POA ch002 — Henry remembers.

Summary: Seonjae gives Henry a check-up.

Author's Notes: The author thanks you for reading. Henry, the protagonist, thanks you for (please, god, please) choosing wisely.

Content Warnings: Hospitals, doctor’s offices, doctor’s appointments, minor scopophobia.

For a short-lived, panicked moment, Henry itches to escape. He nearly surges to his feet, nearly stumbles to the door, but—

Memories begin to trickle back into Henry’s mind through the foggy haze. The beeping grows louder as he gains consciousness, and he shifts. One arm feels oddly restrained. Best not to panic, best not to do anything rash. Not yet.

First, he sorts through the flickering images leading up to this moment.

…

“C’mon, man, I know the doc in charge, she’s cool! It’s neuro and physics, basically my field and Naomi’s combined. Even though Naomi and I aren’t actually working on this project, you’ll still get to be involved! You can get access to the psych and engineering libraries! Plus, the compensation is supposed to be sweet.”

Ash waggled their eyebrows, knowing Henry would bite.

He did.

“Alright, fine,” Henry said. “Email me the details, I’ll reach out. The things you make me do, Ash.”

“You love me.”

…

Henry’s lips twist into a half-smile and his eyes blink open.

The room is predominantly white. Henry moves to peer to either side. A little sink is installed, next to a mini-fridge and a medical waste disposal bin. The bed he lies in has some kind of contraption that arches up and over him. He is hooked up to a set of screens and beeping machines.

Henry feels completely fine. Normal. Why is he here?

Something about a study, something Ash has talked him into doing. That doesn’t particularly narrow things down, though — Ash talks Henry into most of his bad decisions.

…

“…scored high enough to qualify for the study, Mr. Choix.”

Dr. Pembroke had a perfunctory manner and a smile that was meant to be reassuring.

“Oh?” Henry replied, stunned. He’d signed up for a number of neuro studies, mostly to help out Naomi’s neuro-major friends with their dissertations. Those, however, were small-scale, low-budget affairs. They’d present Henry with a series of images and ask him to describe them, or test his ability to perform math problems while hanging upside-down. Sometimes they’d have him get an MRI, if they really wanted to get fancy about… whatever they were testing.

This was different. Far more professional, for one thing. And, judging by the number of NDAs and consent forms Henry had had to sign, a good deal more serious. And that was only to take a test to see whether he qualified to be a candidate in the study.

“Is that not what you were expecting?” Dr. Pembroke asked, raising a blonde eyebrow.

Pembroke’s lab was offering to pay Henry for his participation, as well. He didn’t want to jeopardize his chance. Overseas tuition fees for Oxford were nothing to scoff at.

“I really had no expectations,” Henry said, shrugging honestly. “Your lab tech didn’t exactly tell me what kind of candidates you’re looking for.”

“That was intentional, Mr. Choix.” Dr. Pembroke peered at him like a bug under the microscope. “And you’ll want to get used to being kept in the dark, so to speak. We will, of course, inform you of anything requiring your consent; but any further information might skew the results. You understand, I’m sure.”

Henry wasn’t exactly an expert on ethical medical practices, but it sounded just fine to him. £4,000 compensation was nothing to scoff at, either.

“Of course,” Henry agreed readily. “I’m ready to sign whatever forms you need.”

“Wonderful,” Dr. Pembroke’s smile widened. “That’s very commendable. We here at the Pembroke Lab thank you for your participation. I’ll leave you to read over all the fine print. If you have any questions, Seonjae will be just outside. When you’re ready, we’ll show you through to the operating room.”

“Hang on,” Henry said. “Operation?”

…

Henry groans and squints against the bright white lights of the sterile room. He doesn’t feel like he’s undergone an operation, apart from the disorientation of waking up from anesthetics. He looks groggily over, and sees that there is a needle in his arm, and he is connected to various screens and contraptions at his bedside.

Henry wiggles his toes, lifts his other arm.

“Hello?” He says aloud, just to make sure his voice still works. The noise manages to startle a gasp out of him. His voice is a little raspy, and he’d kill for a glass of water.

Only the sound of beeping, beside him. Henry just wants to get up and go home. What time is it? Where are his clothes, his phone?

Abrupt, sharp panic sends his heart rate spiking, and the machines beside his bed beep more aggressively.

Henry is struggling to get to his feet when the door opens.

