All characters appearing in this story are +18 at the time of any sexual conduct . all names and events are fictional and any resemblance to real life counterparts is purely coincidental.
I'm new to this so I hope to hear from you. Please tell me what you think in the comments and if you would like to see more of this or other projects.
I would also like to apologize for the lack of any sex in this chapter as I am still setting things up *thumbs up*.
"Alright, with that, you should be all patched up." said Theo as he applied the finishing touches to his patient's stitches. Mrs. Cattaneo was an 70 year old woman who one could mistake for 50 due to how strong her personality and presence were. She had recently suffered a long cut on her forearm from what she called a "can opener mishap". Theo couldn't imagine the circumstances that would result in a can opener making that kind of wound, but he didn't question it because while people normally lied to their doctors, his patients knew better than to do that with him.
"Thank you again, Theo. I'll send Peter with the payment when he gets home." The old lady said as she got up and got ready to leave. It's often that the people Theo saw to didn't have payment on hand or mind when they first come here, and Mrs. Cattaneo was no exception (her particular reason, however, being that she thought she'd check up on her wound on her way back from grocery shopping).
"And try to stay away from can openers from now on" Theo told her as she was leaving. She laughed as she balanced her heavy grocery bags with an iron grip and walked off into the busy street outside.
Theo's clinic was positioned on the ground floor of a old creaky building in the slums, directly facing the narrow street which was more of a wide alleyway. These alleyways made up most of the area where Theo lived and worked day to day. While it was indeed a poorly built part of the city, the relatively short buildings that rarely towered above 5 floors and the constantly busy hustle and bustle of the people all over was something Theo liked. Ever since he was a kid, he loved the sight of grandpas sitting outside a café playing cards and smoking all day, of the various shops whose owners talked to each other as much as they talked to customers, of kids running around causing stress to everyone involved. It all probably stemmed from Theo never really connecting with people. Sure, he had great relationships in the neighbourhood and outside it too, but he longed for the warmth of familial society.
As the son of an overworked single mother, he was always locked inside the house with nothing but TV and books as his companion. They never went hungry, but Theo and his mom were undoubtedly piss poor and relatively alone. Despite that, Theo grew up well enough to perform excellently in school, setting his mind on studying engineering in college. On his last year of high school, however, something unpredictable happened. His mother suffered a heart attack. Taken by surprise, he frantically struggled to call medical help, all the while feeling lost in shock. He would never forget the feeling of helplessness that plagued him that night, or the way the medics came in and saved his mom like heaven-sent angels. That night would set him on his path to becoming a doctor, in noble hopes of preserving the most priceless thing to any person, their life.
But the future wasn't wrapped up that nicely. In his 6th year of medical school, Theo's mom developed chronic fatigue syndrome, and was unable to stand up for extended periods of time like before. This forced Theo to leave school and look for odd jobs to support both of them, to a mostly unsuccessful degree. This would last until a friend of his from his old college would call him up for a job offer.
"It's not exactly on the up and up if you know what I mean." said Pedro while biting down on his burger. They were having lunch in a quite family restaurant as per Pedro's request. Theo's burger and fries remained untouched as he hung on to Pedro's uninspiring opening offer. While he was no stranger to the dregs of society living in his area, he, like most sane men, kept their distance with a life time's expertise in order to live on peacefully.
"How bad are we talking here?" Theo casually replied while hiding any worry his mind held. Pedro swallowed and wiped his mouth before going on.
"Think of it like a Red Cross volunteer. You help out those in need to the best of your ability when hospitals aren't a viable option."
Usually, hospitals weren't viable if the person couldn't afford them. Usually. The way Pedro was wording his offer made Theo all but sure he was talking about the other case. The one where the fatality rate was caused by guns and knives, instead of old age and heart attacks.
"I'm not joining a gang Pedro."
"And you won't be. All you need to do is open up a clinic in a shop they'll provide. Law enforcement doesn't go there except in very very extreme conditions, which means you won't run into trouble for practicing without a license."
"And?" probed Theo, waiting for the catch.
"No 'and'. You just go about your business as you usually would. Sometimes, your patients might have gun shot wounds or some nasty stabs, but all you gotta do is stitch them up to the best of your ability without asking unnecessary questions and you're golden."
"That's a big fat 'and'. How is that different from joining a gang?"
"Very. The clinic and supplies will be provided by a "charity organization" for official records and in case anyone asks, so you'll simply be a society-loving volunteer like I told you."
