Emeros X

“Sit anywhere you’d like Miss Foster,” Dr. Santiago said. She stood by the door until Erin walked past the

table and sat down facing her. Dr. Santiago nodded and sat at the chair across from her.

“Now, we’re going to start with…”

“What are those needles for?” Erin asked. Nobody ever told her there would be needles.

“Oh, those? We just need to take a sample of your blood for further analysis,” Dr. Santiago answered

before pulling a pair of gloves on.

Dr. Santiago grabbed one of the needles and held her hand out toward Erin. Erin slowly pulled her arm

out from underneath the table and set it down in the doctor’s free hand before looking away. She never

could stand the sight of needles.

“Now, take a deep breath,” Dr. Santiago advised while sticking the needle in.

Erin could feel that familiar pinch and clenched her jaw. She counted in her head until she felt her doctor

pull the needle out. Dr. Santiago quickly rubbed alcohol over the mark and put a small bandage on it

before excusing herself. Before she left, she told Erin she could go ahead and fill out the paperwork.

When she was finished with all the questions, she was welcome to leave.

Pulling the first page towards her, Erin printed her name as carefully as she could, along with her social

security number and her birth date. The first page was always the same at whatever place she went to.

She continued filling out her address, previous addresses, primary phone number, secondary phone

number and so on until she had finished and started on the second page. The second page asked for

medical background, the third for educational background, the fourth financial background, and on and

on until she had finally reached the sixth page, which asked personality questions. Check all boxes that

describe hobbies you enjoy. Check all boxes that describe hobbies you do not enjoy. Write “yes” or “no”

for the following questions. Explain why, if answer was “no”.

Erin had checked and marked three pages of questions until she had finally reached the end and her

hand was starting to cramp. She dropped the pen on the table, stacked the papers and put them in the

folder. Standing, she walked out the door and paused to drop the folder in the plastic box by the door.

Her sneakers thudded down the hallway as she walked, hoping she hadn’t made a wrong turn, or her

sister hadn’t left her. When she had reached the waiting room, she found Violet and Todd to be the only

two people in the room, both asleep.

“I’m done,” Erin called, effectively waking Violet up, who shook Todd’s shoulder until he had opened his

eyes as well.

“How was it?” Violet asked, pulling herself out of the chair and stretching.

“Okay.”

“Just okay?”

“It was a lot of writing. Nobody told me I had to get a shot either,” Erin muttered.

“Oh come on, it’s just one little shot. Plus, you only have one more meeting left, which doesn’t require

any paperwork.”

“I guess so.”

“Erin, really. Lighten up a bit. After all, that paperwork is used to match you up with someone that is

perfect for you,” Violet looked toward Todd, who was already at the car and waving at them.

Violet asked an endless amount of questions on the ride home, all while ignoring the fact that Erin wasn’t

paying much attention to what her sister was even saying? – How many pages did you have to fill out?—

Many.—When I went, there were exactly seven pages, my lucky number!—Oh.

By the time she had dropped Erin off at home, Erin had answered twenty-four of Violet’s questions in

twenty-six words. Luckily, her parents wouldn’t be home until six; she had four hours before more

questions were hurled toward her.

Erin walked into the kitchen and checked for voicemail messages before shutting herself in her room for

the rest of the day. Her phone was still sitting on her bed where she left it; they weren’t allowed to bring

their phones for the meetings. Of course, she had fourteen messages, all from Katie or Rebekkah, Katie’s

twin sister. They were scheduled for the meeting in two months, and neither of them has stopped

stressing out about it since their last meeting, which was nearly a year ago. Katie had a tendency to ask

Erin a question, only to take it back before Erin could get a word out. Today was no exception.

Erin skimmed through the messages, answered as concisely as possible to answer both of their questions,

and yet still remain noncommittal, before pulling on her headphones and falling into bed.

Erin woke up to the sound of her little brother, Alex, running into her room before slamming the door.

“Mom, tell him to stop!” Erin groaned while pulling her pillow over her head.

“What? I can’t hear you dear!” Erin heard from the other room.

“Alex! Tell him to stop!”

“I still can’t hear you!” her mom answered.

Erin huffed, closing her eyes and counting to three. She pulled herself out of bed and walked into the

dining room, where her mom was sitting.

“Oh, glad you’re up.”

Her mom looked up from a stack of paperwork and smiled.

“Yes, mom. I’m up.”

“Good! How was the meeting?”

“Fine.”

“Just fine?”

“Yea.”

Her mom simply stared at her until Erin felt uncomfortable enough to sit down and tell her all that had

happened. The only answers she got from her mom were nods, a few ‘mhm’s’ and an occasional

reminiscence of how it was when she was taking her test. Halfway through Erin’s account, her dad walked

in, kissed her mom on the cheek, and sat down beside her, squeezing her knee.

“What are you talking about, pumpkin? How was everything today?”

“That’s what she’s talking about, Adam. Did you know they take the children’s blood there now? We

used to have to go to the doctor and get blood-work done, wait two weeks and then go in with all the

paperwork.”

“Well, they sure have progressed with the system then haven’t they?”

Erin looked at both of them blankly, before continuing. Her mom had them move to the kitchen so she

could get the dinner started, but could still listen to the story. The conversation continued through

dinner, where Alex asked more questions about the shot than the actual test. Erin had answered possibly

every question that could be asked about forty-five minutes of her life before she could finally get back to

her room. Before she could so much as sit down, Katie called.

“And so the interrogation continues,” Erin answered.

“I figured your parents would get all the details before me and all because I have to stay at school for

Rebekkah’s ballet practice in a room with no cell phone service.”

“Violet beat both of you too.”

“Of course she did. So, how was it?”

“Oh you know, you get a shot, fill out some questions until you think you may be dyslexic and go

home.”

Erin could hear Katie roll her eyes through the phone.

“What kind of questions were there?”

“Every kind. I think I even had to write my opinion on bioengineering.”

“You did? Really?”

Erin paused.

“Wait,that was a joke, right?”

“Yes Katie, that was in fact, a joke.”