Turn Back

Joseph Arrow lied atop his covers.

He could still feel them- the tools under his back, the little arms he used to cut people open and rearrange them- a noble pursuit, one he’d almost let himself be proud of- and unquestionably something he was damn good at. The best in the world… spare those Kidney Foundation sickos who thought they could prevent death.

But lying here right now… having given up his career, and with only the hope of talking to Hiromaki again as his motivation to make it through the night…

Suddenly, he wished he didn’t feel all those metal hands atop his spine.

Suddenly, he wished he’d never become the best cyber-surgeon in the world.

Suddenly, he wished he’d never made the mistake of working a single day in his life.

But then he remembered.

None of it would have mattered anyway.

Arrow cried himself to sleep the same way he had the past dozen nights before.