"Subject B: David Thomas Jones," the doctor said into a tape recorder as they made their way down the hall. "Mr. Jones was the first of four unique subjects chosen for this experiment and has already been on treatment for two days now, longer than the other three. As I had been taking care of my patient, Nesmith, a coworker of mine has been taking care of Jones up until this point. I have been asked to perform a routine physical on Jones to see how these tests have been treating him."
They made it to the door and unlocked it, stepping inside. Davy was lying on his side, the braces strapped around him tightly and he looked small, almost all of his body being covered in the heavy metal braces.
The doctor smiled slightly and set the tape recorder on the counter, going to him. The smile faded when they heard the sound that Davy was struggling to breathe under the braces.
"Good morning, Mr. Jones," they said, removing the braces over Davy's chest and stomach.
Davy didn't say anything, his breathing beginning to even out a little.
"Were they too tight?"
Davy whimpered but couldn't speak. The doctor sighed.
"Let's get you out of these, shall we?" They said, removing the rest of the braces.
Davy was so sore that he couldn't move, even when the braces holding him down were removed.
"I'll just be giving you a standard physical, Mr. Jones," they explained. "Nothing you need to worry about. Just wanting to see how the tests are going so far."
Davy whimpered and nodded slightly.
"I won't be hurting you," they said, going toward him. "Just relax."
Davy whimpered as they placed a hand on his back, frowning.
"Mr. Jones…?" The doctor said, a slight hint of concern in their voice as they looked over at Davy. "Do you have scoliosis?"
Davy frowned and squinted, looking up at them.
"Wh-what?" He asked in a whisper.
"I asked if you had scoliosis," they continued, feeling Davy's back. "It's a condition where your spine is crooked, rather than straight. I'm sure you'd know if you had it."
"Hmm…n-no."
The doctor frowned, picking up the tape recorder again.
"Subject Jones appears to have developed an unusual form of scoliosis since beginning the tests," they said into it. "However, instead of a crooked back, Jones has developed more of an arched back."
Davy frowned, hearing only bits and pieces of the conversation.
"I-I-I-I…" Davy stammered, finding it hard to speak. "I-is it…?"
The doctor smiled slightly.
"Don't worry," they said softly. "It isn't bad. Unusual, but not anything serious."
He didn't answer and the doctor sighed, beginning to move Davy's arms and legs around.
"Other than your back, how do you feel, Mr. Jones?"
Davy whimpered again, the only sound that wasn't painful or difficult to make.
"Hmm, not good I'm guessing?"
"S-s-s-sick…" Davy said, his voice shaking as he tried to speak.
"You feel sick?" The doctor asked with a frown and Davy whimpered again, curling into a ball, clutching his stomach.
"Subject Jones claims to feel sick," they said into the recorder, picking up their clipboard. "From the looks of it, it appears to be a form of nausea that he's experiencing. Nesmith also claimed to be nauseous and as of now, it seems to be a common side effect from the tests."
The doctor writes "arched back (scoliosis?)" and "nausea" down as notes on Davy's page.
"Is there anything else you're feeling?"
Davy doesn't answer as he begins whimpering again, shifting around slightly. All his muscles ached with pain and it had become difficult to move around.
"Mr. Jones?"
Davy only whimpered and cried more as the pain grew and began spreading over his entire body, not just his arms and legs anymore. The doctor frowned and went to the cabinet, filling a syringe and pushing it into Davy's neck.
"I'm sorry…" they said softly. "Since you've already begun the tests, I'm not allowed to give you any painkillers or nausea medicine that might negatively interfere with them."
Davy whimpered, trying to pull away from the needle, but didn't have the strength to do so. Suddenly his entire body went numb and his vision became blurry.
"This is the sedatives you've been given before," the voice of the doctor said and Davy could feel as his body was pushed back onto its side.
Click, click.
"I think the braces were on too tight last time," the doctor said, carefully placing the braces back over Davy's legs, chest, and stomach.
"Okay…" the doctor said quietly, pushing a different syringe into Davy's arm.
"There you go," they said with a smile, marking down on the chart that the next tests had begun and stayed in the room until Davy drifted off to sleep. The doctor let out a sigh, holding up the tape recorder again.
"As of now…" they said quietly. "Everything seems to be going well with both Subjects Jones and Nesmith. A few slight concerns and possible side effects that I'm noticing with both of them. I assume the other two might be experiencing something similar."
Davy began crying in his sleep. The doctor frowned and slowly made his way out of the room, locking the door behind him, holding up the tape recorder to their mouth.
"My point is," they continued. "As of now, everything appears to be going according to plan and going well. I have a few concerns myself but so far, there aren't any serious side effects or health concerns at the moment."
They stopped recording and pushed the tape recorder into their pocket, letting out a deep sigh as they made their way down the dimly lit hallway, their head hung low.