Skin Deep- My Entry to #finishthestory 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.

The room looked more like a first class waiting lounge, except for a machine the size of a writing desk standing in a corner. Next to it were two plush recliners, ivory leather with black highlights. Opposite the recliners was a study chair like they have in colleges with a table attached. This one held a slim computer .

"Mr. Arnav? Right this way please." The woman was gorgeous, not young but no man in his right mind would call her old. The voice had a timber, like smokers often do, but from her it sounded incredibly sexy. Her brown warm eyes matched her hair and the garnets shining on her ears.

"Mr. Arnav?"

He shook his head,cursing himself for behaving like a hormone flooded teenager. "Yes." He said and moved towards the recliner she gestured at. After he was seated she began applying gel to his neck for attaching electrodes, Arnav began to feel a hot hunger spreading through his body just by her nearness and the whiff of her perfume.

She stepped away and turned on the big machine and read the outputs the electrodes were generating.

"All seems in order." She then rose and brought him a pad with a form on it and handed it to him with a pen.

"Please sign here, so we can proceed." She then bent down to adjust his legs in the clamps, first the left leg and then the right.

"Arnav, the form please." She asked him with a dazzling smile. Arnav realizing that he had not even looked at the form, hurriedly signed it and handed it back.

"Thank You, put your hands inside the straps please."

Arnav did as he was told. A pair of mechanical arms emerged from the machine, each holding a syringe full of a neon red chemical. One pierced his neck the other his exposed shin. There was a sensation first of heat then of extreme cold and then Arnav did not know what happened. A little later- he guessed- he opened his eyes to see the woman wheeling a full length mirror to the center of the room.

"You check your new self, take your time. I will be back in a few minutes."

Arnav stood up slowly looking at his now pale green skin, his palms were lighter, almost yellow. He gazed in the mirror at his new avatar. He looked younger and exotic. There were no scars or lines anywhere on his face. He felt good. the woman came in and handed him his records along with a bottle of capsules to be used only in case of any allergic reaction. Before Arnav could ask or speak anymore she had quietly hustled him out and closed the door with another of her brilliant smiles. "See you in a month for your review and calibration."

Brenda closed the door behind Arnav and locked it. She then carefully sealed the blood, bone marrow and tissue samples in the three different bags, taking her time to attach the labels properly and wrote on each of them - SUBJECT #13904. EXP.BATCH #70. Then she checked the computer, the chip inside Arnav's head was working OK and in the comments section typed- combat compatible; she closed the window and the screen blinked "active" and then blanked out. The Agency would be able to track and knock out Arnav whenever they wanted. She then brushed her hair and sprayed on the hormone concoction which would assault the next man to walk in.

The Contest: https://steemit.com/finishthestory/@bananafish/finish-the-story-contest-week-61

Picture Credit: Pixabay.com