"Well it's definitely no Godfather situation, but it still sounds pretty shady..." thought Theo to himself as he picked up his burger. The muted sunlight coming from their table side wide window was making the air around them hot and heavy, taking away from Theo's appetite and clouding his thoughts. Yet, as he took a bit and chewed on it, he realized this might not be so bad. He was already living in a pretty lawless area compared to other places, and if he could get some use out of his agonizing 6 years at med school to make a pretty hefty buck, it was all the more better.
"Where is this place exactly?" asked Theo a now smirking Pedro.
This was one year ago. Things went... relatively well since then. The place, Theo found out, wasn't that far from his house. It was simple room with the basic necessities for a clinic along with a bathroom and a tiny closet like room with an electric stove and some kitchenware. It also didn't have any indications or signs to clue people about the fact this was supposed to be a clinic. From the outside, it looked like a normal ground floor small apartment. When he first came to view the shop, he met an elegant pretty lady who introduced herself as Jenny and looked out of place in the slummy area. Jenny was supposedly the rep for the NGO behind this initiative. She acted very professionally as she showed Theo around the place and informed him about how his supplies will be delivered along with his work schedule and official designations if he ever needed it. Not once did she mention anything about illegal practicing or treating mafia men. In fact, she was acting so professionally Theo almost forgot the nature of the job he signed up for.
After his briefing was done, Jenny handed Theo the keys to the clinic and left immediately, leaving him to contemplate everything on his own. He was supposed to start next Monday, and since everything seemed in order in the clinic, he decided to lock up and go home.
"Excuse me, is this the new clinic?" A short stocky man asked as he slid through the door. Theo was taken aback for a second, not expecting someone seconds after he got handed the keys. But he had already steeled his nerves when coming here thinking something will definitely go wrong, so this much was within his capabilities. Jenny had told him they spread a bit of word about this place in the neighbourhood so that it won't arouse suspicion when it first opens, but Pedro had clarified people will know very quickly the nature of the place.
"Yes. How can I help you?" Theo replied to the man pretty straightforwardly. The man smiled through his shaggy beard and proceeded to immediately show Theo the wart on his back that's been hurting him for months now.
After that, it was smooth sailing for the first 2 weeks. All sorts of neighbourhood people tickled in and out of his clinic, but it was mostly paranoid elderly wanting their vitals examined for whatever reason they could think of, not that Theo minded. This rhythm meant he was working leisurely for most of his time and enjoying the lively neighbourhood for the rest. It wasn't long before other shop owners in the street warmed up to Theo's naturally helpful and polite demeanour, and soon enough they were bringing him small gifts here and there and stopping by to chat during break hours. Most of Theo's patients never paid when they first came in, but that was no concern of his. He was instructed to simply give them the bill and await payment. He was also supposed to call Jenny and inform her of any unpaid bills by the end of the month, but luckily, no one left their bills unpaid for long.
It was indeed smooth sailing. "Too smooth" Theo thought to himself. As much as he was enjoying himself in this new environment, the implications of what he will have to do at one point kept haunting him no matter how much he tried to rationalize them away.
It was one hot humid night when he got his first taste of the job he signed up for. He was sleeping in the clinic as part of his duties that day, using the operating table as a makeshift bed. He was awoken by the sound of heavy rapid punches on the clinic door which jolted him awake, almost making him fall off the table. He had expected something like this to happen at one point, he wasn't that oblivious to how serious this stuff is, but he shock was great nonetheless. Moving quickly through the darkness, he reached for the small handgun the clinic organizers gave him for self defense and proceeded towards he door. Theo had experience with shooting guns from when he was a kid practicing hunting with his grandpa before he passed away, but he didn't fancy his chances in a real gun fight or even his chances of being able to shoot someone if needed.
Peering through the peephole, he saw a bunch of frantic looking guys huddled in front of the door. When they sensed Theo on the other side, one of them yelled for him to open up the door so they can carry the injured in. Relaxing a bit but still on full alert mode, he understood that this was it, the entire thing he was hired for. Not to play neighbourhood doctor, but to take care of injuries that can't see the light of day.
When he unlocked the door, he realized the four huddled men where actually groped around another man. It was immediately obvious that man has been shot, and shot bad. The men immediately rushed inside carrying the injured man. A tall lanky man who seemed to be their leader whipped his head around and looked at Theo.
