Chapter 201: Breaking Point
The door to Alexis’s office closed quietly behind us, the silence of which was intensified by the tension that filled the air. Evelyn was already seated on the examination table when I had complied with Alexis’s command, not sure if I was going to regret it, but aware that I didn’t have a real choice. Alexis’s office was clean, too neat for my taste, with hard lighting and the faint odor of antiseptic that stuck to the walls. It was almost ironic, considering the fact that the very same woman who ran this room had spent hours fixing up bodies that were most likely far more violent than my own back at her hospital.
"Lie down," Alexis ordered, her voice having none of its normal softness as she picked up a toolbox from the counter. She wasn’t looking at me, but I could tell that her fingers were slightly trembling. I had seen it before, the rigidity in her movements. She never let it come through to the surface, but I could feel it. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Alexis was contemplating something, something she wasn’t sharing with us.
Evelyn, of course, hadn’t looked at me since we entered the office. Her eyes stayed intently on the floor as Alexis went to start with her. The usual placidness was gone, replaced by a very real tension that seemed only to expand when I caught her looking away from me for a brief instant.
"Alright, let’s start with you," Alexis growled, pulling out an eye exam light and moving in closer to Evelyn. Her hands were strong, but there was an edge to her professionalism. Something wasn’t right.
As Alexis prodded Evelyn to gaze at the light, I noticed the way her fingers shook ever so slightly. Alexis wasn’t doing this just because it was part of the job. She was hiding something from someone and I was sure that that someone was me. The way that she still would not glance in my direction, her face slightly turned away as if she couldn’t bear to exchange a glance, was enough to guarantee that something was taking over her. Her body language screamed tension.
"I know this isn’t easy," Alexis whispered, checking Evelyn’s pupils, illuminating each eye, testing for neural response. "But just focus on the light. Nothing else. We’ll get you back to normal, I promise."
The only response from Evelyn was the smallest of nods. I could see the effort taken in complying, the weight of the world on her shoulders, so that she walked as if robotically. She was not the forceful woman who had pushed me around; instead, she seemed. broken.
Alexis’s expression was professional, but her brow furrowed in a queasy way as she finished the eye exam. She made a note on her tablet, fingers flying too quickly, as if she wanted to move beyond this room.
"Okay, Evelyn," Alexis said quietly, stepping back. "I’m going to scan your neural circuits now. That should take a minute or so."