Meghan: Cure

PART I

The door to the plane popped open with a squeal as Doug slammed his foot against it. He leaned his foot on the edge of the exit, peering out into the sand dunes like a conqueror surveying his domain.
“Well that could have been a better landing.”
Abe snorted from the cockpit, “Hey, I’ve never flown a plane before. We’re all alive, that was an excellent landing.”
I squirmed up next to Doug and stuck my head out into the breeze, pushing him out of the door in the process. He landed deftly on his feet then ran around to check the extent of the damage to our vehicle. I squinted into the sun, trying to see the forest we had been aiming for. It was clearly visible, not much of a walk at all. I smiled in relief, only to barely avoid falling out as one of the packs clipped the side of my head as it was thrown out of the plane. I wasn’t fast enough to dodge the next one and was knocked from the plane to land in the sand. I groaned and searched for my bag, strapping it on my back. Abe and Jasmine jumped from the plane, smiling at my suffering. Doug came back from his plane observations and we set off in the direction of the forest.
In the forest there was a village where it was rumored wishes could be granted. But that was an exaggeration, and a little too magical to describe exactly what happened there. The medical technology accessible to the doctors who researched at the village was beyond anything seen around the world. If the right price was paid, it was rumored that they could cure any disease, even death. Gangs vied for the doctors’ favor, putting on fantastic shows and offering outrageous bribes for surgeries they soon grew addicted to. But we weren’t here for the politics and the miracles, we were going to get in and get out fast, just to get Jasmine’s cure. I had a friend of a friend who was friends with one of the doctors. It was a distant connection, but I had a note asking for the favor sewn into my clothes. A note was more than some people had. The doctor we were looking for ran a café, which was where we were heading now. When we walked in, the place was much calmer and gentler than I’d expected. Some of the doctors asked for war in exchange for favors, but apparently not this one. Doug and Abe took Jasmine to a table while I hesitated at the entrance, grabbing the arm of a waitress that walked by.
“I need to see her.” I said softly.
The waitress’ lips twisted, “So does everyone else.”
“I know her.” I patted my coat, “I have a letter for her.”
She sighed and twisted her arm free, “I’ll tell her.”
“Thanks.”
I sat down at the table with my people, eyeing Jasmine’s white face worriedly.
“She’s losing it.” Doug said softly as he laid a hand against her hot forehead.
“Try to hold it.” I whispered, but I could tell it was too late. Veins traced down her arms and up her neck. Her skin collapsed on itself, thinning and wrinkling. Her face sunk down and she was staring at us from a face aged sixty years more.
I sighed and stroked her fragile hands, “Oh well.”
Doug’s jaw twitched and he glared around the room, furious eyes seeking the doctor we’d come for. He’d just opened his mouth (probably to shout that if the doctor didn’t get her ass out now, he’d take the whole place down), when a round, comfortable woman materialized at his elbow.
“I heard you have something for me.” She said, fixing me with dark brown eyes.
“Yes,” I said, startled by her appearance. I’d never seen one of them up close, but this was no time to gawp. I started to extract the letter from my jacket.
“We need your help for—“
“I know.” She said impatiently, glancing at Jasmine, “The letter first please.” I handed it to her and she seized it eagerly, eyes scanning the words. After a minute she laughed and stuffed the papers down the front of her dress.
“Interesting, so interesting,” she laughed, “I will grant you a favor.” She continued formally, “But I will need your samples.” I tried to repress a shiver of disgust. The doctors were always well known for taking strange samples; it was rumored that they could kill you or makes you do things if you gave them the samples they asked for.
“All right.” I said cautiously, standing and pushing back my chair, “Take what you need.”
“Not like that.” She said, flapping a hand at my body. I arched an eyebrow in question and she handed me a little bottle, “Drink that, it will make you right.”
I glanced at Abe and Doug and they nodded in what appeared to be reassurance. I swallowed the sweet liquid fast and squeezed my eyes shut as I felt my organs move and my tissues dance around my bones. I heard a strangled noise and opened my eyes to see both Abe and Doug staring at me with horror. Oh shit, what had she done. I raised a shaky hand to push hair out of my eyes, and nearly died on the spot when I saw my thick fingers and curly black hair. ‘Calm down, calm down’ I chanted to myself as I carefully felt my face, glasses, neck, and arms. She had turned me into a man. Well at least now I could more effectively strangle her.
She saw the rage in my eyes and waved a hand anxiously, “No, no, this is just how I’m going to take the samples; I’m not going to leave you this way.”
I hissed through my teeth as I stared down at her, but she wasn’t afraid, she knew she had me.
“Do you want me to heal your friend or not?”
My voice was deeper and thoroughly creeped me out when I spoke, “Do it.”
She pulled a small knife from the pocket of the apron she wore over her dress and instructed me to open my mouth. I obliged and she sliced down the length of my tongue shallowly. She caught the blood in a shallow dish and set it on the table.
“This may feel a little odd.” She warned me as she picked up a larger bowl. Her little knife was fast as it slit open my abdomen. I was barely able to make a soft sound of surprise before she stuck a hand inside me and began rooting around. She let out a soft sigh as she apparently found what she had been looking for. Three glistening yellow eggs slipped from my insides into the bowl that she held. After her prize had been extracted she held the sides of my skin together and smeared a putty colored substance over the wound. She stroked it repeatedly, smoothing it over my skin. When I looked down again the flesh of my stomach was flat and perfect, though smeared with blood.
“Take this.” The doctor said, offering me a little green pill, “It will turn you back.” She gathered up the things she had taken from me, “I’ll mix up the cure for your friend so you can be on your way.” She bustled off and I flicked the tiny pill into my mouth and followed it with a mouthful of water. With a groan I sank into my empty chair as my organs started twitching again. When it was done I rolled my eyes to Jasmine, whose skin had started to lose its age as she reverted to the younger version of herself.
“Shifting shapes sucks.”
She laughed tiredly and nodded.
Doug was staring into space, his eyes wide with horror, “I don’t know if I can ever get over that.”
I laughed, “Oh, poor baby, my pity is underwhelming. Next time, you can be the one who turns into a girl.”
He looked at me then promptly clenched his hands over his eyes, “Just give me a minute, I need to get that image out of my head.”
Abe was studying me speculatively, “I think your nose is a little further left than it used to be.” My hands flew to my face to check on the location of everything. I scowled at the laughing Abe as the doctor came back to the table. She set down a nasty looking needle and shook a little vial of clear liquid. One of the waitresses pushed up Jasmine’s sleeve and tied a tourniquet around her arm.
“One for the blood and one for the muscle.” The doctor said absently as the waitress slid an IV needle into Jasmine’s arm. While she was setting up the IV bag the doctor stabbed her needle into Jasmine’s other arm. Jasmine clenched her jaw as the liquid was slowly injected into her tissue.
“There.” The doctor sat back to survey her work, “When the IV’s done you can leave.”
We sipped coffee anxiously as we watched Jasmine’s color creep back and her skin fill out. When the IV finally reached its end point she glowed with health and pulled the needle out herself.
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Yes please.” I sighed









