Chapter Two

These weren't like normal doctors, Ari decided. Normal doctors told you that the needle wouldn't hurt a bit, and usually it didn't. These doctors ignored Ari as a person. There was no warning or murmurs of assurance, and when they did plunge a needle into him, it hurt.

He looked to the doctors for one of them to acknowledge the fact that he was in pain. Sometimes his doctors would say that it WAS going to hurt, but then he'd give Ari a warm hand to hold. Ari didn't know what to do now without anyone to grab onto. The pain that used to be at just the injection point was now spreading across his entire arm. He wanted a hand to squeeze. This pain was so terrible that holding someone's hand wouldn't distract him so much as it would help him keep a brave face and not cry. The doctors would always say that if he was brave he would get a lollipop. These doctors had lollipops, right?

The pain was spreading past his arm and now to his shoulder, his chest. He started shaking uncontrollably. Whatever they had put into him, his body didn't like it. HE didn't like it. It hurt too much. And there was still no hand to hold.

His spastic movements accidentally knocked something down. Finally the doctors noticed what was happening to him, but only because a vat of precious chemicals had been knocked over. A few rushed over to Ari in an attempt to get him to calm down. But they were doing it all wrong. They yelled at him. They told him to stop shaking. But Ari couldn't help it! Couldn't they see that? Why were they being so mean, he was just a kid? Ari couldn't help shaking so hard, just like he couldn't help that he was now crying.

Apparently, crying was the last straw. One doctor threw up his hands and cried, exasperated, "Jeb, will you PLEASE control your son?"

Jeb? Daddy? Sure enough walking through the crowd of white-coated people came Ari's dad. He was so glad to see a familiar face that he almost smiled. Almost, but the pain had now traced itself to Ari's legs and was becoming too much for him. His dad, though, gave a small smile which reassured Ari. Jeb's hand went out and cupped Ari's small, three year old fingers.

"Shhh... it's okay, Ari," Jeb said. Ari was too young to understand the tone of his dad's voice. He couldn't hear the defeat or the loss of hope. All he could hear was his daddy's voice coming through and easing the pain. It was still horrible, but the feel of his dad's warm hands against Ari's was comforting.

Ari wasn't sure how long he shook; pain makes time act weird. But Jeb was there through it all, holding Ari's hand and softly stroking it with his thumb. Finally the pain began to subside. When it was all gone, and Ari's body had returned back to Ari's control, the white-coats started to buzz around the three year old again. Ari was still feeling the after-effects of the pain, his eyes were closed and his hand tightly clenched around his dad's.

Jeb leaned down so that he was close enough to whisper to Ari and not be overheard. "It's okay, Ari, I won't go anywhere."

This made Ari relax. The fact that his dad wouldn't desert him to a room full of doctors without lollipops was reassuring. But he still didn't let go of his dad's hand.

The whitecoats surrounded Ari and were busy with their Papermate pens and their clipboards. No one noticed when a woman in a sharp blue suit walked into the test-room. But when she cleared her throat to get attention, all heads snapped to hers.

Ari felt his dad stiffen, and followed suit. Whatever made his daddy scared was enough to scare him. Jeb's arm surrounded Ari's entire body, which was comforting, but Ari could still feel the fear in his dad's shaking arms.

"Dr. Batchelder," the woman said. Her voice held a hint of a smile. Ari opened his eyes to look, and when he saw the evil smile on that woman's face he shuddered. He shut his eyes again letting his daddy deal with her.

"Director." Jeb's voice was flat and monotonous. Ari had never heard his dad talk like that, and he didn't like it. But he didn't like that woman even more.

"It's cute, it really is, the fact that you still care about your son. But you forget, Dr. Batchelder, that you gave him to us. Now let him go."

Both Ari and Jeb reacted to the order at the same time. Father and son clutched each other tighter. Ari didn't want his father to let go and was glad when his dad pressed his son to his chest, and leaned over him as though to form a protective blockade between Ari and that evil woman.

When Jeb didn't say anything the Director grew angry. She began to walk forward, the clank of her high heels accentuated on the tiled floor. "I order you to let him go. You know what kind of power I have, Jeb? You should be glad that I'm using your son; it's an honor. Or at least glad that we're not killing the both of you."

Ari didn't think his dad could get any tenser, but it happened.

"Please, think about what you're doing. He's just a child. Please." Desperation.

Ari dug his head deeper in his dad's chest. "Please," Jeb added for extra effect.

It didn't work. The Director ordered once more that Jeb let Ari go. And Jeb did.

Ari didn't want to let go. He clutched onto his dad's shirt. He didn't fully understand what was happening to him, but he wanted his dad next to him. He wanted that familiar warmth to surround him, to protect him from the white coated doctors who looked at him, not as a person, but hungrily. As if they wanted to stick more needles in him and take more notes. Which only made Ari more afraid. He clung onto his dad for dear life. The fact that he was so desperate for his dad to be there, made it all the more heart-wrenching when he realized his dad was going to leave him.

Jeb slowly pried Ari's hands off of his shirt. He held each of Ari's hands in his and squeezed them.
"Be a good boy for the doctors. For me, Ari?" He tried for words of encouragement, but it didn't help Ari or cause him to release his grasp. He could hear the disgusted murmurs from the whitecoats around him, but that wouldn't make him let go.

A manicured hand appeared out of nowhere and slapped Ari's hands away. It was shock that made him let go. There stood the Director with a look of disapproval, as if Ari loving his father and not wanting to trade him for a group of unfamiliar people was wrong.

"Leave, Jeb. Now."

Jeb left.

Now Ari was alone. He stretched out his hand, because maybe someone would take to comforting the poor pre-schooler? But no one did. A whitecoat even bumped his arm away in walking to get another needle.

Ari felt sick. That chemical they injected wasn't rubbing him the right way. And they were going to put in another one? Ari began shaking his head furiously. He didn't like this. He didn't like not knowing what was going on. He didn't like being in a room where no one cared about him. He tried to tell the doctors what he wanted, but they wouldn't let him. He wanted his dad. He wanted someone to hold his hand again. He wanted someone to tell him that it wasn't going to hurt, or it was only going to hurt a bit, and if he was a brave little boy he'd get a lollipop. But as they injected yet another painful juice into his blood stream, Ari got the feeling that there was no lollipop, and there never would be.

Author's Note: Someone told me I should write a chapter two and so I did. It's a bit short, but I woke up from a nap with a burst of inspiration. If you have an idea for another chapter, tell me.

-Lys Phillips