Nervous

Nervous blinked sharply, his tongue felt like leather, heavy in his mouth and he panicked. His memories shot to the Beakers place of residence and what he'd been put through for all those years. Half expecting a sharp current to ricochet through his wiry body, he braced himself for impact.
But.
Nothing.
Just a cold chill as the sweat dried on his exposed arms.

The door swung open and an orderly walked in, carrying a tray of food, closely followed by a rather handsome looking doctor. He'd seen this man before. Nervous was pretty sure of that. But where? When? His memories were scattered and fuzzy.

"Hello young sir," the orderly said quietly, placing down the tray, "I see you're bright and awake today. We've brought you some food to build up your strength."

Nervous blinked and looked down at the tray. It was laden with what looked like cooked turkey and vegetables. Beside it was a plastic beaker with water. And wrapped carefully in a paper napkin, was a set of plastic cutlery.

He noticed that the doctor said nothing as he walked in. Just quietly observing Nervous's reactions.... just as Loki had done, how many years? He couldn't remember. But if they were playing THIS game with him, he was an expert.

"Would you like me to cut your meat for you?" the orderly pressed onwards, his hands hovering over the dish, ready and willing to be of aid, "or can you manage yourself?"

Nervous said nothing. Not even an affirmation nod or shake of the head. He'd been here already with Circe and Loki and how they'd torment him with meals. Deliberately filling them with disgusting, foul tasting medication that he was pretty certain he didn't need.

He glanced at the plate and although his stomach growled loudly with hunger, he'd already steeled himself to throw the meal down the toilet ... anywhere .... to avoid the drugs that were probably hidden in the gravy ... or the potatoes .... or something.

The doctor then piped up. Obviously he was tuned into what Nervous was thinking. Which was creepy to begin with. And downright RUDE.

"If you're worried about anything in the food, we can always bring another plate for you. If you want, you can come to the cafeteria and choose what you want on your plate yourself. I can assure you that nobody here is going to harm you."

Yeah, right. Where had he heard THAT one before?

"If you're wondering. We tend to have a separate drugs trolley with all the medication locked inside. If patients wish to take their meds voluntarily, that's their choice. We've only had a small number of refusals."

Nervous broke his silence. His voice sounded .... strange to his ears. Gravelly, with a slight lisp.

"And of those who refused?" he asked, "what happened to them?"

The doctor and orderly looked at one another. Nervous took careful note of their reactions ... for future reference  .... of course. And waited for the lies.

"I won't lie."

Yeah right.

"We sometimes have to resort to more aggressive forms of administering medication to some of our more.... violent and uncooperative patients. But more often than not, they tend to finally relent. Especially after they've become ill from the effects of their medication wearing off. Especially the diabetics. Apart from that, we NEVER have our medication lying around unsupervised. NEVER.

Nervous looked down at the cooling food and picked up the napkin wrap. The orderly backed away and was stood at the doorway, holding it open for the doctor, who was standing watching as Nervous slowly, deliberately unwrapped the napkin. Allowing the plastic cutlery to fall into his open hand. He looked up sharply. The doctor stepped back slightly.

"I shall leave you to eat then," he said quietly, "just eat what you want. Dessert will be along shortly. It's apple pie and custard."

Nervous waited until the door finally closed and he was all alone. Lifting the plate he sniffed it. He'd developed quite a nose for sniffing out unusual chemicals in his food and recognised quite a lot of them over the years. But there was nothing. Except the strong tang of chicken gravy, turkey, the butter mashed into the potatoes and the peas. There was even a small spoonful of cranberry sauce tucked into the side of the plate.

His mouth watered, and simultaneously, his stomach growled even louder. But he had to be careful. REALLY careful. He was outside his comfort zone and he was nervous as hell.