"WHE-"
"Put him on the table right here, quickly." Theo immediately replied to his obvious question as he started prepping. He was definitely scared out of his mind, but maybe because this was way beyond whatever he imagined, the shock of it all made him weirdly clam enough to start his work normally.
"Hold his arms and legs." Theo gave the men instructions as he cut through the injured man's clothing. Theo located 2 gunshot wounds, one was a superficial wound on the man's side, and the other was more grave. The bullet seems to have lodged itself into his abdomen and he was bleeding out. "Do or Die" Theo thought.
"I'm going to take the out the bullet in his abdomen, make sure he doesn't move." Theo yelled out clearly as he stuffed the injured man's mouth with piece of cloth to bite on. The men were obviously agitated but were able to see he meant business, so none of them bothered to talk more than necessary and just told him to do it.
The injured man was very lethargic, but the moment he felt the medical tongs touch his skin, he began yelling and thrashing around. The piece of cloth did little to stop his high wails of pain, but the other men made sure he wasn't able to move as much as possible. Theo was sweating buckets out of every pore in his body, but the gravity of the situation didn't allow him to even register that. Carefully and quickly, with as much as his inexperience allowed him, Theo removed the bullet through the bloody mess that was the man's wound. Once out, Theo took a couple of seconds to reorganize his thoughts. Right before one of the guys got too impatient, he snapped back to his current situation, and as if on auto pilot, he got the disinfecting and stitching equipment and got to work. He tried to stitch the man up as quickly as he could since his muscles were quickly starting to flatter as a result of the built up nerves.
30 min later, and after a couple of mistakes in his work that the other men thankfully didn't notice or ignored, Theo was finally done. He slumped back in his chair and let his head relax backwards as the entire group took a minute to catch its breath. The injured man never stopped screaming at the top of his lungs, but he did quite down a bit after the procedure was done. The tall lanky man was the first to speak up.
"So, how's he looking doctor?" he asked. Theo took a deep breath before replying. He wanted to ask a million questions, but understood how useless and stupid that would be right now.
"Well, I've done everything I could. The bullet miraculously missed his vitals and I was able to close everything up at least, but he needs a CT scan to make sure he's not hurt somewhere else inside." he explained plainly.
"Alright, can we take him with us now?" The leader man said, seemingly uninterested in further medical reporting. Theo looked at his face in the pale sickly fluorescent light but couldn't fathom what the man was thinking. It was a world far removed from Theo's, and Theo didn't mind it staying that way.
"Normally, I'd like to keep him under observation for now. But if you must, you can take him with you. Just make sure he doesn't move around or his stitches will rip and he'll bleed to death." Theo stated "And make sure to watch him for any complications until he visibly stabilizes at least."
The leader man nodded and signalled to the others who immediately got up, carried the injured man, and left as quickly as they came. Once Theo was sure they were gone for good, he collapsed on the bloody floor like a puppet with its strings cut, all the stress and fear of the past hour which flew by so fast finally settling in. He looked at the clock on the wall to see it was past 2 a.m.. One could only wonder how many people woke up because of all this racket, and how many would actually try to investigate. It was a pretty known rule in the backstreets to shy away from noises you didn't understand the origin of.
After a while of sitting there dazed and lost, the newly fire-baptized doctor finally got up and cleaned up the office. By the time he was done, it was almost 5 a.m. and he didn't imagine he'd get any more sleep even if he went home, so he called his mom to let her know he wont come back this morning and opened up the clinic early.
Ever since then, his work more or less followed the same pattern. Sometimes worse, sometimes better but still bad, he found out he was able to acclimate pretty easily to his new reality. Maybe it was his social disconnect since he was a kid or his naïve drive to just help whoever needed him, but he didn't think his current position was that bad, even if he was always expecting masked strangers to come in at any time and brutalize him to death, it was a source of nightmares he decided he'll just have to live with. In a sense, that was Theo. An apathetically happy life goer.
Another factor that contributed to his stay was what got him into it in the fist place, money. The agreed upon pay was already better than whatever side job he could find in his current state, but when he got the pay for his first month, he saw a surprisingly big addition noted as "Overtime". It didn't take a genius to figure out what the overtime in question meant, and while still quite terrified of the whole ordeal, Theo still found himself quite happy with it.
Now, he was living a much better life than he ever remembered. He was able to hire a part time nurse to take care of his mom, they were able to indulge in food and clothing or twice a month, and he was finally saving up to buy a car (cheap but reliable), a childhood dream of his. His long journey quickly flashed across his mind as he sat on the chair outside his clinic while he smoked a cigarette with the owner of the café next door, casually passing the time.
