Would You Bargain With Hell?

Tons of children were running around and making a big fuss in the waiting room. A bubble noise would pop every so often, from the small aquarium in the wall. A lot of dirty looking people wandered about sipping at the free coffee. I sunk into my chair. My hands were shaking. I wasn’t sure if it was due to fright or nerves, but I wanted to be out of there.

I felt Masons hand on top of mine, I stopped shaking. My face felt hot. I turned to look at him. His eyes were dark from lack of sleep. I smiled at him. He nodded and leaned back closing his eyes. I smiled again and looked at his hands, holding mine. I bit my lip and closed my eyes.

I wasn’t sure what me and Mason were, but I liked it. I smiled.I closed my tired eyes to fall asleep. I had begun to dream when I heard the door open.

“Rayder Connors.” Called the nurse from the doorway.

“Connors?” I whispered standing, leaning heavily on Mason.

“That way they don’t know it’s really you.” Mason lifted me so I didn’t have to walk. I nodded.

The nurse directed me to the third door. Pastel blue walls greeted me, and a bed covered in a sheet of thick paper. Mason laid me down on it.

“Oh, she’ll need to get up. Height and weight.” I grunted, my ribs aching as I tried to sit up. Mason pressed me back down. He eyed up the nurse.

“Does she really look fit to be getting up right now? She’s like 5 foot 3 and maybe 110 pounds. Write that down.” He spat at her. The nurse backed up in spite and huffed marching out of the room.

“Thanks.”

“Just lay down Rayder, the doctor will be in soon.” He sat in the chair beside me, holding his strong hand over mine. I closed my eyes, fidgeting on the paper and it crunched under me.

Something about his presence just made life more bearable. My heart beat was unsteady and my thinking was off, but I couldn’t think of anyone I would rather be with. I felt as though I’d known him my whole life. I watched him. His eyes were closed, his dark shirt contrasting his pale skin. His jeans were baggy and worn as well as his sneakers. I smirked and laid my head down closing my eyes.

“Rayder. Rayder.” I cracked my eyes open. “The doctors here.”

I nodded. Mason propped me up so I could sit. The doctor was tall, a few inches taller than Mason. He was balding, and propped his bifocals against his large nose. His cloak was clean and he had a small notepad in his pocket as well as a syringe. I pushed myself up.

“Hello Miss Connors, I’m Doctor Nesfarian.” He handed me a large wrinkled hand, I met it and shook.

“What’s bothering you today?” He examined the clipboard in his hand. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and then looked me over.

“Uhm, my side, ribs, whatever.”

“And what happened to them?”

“I, uhm, I…”

“I accidently knocked her down the stairs. I was doing the laundry.” Mason butted in to save me.

“Accidently?” The doctor eyed Mason.

“I would never do it on purpose.” The doctor nodded, eyeing our linked hands.

“Do you two live together?”

“Yes, this is my fiancée.” Mason said fluidly, I figured in his life lying was in the job description, and he did it well. Hearing him say fiancée made little butterflies in my stomach.

“Okay," I could see the judgement in his eyes, seeing as I'm only seventeen and Mason couldn't be much older than me. He shook it out. "I’ll have a look at your ribs then.” The doctor nodded, and unbuttoned my jacket, pushing it back. He fixed his crooked glasses as he eyed the large blue-black bruise. “Is it tender?”

I nodded. I flinched as he poked around it, I cringed. “Stop please.” I clenched my teeth. The doctor backed away, noting something on his clipboard.

I wrapped my arm around myself, feeling self-conscious.

“We’ll need to get you an x-ray for that. Here,” he handed me a folded gown “Put that on, if you need help, well I guess your fiancé can help. Then we’ll get you a wheel chair and get you to X-Ray.” The doctor closed the door behind him.

“Do you need help?” Mason inquired, trying to keep his eyes fixed on my face. I wasn’t sure how many times he was going to see me in my bra today.

“I think I do.” I blushed, though that was true.

Tears left my eyes as I stood. Mason got the sleeves on me, and buttoned it on the back. I left my jeans on underneath.

“I’ll go get the nurses okay?” He left, closing the light wood door behind him.

I stared at the white cabinets before me, imagining what could be in them. Certainly it was first-aid type stuff. Like gauze, ointment, bandages, and maybe syringes. Marco was a doctor, well he wasn’t a practitioner, but he had a PhD. I couldn’t remember what in, but oddly enough I thought it was in child development.

I leaned on the bed. I was shaking again. My ribs ached, and then the recurring image of Grace, yelling down at me while I curled onto the floor spun through my mind. Spit flying from her carnal mouth. The pointed toe of her high heel repeatedly pounding into my side until I heard something crack and begged for her to stop.

I bit my lip and held back tears the best I could.

The door popped open, Mason was wheeling in a black wheelchair. He popped a lever to lock it. He held my elbows, assisting me into the chair. I wiped my brow, sweaty, and then my eyes which remained wet.

“I’ll wheel you to X-Ray okay?” All of his sentences were questions, like he was unsure.

“Thank you Mason.”

“You’re welcome Rayder; it’s just what anyone should do.” I closed my eyes, my eyelids too weak to stay open.

