The Surgeon's Cold, Calculated Resolve

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r scent of antiseptic filling my nostrils. This was the same hospital, but a diff

uciating pain that pulsed through my arm. I tried to lift it, to flex my fingers, b

xed on my hand. It was heavily bandaged, a monstrous white club, completely immobile. My fin

y vision. My identity, my life, my very purpose, was in t

ufactured concern. He gathered me into his arms, holding me tightly. His embrace

with a tenderness that felt utterly fake. "I was so worried. It

n my tongue. I pushed him away gentl

extensive. Your metacarpals are shattered, the tendons severed. They did what they

hand, at the useless appendage that once held so much power, so much promise.

me, whispered apologies and promises of a glorious future, a life of leisure, free from the demands of work. H

My body felt heavy, my spirit even heavier. I stared out

topping short of touching my bandaged limb. "I've arranged a memorial service for Ani

ps just a desperate yearning for closure, stirred with

screen, and his face, which had been softened

g with concern. "Her mother's not well? A relapse? I'm on

eed to go. Aurora's mother is having complications. I'll have the d

r, a promise to finally acknowledge her, and now he was abandoning

aid, my voice flat, almost tonele

less with the surgery, she wouldn't be suffering these after-effects." His words were a cruel

ter." He didn't even wait for me to respond. He just drove off, leaving me on the desert

et, a bitter, hollow laugh escaping me. This was

lickered, casting long, distorted shadows. My broken hand

vement from a dark alleyway. Three men emerged, their figures hulking in the di

reaming danger. But they were faster

em sneered, his eyes raking over me, a vulgar

id, trying to project a confidence I didn't feel. "I'm a

t's a fancy doctor doing out here all alone?" Another one grabbed m

injured hand was useless, and my b

ith menace. "She wants us to let go. But I think she wants someth

und of pure terror. "He

ird man chuckled, his breath hot on

bsolute, consumed me. I fought, clawing, biting, anything to escape. I sank my teeth into the ar

hes barely covering me. I ran, blindly, my lungs

ehind me, their footsteps thud

welcome shock after the terror. It closed over my head, pulling me down, down into the suffocating darkness. The cold, the despa