a regular examination |(bunny/jekyll) FINISHED?

[bunny]

The sun was shining in Greenwich Village as Bunny Jacobs traveled on foot down the even sidewalks. Her newest pair of shiny black stilettos clacked down the pavement towards her next appointment, which was highlighted in red on her PDA. Every time she saw an entry on her calendar highlighted in red, she couldn't help but groan. It meant that she had a doctor's appointment. She had them fairly regularly, but this one was different from the others because the doctor would be running scans and tests to see that everything was ticking right in relation to her epilepsy. Bunny didn't enjoy these appointments, since the scanners made her think of the morgue, where she had woken up after ... well, after that one really bad seizure. The only thing Bunny could really be happy about was that she'd only had a handful of grand mal seizures since that night three years ago, and now she was only usually bothered with occasional absence seizures. These weren't bad because most people couldn't recognize it as a seizure. Bunny could simply write it off as daydreaming if she liked, depending on how long she'd been out.

The fact was, Bunny was used to living with her epilepsy. It didn't make it any easier, but she knew how to handle herself and didn't need constant supervision like she had when she was a child. Neither did she have to wear a helmet anymore either. As a kid she'd had to wear one almost constantly until they'd found the right treatment to handle it. Now she could handle it by herself and with little incident. This was why she found it annoying that her doctor still wanted to run tests on her. The only thing that she thought would be productive about this particular appointment was that she could get her prescription refilled for her usual medication for regulate her seizures. She was still doing fine on her 'psycho pills,' as she called them, which she took for her manic depression, so she didn't need those.

Bunny neared the medical center and sighed, browsing through her calendar for the next two weeks one last time. Yellow entries marked PETA meetings, green marked work assignments, and blue marked family commitments. Grimacing and readying herself for her appointment, she clicked off her PDA and stuck it in her Michael Kors purse. She'd gotten it on sale, but it had still been pretty expensive. Bunny had purchased it with a bonus from work she'd gotten for a job well done on one of her assigned advertisements. Her education at the art academy was really paying off, and Bunny could honestly say she loved her job. She wasn't quite at the level of working arm in arm with CEOs; her assignments were typically lower-scale. She looked forward to being able to do that, though. They were higher paying jobs and they would really help in paying off student loans and paying rent.

Bunny reached the door to the medical center and paused to pull out some paperwork that she would need to show to the receptionist. She looked up and froze. She stared straight ahead, her hand in midair, clutching the paperwork that she had just pulled out. She thought of nothing; it was like she was asleep. In reality, she was having an absence seizure. It was unaccompanied by jerking movements typical of a seizure. It was simply a brief loss of consciousness that resulted in Bunny staring into space. She soon came back to earth, and she jumped backward slightly when she saw a young man's face looking inquisitively at her. She blushed violently and stammered, "Oh! Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to stare." She was so embarrassed that someone had witnessed that. She wasn't even sure how long she had been staring straight ahead, paused like that. Bunny hated calling attention to herself, but attention was inevitable when seizures like that happened. She cleared her throat and pushed her blond hair behind her ear timidly.

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[ricketts]

Earlier that afternoon, Henry had swallowed his last two pills. When he did, he wrote on the back of his hand to drop into Greenwich and pick up a prescription - and then he carried on with work not thinking about it simply for the reason that, for now, he didn't have to. How soon would be get through that work, so that he might with some fair pretext come up with an excuse not to go in the end after all he had fared. It would be cowardly to drop the burden on Hank's shoulders, he was only a man like the rest of them, even if he had somewhat more strength - and he needed those pills with all that was holy. Exactly why he had took a deep breath, got into his car, and got over there.

The medication Henry had to take was known as an Antipsychotic - used to control schizophrenia and reduce the symptons of psychotic episodes. They tasted like licking plaster flakes off the wall, but at the least they helped him fuction more effectively and approptiately. At the very least they were better than the holy terror that was shock therapy. Where a doctor would strap the patient down and attempt to shake off whatever attack they were having by shocking them again and again until they had a fit.

