Jax had taken a rather long time to get out of the bathroom. His head was throbbing and he had vomited again. It took him a while to collect enough energy to move. When he opened the bathroom door, Bren was waiting for him just like he said he would. He noticed that he was no longer smiling and wondered what had happened.
Bren looked over at him and said, “are you ok? I was starting to worry about you again?”
Jax said, “ Yah, sorry for taking so long.”
Bren pushed himself off the wall and said, “Fuchsia wants to talk to you.”
Jax felt like something heavy had just dropped into his stomach and he felt sick. He followed Bren to the living room where he could see Fuchsia and Sina sitting. He and Bren sat down on the couch together and waited for Fuchsia to speak. She had her laptop in her lap and seemed to be working on something. She looked up and shifted in her seat. She peered over her glasses and focused her attention on Jax and said, “ do you feel better after your shower?”
Jax nodded, not wanting to talk to anyone.
Fuchsia smiled and said “I guess you are worried about why I want to talk to you.” She looked towards Bren, and pushed her glasses back up on her face. She returned attention towards Jax to say “I’m going to get straight to the point, I’m going to have to make some adjustments to your implant.”
Jax stood up quickly and said, “hell no!” He walked quickly towards the door and Bren jumped in front of the door and said, “Jax just listen to what she has to say, please!”
Jax sighed and said, “the last time I didn’t have a choice in the matter, this time I do! What if I lose what memories I have of you guys. What if something goes wrong?” He spun around and looked at Fuchsia and frantically asked, “can you guarantee that nothing bad will happen?”
She lowered her head and said, “no, no I can’t!”
Jax said, “I didn’t think so!” And he stomped towards the back of the house.
Fuchsia stood up and loudly said, “Jax! I can guarantee you, if I don’t do it something bad will happen.”
Jax stopped and just stood there not moving and then sighs. He turned around and slowly headed back to the couch. He pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his head on his knees. He mumbled, “I’m listening.”
Fuchsia looked relieved as she sat back down. Bren walked back to the couch and sat beside Jax.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Fuchsia asked, “are you aware that you have been having seizures?”
Jax shakes his head no while wrapping his arms tighter around his legs.
Fuchsia said, “We don’t know if the seizures are harmful, but we do know that you have been having them frequently. I will be able to find out more about them during the procedure. The procedure will be minimally invasive. The implant is actually attached to your parietal bone, so a small incision will be made so that I can gain access. I will give you a local anesthetic but I will need you to be awake during the procedure. I will be making some changes to the implant to improve its functionality, create an external access point, input a new algorithm to help fight your drug addiction, as well as using the implant wires for deep brain stimulation. I will use deep brain stimulation as a more immediate solution to your withdrawal symptoms. During your original surgery we used this method to re-awaken previously damaged brain tissue so I feel confident using this method on you.”
Jax looked up and said, “I don’t want to be awake during the surgery, Fuchsia! That sounds terrifying!”
Fuchsia stood up and walked over to the other side of Jax and sat down beside him and said, “It does sound scary I’m sure. The purpose of having you awake is to make sure that there are no problems. I can talk to you and ask you questions and we can ensure that your brain and implant are responding and accepting the changes being made. We all will be with you for the entire process, if that helps!”
Jax nodded and buried his head into his arms that lay atop his knees and said, “how long do I have before you do the procedure?”
Fuchsia said, “I am hoping to do it tomorrow or the day after. It depends on how your body is doing from the withdrawal.”
Jax looked up at Fuchsia and said, “that soon?”
Fuchsia placed an arm around Jax’s shoulder and said, “ yes, we don’t need to wait. In the meantime I would like for you to just rest.”
Jax pushed his legs down and asked, “can I still go to the beach for a walk? I don’t want to just stay indoors.”
Fuchsia hesitated while chewing on her bottom lip, but then said, “I guess as long as you have one of us with you it will be alright. Sina and I have to run out and we are going to grab some food. I think it would be best that you wait to go for a walk until we get back though.”
Fuchsia looked at Bren and he nodded in agreement. Jax stood up and said, “I’m going to lay down,” and then headed back towards the bedroom he was staying in. When he walked in he realized that someone had already changed the sheets. He turned around and noticed Bren had followed him, he asked, “did you do this?”
Bren shook his head no and said, “no, Fuchsia did after you left to get your shower.”
Jax sat down on the bed. “Why does she keep doing this stuff for me. I feel like I am just a burden.” He throws himself back on the bed and covers his face.
Bren frustratingly says “You are not a burden to anyone!” and then he crawls up beside Jax and pulls his hand from his eyes. Bren reassuringly strokes the side of Jax's face while looking into his dark grey eyes, as they seemed to devour him. He pressed a hand beside Jax’s head as he leaned close. He could feel Jax inhale sharply before their lips met. He started to pull back thinking he had made a mistake, but Jax placed his arms around the back of his neck and pulled him closer while whispering, "I don't want to wait."