Transmitted

File 3

Two weeks later Aradia went to collect the results of her tests. She honestly wished she'd opted for them to be sent to her, now that she was here in this office again. She hadn't expected to be called in to speak to the doctor - she'd assumed she'd just collect her results and leave. No such luck.  

Her doctor pulled out a couple of sheets of paper and set them down on the desk in front of her. 

"The good news is that the lab analysis shows that you're clear of Chlamydia and herpes." she began "but we can't rule out syphilis until you take the blood test." she added, before Aradia had time to even breathe a sigh of relief. Then she glanced up at Aradia sharply  

"You didn't substitute the urine sample for someone else's did you?" she asked accusingly. Aradia stared at the doctor in shock for a few seconds 

"Why would I do that?" she asked incredulously "I was the one who requested the test!" 

The doctor frowned, and looked down at the papers for a moment before returning her gaze to Aradia 

"Well, because the urine sample didn't match the qualities for human urine." she said in a grave tone. She let that revelation sink in for a moment, watching Aradia's expression go from shock to confusion. 

"But... How...? I mean..." Aradia shook her head, as if to clear it "but I peed in that cup myself!" she exclaimed, bewildered "what do you mean it doesn't match? Does that mean I have some sort of disease?" 

The doctor frowned again, she looked suspicious still but Aradia's reaction obviously wasn't what she expected. Did she expect crying and a confession? Or perhaps to get defensive and deny everything, insist they'd made a mistake? Aradia didn't know but more pressing was the worry there may be something seriously wrong with her. The doctor wordlessly poured a glass of water for Aradia and passed it to her. Aradia sipped it, and grimaced, it was bitter tasting. The dreams had got worse recently and not two nights ago she'd woken up outside of the house, barefoot, in the nude. Thankfully she'd been near her front door, which had been unlocked and slightly ajar. She hadn't had to bang on her neighbours door in the middle of the night and climb over the wall to let herself in the back. That would have been mortifying at the best of times, let alone when she was wearing nothing but her birthday suit. The strange thing was she could have sworn she went to sleep that night wearing pyjamas... 

"Well if it's a disease it's nothing known to medical science. I've looked it up, and I can't find anything that matches the qualities we found." the doctor said at last, thoughtfully "I honestly thought you had substituted the sample, that was my only reasonable explanation for the results." she looked at Aradia curiously "do you own a dog?" 

Aradia frowned in consternation "what? No, I've always been more of a cat person, why?" 

"Because, Miss Moon, your sample more fits the qualities of canine urine." the doctor said, with another of her unreadable expressions. 

Aradia's mouth dropped open. Canine...? Had she heard her correctly? 

"How... How do you know that? Surely there's been some mistake?" Aradia asked falteringly. How could this be? What was going on? 

"there's no mistake." the doctor said firmly "I trained as a vet for two years before dropping out and switching to human medicine." the doctor continued, looking Aradia straight in the eye "either you are lying to me miss Moon or there is something unexplainable wrong with you." 

Aradia felt the dizziness and light headedness that had been creeping up on her suddenly hit her with a rush. A whining buzzing noise that had been almost unnoticeable before became unbearably loud, and her vision began to white out. As she slumped in her chair, she watched the doctor stand up suddenly and say something to her, but the words didn't reach her ears through the buzzing. By the time she hit the floor, she was already unconscious.

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