Greykin Valley

| 11 | Fangs and Bullets

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| Jackson |

Jackson watched Doctor Everston like a hawk. He twiddled his fingers while he waited on the examination bed; Everston was grabbing all kinds of things that sent a shiver down his spine. He took something that looked like a pair of pliers and filled two syringes with different liquids—one clear, another purple.

"Uh...what are those?" he asked as Everston made his way over to him.

"These are extraction forceps," he said, shaking the pliers. He stopped beside Jackson and looked down at him. As he held up the syringe with the clear liquid inside, he said, "This one is anaesthetic; it'll make it so you can't feel a thing." He held up the syringe containing the purple liquid. "And this is a healant. It'll kickstart and speed up your healing process so your new fangs come through much faster."

Jackson's eyes widened a little as he stared at the sharp needles. "That's gonna hurt though...right? Injecting it."

"You'll feel a little scratch, yeah. But that's it."

His heart started beating a little harder in response to his anxiety. But he did his best not to freak out. "O-okay." He turned his head and looked up at the ceiling.

Everston handed Jackson what looked like a pair of sunglasses. "Put these on."

He did as he said and put the glasses on.

The doctor then placed his things down on the nearby table and adjusted the light so that it was shining down on Jackson's face. "All right, I'm gonna do the anaesthetic right now. You ready?"

"Mm-hmm," he mumbled nervously.

"All right, just open your mouth and we'll get this done in no time."

Jackson opened his mouth and clenched his fists as he closed his eyes. He frowned when he felt the anaesthetic needle pierce his gum, but it worked faster than any anaesthetic he'd had before; in half a second, his entire jaw went numb.

"You feel this?" Everston asked.

He tried to reply, but his attempt to tell him that he couldn't feel a thing came out as a bunch of jumbled words, and so did his attempt to tell him that he was surprised at how fast it worked.

"Good," the doctor said. "So, you're gonna hear a crack or two, maybe feel a tiny bit of pressure, but that's it."

Jackson nodded. He heard a crack a few moments later, and when he felt the pressure, he frowned and tried his best not to grunt and gag. He hated every second of this. All he wanted to do was get up and—

"All done," Everston said.

He opened his eyes and looked at him. "Ca I coe ma muth?" he asked.

"No, no," the doctor said as he placed the pliers down and then picked up the syringe with the purple liquid in. "I still gotta get your new fangs to come through. It'll just take a sec."

With a nod, Jackson closed his eyes again. He didn't want to see what the guy was doing.

"Okay," Everston drawled. "And...we're done."

Jackson opened his eyes. "Re-ey?"

He nodded as he put the empty syringe down. "You're gonna be numb for a little. Oh—" he snatched a mirror and offered it to him—"you can watch them come in, if you like."

"Uh..." Jackson uttered as he sat up, keeping his mouth open.

"Here."

Jackson took the mirror from him. He felt hesitant to see the state his mouth was probably in, but he was curious to see his fangs appear. So, he slowly lifted the mirror to his face...and stared at the two holes where his canines once were.