Fifty

Melina didn’t wait to be asked twice. She sprinted away, living Eli planted there like a tree on the terrace when the letters ASAP came out of the radio, and she barged inside the house through the kitchen door to hit a hard wall. Darryl. Eli warned him. Thankfully, he held her before she fell on her butt. Glancing around, there were three more men inside with him.

“Slow down!” Melina tipped her head to meet his face, only to her knees to become rubbery, and she clutched at his vest for leverage.

There were traces of blood on his cheek, and she felt her fingers slippery, as the coppery scent hit her nostrils at full. There was blood all over Darryl’s clothes, and that only meant one thing, Henry got hurt.

“He’s fine, Melina. Believe me.” He gave her a shake. Her heartbeat was sluggish as she stared at his face, and the shake helped her brain function again. She let go of him, darting to Henry’s room.

A trail of blood on the floor led her into the bedroom, and she froze at the door. The place was engulfed in darkness since they had closed the curtains, and Henry lay motionless on the bed. The acrid smell of fresh blood permeated the air, churning her stomach, but Melina forced herself to move after taking the scene in, stopping beside him and turning the lamp on with a gasp.

Henry didn’t have his shirt on, and a bloody towel covered his right shoulder. His blond hair was soaking red, staining his pillow, and he was pale as a ghost because of the blood loss. She sat on the mattress beside him, combing his hair from his handsome face, yet so tortured. She was doing everything in her power not to crumble in front of him. He didn’t need the strain to deal with her sobs. His eyes fluttered, and those pools of honey fixed on her.

“Hey Kitty Kat. It’ll be okay. I’ve had worse,” he whispered to her.

“Hen… Henry. You need a doctor. They should have taken you to a hospital.”

“If I go there, the police will get involved, besides I have a wonderful doctor here with me. You’ll have to sew me up, Melina.”

She leapt out of bed as if she had got stung by a bee. “Are you nuts? I’m a vet! I know nothing about human medicine, Henry.”

He grabbed her hand, pulling her back to the mattress, whimpering with the movement, but he didn’t take his eyes from her. He had to convince Melina to help him. There was no other way. The situation got already too complicated for him to have to explain himself to the cops. He didn’t know for sure with whom he was dealing with.

“Look at me, Melina. When you’re in your operating room, do you extract things from the cats? Do you stitch them up?” She nodded at his questions. “It’s the same, you just need to take the bullet out, and close the wound.”

“Henry, when I do that, I’m in a sanitized place, with my instruments, and the cats are anesthetized.” Tears glinted in her eyes. He was asking too much of her. If he got infected or inflamed, she would never forgive herself.

“Don’t worry too much. This is a five-star hotel close to the places I had to rely on every time I got hurt. Please?”

“I just wished you didn’t have to go through this shit anymore.” She gave a long sigh and stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

She stomped out of the room, stopping in her tracks when a thank you filled her ears, but she didn’t look back and resumed her walk to the kitchen, finding the men lingering around, waiting for her.

“Darryl, there are fresh sheets and towels in the wardrobe by the corridor. Change the bed and clean him up. Please get him drunk to the point of passing out. I don’t have human anesthesia, and it will hurt.” She looked for a paper and pen in his drawers. Finding it, Melina wrote a message and handed it to Darryl. “Please, send someone over to the clinic and give this message to Gabs. She will provide some topical anesthetic and the medicine I need to treat him afterwards. I need to get a few things at home.” She didn’t even wait for a response, running to her house.

Melina had an emergency vet carry on at home, in case she needed to attend to a patient out of her clinic hours. She filled Yiayia in so she could keep Eve entertained for a while. The old lady didn’t seem surprised by the situation and blessed Melina with her task. With her bag in hand, she marched back to his house. Several times, she breathed in and out to calm herself down. How could she do such a feat? Henry didn’t know what he was asking of her, because there were a lot of factors involved there.

For starters, she didn’t think she had the guts to do it, since she was emotionally attached to him, and she’d be aware he was feeling a grueling pain. Then, if something went wrong, and she injured him even more since she didn’t have the right instruments, nor knowledge to care for him? The good part was that humans and animals shared some medicine, so she had what she needed at the clinic.

She found Darryl in the room, keeping an eye on Henry, who was awake, but with a glassy look in his eyes, and Melina’s heart almost came to a stop, seeing him so feeble, staring at nothing. Josh came right behind her, holding a small bag with all the meds he went for.

“How much did you give him?”

“Not as much as I wanted, but he took enough, I hope. He refused to take more.”

Melina inhaled and crawled on the bed, opening her bags and settling everything at arm’s length. Putting latex gloves on, she filled a syringe with topical anesthetic and uncovered his shoulder. Her breath hitched in her throat, and if her heart hadn’t stopped a few minutes ago, it was about now. There was a hole almost an inch wide, blood still gushed out of it, and the skin around was becoming black and blue. She blinked the tears away and focused on her task. Her hands shook so much, she thought an earthquake was going on inside her.

“It’s okay, Kitty Kat. You’ve got this.” He could be a bit drunk, but he had to assure her. Melina had apprehension stamped on her face. Her trembling was proof of it. She nodded to him, and breathing hard, she injected the area with the medicine. He had to hold himself, not scream. His shoulder was so tender that the needle felt like a toothpick.

Melina caressed his face, bending down and kissing him on the lips. She wasn’t doing a good job holding her emotions in check, and drops of her tears made their way to his face. “I’m sorry, Henry.” She whispered against his cold lips. “Bite this.” She put a small roll of bandage in his mouth and he held it between his teeth. “I’m so sorry.”

He knew what was to come. He had gone through this crap more than once in his life. Sweat formed on his forehead and he squeezed his eyes shut when Melina stuck her index finger inside the wound. She needed to feel the depth of the bullet before extracting it. Despite the place being numb, the anesthetic wasn’t enough to hold the pain. He wanted to cry while she maneuvered the surgical clamp, trying to reach and pull out the projectile.

Tears escape his eyes, mingling with the sweat on his face. The pain was such that Henry locked his jaw, biting hard on the soft roll of bandage, and his nostrils flared, trying hard to breathe throughout the ordeal. She concentrated on her task, but she also couldn’t stop the flow of her tears, and it puzzled him. It was the second time he didn’t understand her weeping. One could think it was the situation both were in, but her eyes said otherwise. Finally, she pulled that crap out and started to stitch him up. The worst was over, but he felt each poke of the needle, and when he thought he couldn’t endure anymore, it was over.

“Why are you crying, Melina?” he asked as he spat the bitten bandage. She didn’t answer him, only shook her head, and finished cleaning the wound. Melina applied some antibiotic cream all over and put some gauze to cover, holding it in place with bandages.

“I need to check your head.” She helped him to turn, and the cut was about half an inch long.

She searched for the dermatologic glue, and holding the skin together, she applied a small amount. He hissed since she had to touch the wound, but the torture was over. She gave him a shot of an antibiotic, and Darryl brought some pain killers. Melina made him comfortable under his scrutiny, and she couldn’t wait to get outside.

Gathering her things, she rushed out of the room, passing by the kitchen like a rocket, dumping her stuff on the table and heading outside, where she puked all the contents of her stomach. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and walked to the short wall that divided their properties, sitting on it, and giving free rein to her emotions, not holding her sobs anymore.