It was nearly midnight when a young boy faintly groaned. His head felt dizzy as he started to gently blink his eyes open. "Ow," he thought, as his gaze shifted around the room, trying to make sense of what happened or where he was. With the light from the hallway, the boy was able to see a whiteboard with some kind of chart on it, a television, and a roll away tray at the end of his bed. "Am I in a hospital?" The boy wondered.
He swallowed hard, trying to clear his head, but the grogginess wouldn't fade. His breathing felt shallow, like he couldn't take a real breath. Calm down, he told himself. Panicking won't help here. A chaotic mind leads to chaotic results. The boy took steady breaths and tried to think. How did I get here? What happened? However, when he tried to recall recent events, his mind was blank. He had no recollection; not a single memory came to him.
Okay, the boy thought, trying to remain clear headed. Don't freak out. Relax. What should be next on my checklist? He began to wiggle his toes, they were a bit stiff, but he had feeling in them. Good, at least I'm not paralyzed, as he started to move more of his joints—when he got to his right shoulder, he was instantly aware of a new throbbing pain in his chest. The boy attempted to gently massage it out, but the pain only worsened.
He tried to relax, but the pain heightened his senses to the low beeping noise that echoed throughout the room, a sting in his nose from the breathing tube, and the soft release of air from the pump keeping his mattress full. The boy quickly pulled plastic tubing from around his ears; his breaths were becoming quicker and shallower. The pain from his chest and shoulder radiated with heat that began to spread throughout his body.
I need to calm down! The boy knew he was beginning to spiral. If you can regulate your mind, you can regulate your body. So, the boy repeated the mantra over in his mind. Regulate… regulate… regulate… Time crawled as he attempted to steady his breath. He had to keep shortening his breathing to control his mind from focusing on the pain. Soon the boy realized he needed the breathing tube to oxygenate his lungs without the searing pain.
Do not focus on pain; it distracts you from your goals. The boy lay still on the bed, closed his eyes, and focused solely on his breathing. He didn't know how much time had passed when he noticed the pain in his chest and shoulder had dulled to a numbing ache. Good, if I don't move the pain won't increase, but after a moment passed the boy thought of the mantra, he said and wondered where that came from. However, he still couldn't place it.
The boy heard voices coming from outside the room. They were faint at first but grew louder as they got closer to the door.
"I'm just thankful for the help," a tired voice said. "The patient monitors in this wing have been malfunctioning lately."
"It's okay," said another fatigued voice. "I needed to check on Ethan anyway. My shift ends soon, and I need to complete my notes before the changeover."
The first one walking through the door was wearing black scrubs. She turned on the light, making the boy clinch his eyes closed for a few seconds. He opened them slowly and saw that there were two women in his room. The one in black was still in her early twenties—name tag read Dr. Haywood, while the other, dressed in pink scrubs, seemed to be middle-aged. Her name tag read RN Lynz.
Dr. Haywood was tapping on a touch screen with a confused look. "Hmm, that's weird," she said. "It's saying that there was no error code."
"You're right, that's odd." Nurse Lynz was on the other side of the bed with the roll away tray in front of her. She was connecting a small glass jar having a red liquid to the picc line. "Do you think Ethan's having bad dreams?" She asked.
"One that elicits a physical reaction of this level?" Dr. Haywood held her chin while starring at the monitor, "It's unlikely." She paused then playfully said, "Not unless someone broke into the hospital, slipped by the command station unseen, and then used a high-level psionic attack without any of us knowing."
Nurse Lynz smiled and shook her head, "You come up with the weirdest scenarios Dr. Haywood." The nurse went back to what she was doing, hanging up a new bag of clear fluid before discarding the old bag to the roll away.
The boy felt unsettled by their conversation. How casually they discussed his condition, as if he were invisible. However, their words left him with more questions than answers. What was a psionic attack? The term sounded familiar, but he didn't know why. Then there was the mention of the name Ethan—was that supposed to be him? The boy doubted it, yet his memory offered no evidence to counter.
