On the Edge of Humanity Read Free Page B

ran my fingers through my hair and two of them got caught in-between strands, which I assumed were coated with dried blood.
    He knitted his eyebrows together and stepped away from the bed, his hand clenched around his stethoscope.
    Is this guy crazy? I think he’s losing it.
    “Dr. Case?”
    “Your eyes... They’re…they’re changing colors. It’s like a colorful storm swirling around, with silver clouds rolling in, flashes of blue and green sparking in the background. Who are you?”
    I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
    “What are you talking about?”
    He was scaring me. Between his weird mannerisms and what he had just revealed about my eyes, I was beginning to think I was in an episode of The Twilight Zone .
    He tilted his head to the other side like he didn’t hear me.
    “Hello?” I called.
    The man was frozen in place. I imagined I looked horrible with the blood and the bandages, not to mention that my hair was probably disheveled from the dried blood. But something told me that wasn’t what was causing his freak out.
    Then Dr. Case walked closer to the bed and stood at the bottom, still staring at me.
    I wanted to take something and throw it at him.
    “Where’s my brother? Is he in the bed next to me? Sam? Sam, are you there?” I lifted my left arm over my head and twisted my body to reach for the curtains. The pain knocked me back down. I really need to stop doing that.
    “The police are searching for your brother.” Dr. Case stepped around the bed and pulled back the curtain. The bed sheets were tucked neatly in place and the pillow fluffed, waiting for the next patient. The air in my lungs deflated.
    “Your bandage will need to be changed. You must’ve torn a stitch,” Dr. Case said.
    Wow! One minute he was acting as if he had just escaped a mental institution and then the next minute he was playing the caring doctor.
    He walked over to the nurse’s cart and dropped his head, pulling out a bin. More of the tattoo on the back of his neck jutted below his red and white cap. From what I could see, it looked like the letter ‘L.’ The rest of it wasn’t visible.
    He opened a few bins and grappled with a handful of bandages. A few fell to the floor. He bent over to pick them up when his prescription pad fell out of his coat pocket. He picked up his pad then wheeled the cart over to the bed. He fished around in his lab coat, and as he did his eyes gravitated towards the door.
    I followed his gaze. “Why is there a cop outside?”
    “Ms. Mason, the police want to ask you questions about what happened tonight.”
    “But I didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “It’s not for me to judge. My concern is for you to heal properly.”
    I silently laughed. His actions didn’t match his words.
    “The help you need aside from that is no concern of mine. Now turn towards me.” He slowly peeled away the tape from the gauze. I flinched as he did this three more times. With my skin exposed, the warm air tickled the wound. “Just as I thought. You tore a stitch.”
    His hand shook as he threaded the needle. Why was he so nervous?
    “I need you to sit still.”
    I was planning to with the way his hands were shaking.
    “This will sting a bit. I’m numbing the area around the wound,” he said.
    As he inserted the needle, I winced. A warm sensation flowed over the left side of my face. I closed my eyes, hoping his shaky hands could complete the job.
    When he finished stitching, I let out a sigh, thanking God Dr. Case hadn’t done more harm.
    He placed a clean bandage over the cut. “You’re lucky there’s no major damage.” He deposited the needle in a plastic bag hanging from the nurse’s cart. “No sudden movements for a few days,” he said.
    “Thanks.” I made a mental note not to move my jaw too much. The last thing I wanted was the taste of blood filling my senses. I wanted to ask him if he knew anyone who wasn’t adverse to the taste of blood, but he would probably think I was crazy and