by Lara Yokoshima

Chapter 11. A Friendly Hand

The trip seemed to have no end in sight. The abandoned, concrete highway dragged through an open field before winding its way through a beautiful forest. Forests such as this were something unseen in Vadia, as the city was located in the middle of the desert.

Are we there yet? Evania thought for the umpteenth time. His constant headaches were becoming more painful as his sickness progressed, and Evania feared that the pain would soon be intolerable.

Travelling in an elegant limousine filled with luxuries was not enough to entertain the pure Bastit sitting on the fine leather seats. Evania was wearing a pure white silk suit, similar to the antique Chinese style from long ago. Although he didn’t wear it often, it was appropriate for wearing outside the mansion and was actually quite comfortable.

The feline let out a soft sigh, doing his best to ignore the symptoms of the strange sickness that had attacked him without notice. He stared outside the window and admired the gorgeous, green landscape. “Green” he thought, “like Isha’s eyes.” A smile began to form on his full, pink lips as he remembered the magnificent features of the handsome Sekmit.

Time seemed to pass faster as he let his mind wander. So fast in fact that he had not even noticed the car slow down and enter a beautiful garden of flowers. Evania then remembered that his new doctor had mentioned that he didn’t like the agitated lifestyle of the city. The limousine stopped in front of the door of a house that looked tiny in comparison to the immense manor in which he lived. Although the house was far smaller than his mansion, it still looked far more inviting.

“Is this it?” Evania asked the driver. The driver did not answer, and instead simply left the car. He approached the main entrance of the house and rang the doorbell. Evania looked through the dark car window as the front door was opened. He stared at the one who would soon be his new doctor, a mature man who was likely 60 years of age or older with white hair almost as pure as his own fur. He had a delicate white beard and was wearing simple black pants and a blue shirt. A feeling of peace and trust was transmitted to Evania as he stared at the noble looking man.

The pure white feline sighed again. The driver, who had been speaking with the doctor for a few minutes, returned to the car and approached the side where he was sitting. He opened the door and Evania cautiously stepped out of the car. The doctor watched as the feline of incredible purity approached the entrance of the house with slow steps. Even though it was the first time he saw him, he certainly looked familiar; it was almost like he resembled someone.

“Good morning doctor, sir” Evania said, who immediately knelt down to give the other man a submissive greeting.

“No, not like that…” the peaceful doctor interrupted Evania’s salute and took him softly by the arm. He smiled and offered his right hand to the puzzled Bastit. “Good morning.”

Evania could not believe it; it was the very first time that a human greeted him as something more than a slave. The young feline showed surprise in his eyes and slowly extended his right hand and imitated the action that he had seen Aldrich use before.

“Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you” the old man said, feeling the tension in Evania’s hand. “Please, come in”

The nervous Bastit nodded as he followed the doctor into the house. The decoration was exquisite, with an atmosphere that reminded him of the highland style, but still refined enough that Evania dared to compare it to his own mansion. The cedar scent of the furniture quickly reached the feline’s nostrils, relaxing him as he followed the doctor.

Moments later, the white haired man reached a door at the end of the main hall. Taking out a somewhat rusted key from his pocket, he inserted it into the doorknob and opened the door with a faint creak of the hinges. Curious, Evania tried peering over the doctor’s shoulder as the lights were switched on in the dark room.

“Over here” the man directed Evania.

Now he could appreciate the doctor’s small office better. Several tools lined the white walls of the cramped room and an intense odour of alcohol mixed with other chemicals filled the air. Evania stopped in his tracks, becoming a bit reluctant to proceed. But when he saw the face of the doctor staring at him with a tender smile he decided to continue.

“Sit here” the man said while pointing at the patient bed in the corner. Evania nodded, and made his way over to the stretcher. The doctor approached him with a stethoscope and put the medical apparatus over the Bastit’s chest.

“I see you are very alarmed even though I already said you have nothing to fear” the old man chuckled.

Evania wanted to smile to hide his nervousness, but he couldn’t. Instead he simply sighed, exhaling deeply as he tried to calm himself. The pure Bastit then began feeling the strange fever once again quickly taking control of his body. Not again, he thought. He didn’t want to feel sick or weak, especially outside of his home. Goosebumps soon travelled through his body, and the doctor soon noticed that Evania was feeling uncomfortable.

“Looks like you don’t feel so good…” the doctor deduced. Evania only nodded his head, agreeing with the white haired man’s opinion.