The doctor sighed as she stepped back from the patient monitor and shook her head in disbelief. She glanced over at the boy then went back to the lit screen. Her eyes went big as she quickly returned her attention to the boy and said, "You're awake."
"What?" Nurse Lynz stopped taking off her gloves and shifted her body back to face the boy they had been calling Ethan. She stood there frozen.
"Go get Dr. Cain," Dr. Haywood said urgently. "He'll want to know Ethan is awake."
"On it." The RN swiftly threw her gloves down in the trash and scurried from the room, announcing that the boy from room seven had regained consciousness down the quiet darkened halls.
Dr. Haywood leaned over the bed with a gentle smile; fatigue was evident in her face. "Hey buddy," she said in a calm, soothing voice. "My name is Dr. Haywood," she continued, "I'm going to do a quick overview of your body while we wait for Dr. Cain to arrive." Her iris' illuminated with a green glow as she methodically scanned his body, ensuring she missed nothing during her examination.
The boy became vigilant, while trying to remain still when Dr. Haywood's eyes brightened. He could feel a foreign energy faintly penetrate his skin. What was she doing? Why are her eyes glowing like that? Is it to check my condition? Or is it something sinister?
Dr. Haywood started at the boy's head and worked her way down his neck, then to his left side. Dr. Haywood continued to smile as she progressed with her evaluation. "It's okay," she said, trying to reassure him. "I am using an ocular technique called Medical Scan. It shouldn't be hurting you."
However, when she reached his shoulder, the boy flinched hard and grabbed it while screaming through clinched teeth. His vitals on the patient monitor were crashing; the loud beeping echoed again.
An elderly man walked in, slightly winded, dressed in black scrubs and a white coat. He moved behind Dr. Haywood and looked at the boy and asked, "What's going on, Haywood?"
"I-I don't know, sir," Dr. Haywood said, baffled. "I was doing a primary scan of the patient and then he just started crashing out of nowhere."
"Alright," the elderly man nodded. "Move out of the way, go stand at the back with the rest."
Dr. Haywood did as she was told while the elderly man stepped beside the boy. He placed his hand on the boy's right shoulder and said, "You're going to be alright, young man." Then the elderly man's hand emanated a whitish, green light, and the boy's pain began to subside, and his breathing normalized.
The elderly man smiled and walked over to the patient's monitor, taking out a pen from his chest pocket as he moved. He tapped it thrice as the monitor returned to its normal rhythm. "Good," he said and turned back to the boy, who had a relieved look on his face.
The boy felt he was finally able to relax. He closed his eyes and wanted to rest. However, …
"Hello, young man," the elderly man said, wearing a confident smile, which looked off putting to the boy.
The boy looked up at the doctor, exhausted. He knew the doctor wanted to poke, prod, and ask him questions, but the boy was too tired and didn't really have answers to give.
"It's understandable that you're tired, young man," the elderly doctor said, in a loving grandpa voice. "But we're going to need you to do a few tests for us, then you can sleep for a little bit, okay?"
The boy sighed then nodded, resigned to being their test subject. Maybe they can find out the answers for me, he thought. The boy opened his eyes to see that there had been more people added to the roster than the original three.
While the elderly doctor was still standing by his side, Dr. Haywood was standing at the end of the bed with four others that were dressed like her, each holding a clipboard in hand. A small group of younger people stood behind them. They were dressed in green scrubs and had a pen in one hand and a small notebook in the other. Then there were two more dressed in pink scrubs like Ms. Lynz, and all three of them looked like they were awaiting orders.
"Good, you're all here," the elderly doctor said, sounding pleased and nodding in approval. "Let's get started." The elderly doctor returned his attention to the boy in the bed, "Young man?" He said, drawing the boy's attention back to himself.
"Huh," the boy responded, as he turned his head and found the old man starring at him with a softened smile.
