Monsters Only Come Out at Night

Doctor's Orders

Elise dragged herself into the room, keeping a wary eye on the woman. She was sitting on a cot holding a tray with two cups of tea, herbal by the smell of it. Her brown hair was pulled into a low ponytail and her white lab coat looked brand new. She was so perfectly still Elise would've confused her for a doll if she hadn't just seen her speak. Elise hated dolls, they were always too perfect. It made her sick.

The woman took one look at her knee, stood, and guided Elise to the nearest cot, removing the temporary bandage to inspect the injury.

She studied her knee only for a few seconds before speaking. "It's broken, and not a clean break either. It won't take long for me to fix up, but it'll need to stay in bandages for a while. I know you have no spacial awareness but please do refrain from smacking or putting weight on it for the first two hours"

Elise wasn't too sure how to reply so she just settled for a nod, making the woman laugh.

"I must've creeped you out," she guessed as she rubbed an ointment on Elise's knee, making it sting then go numb. "My gift gives me the ability to –how should I say this– take a deeper look into things. I saw the file and wanted to know about you so I decided to take a deeper look into you. It's like a sort of psychoscopy" she explained, which definitely took her scale on the creepo' meter down some.

"Uhm," Elise mumbled. She knew she wasn't even close to good at starting conversation but felt awkward just sitting there as the woman fussed over her knee. "I'm probably going to be here often –you've probably already seen my track record so I'll skip over that– so we should probably get acquainted with each other so I'm not always calling you doctor –unless you don't want me to know your name which is fine too! I'm not trying to be pushy or anything but it'd probably be easier if I knew what to call you, I think it's important to know your school nurse- err- medic" she was rambling and had no idea how to stop talking, or stop her face from going red. "Uhm anyway I'm Elise, which you obviously already know. What's your name? But don't feel like you have to tell me, it's fine if you don't want-"

"My name's Dhanvantari, but I usually go by Dhan. I've met no one but my parents who want to say my full name everytime they speak of me" she laughed at the idea and Elise thanked her silently for letting her know the nickname, she'd be a total wreck every time she tried to say that name. "My name is the same as the Hindu physician of the devas, funny how that worked out huh?"

Elise nodded once again as Dhan finished wrapping her knee. She watched her open a closet search through the mess of items. Elise tried to get a peak but couldn't see its contents with the way Dhan was standing.

"Here," she handed Elise something from the closet, a knee brace. "Put this on and you can lay here for the rest of P.E., you did have wishes to skip, didn't you?" she asked with a wink.

Elise smiled and wrapped the stiff brace around her newly bandaged knee –with the assistance of Dhan of course. It velcroed around her calf and thigh and had a small dial crank on the side of the knee. Dhan had it on the straitest setting she could without hurting her leg, explaining to Elise that it kept her leg straight until her knee was able to move it without causing more damage.

"So if I can't put any weight on it for two hours then how am I supposed to get to my first class, I mean- I know I don't have to take the stairs, but still..." Elise asked, mentally begging the nurse not to have her go on crutches.

"I'm sure Mr. Phills would understand missing the first hour of class for a broken knee. Unlike most students you have 'Harness your gift' every morning instead of just twice, so I'm sure anything you'd do today you've already done yesterday" Dhan seemed so sure Elise guessed she'd used her gift to learn that. "It's going to be a while before you can go to class, why don't you get some sleep, you look like you need it"