Later that night, while making a cup of coffee in his tiny closet kitchen in preparation for another all-nighter at the clinic, light knock sounds came from the door. Moving quickly, he put his stuff away and got to the door in what he assumed was another night time visitor, only to be surprised by Mrs. Cattaneo on his doorstep.
"Mrs. Cattaneo? Are you okay? Did you wound reopen?" Theo was genuinely confused. Mrs. Cattaneo's injury shouldn't have been anything serious, especially not warranting a midnight visit.
"Doctor Theo." The grey haired woman cut through his worry with a strong and stern voice "I need you to come with me for a house visit quickly."
Theo looked at her trying to decipher what's happening. He had performed house calls before, but it never came in such mysterious terms. The woman, however, didn't give him time to organize his thoughts.
"Quickly, you should understand how important this work is."
The moment she said that, Theo put two and two together and understood what was going on.
"Mrs. Cattaneo! you really never know." He thought to himself, but quickly packed his stuff and followed the woman outside. He got used to turning off the inquisitive side of his mind when doing these jobs, it was only natural and it kept him out of unnecessary trouble.
Right outside was a grey beat up SUV waiting for them. Mrs. Cattaneo got into the front passenger seat after telling him to get in the back seat, which he proceeded to do. The SUV was being driven by an thin man of about 40 years who was wearing a flat cap. As the car started driving, Mrs. Cattaneo got to business right away. She told him he's going to treat a heavily injured man at her house and that it was very important to keep his mouth shut about everything he will see and hear.
"I decided to bring you in because I heard good things about you. Don't disappoint me." She remarked. As the car drove on, the heavy atmosphere and serious tone of his drivers started to get to Theo, cold sweat forming on his body. He endured it to the best of his ability as the cool air from the car window gave him a fresh breath on this very hot summer night.
At one point, the car stopped in front of a shabby looking 3 floors building nestled in a hidden alleyway off the main street. Mrs. Cattaneo stepped out for the car and motioned for Theo to do the same, which he wasted no time doing. The man in the driver seat drove off and left them alone. There was no visible movement or signs of life anywhere aside from the building, but Theo knew that any person who lived there who was worth his salt knew better than to interfere in what doesn't relate to him. The city is usually awake underneath the night façade.
As Theo watched the woman in front of him hurry inside, he now saw that she was shaking as she marched in quick nervous footsteps, further sending home how grave the matter was for her. Theo intended to take it just as seriously, once he understood what he's doing that is.
When they went inside, Theo was surprised to see how well furnished the place was as opposed to its exterior. The walls were beautifully decorated with soft pure paint and occasional photos and art, the doors and furniture were very stylish without feeling crowded or overdesigned, and the whole place was kept in a very clean state. The architecture was a remanent of the house's obvious old age and humble beginnings, but it added to it charm in a way, like a old timer that has perfected his craft.
"In here, please hurry." re stating the urgency of the matter, Mrs. Cattaneo ushered Theo into a room at the end of the main hall. Theo swallowed nervously, steeled himself, and walked inside.
Immediately you could tell something was wrong. While the place all the way up to here didn't have a single spec out of order, this room was a mess, as if a hurricane passed through. It was a big bedroom with a king sized bed and a grand closet, but those details paled in front of the bloody mess of a man on the bed.
The moment Theo saw him, all other thoughts disappeared from his mind and he immediately went into work mode. He was wearing a suit pants and suit with rolled up sleeves and a tie as he liked to keep his attire formal during working hours, so he immediately tucked his tie into his shirt, unpacked his medical gear, put on a pair of gloves and started examining the man on the bed. But before he could do anything, a hand a voice brought back his general awareness as another man he didn't see in his hurry grabbed him and shouted something in his face. He was a well built guy with a bald head and a think beard with tattoos on his hands, truly the image of a tough criminal. Before Theo could respond, Mrs. Cattaneo scream at the man to let Theo do his job, at which point the man seemed to take another look at Theo, deciding to allow him to start working.
Theo, finally face to face with his patient, started assessing the situation. The guy's face might have been somewhat handsome, but the contorted expression of pain diminished that at the moment. He had short black hair that was currently dishevelled and a body that was full but not fat. He was also wearing what's now a torn up and blood soaked short sleeved shirt and pyjamas. Seeing that Theo started by telling Mrs. Cattaneo he needed hot water and whatever pieces of fabric they have on hand, then tore up the remaining rags on the man and started assessing his wounds.