The delight of that three year freedom made Henry give vent to a calming sigh as he entered through the double-doors, reminding himself that no doctor was going to run upto him and get the amps and volts out. He stood alone, waiting for someone to call him out having called up and reminded them he needed a top up of dosage. The time passed slow, when suddenly, he felt weight. Weight of eyes. It brooded incessantly upon him until he was forced to raise his head, and as he lifted his eyes he met with the long, blankly desolate ones of a girl. Anxiousness hit him, thinking she might have been staring at hisself, but when he stepped slightly aside, the gaze didn't shift. Abit perplexed, he approached her and looked around for some responsible person in whose hands she could be left in the charge of, but the invaluable receptionist wasn't paying much attention and the doctors were shut away in offices with their other patients.

'Hello .. ?' He uttered, waving his fingers at a distance from her face and feeling quite strange about it. She was silent, then so was he. He watched her closely for a little - noting with complacency that complete statue-stillness. It wasnt anything dreadful he looked upon, and then falteringly, her sweet eyes dropped on the ground as she began pouring apologies, with only now and then a timid glance up at Henry, who felt like an awful judge who had suddenly dropped from the skies.

'No, no .. don't apologize. You alright?' His voice quavered a little, looking on with a passion of pity. He supposed it was pity.

[bunny]

This was such an inconvenient place to have a seizure. Here she was telling herself that she had her epilepsy under control and that she didn't even have that many seizures anymore, and then another one takes her by surprise. What a pain! Absence seizures were the most embarrassing, even over grand mal seizures. Whenever she had a grand mal, people would pretty much understand what was going on and not have to ask questions. They would simply offer a helping hand if needed and kind of keep their distance. Seeing someone having a seizure was not a particularly comfortable situation to be in for most, so strangers tended to steer clear or maybe call for help if there was no one else around. However, when Bunny had an absence seizure, people did not recognize it. They simply thought she was being a creeper, which was upsetting for her because Bunny was not a creeper.

That was why she was blurting out so many apologies to this young man in front of her. She was sure it had just been very awkward for him. Had she been staring at him? If so, for how long? Bunny had no concept of the passage of time when she was having a fit like that. They could last as long as a few minutes, though it was rare. Bunny had no way of knowing how long she'd been standing there, frozen. How embarrassing! She looked around to see if anyone else had witnessed her little moment. Thankfully, the three other people in the waiting room were all distracted by outdated People magazines. No one had looked up, even when she started blabbering apologies. This made her feel a little better, but not much, because the young man was still standing in front of her.

She managed a small, closed-mouth grin when he told her not to apologize. She knew that saying she was sorry only made it worse for herself, but it was a force of habit. She hated being uncomfortable, so she hated making other people uncomfortable. When she was a child playing with her future fiance, she used to apologize all the time whenever she'd had a seizure, because he would worry and fuss so much. She would even go so far as to tell him that it didn't hurt, even when it really did. She tried to call as little attention to herself and her malady as possible. At the young man's question, she nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just a small seizure, no big deal." Unsure of what else to do, she held out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Bunny Jacobs. You are?" Bunny wasn't usually this forward with introductions, but she figured that she at least owed to him for creeping him out so much, as she was sure she had.

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[ricketts]

At first, Henry was received with incredulity, but he hoped he might gain ground. He wasn't there to judge her, not at all, and he suspected from the moment she started to speak that it was down to something beyond her. These suspicions were supported as she mentioned that the case had been due to a small seizure, and something of an interest of inquisitiveness grew. Though he did not pursue it, if it had been a vice-versa situation he wouldn't have appreciated it himself. All he did was nod, slow with his understanding and accept her hand. His eyes, like glittering water, smiled down at her. Standing at an inch from six feet tall, he felt almost like a monster giant next to the little lass.

'Never met someone called Bunny before,' He said as their hands shook then parted, 'Good strong name, anyways it's Henry. Me name, that is.'

Again Henry gave her a nod, levying his own nerves. An approach that was familiar when he felt there was no dismay, save a certain inert dismay that it would bring itself eventually. Especially being in the waiting room of a hospital - there was no walking in and out of a chemists' shop for him. The process of getting his prescription involved a brief, or not so brief, talk with a doctor who kept forgetting how to pronounce his name properly, always speaking it as 'Jak-yull'. A round of applause please, to whoever decided to give him a surname that was liable to get mispronounced.

