CH 3 – SKIN FEELS

August 5, 2018

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***Back at the EH***
 

The crew laughed at Ryan and Justin’s story.
 

“You didn’t see an urn! You guys are crazy,” and, “Oh, so a WITTLE metal jar scared you guys?  Maybe he just likes to keep mom close.  HAHA,” were some of the comments they endured.  Ryan and Justin laughed them off, but after going back to their office, they both felt a strange feeling about OMG.

 

“Dude, who carries around their mom’s urn?  He’s got to be whacky.”  Justin said.

 

“Well, all kidding aside, he is old.” Ryan responded.  “It’s probably dementia and he has no one to take care of him.”

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“Ok, but what about the levels?  Why is it coming from his house, again?  Should we send grunts to interview him, especially after they laughed at us?”

 

“Nah. I don’t think it’ll do any good.  Unless we really do an EA.”  EA stood for external investigation and meant the city officials were using their subpoena power to inspect a private citizen’s property.  They were for serious needs of the city and required Court approval, kind of like a search warrant.

 

“Ok, let’s monitor the levels and see what happens.” Justin agreed.

 

Back at Match City’s General Hospital, a 25-year old women is rushed to the emergency room by paramedics.  She is screaming in pain.  The ER’s attending physician scurries along her stretcher as they rush her to a room.

 

“Where does it hurt ma’am?” says Dr. Smith.  The handsome young doctor has been in the ER for nearly 10 years now and believes he’s seen most cases.

 

“My thigh!  Give me something please it keeps hurting!” yells the girl.

 

“Ok honey, we will take care of you. On a scale of 1 to te-“

 

“50!” yells back the girl.  “50!”

 

“Ok let’s check her out.  1-2-3 LIFT!”

 

Dr. Smith feverously removes the girl’s pants with scissors and exposes her thighs.

 

“Which thigh?”

 

“LEFT! Please help doctor!! I can’t take it anymore” the young girl pleads in agony.

 

Dr. Smith looks at her thigh and doesn’t see anything there.  A little redness, but no blood, no lesions, nothing palpable. They put her on a painkiller that knocks her out and quiets the ER.

 

“What do you think?” says Scott, Dr. Smith’s top resident.

 

“Well, that pain has to be coming from somewhere.  But, it has to be an internal wound or just some sort of allergy where we can’t see the toxin.  Run the basic imaging and blood panel and come get me when the results come in.”

 

“10-4”says Scott.

 

***Back at the EH***

 

Justin and Ryan continue to discuss how strange it is that Springer Mansion seems to channel, or release, toxins.  The year before, the toxins could not be identified by tests.  The only fact the City officials knew was that the air was polluted. Similar tests were run of the water samples in the wetland directly behind Springer Mansion and high levels of toxicity were found there too. 

 

“Let’s run the same panels as last year.” says Justin.

 

“Already did.  Same result – toxic but the scanners can’t identify WHAT the toxins are.  Last year we had no increases in allergies or any other medical issues so hopefully these toxins are not hurting all of us.” Ryan said somewhat with authority.

 

“Yea, but the meters don’t lie bro.  The toxicity levels in general mean that we are being exposed to pollutants, You know that.”  Justin said giving a rare showing of frustration towards Ryan.

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“You’re right Justin.  I am just not sure how to explain this.  And two years in a row? Last year it started in August and 12 months later, August again. It’s like the air and water don’t want the fall to come.”

 

Both men gave a nervous laugh but could not stop thinking about the air quality of Match.

 

***Back at the ER***

 

Dr. Smith receives the results of the young woman’s tests and everything is normal.

 

“Shit – nothing” he says to Scott.

 

“Nada sir.  She is normal.  The guys back at the lab think she’s a hopper.”  Hopper was a nickname for patients that hop from hospital to hospital to try to score painkillers.  .

 

“Well of course we have to look out for that Scott, but there WAS some redness to the interior of her thigh, right where she said it hurt.  Unless she self-inflicted that, there is something there.  We need to keep ruling out other legitimate causes before we dismiss her as a fraud.  You’re in medical school, right?  Did you forget the first lesson of conducting a differential diagnosis?”  Dr. Smith said pointedly to Scott, taking his frustrations at the difficult case out on his scapegoat.

 

“I understand – well our protocol is to wane her off the painkillers and see what her pain level goes. If it continues then we could try an exploratory scope to look inside her leg.”

 

“That’s too invasive this early.” Dr. Smith said, again minimizing Scott for no reason.

 

“But the protoc-“

 

"Forget the protocol.  I have been doing this for 10 years Scott. Let’s follow the protocol up to the part where we do an unnecessary, costly, and invasive surgery.  We need to see what else develops first otherwise we’re taking a risk for nothing.  Moving on – tell me what’s going on with the other patient, in bed 6?"

 

Suddenly…

 

"AAAAAhhhhhhhhh!!" Bloodcurdling screams shoot from the ER galley.  Dr. Smith and Scott run from their office to see the cause. 

 

“It has to be the girl!" Scott says as he grabs his trusty stethoscope which is more of a safety net than an instrument he may actually need at this point.

 

“Let’s go!” Says Dr. Smith in a sort of passive agreement with Scott.

 

The screams continue and as Dr. Smith gets to within sight of the girl’s bed, his face switches from adrenaline to shock.  He suddenly feels his legs halting to a stop, as if in slow motion.  The screams were not coming from the young girl –they were coming from Nurse Cynthia.  She was covered in the girl’s blood – everywhere.  The girl lay on the floor…dead.