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“Take a deep breath. This will only pinch a little.”
It was a bold-faced lie. Patton knew that. Still, he followed the instruction, shutting his eyes more out of habit than for any other reason.
The procedure was practically routine at this point. Needle finding his vein, injection, fire searing through his veins, and then he’d wake up in his ward room unable to sit up for about an hour.
If he needed to use the bathroom during that time? Tough dookie, he could only wet himself.
It was humiliating when the nurses had to come in and change his threadbare sheets. Even though they never looked at him. Never spoke to him. Never saw the tears falling down his red-hot cheeks. He wasn’t a person to him, similar to how some people saw dementia old people in terrible care facilities.
The pinch of the needle reminded Patton he was not even back to his room yet. He was already dreading the next few hours and the procedure had only just started.
“Let’s try the new dosage,” the head doctor said, standing directly above Patton like always. He was sure he had heard the name before, but Patton couldn’t even care less about the woman who had turned every other week into torture because of the frequent procedures that he was never told what was supposed to be happening to his own body.
“Are… Are you sure?” A new voice questioned timidly, and for the first time in a long time, Patton opened his eyes during the procedure, looking around for the voice.
“He’ll be okay, nurse,” the head doctor said dismissively, a hand out obviously waiting for the syringe of whatever new medicine they were going to be trying on Patton.
“But…” The nurse, a very young woman, closer to Patton’s age than any other medical personnel he had seen in all his months of being at the facility, held human emotions towards him. “What are we trying to figure out with such a high dosage?”
“Were you not paying attention to the debriefing, girl?” The head doctor shook her head and stepped away from the table where Patton lay. “It’s okay, I’ll explain once we’re done here.”
“But-” The nurse started again, looking practically distressed now, and Patton felt his heart quicken. What was so bad about whatever they were about to put in him that someone was showing genuine emotion of distress towards him?
“It’s not worth it, girl,” another nurse chided quietly, pulling the younger nurse away from the table. “Here you are, Doctor.”
“Thank you,” the doctor took the syringe and inserted into the line.
For a moment, only the pressure of the foreign fluid. Patton took a deliberately deep breath once more and shut his eyes. Whatever was going to happen was not going to be fun for him.
Then the fire came. And he was gone.