'Look, uhm .. Bunny, do you want to sit down and I'll get you some water or something? Th' machine's just there.' His eyes passed behind her, where the automat was, just to let her know.

[bunny]

Bless his soul! Relief swept over Bunny when the young man proceeded to introduce himself as if nothing at all unusual had just transpired. That was one of Bunny's worst fears and biggest issues. Most people just didn't know how to handle her sometimes. Her family did, and that was great. Her fiance had, but no more. That's why she was thankful that now her seizures were minimal at worst and hardly noticeable at best. The grand mal seizures were a thing of the past, but Bunny still secretly feared that she would one day have another one. The whole situation had made her consider that perhaps this appointment wasn't entirely necessary after all. She had to stop being so cynical about doctors. The doctors in New York weren't the same as the doctors in Virginia, who hadn't distinguished a coma from death. She should learn to trust them a little bit more. She owed her life to doctors, after all. Dentists, however, she could live without. She wanted to cringe just thinking about them.

She smiled shyly, her lips together as usual, when the man stated that Bunny was a strong name. She'd never personally thought so, though she preferred it far over her birth name. She was called Bunny all the time, except for when she was a child and in serious trouble with her parents. Most people, upon hearing it, associated it with rabbits, and she had never heard anyone describe rabbits as strong. Still, she appreciated the complement. "Thank you. It's short for Berenice. It's nice to meet you, Henry." She noted with slight entertainment that he spoke with quite a thick Irish accent. It reminded her of when she was a girl and her sister, Justine, had been insistent that she would marry an Irish man because she just loved the accent. She didn't, but it had been a childhood fancy, after all. Such was how most childhoos fantasies ended. Her fantasy had been to be married to her love and have five beautiful children, but the former part was gone and the latter with it.

Bunny considered Henry's offer to sit and get some water. She wasn't embarrassed by this thought, because that was usually the best way to recoup after a seizure for her, no matter how mild. Water always helped and taking a breather was definitely recommended. She readjusted her purse on her shoulder and nodded at Henry's suggestion. "Thanks, I think that would do the trick." Her doctor was always late for appointments, so she would likely have a few minutes. She went over to the mostly empty waiting area and took a seat, setting her bag on the ground. "I really appreciate it," she said to Henry. He was behaving so pleasantly, which was a breath of fresh air in this city.

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[ricketts]

With that small, silly belief in his ability to lift his new acquaintance into the thin air of restored confidence, Henry smiled and deigned her not a word as he turned to the water cooler. He was slipping, but nevertheless bit by bit he was climbing there - already Bunny seemed to be settling a bit better. With his back turned and a plastic cup in hand, he couldn't help but bow his head and wallow a little smile. Too destitute to give Bunny the fact that she passed the 'pretty girl' flagline by several miles, he thought more into what gave him the earnest to help her. In a whim to be a better man.

He felt a warm surf in his blood and somewhat of a refreshment in his spirit, the equilibrium of impulses that came from the desire of wanting to help others removing the chill he had been growing. Very almost the cup overspilled, his attention slightly away from the running water and when he returned to the now seated Bunny he was careful to walk steady and keep every drop within the brim. Breaking back into sincerity, his smile returned once he lowered the cup down to her level.

'Ye'know, after yer' done here a good thing to do might be buying yeself something really greasy, like a burger or somethin',' Henry said, skillfully hushing his voice. There was a passing apology in his countenance, like he was sorry for bringing it up again. ''s meant to help, 'cause it uses up the fat rather than the glucose in your system, somethin' like that. Ye I suppose that was a little tip.'

[bunny]

Everything that was happening today reminded Bunny so much of her childhood with Egeus. Her dear Egeus. She hadn't thought of him like that in a very, very long time. Her memories of him were now darkened with nightmares and her last sight of him. She still saw it in her worst dreams some times. Perhaps it was a figment of her imagination, because honestly Bunny could not remember whether she had emerged from her coma before or after Egeus had attacked her. Still, sometimes she saw what she either remembered or imagined his expression to be as her tore into her face: a complete lunatic, like a starved animal or a vampire thirsting for blood. She woke up screaming from these dreams even now, so many years after it had happened.