PART II

Okay, the second part to this dream is just too odd to leave out.


I stroked Jasmine’s healed skin again and again, blindly happy at her healing. The guys had gone back to try to repair our plane and had called to say that it would be a day or so before we could head out. So Jasmine and I were going to catch one of the shows that were part of the more eloquent competitive gang wars, and then bring them back dinner. We were both a little shaky from the shape changes and were dubbed useless in airplane repair anyway. My hair was pinned up and I wore a subdued black dress. Jasmine was equally boring looking in a dark blue dress. The dark colors wouldn’t scream out challenges to the group that was hosting the play. Given that we had asked for and received a favor from one of the doctors, we weren’t going to be liked, but we could at least try to not draw attention.
“I’ll get seats,” Jasmine murmured in my ear.
I nodded, “I’ll be there in a minute.” I gazed out over the sea of people, thinking that I had recognized someone. I had decided that I’d imagined it when my gaze caught on a small bent elderly woman making her way slowly through the crowd. I swallowed harshly and waded over to her, curtseying when I stopped in front of her.
“Grandmother.”
I had known that my grandmother ran one of the gangs in the village, but it was one thing to hear it and another to see it.
“Granddaughter.” She said stiffly. She tapped her cane on the floor in front of her and the two guards behind her snapped to attention. I looked at them speculatively, then gaped when I recognized my brother.
“Brian?”
“Meghan?” He slid off his sunglasses and squinted at me, “What are you doing here?”
“A friend of mine was sick.” I said hesitantly. I didn’t want to tell my grandmother that I had used a doctor’s favor on Jasmine when she had spent her life trying to get one of them to keep her from dying.
But she pounced on my hesitation, “Was?”
I ignored her and turned to the other bodyguard, “Is that Purwin? It can’t be.”
He relaxed and took off his sunglasses, “Hey, it’s been a while.”
But my grandmother could not be distracted “Don’t tell me you’ve betrayed the family for that girl again?”
I rubbed my forehead tiredly, “Yes.”
She swelled to twice her size and I fled before she could blast be with admonishing, kissing her cheek and telling her I hoped she enjoyed the play. I dodged between people into the velvety darkness of the theatre. I was breathing heavily like I’d been running, and leaned against a carpeted wall, trying to draw the peace into myself.
“What’s wrong?” someone asked, and I looked up. Jasmine was walking toward me, frowning, “Did something happen?”
I slid my arms around her waist and drew her to me, “Nope.”




-M