The wheelchair stopped and I opened my eyes. Mason sat beside me in a chair. I looked at him.

“We have to wait until the doctor gets here.”

“Maybe we should talk then.” I proposed.

“Okay.” He seemed hesitant, his eyes staring ahead of him at the cinderblock wall.

“What are we? Err, what is it that we want to be? I mean, I’ve never done this before.” I gulped.

Mason turned his neck to look at me. His eyes were careful. “I just want you to be okay.” He looked me up and down, his eyes flickering. “I mean, I don’t want to lose you if that helps explain it any better.”

“I don’t want to lose you either.”

“I don’t want you to go back to that house either.” His voice was strong, commanding almost.

“I don’t want to go back.” I felt sobs crawl up my throat, at the thought of returning home. “But I have to.”

“No you don’t!” Mason jumped out of his seat; he kneeled in front of me holding my hands. “Rayder do not go back there. You can stay with me, I know it’s not much, but it is enough. I can’t know that you went back there Rayder, you mean to much to me.”

Tears were racing down my face. “What do I mean to you?”

I saw his eyes water, and that made me cry more. He leaned up to me, and kissed me. Our lips fought through salty tears. He pulled away. “I’m alive because of you Rayder; I’m alive for you Rayder.”

I nodded. I was wiping my tears when the doctor came.

“Miss Connors, come on back.” Mason kissed my cheek, pushing me into the X-Ray room. He lifted me onto the table, and waited outside as a large piece of machinery scanned me.

It would move parallel to me, then the doctor would move me just a few inches and it would go again. Once it had scanned over me about four times the doctor said I was okay to wait. The doctor helped me up, and back into my wheelchair.

When I got back to the X-Ray waiting room Mason was smiling. “Hi.”

I wheeled over beside him where he took my hand again. The mounted TV in the corner was on mute, so I read the subtitles. Gas prices went up again the elections are getting heated yadda yadda. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

I opened them and read the face clock, eleven o’clock. I yawned and lifted my head; I wasn’t sure how long we’d been asleep. I turned and Mason appeared to just have woken up too.
It was a weird relationship we had, I thought, we weren’t really going out because no one had said that, but we had both agreed that we want to be together and don’t want the other to leave. It was clear he cared about me, more than anyone else had. And that made me a little uncomfortable. But I guess the selling point was that I trusted this boy, and I hadn’t trusted anyone since I moved to the Tamerlane’s house.

Someone cleared their throat. I turned.

“We checked your X-Ray. It appears there is one point of breakage, as if you were beat repeatedly. The injury is not possible with falling down the stairs. I have deduced it wasn’t this boy, but I’ll need to know who it was.”

“I really did fall,” I moved back to my chair, my heart skipping beats. “Just tell me how my ribs are.”

The doctor was skeptical. “It’s pretty severe. Three ribs are actually broken. The three surrounding are bruised. We’ll give you a brace. No physical activity. Try to be still. No,” He turned his eyes to Mason. “No sexual intercourse.”

The room got quiet. I had never thought of that. “Okay.” I said, worried that might not be what Mason wanted to hear.

“I’ll sign your papers.”

Doctor Nesfarian left again, leaving me and Mason in the silent waiting room to ponder the last recommendation. I wasn’t really interested in that, but from what I heard on TV most boys are. There was this awkward air where I wasn’t sure what to say.

I heard Mason chuckle and I turned to look at him. I smiled because that’s what his toothy smile did to me.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because, your face was priceless. It’s not that awkward Rayder. It’s okay. I’m pretty sure we’re on the same page.”

I sighed, relief flowing through my bones. “Okay, it’s just I mean we’re not even dating so I wouldn’t have even thought of that. And now I feel all awkward. And I don’t know what I’m saying. And i didn't know if that;s what you wanted. But i didn't think it was, because you seem like a better guy-.”

“Stop rambling. Is that what you want?”

“What do I want?”

“To be my girlfriend?”

I blushed, my muscles tensed. “I uhm, I wouldn’t object.”

He chuckled. “Rayder, you have a boyfriend.”

“No, he’s not really my boyfriend. Please.” It was only after I said it that I realized what I’d said. I had basically just begged for Mason to be my boyfriend. I blushed and curled inside my little shell.

“Rayder Whateveryourmiddlenameis Tamerlane would you please be my official girlfriend?”

My heart skipped a beat, hearing the words come out of his mouth. I nodded largely. “Yeah! My middle name is Daisy by the way. I’ve recently decuded that I was named that after my mother.” I smiled.

He kissed me again, and the current flowed through my veins. It was a feeling I’d never experienced before. Every time I kissed him was like the first time I kissed him. Like we’d always been together.

Doctor Nesfarian burst through the door. He juggled a notepad, and two pill bottles.
“Alright, these are serious pain killers. Take one every four to six hours until pain subsides. They are narcotics so be careful. The nurse outside has your brace. Have a nice day miss Connors.”

The doctor handed Mason the pills. Mason stood and wheeled me outside. The nurse proceeded to – with the help of Mason- get me to stand so she could put a brace around my ribs. It was thick and black and very hard plastic.

Then Mason put me in his car and I fell asleep.