Skin Deep - Finish The Story Week #61
Skin Deep
by @Brisby"Our company stands by our satisfaction guarantee!" beamed the processing clerk with her row of brilliant white teeth.
Arnav returned her smile with a tight one of his own. That hadn't answered his question. Before he could repeat it again, the woman raised a pale green arm and gestured to the hallway on her left.
"Please proceed to the end of the hall to begin your procedure. We thank you for choosing DermaTru." Shimmering, the glass partition darkened as she turned from the console. Punctuating a blunt end to the transaction.
Arnav blinked, debating if he should knock on the blackened separator to demand a better response. Anxiety from the thought of creating a scene thrummed a timpani beneath his ribs. Lara would never forgive him for an embarrassing display in public. Besides, the blatant avoidance of his concerns had told him what he needed to know. There wouldn't be any going back.
Flickering screens aligning the hall were alight with a dazzling rainbow of customers. Each one a testimonial touting appreciation and joy for their operations. Waiting beside the iridescent number four in line, Arnav focused on one he hadn't seen before. A teary-eyed blue woman, Bonnie, was thanking DermaTru for giving her back her life.
"After my accident, I hid away." Sympathetic music underscored the images of a crumpled car and her body mottled with burn scars. "People would stare at me in the stores. I couldn't stand the looks in their eyes." The music swelled into inspirational notes as she continued, "Then I found DermaTru." Azure hands clasped over her heart as she stared from the screen, "They gave me more than the skin of my dreams, they gave me my life back."
A pneumatic hiss drew his attention as the door next to the screen slid open. Arnav's stomach flipped, readying to paint the floor with its own colorful mix of pastrami and bile. Closing his eyes, he forced down the nausea with measured breaths. There wasn't a reason to get himself worked up over this. There hadn't been a single case reported of nanite rejection. It was a simple and safe procedure performed by professionals.
His tremoring hands and quaking knees refused to acknowledge his attempts to calm himself. How like his life, even his own body ignored him.
But, all that would change after today. One quick injection and Arnav would have his wife smiling at him again. His Lara would be happy again. His hands fisted. He could do anything so long as it was for her. His knees eased their quivering. Anything to have her look at him again with something other than disappointment. His eyes opened.
Rallied by the thought of seeing love in Lara's eyes, Arnav stepped forward into the implantation room.
"Hello doctor, how are you?"
"Welcome Arnav" The doctor with a picturesque yellow color and a smile that covered his face.
"You know that our technology is the most advanced in the restoration of the skin, you will be left with skin as bright as that of a baby" taking an arm and observing the severity of the damage.
"Well doctor with covering my face with new skin is more than enough for me, ha ha" trying to make a joke despite how nervous he was.
"Thanks to the healing and regenerating power of nanites in the human body, we can guarantee 97% achievement of Arnav objectives"
"Make yourself comfortable" pointing the stretcher.
Arnav saw the nurse approach with a case.
"Mr. Arnav, choose the color," the nurse said as she showed him the inside of the case, a diverse range of injection colors could be seen, so many shades that he had never imagined existed.
"What a good choice" retiring with joy as if she were at a children's party, she placed the case on one of the shelves and pulled Arnav's choice out of the case.
"Doctor, everything is ready around here," said the nurse.
"First I'll give you an injection so you can relax, and then I'll proceed to implant the nanites."
"Ok doctor" watching the blinking screen inside the room, where Bonnie's thanks were repeated again.
He fixed his thoughts on his beloved Lara to diminish his nerves, thinking how happy she would be to see his new color, purple, he knew she loved the idea of combining her pink complexion with that color.
After a few hours.
"What do you think?" asks the doctor.
As Arnav watched himself in a giant mirror and caressed his new skin, touching his smooth and soft face.
"Perfect doctor, I'm very grateful to DermaTru and you."
"Your situation has required a little more time, but it's normal when anomalies happen. As you read in the contract you signed, Arnav, in case of any unfavorable reaction in the biology of the host, the host should remain under observation in Dermatru for the required time."
"I'm happy with that, doctor, anything for DermaTru."
Lara was worried about the time she had been waiting for her partner, she was almost memorizing some of the gratitude that was transmitted by the different screens and her daily temperament was about to change.
Arnav left the implant room with a wide smile showing his row of bright white teeth, accompanied by the cheerful nurse, to say goodbye to Lara.
"What happened?" Lara was surprised to see Arnav, with a kind of multicolored vitiligo.
"Lara, I must stay"
"What do you mean you have to stay? I don't understand, why are you so calm? Look at you, you look like a clown, come on, let's complain", losing the calm that always characterized her.
"Lara calm down, I must stay for the sake of the advances in Dermatru."
He turned his back on her and left with the nurse.
I am participating in the Finish The Story Contest - Week #61! contest proposed by the people of @bananafish, this time @Brisby offers us to complete a story full of color and advances in skin health.
The image I used was edited from its original: Source
You pick up the diabolical potentials implicit in @brisby's beginning. She does make quite a point of having Arnav sign the permission forms. This is always a step I find ominous whenever I submit to a medical procedure. You take this concern to is nightmarish extreme.
Kind of creepy. The creepiest part is Arnav's acceptance. He is a compliant fellow, isn't he?
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I really like how you've approach this, some of the little details just create such a vivid world
in just a few words, you make multi colored skin seem natural, and this feel like a normal procedure people may use to change color, or just brighten up their natural shade. The almost patronizing positive routine of the nurse, this very much feels like a real clinic. The way he deflects his nerves with humor and then focuses on his end goal, Lara. You give Arnav an emotional depth, and then, wow, that ending.
The fact you don't explain his change of mind is brilliant, just as the testimonials sang the praises of DermaTru, so does Arnav now. I feel like there is something in the word choice "host"... it makes me wonder what are these nanites... reading this, it feels as though they could be parasites, rather like the ones that make ants love being infected with them. The nanites might change their hosts skin color, but that's not all they change...
This is so delightfully sinister, and it's simplicity just makes it. The unexplained change of heart, from anxious and uncertain, deflecting his worries, thinking of Lara to get himself through, to happy compliant man, combined with Lara's uncharacteristic reaction. I just love how you've played off the title here. The idea of a person going for a cosmetic procedure, and coming back acting so different, can't help but reflect on why and gosh, it so wonderfully creepy!
Yes indeed your interpretation is totally correct to the story that I tried to capture in so few lines. Thank you @calluna for your opinion, as always it is fascinating to read your comments.
Well done, Vida-Blanca! I like that you took the cue of the nanites not having had reported rejections and ran with it. The extent to which DermaTru goes to prevent these types of cases from becoming public are is truly diabolical. For Arnav not to even think of trying to complain, for though meek, he did have his own thoughts and opinions, is a giant warning flag. Those nanites must have something built into their programming as a fail-safe. Perhaps triggered by ones emotional distress or remotely by one of the company doctors, they see to it that every injectee does what is best for the companies wants and not for themselves.
How talented to have given us a dark story using a rainbowed patchwork of colors!