The Little Prince

8. Doctor

We go back to walking, and once again I'm clouded by my thoughts. But this time I make sure to keep my mouth sealed shut.

'They must be real disappointed in me now... I'm such a failure.'

...

"Alright 'lijah, ready?" Dr. Patrick asked, his back facing me.

I'm sitting on top of a weird looking blue bed now, watching as the doctor prepares and organises a bunch of things that I've definitely never seen before.

Both of my brothers are also in the room with us. I expected them to be angry after what happened, but they don't seem to be acting any different. 'Maybe it's because Dr. Patrick's in the room right now, and we're at his house... I'm sure I'll be punished when we get back.' I told myself. My heart beating a little faster.

After finishing what he had been doing, the older man finally faces me. Putting a strange object around his neck as he steps up to the bed I was sitting on. I look at it, confused and a little curious.

I've never been to the doctor's before. I remember getting hurt really bad one time. I was all dizzy and my head felt wet and weird. Ma was distressed and wanted to take me to a hospital, but Paw told her that it was way too expensive and that I didn't actually need it. He was good with medical stuff, so he fixed whatever was wrong with me at the time... it hurt a lot though. Normally he wouldn't bother helping me, but ma kept crying and begging, so he gave in. He was always kind to her, so he could never say no when it was ma asking.

I think Dr. Patrick noticed my curious stare, because he took off the thing around his neck and showed it to me. "Hm? Never seen one of these before?" He asked, and I shake my head in response. His forehead wrinkled as his eyebrows were brought together and his once smiling mouth was turned into a frown. 

It's easy to read Dr. Patrick because he's so expressive. Leo and Miguel, on the other hand, were the exact opposite. I can never really tell what they're thinking. Which only fuels my anxiety. "Have you ever been to the doctor's Elijah?" He questioned, his voice conveying his concern.

This seemed to alert my older brothers, who were sitting quietly on some white chairs next to the door.

"No..." I shook my head, completely clueless as to why it seemed to be such a big deal to the three of them. As I was now directing my gaze to the doctor, I could see from the corner of my eye my brothers whispering to each other. 'I hope I'm not in more trouble...' Was all I could think about as my stomach began to turn again.

"How come?" Dr. Patrick asked as he reached over to grab a wooden clipboard with some papers clipped onto it, and a black fountain pen.

"Too expensive." I repeat, in a whispering voice, what Paw would always say. "What if you got sick? Or hurt?" I tilt my head and furrow my eyebrows at the man, not expecting that sort of question. Why did it matter if I got hurt? I'd just take care of it myself, or I'd just have to deal with it silently and try to ignore the pain. But I couldn't tell them that, because then they'd think I was weak. The look that they had on their faces right now was already nerve wracking enough. "...Paw was good with medical stuff." 

That wasn't a lie, but the context made it seem like Paw was the one treating my injuries. Which wasn't the truth. He was, almost always, the one causing them.

"Paw... Jones?" Dr. Patrick asked again, but not waiting for an answer this time. "You were staying with Jones? Where is he?" He turned his focus away from me, mainly directing his question to the two other adults in the room. "His brains exploded." I mindlessly responded, looking around the exam room.

They all fell silent, again. But I was too focused on studying the room to really notice their stares. The room was about the same size as Miguel's office, but it wasn't dark or gloomy. It had a big window and light coloured walls with a few framed drawings and some odd papers with bold letters on them. I didn't really feel like reading them, so I didn't. I'm not very good at reading anyways.