DAN

I knew how creepy the clinic could get at night, when there were no nurses or volunteers or patients filling up the place. My parents had told me to never be there alone, because there was no telling what kind of people might show up trying to break in. They didn't need to tell me twice; the place was eerie as hell. I never would've gone back that night if I hadn't forgotten my homework, and wouldn't be able to get it before it was due the next day.

I pulled my coat tighter around me. It was freezing cold, but the clinic was only a block further, and warm, and maybe I could stay there a little while before the ten-minute trek back to my building. As long as I could slip back into the apartment before my parents woke and realized I was gone, I figured it would be no huge trouble.

I was almost there when I was forced to stop in my tracks, at the sight of someone sitting outside the building. After the initial shock, I managed to slowly move closer step by step, and see the slumped figure a little better. He looked maybe about my age, with pale skin and dark hair visible under the nearby streetlight. My breath caught in my throat when I realized that he was wearing nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, both tattered, and I had to wonder for a minute, was he maybe… dead? I was wary of approaching a stranger like this, in the dead of night on a near empty street, but I needed to check if he was okay.

"Hey!" I called from the corner, shaking. He didn't respond. I mustered up my courage and rushed for him, worried he was maybe still alive but could die of hypothermia before I stepped into action. "Hey, are you alright?" I knelt down beside him and nudged him carefully. He didn't fall over like a dead boy might've done, so I was grateful. "Hey!" I shook his shoulder and heard a low groan in return. I was starting to shake a little more, but not so much out of fear now.

The boy lifted his head like he'd only been sleeping, skin sheet white and ice cold, but his sparkling blue eyes were too alert to be in any apparent danger of freezing to death.

"What are you doing here?" I asked gently, genuinely intrigued and wanting to help.

He pushed his black matted hair out of his eyes. "I-I came to get tested, but it was already closed when I got here." He sniffed, probably sick with a cold after being out here so long. Has he really been waiting out here all night?

I patted his shoulder and stood back up, reaching a hand out to help him up. "Come on, let's get you inside and out of the cold." It took him a moment, but he reluctantly took my outstretched hand and I help him to his feet, my free hand pulling the key out of my pocket and turning it in the lock. I opened the door and led him in, turning to lock it back up behind me.

He sat down in one of the waiting room chairs, arms crossed against his front and hunched over a bit. It was much warmer inside, and I shrugged my jacket off my shoulders. "Here; it's warmer in here but it's not gonna be enough to counteract hours of you sitting out in the freezing cold." I tried to hand it to him to put on, but he just stared up at me with a glint in his eyes, and I didn't press for him to act. But I couldn't let him continue to go cold, either. I drape my coat around him, which he didn't protest or thank me for.

I sat down in the chair opposite him, giving him a few minutes to relax and hopefully tell me what was wrong. He tugged the jacket tighter around himself, scowling a bit and eyes cast down to the floor. I tried to placate him, and carefully asked him what was wrong. "You said you came to be tested for something?" He nodded stiffly, not looking at me once. "What for?"

"This was a mistake, I shouldn't have come here." He pushed my coat off and headed for the door. I knew even then that I shouldn't have, that this was overstepping and would only really make him more uncomfortable, but I grabbed his wrist and kept him in place. He hit my hand away –hard— and ran for the door but crashed into it instead. The glass broke in a small spot, sounding the alarms. I ran to the reception desk to turn it off before it woke the neighborhood. When I hurried back to the boy I saw he'd been cut on the broken glass, his arm sliced and bloody. He seemed unfazed but didn't continue to try to leave. He turned to me, only looking me in the eye for a second before scowling at the floor again, and then at his bleeding arm.

"I'm sorry," I lamented. He probably wouldn't have gotten hurt if I had just let him go. "Come on; let's get you cleaned up, okay?"

And surprisingly, he didn't fight me this time. He allowed me to lead him gently back to the examination room to mend him up a bit.


"My name's Dan," I told him, trying to distract him from the sting. It was only water on a minor wound, and he didn't seem to be in pain at all, but it was still messy and he didn't need to focus on his own flesh cut like that. "What's yours?"

He didn't answer for a long time; and I was halfway through bandaging the wound, and thinking he wasn't going to respond at all, when he finally gave me an answer. "Phil," he said quietly. I smiled –maybe we were finally getting somewhere, and he'd start to give me the answers I needed to help him properly. "Aren't you a little young to be a nurse?" he asked deadpan.

I shrugged, nodding a little. "Yeah, but I'm not a nurse. My parents run the clinic so I help out when I can."

He shifted at that, and I was going to ask him to hold still when he kept talking. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen," I answered, taping the bandage in place. "There we go." I sat down in front of him again, waiting until he finally made eye contact to ask again. "What did you need to get tested for? I can't do it myself, but I can come back in the morning and make sure you get attended to first thing." I don't know why I said that; I had class first thing, and just an hour ago I'd been panicky over not being able to pick up my homework in the morning. Nonetheless, I stuck to what I said, as dumb as it may have been to say.

He looked away again, rubbing his arm. I accepted that I was only going to get certain answers out of him. I leaned forward a little and tried to speak as gently as possible. "You know, if you're gonna be looked at in the morning, you're gonna need to tell them what it is you're looking to be tested for. If you don't want to tell me, I understand, but it might be good practice to say it out loud. Whatever it is, I won't judge. I want to help you, Phil, okay?"

At length, he nodded slowly. "I… I need to get tested for some STDs…"

I nodded, smiling to reassure him that it was okay and nothing to be ashamed of. "Okay. Do you know which one –or ones— you're worried about?"

He shook his head solemnly. "I-I get tested every few months but I haven't come in a while and— this was a mistake, coming here, I'm sorry." He got up to leave but I blocked his way. God, I hoped he didn't think I was crazy, keeping him hear like a hostage or something.

"Phil, it's okay. Don't worry, we'll get you taken care of in the morning, okay?"

He nodded, and I did, too.

I stayed there with him for a while. We didn't talk much, but we talked enough to become sort of friendly. He was starting to seem less anxious, and though I didn't really get too much through to him, I could tell he was very kind, at least.

As sunup approached quickly, I knew I had to leave soon. My parents would be waking soon and if they found me out of the house, I'd really get it. I grabbed my homework from the reception table while Phil was asleep, and returned to the room. I carefully nudged him awake.

"Hey, I have to go now, but you stay here, okay? Go back to sleep. I'm gonna leave a note for the nurse who will be here in an hour or so. I'll tell her that you came last night and needed to stay, and that I stayed with you a while and let you stay asleep in here. She'll come and help you out, have you tested and you'll be set in no time. Okay?"

He nodded tiredly, and in another second was out again. I tore a page from my notebook and scribbled the note, leaving it on the reception desk as I headed out. I wondered for a moment if I'd ever see Phil again. I kind of hoped I would.