29
Tuesday, June 6, 2006 – 6:03 p.m.
Aspen Memorial Hospital
As Dan sat at the Neurology Admitting desk intensely occupied with paperwork and preparing to end his shift, a strange, bizarre creature walked stealthily up behind him and slowly reached out to grab Dan’s head. The creature was so quiet that the air around it didn’t even seem to move. Long slender fingers capped by black fingernails uncurled as they neared the top of Dan’s cranium. The overhead fluorescent lights scintillated off the metallic hardware with which the creature was adorned. Black highlighted eyes focused intently on the back of Dan’s head, and a shiver of excitement coursed through its’ body. Slowly lowering its’ hand, the creatures fingernails tickled the hair on Dan’s head. Dan’s brain instantly registered the molecular movement of his hair and his whole body froze in place. The light brush of hot air against the back of his neck caused pile erections to instantly stipple his body. Dan slowly curled his fist into a ball and he prepared to flatten whatever was behind him. Then, the clanking of a chain aroused Dan’s suspicions. His mind racing with activity, Dan suddenly whirled around and he high-fived Spike standing behind him.
“Dang, how’d you know?”
“The chain gave you away. You had me until then.”
Spike had arrived to start his second of three twelve hour shifts. Dan was done with his.
“Next time I won’t be so careless.”
“We’ll see about that,” Dan said laughing. “You’ve only gotten me a couple of times.”
“Yeah, but they were doozies. The last time you fell out of your chair and dumped your pop all over the desk.”
“I remember. That’s only because I was concentrating on getting my paperwork done so I could go home. It really wasn’t fair.”
“What do you mean it wasn’t fair? It was a fair as it gets. You didn’t hear me and I got you. That’s that.”
“Well, we’ll see about next time mister.”
Dan play-punched Spike in the stomach and Spike reacted as if he’d been hit doubling over and falling backwards into Gretchen.
“What the…?”
Whirling around, Spike was horrified to see the old raisin standing there, coffee spilled down the front of her scrubs.
Slinking backwards, Spike sheepishly looked at Gretchen and said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you standing there. I didn’t mean to…”
“Never mind,” she roared. “You just don’t learn do you? Always have to be playing around. This is work, not Kindergarten. Now look at my scrubs. I’ve barely started my shift and I already look like a fool. As far as I’m concerned, you should be fired!”
Dan sat behind Spike trying to hold in a belly-full of laughter. Snickering to the point where small snorts were emerging from his mouth and nose, Dan tried with all his might to keep from busting out laughing. Unlike Spike, he didn’t take anything from Gretchen. He just let it roll off his back and told her to quit being so persnickety. She hated that, especially running up against someone whom she couldn’t melt into a pool of groveling ooze. Spike didn’t melt quite that far, but she could get him to the point where he was as a heat-softened candle slightly bent but still useable. Dan on the other hand threw it right back.
“Here, let me.” Spike grabbed a glass of water and poured some on a rag. He began to wipe off her scrubs.
“Idiot. Just leave it alone. The damage is done.”
Pushing Spike’s hand away, Gretchen knocked the glass flying wherein it bounced off Dan’s head and splashed all over his shirt and part of the desk. Quickly grabbing a stack of papers to prevent them from getting wet, Dan moved them and grabbed a towel to wipe up the mess. Gretchen turned to walk back into the staff area to clean up and tripped over a garbage can. Landing with a thud on the floor, Spike made a movement toward helping her, and then stopped. She was already getting up cursing and mumbling under her breath. Disappearing through the door, Spike and Dan both looked at each other and busted out laughing.
“Nice move jerk,” Spike said to Dan.
“Hey, you’re the one who flew backwards and ran into her.”
“I didn’t know she had walked up behind me, did you.”
“No.”
“She’s gonna be a bear to live with tonight.”
“Glad I’m going home. Have fun.” Dan laughed more thinking about Spike’s night of hell that was just beginning. “Maybe you better avoid her tonight.”
“I’m going to try. That’s for sure.”
