When It's Time to Move On

Door 3 - Chapter 34 - Choosing to Live

Dr. Roslin thoroughly examined him, questioning about dizziness, nausea, light-headedness, all the while shining a torch in his eye.

"Was your stool normal in colour?" She inquired, which is when Harris decided it best to put his foot down.

"All right," he pushed her hand away, getting up. "Like I said, I'm fine. I didn't even remember to take them, got caught up with a friend."

"Friend? You never mentioned one before," she remarked. Harris understood what that meant. Dr. Roslin never figured him for one to have any friends.

"Yes, hard as it is to believe," he sneered at her.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean..."

"That's all right, doctor. Can I please just go?" He wondered if he could still catch Auden at this point.

"Now? I thought you'd like to have a detailed examination." Dr. Roslin said with surprise. Harris could see it too, extra treatment would once have sounded like an early birthday present.

"Okay, then." He plopped on the chair. Staying back felt like an obligation more than anything else but he thought it might be better to be on the safe side.

"First things first," Dr. Roslin dumped the original meds in the trash. "We have to get you proper medication."

Harris's eye shifted toward the medicine room door but she already had the meds on the table.

"I never see you go in there. What's the point of having a room for medicine if you never use it?"

"Huh? Oh, that's not important, we just keep the spare ones in there. Honestly, I'm lobbying to have it demolished and expand my office." Dr. Roslin rehearsed. Maybe she was used to answering this question, Harris thought.

"Your pulse is fine as well. Funny, huh?" Her face broke into an uncharacteristic smile. "All those years you were fine and your pulse raced, and now it's the opposite?"

Harris didn't see the humor in it at all and simply looked apathetically at her.

"You seemed to have changed a lot in a few days," she commented.

"Time's been somewhat relative for me recently," said Harris, his mind flashing between opening doors. "Besides, I never got the sense you particularly liked how I used to be."

Dr. Roslin didn't answer him.

"You seem to be going through the motions, we've gone over this before," Harris said impatiently.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Why were you in such a hurry earlier today? We could've done this then, rather than 10 at night." Harris shot at her. Dr. Roslin avoided his gaze, wheeling her chair away.

"Fine, if you don't want to, we can pick it up later."

"Where did you go?" Harris's earlier curiosity returned. "You looked like you didn't want to be followed."

"Did you follow me?" There seemed to be genuine rage pent up behind her eyes as she asked him.

"I was with my friend, remember?" Harris felt it best not to be honest.

"Whatever." Dr. Roslin brushed him off, seemingly on edge. He took it as his exit. "You should get that shirt cleaned. It looks like you've just rolled in mud." She added.

Maybe she meant it as a shot at his shabbiness although the truth was he'd gotten dirty following her and hiding in between bushes. Still, he felt compelled to return the favor.