Page 73 of When Stars Collide
“Sounds simple enough.”
“It really is. You’re going to need to lay face down on the table, since the injections are going to be inserted in your back.
I did as Jordan instructed, resting my head on the poor excuse for a pillow at the end of the table. Once I was situated, Jordan attempted to untie my gown.
“Geez, who tied these knots?”
“Oh, that was me,” Elle answered him, raising her hand.
“Chill out, you’re not getting extra credit for this,” I called out to her.
“You two sisters?” Jordan asked. A poor guess, considering Elle and I looked nothing alike.
“Best friends,” I answered as Jordan worked on untying the knots in the back of my gown. “Since college.”
“That’s great. Oftentimes people drift apart and go their separate ways after they graduate. It’s good to see people stay connected.” He continued tugging at my gown. “Just about have it—there we go.” A draft from the cold room caressed my lower back when Jordan exposed the area where my tumor had been removed earlier. “Okay, three quick pokes and I’ll have you out of here.”
“I’ve heard that one before.”
“Seriously, Mena,” Elle muttered.
“Okay, here’s the first injection.”
I felt the needle pierce my skin. At first, it was no different than any other shot I’d ever received in my lifetime. I may even venture to say that, at first, I probably would have considered it unremarkable, kind of like the diet soda of shots—none of the flavor, none of the punch. At first, I wouldn’t have even known I was receiving a shot.
But that was only at first.
Seconds later, a burning encompassed the area around the injection as though the fiery bowels of hell had been reduced to liquid form, shoved into the barrel of the needle, and injected straight into my body, where it was currently unleashing a torrent of pain the likes of which I’d never experienced before. Shocked, I sucked in my breath, suppressing a scream.
“Mena,” Elle said, moving her chair over to the table. “Here, take my hand.”
I grabbed onto Elle’s hand just as the pain began to subside, groaning when I remembered there were two more injections to go.
“A lot of people compare these shots to a bee sting,” Jordan said nonchalantly as he rubbed the area where he’d made the injection.
“I don’t know what kind of bees those people were stung by, but that mutant, rabid, hornet hybrid thing that just stung me can go straight to hell.”
“Here comes the next one.”
“Squeeze my hand,” Elle reassured me, as though I wasn’t already going to be doing that.
Just when I thought I’d braced myself for the second injection, the script completely flipped on me, because the second one was somehow exponentially worse than the first.
“Ah!” I shrieked, taking hold of Elle’s hand as a forest fire tore through my lower back.
“Let go of my hand! Let go of my hand!” Elle yelped, freeing her hand from my grasp and shaking it in the air before cradling it in her lap.
“Let me have your other hand, then.”
“That’s a negative.”
“What kind of friend are you?”
“The kind that wants to walk out of here with both hands intact.”
“Now for the last one,” Jordan declared.
I held my breath, willing myself to battle through the last injection with grace and dignity.
