Clearing his throat, clearly flustered by my less than polite attitude, I watched the change come over him. And, I quietly noted, the size of his pupils. Was the man high? They were blown the hell out, his skin was flushed, and he was sweating profusely. What the hell?!
“Ah... I’ll have to meet with some of my other colleagues, discuss the situation...” he trailed off. I’d say he was almost in a freaking trance. What kinda shit was he getting into?
He had gloves in his hand, and had seemed so cool and collected when he’d entered the room, much as he had when I’d asked to talk to him briefly over the phone to discuss my current situation. This sputtering mess before me, clutching the gloves in his sweaty palms nervously like simply being in the room with me was a feat unto itself, was a far cry from the man I’d spoken to.
“I can wait.” My arms crossed over my chest. I didn’t bother holding my breath. My left foot began to tap along impatiently. Just get it off of me or something already, doctor guy, before I really do become Unicorn lookin’.
“It’ll be a while,” he blurted, licking his thick lips, “I’ll- I’ll have the nurse call you when I have more information.” Huh? Dude was for real? In other words, I don’t know what it is and I don’t want your arse hangin’ around my office, lady. Go away now.
“Right,” I muttered. Slipping off the exam table, I snagged my bag and marched to the door. I was angry and I was not ashamed to admit it was on full display. “Thanks for nothin’.” Snickering, I stomped right past his spluttering ass and right out the door. “Maybe don’t do whatever it was you were doing when you have patients to treat, huh? Very unprofessional. Doctor, my arse...” Steps heavy, loud in the long, empty white hall lined with doors, I supposed I wasn’t being fair, but, damn it, one, rude, dude, rude, and, two, this crap was still on my face and I was a little bit more broke than when I woke up and no closer to any answers!
Once in the lobby, keys in hand, I resolved myself to head to the hospital. Someone somewhere had to have the answer. I didn’t care if the solution was removing the piece of my skull the horn thing was coming from and putting a metal plate in, if that’s what it took—anything to get this blasted pain to stop!
*One emergency room trip later*
“You have got to be kidding me!” I snarled. Slamming my door closed, startling Cap on accident in the process, I chucked my bag clear across the room, watching it land on the couch to bounce right off of it, the contents dumping to the floor. Screw it. I didn’t care right now.
Kicking out of my shoes, wriggling my sock covered feet, I growled low in my throat and headed right for the bottle of ibuprofen. Snagging a can of cola from the fridge, I chased the maximum dose down with a huge swig from that sweet, carbonated, sugary goodness. Setting the can on the counter, I blew out a long breath. It was insane. Same like before, people came in to see me, yet they all grew weird like I had a disease, and no one wanted to touch me. No tests were run, nothing, just a parade of people coming in and out of my room all blasted day long until I finally had enough and just left. Was the water drugged? I’d started paying attention to people’s eyes after that last doc, and much the same, they all started to grow the blown out pupils. Was something in the water?! Were they all eating, drinking, snorting, licking, I didn’t even know and couldn’t even begin to try and guess, the same whatever?! Gah!
I was going to take that bath now. It was no longer a want but a need. Helping myself to a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich, a dill pickle, and a handful of those pop chip things I was obsessed with, I fed Cap and shuffled off to the bathroom. I was feeling mentally and physically exhausted. I had something wrong with me, something visibly wrong—you’d have to be blind not to see, and the looks I was getting agreed—and yet I got nothin’, bupkis.
I had a tiny inkling of what it must be like to have an invisible illness—except this damned head ornament was very much clearly and embarrassingly, strange thing comin’ out of my damned skull, visible—and it damned stunk.
Getting into that required bath, even in a tub of warm water, cucumber melon scented bubbles surrounding me, head less throb-y-like-a-mofo but still a constant ache, I couldn’t wrap my head around this. I was going to die before they figured it out. My hand crept toward my face. Tenderly touching the skin around my horn, for lack of a better term, I found the skin less visibly raised, at least to the touch, but that horn... “It’s grown,” I whispered dejectedly. Of course it had.
Dropping my hands into the water, resting the back of my head on the lip of the tub, knees popping up out of the water as I slid down, a string of expletives slipped past my lips. I would literally end up looking like a Unicorn or something before someone would take me seriously.
“You take me seriously, right, Cap?” Turning my head to crack a lid open, I took one look at my dog, one of my Wonder Woman socks I’d just taken off in his doggy maw as he gnawed an enormous hole in the toe of the blasted thing, sat upon my pile of dirty clothes, I barked out a laugh and threw my hands up. “Put the sock down, Picard!” I bellowed.
Cap dropped it and took off like a shot, headed presumably to the couch or my bed to cower, his little sock stealing tail tucked.
Squeezing my eyes shut so hard it hurt, I forced myself to relax, though at this point it was a futile effort. A half hour later, I was starting to prune and no closer to finding some inner calm than I had when I’d stumbled out of bed this morning. Grrr. I wanted to growl out loud but knew it would scare the pup. A squeak had my eyes fluttering open. Cap balanced his front paws on the lip of my clawfoot tub, his little body wiggling with his tail. He squeaked his devil duck squeaker toy once again, leaning in, spotting he had my undivided attention, and let it drop right into the bath water. A peace offering. Head dipping, he nudged my hand, my pruny fingers resting along the tub’s edge, with his wet nose.
“Thank you. Just what I needed. Apology accepted, pup.” Smiling, I gave his head a loving scratch. Leaning in, I pressed a kiss to his scruffy little semi wire haired covered head and then stood. “Let’s get outta here and go binge watch something. What say you, Cap? Next Gen? Original? Wanna get your Nemoy on? Farscape? Babylon? What’s your poison, my friend?” Wrapping myself in a towel, I carefully dried off my hair, then the rest of me, and made my way to the bedroom. One brief glimpse in the mirror and I winced. It had totally gotten bigger—a lot bigger. At least it didn’t hurt as much as before? But now I looked like instead of wands being made of woods and various items, wizards got them from Unicorn people’s heads. “What do you think, JP? Is this a good look for me? Good luck dragonlady, hmm? Does mummy look like a freak or a mysterious beast? Both? Neither?”
I sure talked to Cap an awful lot, I realized. Perhaps, if I wasn’t currently sporting a horn, and was even remotely social, I’d have resolved myself to get out more.
Meh.
“When I’ve got this guy to keep me company?” I cooed, grabbing my favorite sleep shirt, thick socks, undies, and a comfy pair of leggings to get ready to crawl into bed. Cap ran up the end of the bed, plopping down on his side, tongue lolling as he waited for me to join in. Boy knew the drill.