“Hello— oh! No, please, lie down!” A young Korean woman in a white lab coat rushes over and presses her hands to his shoulders, forcing Henry back down onto the bed.

“Who are you— where am I?” Henry asks.

“Dr. Pembroke did anticipate some disorientation,” The woman observes. Henry is remembering her, now — he’d spoken to her right before going in for the operation.

“Seonjae?” Henry guesses.

Seonjae beams at him.

“Yes! We spoke before we put you under. Excellent, I’m glad you remember.” Seonjae pulls a clipboard down from the wall above Henry’s head and makes a few notes. When her pen finishes scribbling on the clipboard, she refocuses on him and smiles.

“I’d like to reassure you that you are completely fine, everything went extraordinarily well. There is no need for panic. I just need to do a little bit of a physical check-up, and ask you a few questions, and then you’ll be good to go. Okay?”

"Okay,” Henry agrees, his mind still scrambling to recapture the lost memories from before he’d been put under.

Seonjae runs through a series of check-ups, of the sort that Henry would expect from an annual checkup with his PCP. He says ‘ah,’ he moves his eyes as she shines a light in them, he breathes when she tells him to, the stethoscope pressed to his back. The entire time, Henry struggles to come up with more context leading up to this moment. He doubts that Seonjae would tell him much of anything about the operation and the study itself, but he’s exceedingly curious.

“Now,” she says, draping the stethoscope back across her neck. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“Same,” Henry shoots back, and Seonjae laughs politely.

“Can you tell me your name?”

”Henry K. Choix.”

”What year is it?”

”2024.”

“What city do you live in?”

”Oxford.”

”What do you do in Oxford?”

“I’m a student. Literature.”

Seonjae nods, and makes several more notes on the clipboard.

“What made you decide to participate in this study?”

Henry shrugs. “My friend Ash thought it could be interesting. And the compensation is shockingly good.”

“Yes, I took down your bank details before we brought you in, and you’ll find the first half of the compensation in your account within the next week. Please let us know if you don’t see it.”

Henry nods.

“We expect you to come in for a check up tomorrow, one week from now, and one week after that. We’ll work around your schedule. Obviously, once we’ve determined that you aren’t experiencing any immediate side effects, we can be a little more flexible and check-ups can be as-needed. You’ll receive the second half of the compensation at the conclusion of the study.”

This strikes Henry as unorthodox, but who is he to judge?

“I have the contact information for myself listed here at the bottom of your check-out paperwork. Do feel free to contact me any time of day. And, of course, if you experience any physical symptoms or distress—" Here, Seonjae hesitates uncomfortably, "—which you shouldn’t, we hadn't— we aren't anticipating anything of the sort, but if you do, you should notify me and seek medical attention immediately.”

Henry notices something off, in Seonjae's expression. A pained pinch around her eyes.

"Super reassuring," Henry jokes.

Seonjae bites her lips, hesitating again.

"J-just— If anything happens—" Seonjae leans forward, her voice now a whispered rush. "If you notice anything, please call me, alright? Not in— it doesn't have to be in any official capacity, I just—"

Seonjae glances up at the corners of the room. Her eyes land on a space a few inches above Henry's shoulder, by his ear.

Henry's neck prickles. He glances around.

There's nothing there. Empty hospital room.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Seonjae says, finally, and Henry turns back to her. "Nothing to worry about. I look forward to seeing you at your check-ups."

Seonjae's smile returns as she removes a document and folds it up, placing it on the side-table near the door.

“Please show that to Deborah on your way out, she’ll handle scheduling your check-up appointments and everything else. Now—” Seonjae flips to the front page of the clipboard once again and readies her pen. “I have one last question, and then we’ll get you out of here.”

“Shoot,” Henry says.

“You’re going to think I’m joking,” Seonjae explains with an awkward gesture. “But I promise, this is a legit question we have to ask. Please answer honestly.”

“Okay?”

Readying her pen with the utmost seriousness, Seonjae asks:

”What are you going to eat for dinner tonight? Take-away? Leftovers?”

Poll 

Image Descr.: A screenshot of a poll at the bottom of a Patreon post, with two options. Option One — Order takeout. Option Two — eat leftovers . Initializing... Polling... Eighty-two percent: order takeout. Eighteen percent: Eat leftovers. We have chosen to order takeout.

⬅️ Return

➡️ Read POA ch003 — Henry Orders Takeaway

Points of Articulation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is written and created by Hannah Semmelhack, with beta-reading by Fiona Clare.