Before it all, though, Egeus had been her high school love. She had known him since they were children and she was still wandering around in a pink helmet with flower stickers. They had had such fun together, running around in the back yard or assembling jigsaw puzzled on rainy days. Bunny's mother had often teased her that everyone had known, even when they were three, that they would some day get married. Bunny had been grossed out by this thought as a young girl, but by the time she was sixteen, she had an immense crush on Egeus. It wasn't long before her feelings were reciprocated. They'd had a romance for the last two years of high school before they'd gone to different colleges for a time. Upon their mutual return, Egeus had proposed to her. This had been the happiest day of her life. Then it all had been ripped apart a few months short of their wedding, both figuratively and literally.

This young man, Henry, reminded Bunny of Egeus before his monomania had ruined him. She reminded him of the kind, intellectual soul Egeus had been, always kind and gentle in regard to her seizures. This memory hurt, because she knew somewhere Egeus was now suffering his punishment for his insanity. Bunny had become such a cynic. She didn't know anything about Henry, but she hoped for his sake and those around him that this soft kindness stayed with him. It was such a tragedy to lose it. These thoughts spun through Bunny's head as Henry was off getting her water. Upon his return, her mind returned to the present.

"Thank you," she said quietly, grinning in amusement at the cup that was nearly overflowing. She took a sip, balancing the level of the water so that the risk of spilling was remedied. She chuckled slightly at his murmured suggestion of food. The picture of a big pile of greasy fries popped into her head and it was immediately tempting. What he was saying rung a bell, too. She was sure it was something one of her doctors had said before. "Mmm. That actually sounds like a terrific idea. But no burgers. I'm vegetarian." She turned to him, an idea coming to her that she thought he might like. "What would you say to joining me after my appointment? Are you free?" she asked. She thought it would be an adequate way to thank him for being so nice, but she wouldn't say so out loud. She wouldn't want him to think that she was only doing it for that reason. He was a nice person, and Bunny would like to get to know him better. Lunch seemed to be an appropriate venue for that.

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[ricketts]

The girl's manner was so gracious and winning, that Henry found it impossible not to smile in a soothed and mollified way. Henry - a meek, mild-featured boy, didn't know many people who were particularly kind. He supposed many on first impression saw him as abstracted or inattentive, and he supposed he couldn't blame them for having half-opened eyes. It was never liked he urged their opinions in the opposite direction, it was both brief and sad.

With these proposed ideas of going for food - with Bunny, Henry glanced away in thought. There was the matter of his own appointment, and Colonel waiting at home to be fed. But both were rather unimportant, in the respect that the date-with-doctor wouldn't take all that long and he had left enough food in the dog's dish to last him all the night. Of course, Henry knew that over-feeding a dog was never a good idea but the poor thing was still so twiglet-like so soon after coming to him after his previous master died. It smote Henry, for he thought the old man was a kindly one himself, which was where the obligation to take Colonel came from in the first place.

'Aye, sounds fine. Just 'ave to get this here done with.' With healthy satisfaction endeared, he bowed his head toward the door he knew his doctor to normally be behind. 'Fancy me a big ice-cream, me havin' a bit of a sugar tooth like.'

Henry's lustrous eyes glowed at her, as a man meaning his best as God surely meant him to be. Not a rebellious, feebly-repining, sneering wretch, ready to scoff at the very sunlight - as he once had been, but being someone strong and equally balanced in temperament, and not only contented, but pleased to have met her. From behind that door, a man in a buttoned-shirt and tie stepped out with a clipboard. He was of some forty or fifty years old, but whose stooping shoulders and grizzled hair made him appear older.

'Henry Jak-Yull?'

Having gathered some idea that the doctor would mis-pronounce his name yet again, Henry simply sighed and began to stand. It was probably the way he pronounced it himself, in his Irish-born tongue, that made the matter so hard to read. The doctor lead the way inside after nodding a greeting, however, Henry lingered behind on pretense of having forgotten something, and, looking back and extending his gaze to Bunny, he smiled once.

'Be back in a minute,' Henry said, then walked inside. The door closed behind him.