Saturday, January 14 --- 11:04a.m.
"Edward Torres," a nurse called, standing in the doorway between the reception room and the rest of the hospital.
"Do you want to walk or should I carry you?" asked Grace.
"It might be better if carry me," said Edward shyly.
Grace picked him up and Nafratearie followed closely behind. The three of them followed the nurse's swishing, brunette hair into a room and Grace set him down on the operating table. The two girls took a seat in the corner of the room where some chairs were.
"Hello, I'm nurse Kennedy. I heard you were here to see about getting some stitches."
"Just be careful. If you say that enough times, Nafratearie might start singing again," warned Grace.
"To answer your question, yes," said Nafratearie.
"Let's see," the nurse said, lifting up his shirt.
She unwrapped the piece of purple fabric stretched around him and removed the gauze pad, both of which had been on him for the last six days.
"Yeah, that looks like it needs stitches. We're going to have to numb that up, clean it and then do the stitches."
"How long will that take?"
"For the whole process, no more than half an hour, maybe less, but we'll have him stay for a bit longer to rest before going home."
"Okay."
"I have a question, is it okay if I stay in here while he gets his stitches?" asked Grace, keeping the promise she made to Edward earlier.
"Are you a relative?"
"No, not that I know of anyway."
"Then I'm not entirely sure, but you can visit him all you want once he's done."
"That's fine," Grace said.
Nafratearie stood up and headed to a waiting room a few minutes away, plopping into a chair and finding something to do while Grace walked over to where Edward was laying. She slid her hand into his and used her thumb to stroke the back of his hand.
"You've got this. You're incredibly brave. Just hang in there and I'll be back to check on you as soon as I can."
"Okay."
Grace bent over and have him a quick kiss on his forehead. Her hand slipped out of his and she walked away when she was done, joining Nafratearie in the waiting room.
~~~~~~~
Saturday, January 14 --- 11:27a.m.
"Hey, would you two mind coming back?" the nurse said, her head sticking through the partially opened door. "I found something you might want to know about."
"Sure," Naf said, putting her magazine down and standing up. "Come on Grace, let's go see what's going on."
Grace and Nafratearie followed the nurse all the way back to the room Edward was in. He looked like he had been crying.
"While I was cleaning him, I found this," she said, holding up a small, bean-shaped device that was all black except for one small red dot. "It was inside of the wound and I found it odd. Do either of you know what this is?"
"I don't," Naf said.
"Neither do I," Grace said, starting to turn to face Nafratearie. "However, I think I know who put it there."
Once Grace said that, they shared a look and Nafratearie knew what Grace meant. She was probably right.
"Anyway, I just thought I'd let you two know that was there. I had no problem taking it out since I had already numbed the area. Once I showed it to him though, he started crying."
YOU ARE READING
Altered Futures
General FictionKidnapped and sold into slavery, twenty-six year old Edward Torres has been a slave for over a year, with no idea where he is as his captor ruthlessly hurts him physically and emotionally. Just when he thinks life can't get any worse, he meets his...