“How rude of me! I haven’t introduced myself properly” the doctor reproached himself of his forgotten manners. “My name is Irvin Mason”

Evania remained quiet for a moment. “Irvin Mason?” the young white feline pronounced the name again, as if he had already heard it before. It sounded so familiar.

“Yes, but you can call me Irvin if you wish” Mason smiled. “Well, I think that the proper thing now is for you to tell me your name” he reminded the young Bastit.

“Oh, yes. My name is Evania” the white feline responded.

“Evania… that’s a beautiful name! Greek if I’m not mistaken” the man pondered while staring at the Bastit in front of him.

Evania didn’t seem to know the origins of his own name; in fact, he didn’t really care. He just smiled a bit, feeling that he could now fully trust the friendly doctor.

Mason placed a hand over the Bastit’s forehead, feeling the intense fever and noticing the feline’s impressive effort do maintain such a tranquil expression despite his illness. “Ok, let’s get working” the doctor finally said to his first patient after many years of retirement.

“Please, take off your shirt” the doctor instructed. He stood up from where he was sitting as Evania undid the last button. It was at that moment that Mason noticed several bruises over the Bastit’s delicate skin. He had no need to even ask Evania; he could easily deduce that his master did not treat him as he should.

After several minutes, Mason appeared to become concerned. He already knew what kind of illness he was dealing with, but he thought that finding these symptoms in a Bastit such as Evania was just too odd. The doctor then looked directly into his patient’s eyes, making the feline feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Your sickness is treatable. I will inject you with a vaccine, and will give you a few medicines that will help your body return to a healthy state so you can continue your chores” the doctor said with a calm face. Evania smiled for a moment, delighted with the good news. But when the Mason placed a hand on his shoulder he knew that there was more he needed to hear.

“But I must say…” Mason continued, “The virus that you got infected with is only found in Sekmit quimaeras”.

“W-what?” Evania asked a little upset; he felt that the doctor had somehow figured out about Isha’s visits, and he was beginning to feel frightened.

“Don’t lie to me, Evania. I promise that I won’t speak a word about this to your master”, the doctor assured to the worried Bastit. “Have you been outside of your home?”

“No” Evania responded, gulping hard.

“I believe you. Then… perhaps a Sekmit got inside your house” Mason suggested.

Evania knew he had been figured out. He nodded in agreement with his head hung low in shame. To his surprise however, Mason did not seem upset and did not lecture him about allowing a Sekmit into his home.

“Tell me… is this Sekmit good to you?” the physician pressed the feline for details, hoping that perhaps Evania would reveal where his bruises had come from.

“Yes, he is” the young man raised his sight, doing his best to convince the doctor that the Sekmit was trustworthy. “He is… very good to me.”

Mason looked him over carefully. “Then I suppose that he is not responsible for these bruises?”

“No! Never…” Evania immediately snapped, becoming instinctively defensive of Isha. He bit his lip to keep himself from raising his voice again. “Please, don’t tell my master about this” the young Bastit pleaded in a gentler tone.

“Don’t worry” Mason replied with a smile on his face. “But you do know that you could get into some serious trouble. Do you remember what happens to Bastit that don’t behave?” he asked Evania, suspecting that he already knew.

“Yes. They take them away, into a reformatory for quimaeras. I know they have them there in terrible conditions and…”

“You only know what they want you to know” Mason interrupted, “What you don’t know is that none of them ever come back alive.”

“The human being is indeed an interesting animal, even more interesting than quimaeras themselves” Mason said, walking to the other side of the room to stand near a window covered by curtains. He opened them, letting the exterior light into the room. “Inside these so called ‘reformatories’ they torture Bastit freely.”

The young creature widened his eyes and let a soft sigh escape from his mouth. He never thought that the stories told to him of the reformatories were actually true. He had already found it odd that some Bastit were marked as lost, but now that he knew the truth he found it terrifying. Mason said nothing more as he walked towards the cabinet where his syringes were stored.

He took one of the syringes in hand and filled it with a water-like liquid. Placing it at the level of his eyes, he pushed the piston in just a little bit to let the air out. He then gently tapped the syringe a couple of times causing a few drops to fall from the thin, hollow needle.

“I’m giving you this shot so that you’ll become immune to the virus,” Mason stated. Evania nodded his head in agreement as the doctor injected the contents of the syringe into his left arm. The white feline moaned as he felt the pinch of the needle going through his fur and through his skin.