Dan and Spike turned in unison as they heard a barrage of cursing coming from the staff lounge.
“I’m outta here,” Dan said scraping together his paperwork and placing it in the appropriate basket. “Enjoy your evening.”
“Thanks a lot.” Both men high-fived each other and Dan stepped into the open elevator from which Ken had just emerged.
“Have a good evening,” Ken said to Dan.
"You too doc. See you tomorrow.”
The elevator doors slid shut and the down arrow lit up overhead.
“Spike. Good to see you tonight.”
“Thanks. You’re working kind of late aren’t you?”
“That’s typical. I never seem to get out of here on time.”
A cacophony of sound erupted from the staff lounge carried on the waves of Gretchen’s voice. Ken gave Spike a bewildered look.
“Don’t ask.”
Ken replied, “I won’t.”
“So how was your day?”
“Hectic, strange, sad and confusing.”
“Really? What happened?”
“Let’s go check on Hank and I’ll fill you in. I’d rather not meet up with Raisin Face.”
“Me neither.”
Both men walked the short distance to Hank’s room. Upon entering, they found him still comatose. All monitors were at normal levels. Hank’s right wrist was encased in a white cast. The gentle rising and falling of the mountainous mass under the covers was evident. A small night light illuminated the room just enough so one could see without tripping over something. Hank’s dark silhouette lay peacefully on the bed.
“So, what happened today?”
“Well, where should I start? You remember that gal in 505?”
“Yeah. Benita wasn’t it?”
“Yes. She died.”
“Died? From what?”
“I’m not sure, but it appears to be an overload of some type in her brain. Her brainwave activity was going off the scale. Heart rate was up, sweating, feverish; very weird. It was as if she were having nightmares so powerful and intense that her body couldn’t take it anymore and she died.”
“She wasn’t that old.”
“I know. She was very young. However, that’s not all. Around 9:00 a.m. or so, a little girl comes in with an excruciating headache. I order some tests to be run, talk to her mother and leave. Then I’m called back because she’s also having high EEG readings and her vitals are off the scale. When she wakes up, she explains that she’s been having nightmares, but was able to get out of this one using something called lucidity. Later she has another episode. Finally, the guy you admitted early this morning, Hank, starts having the same symptoms. High EEG and EKG readings, extreme vital signs, shaking and the like and then he settles back down. He, however, stays in a comatose state as Benita did. This little girl, Maisie, on the other hand, has been able to wake herself up out of these visions or nightmares. Maybe it’s because she’s young and resilient or perhaps whatever is affecting the other patients isn’t as effective on her, I don’t know. She has been able to wake up and talk about what’s going on. She may be a great help in solving this.”
“Sounds like a smart little kid.”
“She is. You’ll like her. She’s in room 511. Go by and say hi later.”
“I will.”
Ken continued, “After these episodes, I started doing some digging. Since many of the symptoms are indicative of LSD use, I began to wonder. I couldn’t believe that Maisie would have been affected somehow by LSD, but who knows. Anyway, I found out that what seems to be the common thread in all three cases is a substance known as tryptamines.”
At the mention of tryptamines, Spikes demeanor changed. He seemed to stiffen at the mention of them and he became fidgety.
“Hmm. So is that the cause?” Spike asked, trying to sound interested but at the same time trying to avoid a direct conversation about the subject.
“I don’t know.” Ken decided not to push the issue. As unlikely as it seemed, maybe Spike had something to do with this, although he’d been gone all day and he didn’t seem like the type. Ken reasoned that maybe Spike had tried LSD or some mushrooms himself, heck maybe he still did. Nevertheless, Ken questioned the possibility that Spike was involved.
Turning toward the door, Spike began to edge in that direction. “Well, it sounds like your plate is full tonight.” Spike slowly walked toward the door intent on leaving the uncomfortable discussion. “Let me know how things go. I need to get started on my rounds and check out what other paperwork and such I have to do. It was nice talking doctor.”
