Marked

Chapter Two

"The good thing about scalpels," Dr Everest mused. "Is that they leave clean cuts with perfect lines, very easy for stitching."

He continued to suture the skin near her elbow where Ruth's scalpel had cut her.

Rachel turned to look at him, the salt and pepper specks that were starting to debut on his dark hair, the way his brown eyes crinkled in concentration and wondered why she couldn't have had a parent like him: Warm, kind and caring in all the ways a parent should be. But somehow she'd gotten stuck with a cold-hearted monster for a mother and a crazy tyrant for a father instead.

"I'm not worried about the scar." Rachel replied. "I'm more worried about what they're doing down there." She look up at Doctor Everest to gauge his reaction as she asked the next question.

"Do you know what's going on down there?"

"I don't," Doctor Everest replied evenly as he pulled the surgical string up high and snipped it clean with a pair of metal scissors. "But I can imagine it must have been pretty terrible to shake you up this way."

"It was bad—horrifying actually. God, it was awful what they were doing..." She swallowed hard before she continued. "I don't understand how anyone could do those things to another human. I mean, would you? As a Doctor, would you ever hurt someone if it meant you could save a lot more as a result of it?"

The doctor was quiet for several minutes, his lips pursed in concentration as he wound a light blue mesh around Rachel's forearm that left a cooling, numbing sensation behind.

"There's this oath we take when we're in medical school. We vow to do good, to heal and not to harm. You know what I think?"

"What is it?" She urged.

"I think you might have made an exceptional doctor. It takes a special kind of person to be like you Rachel, but not everyone thinks the same way. To some people, evil is a means to an end. So often in this world does the line blur between good and evil that we sometimes forget there even is a line."

He set down his instruments and sighed. "I've heard rumors of what's going on down there and the answer is no, I could never do that to anyone. But like I said; what is right and wrong to me might be wrong and right for somebody else."

"My mom is a part of it and I don't know what to think of that, to be honest."

"I'm sure your mother means well..."

"Does she? What if she doesn't, what if she's just a bad person..."

"Rachel," Dr. Everest cleared his throat. "I know it's not my place to say anything but I've been observing your mother for the past couple of weeks. I've had the chance to work on a few projects with her and...I think there might be a reason why she is the way she is."

"Is something wrong with her? Whatever it is, you can tell me," Rachel pressed.

"It's really not my place, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even brought it up."

He made a move to stand but she held on to his arm to stop him. "Please, Dr. Everest—if you know something that can help me understand her maybe I won't start to hate her because honest to God I am so close to hating her and I'm so afraid of that."

Dr. Everest stopped fiddling with his instruments and sighed.

"Has your mother always had a hard time communicating with people?"

"Yes," Rachel replied. "All the time. It's like she has no filter, like she doesn't know how the things she says might affect others."

"What about obsessive behavior or even having a limited number hobbies that she's very good at?"