"My name is Dr. Lester Cain. I am the Head of Neurology, here at Green Haven Medical Center." The elderly man said. Dr. Cain waved his arm and suggested to the green and black clothed people— "These little young ones are my students. They will be assisting me in your care while you're here." Dr. Cain took a deep breath and clapped his hands, then continued, "Now, down to business." He pointed to the first doctor that came in with RN Lynz and another gentleman with a stoic face but had dark shadows under his eyes. "Haywood, Fletcher."
Dr. Haywood shot out first, maybe because she was happy to get a chance to redeem herself, the boy thought. She immediately went to the boy's bedside, "Hello again," she started. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Dr. Haywood. I am an Attending Physician under Dr. Cain and I'm going to be running a few tests…"
The boy stared blankly at the female doctor. However, his attention went to the other doctor who didn't bother to greet him. Dr. Fletcher didn't speak while he glared at the monitor. He jotted a few things down before turning to Dr. Cain and spoke in a raspy voice. "His vitals are stable. Blood pressure is at ninety over sixty, temperature 96.7, heart rate a tad high at 105, but his respiratory is in normal range at 23."
"Hi," Dr. Haywood gently touched the boy's arm, and he quickly refocused on the petite doctor. "Sorry I didn't mean to alarm you, but I need to run a few simple tests, okay." The boy wondered what the young doctor meant. What kind of tests are considered simple in this situation? Would he have to move his shoulder again? Unfortunately, the boy's face portrayed his thoughts as Dr. Haywood added in a soft tone, "The tests shouldn't hurt. If you're worried about your shoulder, Dr. Cain has healed it; so, you shouldn't be experiencing any more pain. But if you do, let me know right away, okay?"
The boy nodded and said weakly, "Okay."
"Oh, you can talk? That's good. That will make everything go much smoother." Dr. Haywood said, going back to her tired, perky personality. "So, this first test is to test your central nervous system. You're going to follow my finger with your eyes while I shine this light. It'll be bright, so try really hard to follow my finger, okay?"
The boy affirmed with another okay, then did as he was told. However, the light was brighter than he could handle at that moment. He squinted his eyes while trying to follow the doctor's slow-moving finger. When Dr. Haywood turned off the light, the boy breathed a side of relief. Thankfully, that's over.
"Good. See that wasn't so bad." The boy thought otherwise as Dr. Haywood turned to Dr. Cain and said, "There's no sign of damage. The retinas look good, and the optic nerve is clear."
Well, that's good, the boy thought.
She turned to the boy and asked, "Can you move your limbs or your digits? Just a small wiggle is fine, but more movement you show helps us calculate your rehab needs." The boy silently complied, watching the doctor closely as her eyes began to glow again. He stiffly moved both legs and left arm with nearly full range of motion but hesitated before performing with his right arm. He didn't want to feel that pain again. The boy glanced over at Dr. Haywood; she wore a gentle smile that encouraged him to proceed. "That's impressive," Dr. Haywood remarked, then told Dr. Cain, "No damage to the brain stem or peripheral nervous system." While that was good, the boy was just happy his shoulder didn't hurt while moving it.
"You're doing great, young man," Dr. Cain said from the bed's end before returning to his students. However, his words did little to comfort the boy. In fact, it made him feel unsettled by the causality of him being Dr. Cain teaching subject. Was his condition really that special? Or was there something interesting enough about him that needed to be taught?
"Yes, you are," Dr. Haywood said, placing a comforting hand on the boy's arm. "We are almost done with our preliminary testing. I just need you to answer a few questions."
"Okay, but I don't think I'll be much help," the boy said, realizing he hadn't gotten any answers himself. He still didn't know why he was in the hospital, or how long he had been there.
His face must have been downcast because Dr. Haywood said, "It's okay," she said. "These questions are to get a better picture of where you're at cognitively. There's no right or wrong answer here, okay?"
The boy nodded in acknowledgment. He doubted he was going to get any useful information out of this examination, but at least it was a way forward.
