Call the Doctor!
"Miss?" again, "Miss?"
"Wake up!"
"Miss?"
I heard someone calling, and something was shaking me. As my eyes started to open, I saw that I was surrounded by people again! All I could see were blue-capped thugs. I quickly got up and started screaming.
"Get away from me! Leave me alone! I am not kidding this time!"
I reared up and someone hit me hard on the head. Landing on my feet, I looked up an saw that it was the ceiling, with a large dent in the stainless steel paneling.
"Please! Calm down miss! You're ok! Nobody's going to hurt you!" spoke a man.
"You're in the emergency room. You're ok!"
I looked at him, it was the same guy who first talked to me and started to tend my wounds. Ooh, him. Who was he calling? Ooh, right, me, heh.
"Are you calm now?" he asked.
"Uh, I guess, uh, yes I am." I answered, not! I'm just not panicking right now.
"Good, we couldn't get you into room, heck, we couldn't move you. You're too big. Will you come with me, please?"
"Sure."
The people in the area were also starting to calm down, both patients and personnel. As I followed him, several brawny looking interns took up positions around me.
"Before we get any further involved, introductions are proper." He started. "Hello, my name is Dr. Stephen Taggart. I have never seen you before, ahem, what is your name?"
What to say? I was born in a totally different shape. Should I drag my rejecting family into this? No, but what name? Well, the book I was reading in the tub before I conked out had a strong female character in it. Considering on how I thought I looked like, and after what happened to those gang-bangers, rather strong, too. Mavra Chang. Well, I'll just stick to Mavra.
"Uhm, Mavra."
"Is that it, or do you have a last name?"
"I'll stick to just Mavra."
"Ok, Mavra it is." As we walked along, my hooves clacking on the floor, he flipped through some paperwork on his clipboard, "We were able to stop most of your bleeding, but you'll need stitches. I am assuming that you have no insurance?"
Yeah, no insurance, no family, no friends? Who can say? No money, no this, that, et cetera.
I shook my head, "No insurance."
"Well, we'll see what we can do." He motioned into a drapery-enclosed area.
"In here please. Stay seated and . . .sorry, habit. Just stay here, and I'll be right back."
With that, he stepped back with the interns, closed the drapes and started talking to the interns.
I over heard:
"I want all of you to stay here and make sure she doesn't leave."
"But what if it gets busy?"
"Then go where you're needed, but under no circumstances are there to be less than two people here! Understood?"
"Hey! This isn't the military!"
"True, but how do you explain, what is behind those drapes? Who is she?
Where did she come from?"
"I dunno."
"Neither do I. I'm making some calls."
Footsteps walking away.
Hmph! I was born just under a mile and a half away at Emanuel Hospital! Something weird just happened to me is all.
I looked around the "room," seeing if there was anything different than the last eight times I was in the emergency ward. The examination table, (heh!) with stirrups! I loved the double irony. Yeah, and the regular medical stuff. Oh! There's something useful! A full-length mirror! I was secretly trying to keep from seeing myself in windows during my night walks, afraid to confront what I had become, yet irresistably curious. It was slightly angled away from me, so I would have to make a concious effort to walk over and see. All other things aside, this decision weighed among the heaviest that I've ever made. I thought about it for some time. Do it? Not do it?
I slowly walked over to it. The first thing I saw was a pair of hooves on the floor, quickly followed by a pair of legs of the front of a horse. I slowly raised my eyes, confronting the vision in the mirror. It was the right side of the horse, with a human arm hanging down at an odd angle, like the rider was riding on the horse's neck. Blood was dripping down the arm, slowly a river of red flowing, coalescing into large, thick drops at the fingertips. A wound was seen on the upper arm, a trench dug into flesh by a passing supersonic projectile. Looking forward in the mirror, I saw that the rider of the horse was not a rider. She was part of the horse, blending in a smooth seamless fitting at the waist of her and the neck of the horse. At least the black t-shirt was still intact. The breasts of the lady were not overly large, small, or otherwise. They just were. Further up, the face was seen. No bruises or scrapes seen, the attackers were not tall enough to strike a blow. Taking a closer look at the face, I saw myself.
"My God, it's me."
Not exactly me, but a me of what-ifs, what-could-have-beens. Had I have been 'horsey', with some alterations and the rest intact, this would have been me. No, wait, this *is* me, period, but the hair is different. Instead of a strawberry-blonde, the hair was a dark, rich brown. It seems that I now inherited one more thing from my dad, now, instead of Mom. Turning my head, I noticed that I wouldn't be too far off of looking like my sister! Hooves and company not withstanding. Speaking of which, I wanted to get a good look at the rest of me. Just because I felt nothing before, isn't confirmation. Moving my rear into view and turning sharply on my waist, I noticed two more bullet wounds, one on each cheek. At least the gang members had the decency to make them symmetrical. They were equidistant from my, ahem, my, um y'know. They were equidistant from the sides of my flanks. Hmm. . . the y'know. I took a deep breath, took a wide stance with my hindlegs and raised my tail.
Oooooh . . . . .boy. No, girl, definitely girl. Mare. Well, that confirmed things alrighty.
The curtain started to rustle and in walked the doctor with a nurse, at least the nurse was female.
"Self examination, Mavra?" He asked.
"I uh was checking if there were any hidden wounds"
"We didn't see any more when we checked, were there?"
"Uhm, no."
"That's good. Let's finish tending to you."
They started cleaning up my wounds. Dabbing here, there. Thank God the nurse was tending to my hiney.
"Are allergic to codine? Asperin? On any medication currently? Just standard questions." He nicely asked.
"No, at least not that I know of," I answered, "In fact, I must tell you, I was not born like this. I was just your stereotypical chemotherapy patient when I fell asleep in a bathtub three months ago. I woke up in Washington Park I guess a few hours ago."
His head perked up really quick, "Chemotherapy? Three months?"
"Sorry, just a figure of speech." Geez, I didn't want to totally freak him out. Drugs have enough side-effects these days. "But I do mean three months. Fell asleep, and woke up BANG! like this."
"Hmmm. Well, I made a few calls, and someone from the government is coming by to help out."
I gulped. I heard of Project Bluebook. Are they going to make me dissapear?
A large, growling sound suddenly broke the silence. Both MD and RN stepped back away from me.
"Please, Mavra!" He pleaded, "We're only trying to help!"
I smiled in a non-threatening way, "Sorry, but I haven't eaten in a while. I don't know what I can eat, but I just realized that I'm hungry."
Both relaxed and smiled back.
"That's ok, Mavra, " Dr. Taggart chuckled, "I'm hungry too. I haven't had anything since noon. We'll get you something once we finish up here."
"I could go for a nice tuna sand myself." added the nurse.
After a few more minutes, they finished their job.
Dr. Taggart motioned me over, "C'mon, Mavra, you'll join Barbara and me for a meal."
"Mmmm! Sounds good!" I exclaimed.
As he drew back the drapes, no orderlies were found, only the grim visages and badges of three FBI agents.