Ginger

Chapter 17- Behind the Black Door

After what feels like an hour of mostly predictable questions and few few odd ones, Dr. Steinso takes samples of almost anything I can think of until I feel like there is nothing else she could sample except my brain or bones.

Feeling drained of all the liquids I used to contain, I wait for her to tell me she still needs more. Instead, I think I mishear her when she says we are done.

"Wait, really?" I reply. She nods in response and types more onto the computer.

"If you come with me, I will take you to your next stop." She logs off the computer and gestures for me to get off the table.

I slowly get down and walk to her, "Will Jack be there?"

She smiles and a small laugh escapes her, "Yes, he will be there. Don't worry." I don't respond to any part of her strange response before she opens the door and we both walk into the hallway.

We barely make it past the next door in the hallway before she starts talking again, "So, are you and Jack a thing?" She sees the look on my face and tries to correct herself, "I mean, I've heard how close the two of you are with each other and I think it would be really cute if you two were together. Especially with you two helping all Gingers and having a support system would be really great and-" I cut her off before she starts trailing off even further.

"Sorry to interrupt and all, but Jack and I are just best friends. That's all." She looks sideways at me like a person trying to figure out a difficult math problem for a few seconds.

She turns back ahead, "Okay, but you two would still be cute together." I ignore her and we walk in silence the rest of the way down the hallway.

When we reach the second to last door on the right, she stops and scans for the door to open. Dr. Steinso pushes open the door and gestures for me to walk in before her.

As I walk into the identical room to the one we just came from, I watch as my dad gives what looks like a shot into Jack's elbow. He pulls the needle out of Jack's arm then hands him a piece of gauze to stop any bleeding.

Jack places the gauze on his arm and looks down at me from his spot on one of the silver tables. "Hey-" He begins to say something to me before he suddenly stops. His brows crinkle in confusion and he begins to breathe like he just ran a marathon.

"Dr. Nocella..." Dr. Steinso says in warning right before Jack starts shaking uncontrollably on the table. All three doctors immediately move into action to help Jack while I back into the corner to stay out of the way. They quickly move to catch Jack and firmly lay him on his side on the table before he falls off. I watch all of them work in unison to help Jack, as if they have done this millions of times. Jack's shaking gets worse and I can't bring myself to look away. But I can't watch him in pain. I physically can't watch. It hurts to watch yet I can't bring myself to look away.

Jack stops shaking just as suddenly as when he started. I release the lungful of air I didn't know I was holding just as all of the lights shut off, pitching us into darkness.

"Don't worry. The backup generator will turn the lights on soon." Mr. Macedo says mostly to me. The other doctors probably aren't as worried as me. We all wait in the dark and all I can do is hope that Jack is alright. I want to go to his side but I don't want to risk walking into anything.

"It's not supposed to take this long for it to kick on. Something must be wrong." Dr. Steinso says after a few minutes. My dad agrees with her just as red emergency lights turn on above the door and along the edges of the floor. I rush to Jack's side now that I can finally see him and place my hand in his, just as he would do to comfort me.