"Okay, first question, do you know what your name is?" Dr. Haywood looked at the boy half expectingly, as she was ready to write down whatever he said.
The boy shook and confessed, "No, I can't remember much of anything, but I don't think my name is Ethan." He wanted to smile but halfway through he coughed instead. What the hell was that? The boy wondered as the strange feeling in chest was back again. Calm down, he told himself.
Noticing the boy's heart rate hate ticked up a few points higher, she asked, activating her ocular technique, "Are you okay, sweetie?"
"Yeah-Yes, I'm fine," the boy replied, sounding distracted. A warm sensation started to settle on his skin and lightly stung his pores.
"If you need to stop," Dr. Haywood started, but the boy cut in saying, "I'm alright." However, his heart rate climbed once again, alerting Dr. Cain.
"Is everything alright over here?" He asked.
"All good," the boy started but then he was one cut off by Dr. Haywood, who said, "We just started the verbal cognitive test, and his heart rate began to rise. I've check him with my ocular scan, but nothing indicates…"
"It's alright," Dr. Cain said to his student. There was an uneasy tone to his command. "Resume your place with everyone else but stay ready. I'm going to need you in a moment."
Why would he say that? The boy thought, as his heart rate increased. "That's not really comforting me here doc." He was trying to calm himself down but the mantra he used earlier wasn't working. What's going on? It worked last time.
"Oh, I'm sorry little one," Dr. Cain said, as his eyes began to illuminate a brighter yellow. The boy could feel a strong pulsation of energy moving more quickly than when Dr. Haywood used the same technique. The energy circled his body like an F1 speedway. "Hmm… Nurse Silva, page Dr. Gardner and Dr. Roman." He said with a calm voice while keeping his focus on the boy. "Nurse Janius get pharmacy to send over a 7th Grade Life Support Formation, an 8th Grade Detoxification Solution, a 5th Grade Iron Mind Array, three 7th Grade Cleansing Talismans, and a thousand meters of Mana Vein Lining; and put a rush on it."
The nurses replied swiftly, "Yes, sir," before touching their right ears. Their eyes soon dimmed, and they began to mumble something ineligible to the boy.
Dr. Fletcher who had remained still and silently observed Dr. Haywood's examination, said, "Do you think it's necessary to call in other head departments, sir?"
"Even my brightest student doesn't even know what is happening right now." Dr. Cain gave a strained laugh without looking at Dr. Fletcher. "It's understandable that it's not a well taught subject anymore, but it should have at least been mentioned in your textbooks back in medical school."
Dr. Fletcher looked deep in thought as he held his chin briefly then shook his head and activated his own Medical Scan, but Dr. Cain intervened, "It's alright, stand ready at the back with the rest. You're going to be our guideline on this one."
"Dr. Cain, what's the situation?" a middle-aged man walked through the door, sounding annoyed. "I was in the middle of preparing my lecture on Fragmenting Toxins in Late-Stage Crystallization for tomorrow's panel."
The boy glanced at the new doctor. He seemed disheveled, with hair slightly out of place and the five o'clock shadow. However, the boy couldn't focus much more, as the beeping became more frequent and the pressure on his chest was causing his breathing to become labored.
"Take a look and see Gerald," Dr. Cain replied irritated about Dr. Gardner's unprofessional attitude. Dr. Cain's arm swept palm up toward the boy then said, "If you can't..."
Dr. Gardner followed his colleague's arm and saw the boy's condition. He quickly said, "You should've called me sooner? He's already started the process of taking in Primal Essence!"
The frantic tone in Dr. Gardner's voice unnerved the boy. Why is everyone freaking out? Aren't you supposed to be calm, so that I can stay calm?
"I called for you as soon as I figured out was happening, you arrogant bastard."
"I'm arrogant? Did you call him?"
At that moment, another person walked in. He was young and twirled a lollipop in his mouth. "Of course, Dr. Cain called me," Dr. Roman said. His shaggy mop top covered his eyes, and poor posture made him walk with a slouch. "Heya, Fletchie," He added as he passed by Dr. Fletcher.