His first prediction based on looks was a car accident, but the nature of the wounds quickly revealed this man had been beaten, and beaten hard. There were bruises all over his body, as if someone laid him on a table and went to work with a hammer.
Knowing better than to ask useless questions, Theo started cleaning the blood and gauging the wounds' seriousness as for what was passable and what needed immediate attention and stitches. The man was seemingly passed out, but he did groan and bite down when Theo inspected him.
"So?" Asked the rough looking man in an impatient tone. Mrs. Cattaneo shushed him, but Theo turned around and addressed them both.
"He's lost a lot of blood and he seems to be be suffering from internal bleeding which we need to fix right this instant. I suppose it's not possible to transport him to a hospital?"
The rough man seemed agitated but Mrs. Cattaneo shook her head, worry now quite obvious on her face in the lamp light.
"It would only make it more difficult. You have to treat it here." She responded in a manner that betrayed her experience in whatever field "taking care of shady life threatening injuries" was.
"The someone will have to go the clinic and fetch the blood transfusion apparatus while I work on him in the meantime." Theo answered after contemplating for a minute while observing the faintly rising and falling hairy chest of his patient.
"I will go with someone, please start your work in the meantime. If you need anything else, let Matthew know, he will provide it as quickly as possible." Mrs. Cattaneo announced as she got up to leave, but not before taking a quick pained look at the man in the bed.
"Must be someone important to her" thought Theo before turning back to his patient and getting to work. It turned out the man was internally bleeding in his abdomen, which meant Theo had to fix that before he could take are of the wounds on the surface. Luckily, it wasn't difficult even with Theo's haphazardly prepared equipment, although he was definitely playing things a bit too close for comfort.
It took a long time. Theo was sweating buckets throughout the whole ordeal, and Matthew's restless pacing did not help at all. The man stayed passed out for most of it, which worried Theo, but he reacted enough to the pain that Theo decided it's better he's not acutely feeling the doctor poking around his body. When he finally finished patching him up to the best of his ability, Theo sat down on the antique sofa next to the bed with his hands twitching and shaking from the stress of holding.
"Is this it? Did you cure him?" Matthew immediately started asking him. Theo shook his head.
"This is merely a stop gap measure. He needs the blood transfusion to make up for all the lost blood. and quickly."
Matthew started saying something when the door flung open and in walked Mrs. Cattaneo with the flat cap driver carrying the blood transfusion machine. Both of Theo and Matthew audibly sighed at their arrival, and Theo immediately got back up to not waste this very fortunate timing. He had told Mrs. Cattaneo about what blood packs he needed and she had brought more than he ordered. He took out the ones he needed and placed the others to the side. He'll probably have to throw those away now due to being out of their special freezer, but it wasn't of importance at the moment. He quickly hooked the man up to the machine and started it while Mrs. Cattaneo sat on the bedside next to the man and gently caressed his face muttering to herself.
Once again, he sat down in the antique sofa and took a deep breath as the machine started moving up and down, pumping blood into the guy's body.
"Theo, I need you to be honest with me here. How's it looking for Mark?" The woman couldn't hide her dwindling nerves as she asked.
"It's too early to tell. I will have to watch him for now in case he shows signs of undetected internal bleeding or any other problem. If it gets too much for me to handle, he'll need a hospital, but I'm hoping it won't come to that."
Mrs. Cattaneo expression remained as it is as she looked at Theo, seemingly thinking about something. She then exchanged some quick looks and words with Matthew who was has been hovering all over the room unable to contain his agitation. Theo didn't like to judge people, but if asked, he would've agreed that Matthew looked like a hot headed man, again lining up with the gang member image he was exuding.
Mrs. Cattaneo then spoke to Theo again. "It's against my best wishes but we... have to leave for a while. I will entrust Mark to you. Anything you need will be provided, all you have to do is call for it. I hope you understand the gravity of the situation." Her strong tone was somewhat threatening, but it mostly conveyed what Theo originally thought about the woman, that she was a frighteningly powerful old lady.
"I will do everything I can." Theo replied decidedly, and with that, Mrs. Cattaneo and Matthew left the room, leaving Theo with his patient.
"Well, Mark." Theo addressed the man sleeping next to him as he checked on the machine's progress "We have a long long night ahead of us."