Ken tried to act as if he didn’t notice Spike’s uncomfortable fidgetiness with the discussion. “Good seeing you Spike. I’ll be around for a little while and then I need to get home to get some rest for tomorrow. It looks like it will be another busy day.”
“I’m sure it will. See you later.” Spike turned and headed for the admitting desk. Gretchen came out of the staff area, her scrubs dark in several places from rinsing off the coffee spills.
“Don’t just stand there, get some work done!” Gretchen bellowed. “And stay out of my way!”
Spike knew that no reply was the best reply. Turning toward the desk, he began to rifle through the paperwork to see what needed to be done. Glancing up, he saw Ken disappear into the elevator. Just before the doors shut, Ken turned around and came back out. He walked back over to talk with Spike, a determined look on his face. A cold sweat ran down Spike’s back. Spike knew for sure he was going to be caught.
“Can you do me a favor?” Ken asked.
Trying to sound confident and covering the quaver in his voice, Spike said, “Sure. What do you need?”
“Benita died this morning a little after 9:00 a.m. She was later taken downstairs to the morgue. Bodies aren’t picked up until around 8:30 or 9:00 at night, right?”
“Uh, yes. That’s what I’ve been told.” Spike breathed a little easier realizing Ken wasn’t there to interrogate him about tryptamines or hallucinogenic drugs.
“So she should still be there, correct?”
“Yes.” Spike was beginning to get nervous about what Ken was going to ask.
“I need you to go down before the bodies are taken away. I don’t think her IV cannula was removed from her arm and I need it. I’ve had the IV bags and needles tested for the presence of tryptamines, but I didn’t think about the actual cannula. It could have been the source or at least part of the source of this hallucinogenic episode. Perhaps it was laced or encountered something that laced it with these hallucinogenic drugs and that’s how it entered her system. If that’s the case, it could be the culprit with Hank. Maisie though didn’t have an IV so I’m not sure. I just want to cover all the bases. Can you get that for me? I need to run back down to the lab and check on the results of those tests.”
“Sure, that’s fine.” Spike, always appearing tough and unafraid, was definitely afraid. He tried his best not to show it though. Putting on a positive demeanor and attempting to control his voice, he fooled Ken into thinking that it was no big deal.
“Thanks much Spike. Let me know as soon as you check to see if it was removed. I’ll want to have it tested as soon as possible.”
“I’ll run down there in about 10 minutes. I need to finish up a couple things here first.”
“That’s fine. The sooner the better though. Page me when you find out either way.”
“Okay.”
Ken turned and walked back to the elevators again. Pushing the down button the elevator doors opened immediately since the car hadn’t yet been called anywhere else since Ken had last stepped out of it. As the elevator doors shut, Spike breathed a sigh of relief. He hated the morgue. Amazingly, with all his outward appearances of being part of a Gothic lifestyle, death being a preoccupation of many in the Gothic circle, he hated dead people. Many of his friends thought that it was cool that he got to work in a hospital where death lived. In fact, they often asked him if they could come by and see some of the dead bodies or at least have Spike take some pictures of them. Spike told them he’d lose his job if he did that, so usually they just talked about what Spike had seen. As usual, he always tried to sound tough, unafraid and fascinated by death when in reality he wasn’t.
“Are you still sitting here?” a gruff, wrinkled encased mouth bellowed.
Turning toward the oldest California raisin, Spike said, “I was just finishing up some paperwork and then I have an errand to run for Dr. Slaterbaugh.”
“Likely story,” Gretchen said giving Spike a condescending look.
“No lie. He just went to the lab. He’ll be back in a bit if you want to ask him.”
Gretchen gave a sort of snort-huff and turned to leave. “Just make it quick. You have a job to do up here, not somewhere else.”
“I’ll try and hurry.”
Gretchen lumbered off; her arms hanging at her sides as if her body were a magnet and her arms possessed the same magnetic charge. Spike wasn’t sure which was the lesser of two evils; dealing with Raisin Woman or dead people. He decided dead people was just a little less evil than Gretchen, so he got up and headed for the elevator to descend into the bowels of the hospital.
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