"Roman." Dr. Fletcher responded through gritted teeth.
Dr. Roman walked to the bedside and looked down at the boy, who was now starting to swell. "Oh, you're going to die," he said, "You're cleansing with no roadmap, my dude."
"What?" The boy said weakly. I'm dying? Wait, hold on… cleansing? That term sound's familiar… but from where?
However, the boy couldn't think of it before five people, wearing white scrubs, came tumbling in out of breath. The first to walk through were two brawny looking men, each bear-hugging a pair of solid metal poles with white flags at the end of them. They made a soft 'thud' when the winded male pharm-techs set them down. Three women followed suit. They had clear bags containing red liquid, a large stack of paper, and a glass jar with blackish green pills inside between them.
"Oh, we're still trying to save the boy?" Dr. Roman asked, bewildered. "Why?"
Isn't that your job? What you get paid for? The boy incredulously wondered. To save people's lives?
"Cyrus," Dr. Cain spoke while keeping his eyes firmly on the boy. "Do I need to remind you of what your role is?
Dr. Roman shrugged his shoulders and said, "I got it, I got it."
The boy felt lightheaded and dizzy watching the doctor's bicker. He suddenly felt tired. His only wish was to sleep, but reality can be unkind. Without warning, his body jerked backward and thrashed against the hospital bed. Blood poured from his seven orifices, and his eyes pulsated with a green glow bright enough to cast shadows across the walls and ceiling.
"His vitals are crashing!" Dr. Fletcher shouted from the back. "Heart rate one-eighty and climbing—blood pressure dropping fast!"
"We're going to deploy the LSF!" Dr. Cain barked. "Prepare yourself, young man. You're not going to have an easy go at this."
But the boy couldn't be bothered by what was happening around him anymore; the pain was becoming more than he could bear. He couldn't think anymore; his mind was going blank. He wanted the pain to stop, but no mysterious mantra came to him, no encouraging phrases or lines either. Why was this happening?
He soon got his answer with a blue transparent prompt, that read:
[System Integration Complete]
What's this, the boy thought. System? Integration?
"Argh!" The boy hollered in pain; tears running down the sides of his cheeks. His brain felt like it was melting inside of his skull, his throat was closing tight, and his whole body felt like it was on fire.
"Wait, what's happening?" The boy faintly heard a voice say. "Why are his iris' changing colors?"
[Initializing System Protocol]
What Protocol? What system? Why are these prompts popping up out of nowhere? Are they related to my iris' changing colors? Can't the doctors see them? The boy wondered.
"We're getting started everyone." Dr. Cain commanded, clapping his hands together. The flagpoles vibrated freely and flew toward their positions around the boy's bed. A low thrum sounded as the white flags fluttered, and runes spread across the floor connecting the four poles together in a white runed formation.
"Haywood, you're in charge of stabilizing his mind." Dr. Cain said without taking his eyes off the boy. "Fletcher, you're our anchor. We need exact vital readings."
Dr. Haywood ran to the head of the bed, bringing the nurse carrying the materials for the array with her. Haywood completed a few hand signs before stopping with one that resembled a triangle with thumbs and index fingers. Strips of paper with weird symbols on them and green pills floated atop the boy's head. As the array activated, a golden hue of energy connected the talisman and medicinal pills together.
The boy's body slowly sank into the bed; the pain wasn't gone, but his mind was clear. The disconnect frightened the boy. He wanted to scream, yet he was too relaxed to do so. So, he laid there, staring at Dr. Haywood with tears running down his face, his mouth quivering, desperately trying to speak, but the words wouldn't come out.
[Warning: System Installation Failure.]
Failure? Am I really going to die?
