Chapter 5 - Burned

• By morning I was exhausted and thoroughly confused.
• I needed to go to work. But I still felt dizzy, and my arm hurt.
• When I opened the curtains to see, I found that there was a purplish-blue spot on my arm. Like an embedded bruise.
• I put my own hand over it to check the size. Confirming that the shape of it was far larger than mine. I gasped and stumbled backward so fast, I tripped over a lampshade on a low side table. Sending me careening onto the floor.
• I rolled to my feet and quickly plucked clothes from my closet. Tossing them over my head and scurrying out my front door. Barely remembering to grab my keys and lock the front door before I left.
• I hurried to my red SUV and hopped in. Driving straight to the doctor’s office.
• I knew what this was.
• His touch.
• But I needed a doctor to tell me what I was seeing.
• It’s the only proof I have.
• And it mattered to me that Ashley knew I hadn’t made it up.
• Though she seemed to suspect that, she couldn’t believe the tale I was telling.
• Which is fine because now I can prove it.
• ***
• Doc Hannigan was entirely baffled.
• She lifted my arm for what had to be the seventh time and peered at it over her thing glasses. “How did you say you got this.”
• Huffing, I explained it again.
• “You do know how crazy that sounds?”
• “I’m not crazy, Doc.”
• She pursed her lips sideways and touched the spot which was now beginning to rise. I hissed between my teeth at the instant burning sensation.
• “No doubt it’s a handprint.” She shook her head bemusedly. “But it’s not a bruise. This is the kind of injury I’d say came from a dry ice burn.”
• “He was cold.”
• “So cold his touch burned?” She asked askance.
• I shrugged. Not really knowing how to answer that. I’d been so stuck on his face and his sleek gray body, at the time, I hadn’t noticed what his touch actually felt like.
• “Well, I’m going to prescribe you some topical ointment to put around these edges that are dry and rather…crispy.” She bumped into one.
• Making me squeal and rip my arm from her grip.
• I’d known Doc for a lot of years. She was a main staple of Shell, North Carolina. Everyone knew her.
• But I’d never known her to be deliberately cruel.
• However, the way she kept prodding at the wound, was making me rethink her level of sadomasochism.
• “I’m having a hard time grasping your tale, Erin.”
• My brows shot up and I flushed in faint annoyance. “Have I ever lied to you before?”
• “You did once.” She pointed out. “When you were asking for birth control to regulate your-”
• I lifted my hand to stop her.
• I was a teenager then.
• And I had enough sense to know I should obtain some birth control.
• “That’s an unfair comparison. I mean since I’ve been an adult.”
• She frowned as she thought it over. “No.”
• “Why would I lie about this?”
• She shook her head again. Lifting my wrist and elbow one more time, to look at the injury. “This is just so strange…”
• “Okay. Okay.” I pulled my arm over it. “So do I just wrap it up or what?”
• Her arms dropped. “Use that topical ointment like I said and do not wrap it. We’ll treat it as a burn. Which means it needs to be uncovered.” She emphasized the last with a stern look.
• “Yes ma’am.” I echoed her tone.
• She peered at me over her glasses.
• I laughed slightly as I slid off the clinic bed.
• “I’m surprised you’re not in more pain.”
• I gave it a pensive study.
• “It really only hurts when you touch it.” I bumped the edge with my fingers. Resulting in the same wild burning that her touches had elicited.
• “Hmm.” She murmured.
• I swept my sweater off the back of the chair and threw it on as I headed to the exterior door.
• “Make sure and take care of that, Erin!” Doc stepped from the exam room to call after me. “It could get infected…”
• I opened the door of the clinic and looked over my shoulder.
• But the last part, I didn’t hear.
• “Definitely no surfing, Erin!” She ordered.
• But I refused to hear those words, as I quickly closed the door.
• “Nope.” I said for my own benefit rather than hers.
• Now more than ever, I wanted to get out there and see what it was.