Advent Children by Anton Troia

Author:Anton Troia [Troia, Anton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troy Books
Published: 2014-12-16T20:00:00+00:00

20: THE NURSE'S CLINIC

Elena’s nose continued to bleed for the entire ten-minute walk from the apartment to the nurse's office and Charlie grew annoyed with all of Elena's self diagnosing on the way there, thinking her symptoms were due to something other then a rupturing of a capillary in her nose, such as an aneurysm, she thought.

“Stop with the self diagnosis,” Charlie whined to her. “We don't know why it started bleeding.”

“Well we're about to find out,” Elena said, pointing at the building in front of them.

The campus’ emergency medical building was a small little structure that resembled a single-family ranch-styled home. The entire little building was clad in cream-colored stucco and topped with red Spanish tiles on the roof. With determined steps, they both scampered up the short stoop, and cold tension disquieted them with each step they took closer to the door. Charlie was about to ring the bell but then the door opened, revealing a barrel bellied man with a black, arrow-straight flat-top haircut and dark intense eyes. He had a square jaw and high cheekbones, which gave him a predatory look.

“Can I help you kids?” he asked in a deep Portuguese accent.

Charlie stammered after looking at the man’s smile—which looked out of place on his stark face. “Hi, my name is Charlie, and this here is my wife Elena.”

“Good day,” the man said with good grace. “What can I do for you both?”

“As you can see, my wife here, could use a check-up.” Charlie said.

Elena clawed her hair away from her sticky, bloodied cheeks and stuck out a blood-stained hand, “Hello,” she said, and after realizing her hand was bloodied, she withdrew it.

The man in the doorway didn't even look at her hand to begin with, and Charlie wondered why he kept looking back into the house all the time.

“Hello Elena,” said the man, “did you bang your nose?”

“No, I had a dizzy spell and it started to bleed afterward.”

The man shot a daggered glare back at Elena and said, rudely, “Well, Dr. Montgomery usually makes the appointments for our patients, unless of course it’s an emergency situation... and by the looks of you sweet woman, you don’t really seem to be in one because the bleeding seems well controlled.”

After hearing that, a stormy scowl stole over Charlie’s face. He knew he was supposed to confide with Montgomery first, but he didn't want to delay Elena's treatment if he didn't have to. The nurse sensed the chill of Charlie’s disgust and said, contritely, “I’m sorry kids, I didn’t mean to come off as unreceptive.” And then, after peering over his shoulder for a final time, the man scratched at the balding part on the back of his head and then waved for them to enter. “Please, come in,” he said, sounding annoyed and hardly enthused, “my name is Juninio—the emergency nurse.”

Juninio stepped aside to let them enter, but Charlie and Elena almost stopped in the doorway after finding the place dimly lit and almost dark in some areas.

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