“Alright, alright… I’m done”, exclaimed Mason taking the needle out and putting a piece of cotton dampened with alcohol over the feline’s punctured flesh. He then reached into one of the nearby drawers and grabbed a bottle filled with red pills.

“I want you to take these pills each night, before you go to sleep” he said as he handed the bottle to his patient. The doctor then headed to the corner of the room where a telephone sat on top of a small table. He picked it up and quickly keyed in several numbers.

“Hello, may I speak with Mr. Brian Aldrich, please.”

Evania quivered at the sound of the name. He glanced at the doctor, trusting that his secret would be kept. Mason winked at the Bastit to reassure him that he had nothing to worry about.

“Yes, Mr. Aldrich? I received your Bastit this morning and I am calling to inform you of the results,” Mason said at the sound of the other man’s voice on the phone.

“Very good Doctor! Go ahead, I’m listening," answered Aldrich.

“It was just a cold. Nothing to worry about, I have already prescribed some medicines for him. He should be feeling well in no time,” Mason continued.

“Perfect,” Aldrich said, sounding uninterested in the matter.

“However, you must promise that you will not hurt him anymore, Mr. Aldrich,” Mason warned. “I would hate to think that he got sick from being exposed to the harsh weather. Remember; we are in a strong winds season.”

Aldrich was quiet for a couple of seconds. He couldn’t believe that he was “hurting” Evania by exposing him to the outdoors, but he was not about to let a mere doctor of quimaeras lecture him either. “You have not the power to tell me what to do with my pets Dr. Mason. However, I thank you for receiving Evania. You’ll soon receive a pay check for your services, Doctor.”

“But sir,” the doctor insisted, “you know the kind of Bastit that Evania is! Would you like the previous owners of this pure specimen to be notified of his mistreatment?”

“I am sure you know how this would affect your political status” Mason suggested kindly after a momentary pause.

But all Dr. Mason got for his warning was a soft ‘click’ from the other side of the line; Aldrich had hung up the phone. The doctor turned around to face the innocent creature and smiled. “He seemed to be in a bad mood”.

Evania smiled back as Mason grabbed the white shirt and handed it back to him. “You can put this back on now.”

The young feline started to put his shirt back, buttoning it up slowly. Once again Mason opened one of his drawers, but only this time he retrieved a caramel-flavored lollypop instead of medicine.

“Since you behaved, I’m giving this to you,” he said, offering the lollypop to Evania. The young feline was surprised. He had never actually seen a lollypop before. Evania observed the pinkish lollypop wrapped in cellophane. Excited, he thanked the doctor and quickly placed the lollypop on his pants’ pocket, saving it for a special occasion.

They both walked out of the consulting room, heading towards the front door of the house. As they walked through the hallway leading to the front door, Evania’s attention was drawn to a framed picture hanging on the wall. It was a picture of a beautiful female Bastit. She was as pure and perfect as him, with long pistachio hair and wondrous golden eyes. Her face was as noble as the doctor’s and her smile was as delicate as a spring flower. Despite his curiousity, he decided that it would be best not to bother the doctor with questions about the striking Bastit.

“Well,” said Mason, breaking the long silence and opening the front door, “it was a pleasure meeting you Evania.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Dr. Mason” Evania answered as they shook hands once again.

“Please,” the white haired man said with a smile, “call me Irvin.”

“Irvin…” repeated the Bastit smiling back. The doctor walked him to the limousine that was still parked across the garden. The driver quickly opened the back door for Evania, tipping his head slightly as he entered the elegant carriage. Evania said goodbye once more to the doctor before the driver started the limousine and left the property.

What a kind person, he thought. I can’t wait to get home! I can’t wait to see Isha... Evania paused for a moment as he suddenly recalled his Sekmit friend’s words. “Do you know a man by the name of Irvin Mason?”

The Bastit got close to the window of the limousine, watching as the car would drove further away from Mason’s property. He wanted to shout out to the driver and order him to stop, but it would’ve been useless. The driver would only follow orders from his master, and couldn’t afford to not keep the schedule that had been assigned to him. Evania felt devastated. Irvin Mason was the reason Isha had visited him a second time. If only he had known then.

Although disappointed, he did at least feel better now. But he still couldn’t wait to see Isha again and tell him all about his discovery. He would just have to wait patiently at his mansion for his next encounter with the long-haired Sekmit.