Dr. Gardner and Dr. Roman moved swiftly in tandem. Gardner took the right side of the boy, Dr. Roman the left. Their eyes and hands are glowing as they went to their respective workstations. The two female pharm-techs followed Dr. Gardner at his suggestion. They knew what the doctor wanted and promptly got to work behind him. One readying a bag of Detoxification Solution while the other placed a two large water basin Dr. Gardner; one with water and one without. Dr. Gardner leaned over and tried to make a small incision above the boy's heart; however, the boy's body was still too tense and shaky to make a clean cut.
[Diagnosing Hardware.]
Hardware? Is this system some sort of computer?
"You'll have to go through the hands." Dr. Roman said smugly.
"No, I'm won't," Dr. Gardner replied, then looked over to Dr. Haywood and said, "Sedate him more. I can't do my job with him trembling like this."
Yes, the boy thought. Sedate me until I'm unconscious.
"Y-Yes," Dr. Haywood said, frantically weaving more hand signs. The array responded with a brighter golden glow, and the boy's body became still. Nevertheless, the boy remained conscious.
"Hey Rachel," Dr. Roman calmly said as he looked at Dr. Haywood, "Level Two may work for Dr. Huff-N-Puff over there, but I need Level Three. Otherwise, the boy may become a vegetable if he accidentally seizes."
Dr. Haywood anxiously nodded and repeated her earlier movements.
The boy laid there, no longer thinking or feeling any emotion. He could only feel the pressure of Dr. Gardner hand as he plunged a scalpel into his chest.
"Damnit," Dr. Gardner said. A blackened substance was oozed from the boy's organs, causing his body to swell like and giggle like Jello. Dr. Gardner's hands grew brighter and said, "He's secreting toxins faster than expected."
A small portion of water flew out from the basin and rested above the boy's heart. Dr. Gardner carefully threaded the water into the boy's chest cavity, then pulled the water out. However, the water was much darker than it was going in. The blackened water made its way to the empty basin under the doctor's guidance. With his practiced hand, Dr. Gardner continued to cleanse the boy's heart while Dr. Roman placed his hands on the boy's head.
"Sorry, I only need to take a little," Dr. Roman said as he pulled a few grams of water over to himself.
"If you were actually sorry, you would have been better prepared and not needed to use mine," Dr. Gardner shot back.
However, Dr. Roman was never paying attention to his colleague. He knew how important the cleansing stage was. Dr. Roman focused on guiding the water up the boy's nose and through the nerves connected to the brain. Next, he began the diligent process of cleansing the boy's neural pathways in the temporal lobe.
[Troubleshooting Hardware.]
Meanwhile, Dr. Gardner remained concentrated on cleansing the boy's heart. More than half of the clean water basin had emptied, and the dry basin was now half full of a thin sludge. The assisting pharm-tech took a cloth from her pocket and wiped the sweat from Dr. Gardner's brow. He nodded his thankfulness to her, then began to take another glob of clean water over to the boy's heart.
As he inserted the water into the boy's artery, a thick sludge started to backflow. But not just his heart. The boy's vital and non-vital organs began to ooze this sludge.
"What the hell did you do?" Dr. Roman accused Dr. Gardner, as he tried to remove his energies from the boy's brain. "The boy's brain is detoxifying all on its own."
"I haven't done anything," Dr. Gardner shot back. "And it's the same down here."
The boy's body started to shake violently again when, Dr. Fletcher yelled, "Heart rate at 210 and climbing, blood pressure is 180 over 120."
[Initializing Shutdown for Physical Reconstruction]
"What the hell is happening" Dr. Cain shouted, "We're losing him."
The beeping and the conversation began to slip away. Darkness started to cloud his vision and the boy thought, finally I can rest now. He didn't know if he was going to wake up again, and honestly, he didn't care. It was just too bad he never got any answers. How did he end up in the hospital? Or where his parents were? You can't be born without them. Was he abandoned orphaned? Also, what is this system thing? How and why do I have it? None of it mattered anymore. He can sleep now. If he was fated to know the answers to these questions he would have to survive. And as the boy's vision was swallowed up by complete blackness, sleep is what he did.