(Ophelia)
***
The tempting reverie of sleep nearly lured me in as a gentle hand shook my shoulder.
With blurred vision, I grinned and cheered, "Koharu! You're back."
A soft hum in my ear rattled me, but I couldn't place why.
"That's not me, but it's going to be okay."
The voice was gentle, unlike the brash and raucous tone of my lover. I pried my eyes open.
*Hm? Who are you, and what have you done with Koko?*
Crouching before me was a lady with black hair in a messy ponytail. Her clothes were fairly layman and consisted of mostly thin rags and thicker fabric for the pants, but she greeted me with a soft, melancholic smile. Her skin was tan, a slight bronze tone that reminded me of the woodwork in the castle.
My longing to return surged like a river's rapids at that thought.
She removed her hand from my shoulder and reached for a small box, turning to Koharu.
"The injury looks bad, though I'm sure that's obvious." Paper and metal sloshed around. "How long has it been bleeding?"
Alarmed, my eyes trailed down my torso. The dark spots cried crimson tears that were en route to my pants. If the pain hadn't already made me sob, then the sight of my mutilated stomach would have instead done it.
Standing above everyone else, Koharu shook her head. "Dunno."
"Nor do I," I chimed in. "It must have just started."
The woman reached for a huge gauze pad with a set of abnormally large tweezers and dabbed at the blood. The sensation was not pleasant, but it wasn't anything beyond a slight discomfort that I could easily handle, even as thin strings spiralled from the fabric square.
She threw the dirtied rags into a bag she had beside her. "We can't bring her to the hospital…? Why not?"
*I must be tuning in and out some.*
The lady reached for more pads that she doused in a bottle of what appeared to be water before removing them for placement on my open wounds. Expecting to be slightly irked, it instead stung worse than a hornet when she set the fabric there.
*Shit. Peroxide.*
"Ouch!" I shrieked, pressing my eyelids together.
Though I wanted to toss her hand away, I was aware some magic medicine was equally volatile. Even snake poison could be both helpful and deadly, so I reluctantly accepted the treatment.
"I'm sorry," she cooed. "I'm just trying to clean these up. I'll finish this fast, dear."
I couldn't respond to her.
*I get it, but could you press a little lighter? This isn't a boxing match!*
Offhandedly, Koharu lamented, "We don't have any way to pay for this."
"No medical insurance?" The doctor pressed at another wound, and I howled again—a flimsy stuffed toy with an unstitched mouth.
"What's that?" Koharu remarked while she cocked her head to the side. "Isn't there only insurance for properties?"
The lady seemed equally confused in return. "Maybe a few hundred years ago," she joked. "How someone could not know about medical insurance is beyond me. It's a hot topic these days. Always on the TV."
Koharu made a disgruntled expression, yet she was tactful enough after the encounter with the man to not say another word. Some of what the lady said sounded like rubbish, but it wasn't worth starting an argument over.
"I'll quickly help her. It's my job, after all."
For several more minutes, she used various tools to dress my wounds, elegantly wrapping bandages around me like I was some sort of mummy. Perhaps I would soon be one, I thought, if the gashes did not heal.
*I'm not sure if it's worse to see what's going to kill me or what I'll look like dead.*
"Done." She glanced at me. "Does it feel any better? I'm sure it still hurts, but the pain should start subsiding in a little while."
Weakly, I told her, "Yeah. Thank you so much for your kindness."
"Of course." She grinned. "If you don't mind sharing, what are your names?"
"I'm Pr… Koharu, sorry. This is Ophelia."
She pointed to me, starting to appear relieved but still as internally scared as a person surrounded by spiders. (To be fair, there was something uncanny about the radial distribution of their babies after stepping on one.)
"Pleased to meet the two of you." The woman nodded her head and removed her gloves. "I'm Dr. Castillo. You can just call me Naomi, though, since we're not in my office."
"Thank you for your help, Naomi," Koharu said.
She then gave her lovely toothed grin, and it somehow put me at ease.
*It's easier to get through this when you're not worrying too much, but I'm glad you care enough to help.*
Naomi placed medical equipment back in her red and white container, tying up the bloody bag. "May I come for a checkup tomorrow?"
Both my girlfriend and I nodded in unison with varying amounts of vigor.
"Do you have her address?" Naomi continued.
*Depends on what definition you're using for that because I can certainly speak some, but if you can't tell by this crusty alley, I don't exactly have a home.*
Koharu temporarily kept quiet.
"Neither of us have one." Fluttering eyelids uncertain, she swallowed before awkwardly smiling. "Just come back here tomorrow. I'll keep this rowdy one here."
She giggled with sincere eyes as she peered over at me. I must have looked limp, my body lying weakly against the stones that formed the building beside me. Hoping my eyes could convey the affection towards her that my words could not, I mustered the strength to grin at her.
Koharu's expression indicated that she joined in the merriment and relief of the moment.
Naomi readied her mouth to speak, but a voice emerged from the end of the alley.
"Naomi! There you are!"
Another woman with intricate black buns dispersed on her scalp rushed over to Naomi, tightly embracing her until both had goofy smiles.
*How sweet. I didn't expect that, but seeing them both happy is like a treat atop everything else.*
After their moment, Naomi continued saying to Koharu and me, "I'll come back here later then. I need to go with my wife for the afternoon." She turned to me. "Make sure you rest, okay?"
She sounded like my mother with her admonishing tone, but I agreed to do so, knowing it was in my best interests.
Soon, she began walking off; however, a thought surprised her, making her swivel around.
"Here."
In our direction, she threw a paper bag with an excessive amount of colorful ink decorating it.
*I hope this isn't the biohazardous bomb!*
"Eat this when you can," Naomi added.
Koharu thanked her once more and bid her goodbye.
Noticing Koharu's nearly unreadable expression after I sighed in relief, I wondered what ran through her mind. However, I rapidly deciphered it when she glanced at me.
It was the feeling of being understood—of sympathy—glazing her features as she watched the two women walk off. I felt it, too, that there was perhaps some hope for us to exist off crumbs of kindness that trickled to the ground, letting us make do with fortunate leftovers.
A weak grin appeared on my face before Koharu sat down, and she almost smothered me before opening her mouth.
"I think it's going to be okay."
I nodded with a radiant smile, and that was how we wasted the day away in each other's arms, praying for things to go well while I rested my body in my best effort to not make her worry.
I could not think of many feelings worse than that of being on edge as the surrounding world teetered up and down like a seesaw. Though, if I had to reside on that playground mainstay, I'd do whatever I could to keep my balance near the center and bring her to that point of regularity.