The Host ¤ The Next Chapter

The Host ¤ The Next Chapter: 20

The Host ¤ The Next Chapter: 20

The bus rattled lightly as we went down the highway. Luckly, the bus driver hadn't asked for identification. I didn't even think he had the technology to look up my name among the thousands of Souls on Earth. If he did, there would have been a screen attatchment where the coin slot machine would have been. 

We hit another bump and I shifted on the bus. I had picked a spot eight seats in on the right beside a window. The only other people on the bus with me was an old woman sitting in the very back and a punk up in seat three. The bus was taking us to the next city. It was suppose to be fairly large, with a Healer and Seeker center. That was exactly where I wanted to go. The sooner I executed my plan, ditched Jenny, and returned to my normal life, the happier I would be.

I hate you. Jenny growled because that was all she could do at the moment.

I was controlling all of her body now by my sure will against her. She wasn't going to stop me from carrying out my plan.

I pretended to ignore her and stared out the window. The city limit sign passed by, welcoming us into Phoenix, Arizona. Only a week earlier, my bus taking me to California had passed through here. Now, I was coming back. 

The bus rolled into the city, passing skyscrapers and various office buildings. Scheduled busses always let their passengers off at Healer centers because they weren't just medical places. Centers provided councelors, brouchures of the city, and help if you were moving to the area. Like I predicted the bus would do, it pulled into the round about of a large medical center. 

The facility used to be a human hospital, which made it perfect for the Healers to take over. As soon as the bus stopped, I got out.

You can still go back before it's too late. Jenny told me worriedly.

But I could tell she was more worried about her life than mine. She didn't want to die. However, that would only happen if she didn't pretend to lay still and act dead when they took her to the freezer for preservation. Sure, she would be cold, but she wouldn't die as long as I got her out of there in a day or so.

I walked forward to the automatic glass doors and entered.

"Hello." A friendly desk person greeted me. "Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked, tilting her head to the side like a puppet on strings.

"Yes." I answered. "I would like a new body."

She nodded and pulled out a clipboard with a form on it. The paper was for her use. "Why are you switching? Is there anything wrong with the body?" the receptionist inquired.

It was a standard question that Healers liked to know when they preformed a switch.

"No." I shook my head. "I'm simply tired of this one."

Which I guessed counted in more ways than one in my case.

"Alright." She chirped and wrote the information down. "And your name?"

"May." I answered.

She wrote that down as well, then pealed off the sticker in the upper left corner. It was one of the places she had written my name down. That would be how the doctors would recognize who they're working with.

"Okay, May." The receptionist told me as she pulled the top form off of the clipboard. "Please take a seat in the waiting area. I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

I nodded and turned on my heal. Off to the left, there was a small seating area with chairs and a coffee table. I headed for it and took a seat. The receptionist went through the doorway behind the desk to go take my form to the Healers.

As much as I didn't want to quiver in fear, I couldn't help it. My own fear of death was scaring me silly, and because Jenny was feeling the same way, I couldn't hide it.

You know those people, she suddenly spoke up while we sat here by ourselves, that jump off the bridges, trying to kill themselves? And they regret it as soon as they jump? I get how they feel.

I listened quietly, only mildly interested in what she had to say.

Because I went there. When I decided to give up to the Souls and let them take me, I practically committed suicide. And for a long time, I believed I WAS dead. Jenny continued. Until your love for Taylor rushed in from all directions, rousing me from the comma I had been sleeping in.

"And?" I whispered softly, keeping my head bent so that the cameras couldn't see my lips moving.

I'm glad that.....you brought me back. she replied. Now that I look back on what I did, I know I regretted it. Please don't do something you'll regret too.

"But you don't understand." I told her quietly. "We can't keep living in one body. It isn't fair to you or to me. That's why I'm doing this. After the procedure's done, we can go our separate ways."

"May?" The receptionist asked.

She had just returned, but she hadn't seen me talking to myself. I straightened up at the sound of my name.

"Healer Kerpatrick will now see you." She announced.

I stood up from my seat and saw, at the patient's entrance, a Healer's assisstant waiting to escort me. I walked directly over without hesitating.

The assisstant lead me down the hall wordlessly, taking me through it's endless maze to the opperating room. There, I sat down on a silver cot while Healers streamed into the room. One ordered me to take off any jewelry or metal I had on me. I complied and took off a bracelet that Whitney had given me the morning I had escaped. I hadn't realized I was still wearing it ever since that day. The bracelet was dropped into a tin bin and the Healer carrying it told me I would get my things back after the opperation.

Next, I was ordered to lay back on the cot. I did so and a silver bedsheet was spread over my body. It was the shape of a bib, except it was much larger. Instead of fastening the endings around my neck, they laid off to either side of my head. That way, only my head was exposed for the Healer who would be preforming the surgery. One of the Healers gathered Jenny's long, red hair and pulled it upwards so that the back of her neck was exposed. They kept ahold of the hair so it didn't get in the way of the opperation.

"We're going to put you to sleep now, okay?" one of the Healers informed us. They brought up the small, rectuangular container labeled 'Sleep' to our face. I inhaled the spritz from the spray and immediately started feeling the effects of the drug.

I really wish they wouldn't word it like that....Jenny mumbled as we both slipped out of conciousness.

I found myself wishing the same thing.