”

I swing my legs over the side, gripping the mattress and rails as I straighten. I’m light headed but I’ll be damned if I let her think I’m helpless. On second thought, maybe I should. That way, I’ll catch her off guard when I make my move. Just the thought of being touched makes me nauseous, so I lean on the bed, the side table, the chair and the wall as I make my way to the bathroom. She’s still next to me, arms out as if she’s prepared to catch me if I fall.

She waits outside the door while I take care of my business. I consider my options while washing my hands. It hurts to admit that I’m too weak to fight my way out of here right now. Whereverhereis. It’s best if I get some answers first.

I exit the bathroom and come to a screeching halt. The nurse is still in the same spot, but there’s a doctor in the room now. I shuffle to my right, pressing my back against the wall.

The doctor notices me and says, “I’m glad to see you’re up. Although you really should have someone help you move around.”

I rasp out, “I had plenty of help from the furniture in the room.”

He gestures towards the bed. “It’s best not to overexert yourself. Back in bed you go.”

I lock my knees, using the wall at my back for extra support, and say, “I’d rather not.”

He scribbles something on the same clipboard the nurse was using earlier. “It really will be easier to do my assessment with you sitting.”

There’s no way I’m willingly sitting on the bed that I know has restraints tied to it. “Then I suggest you learn to work through difficult circumstances.” He takes a step towards me. “From there.”

He stops in his tracks. “Fair enough.” Looking at the chart, he says, “Your labs look good, so whatever narcotics were in your system are out, but I still want you to take it easy for the next few days. When they brought you in, your electrolytes and potassium levels were dangerously low, and you were severely dehydrated.” He looks up from the chart. “And malnourished.”

Of course I am. I’d expect nothing less, since I barely ate or drank anything the guards gave me. They forced what little food I had in my stomach into me through an IV. Just enough to keep me alive. Nobody cared if I was actually healthy. A lot of the people bidding on me had a thing for heroin chic. The doctor launches into a series of questions.

“Any headaches?”

“No.”

“Dizziness.”

“Some.”

“Shakes or tremors? Nausea. Sweating. Irritability and agitation? Confusion?”

Is he spouting withdrawal symptoms? I suspected that there were more than medicinal grade drugs in those cocktails Dr. Quack was cooking up. How much street level bullshit did he pump into my veins? “I feel plenty confused.”

The doctor arches a brow and asks, “How so?”

“You haven’t bothered to introduce yourself, or explain where the hell I am before getting all up in my business.See.Confused.”

Something that sounds like a snicker covered by a cough draws my attention to my left, where the nurse is standing.

“Ah, yes. Forgive me. I would have thought Nurse Snyder would have covered that already.”

I swallow, trying to wet my throat. “All she did was unstop my piss tube so I could use the bathroom.”

Nurse Snyder says, “I didn’t have time for anything else, doctor. You weren’t supposed to be here yet.”

“I was actually just walking by when I saw the bed was empty. You know how important this case is.”

Important? Sounds like he’s another doctor who’s eager to practice his Dr. Jekyll routine on me. I take a sliding step towards the bathroom. There’s a mirror in there. If I break the glass, I’ll have a weapon at my disposal.

They still haven’t said where I am, but wherever it is and whoever they are doesn’t matter. They’ve made a grave error by not tying me up.

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