A Lesson Gone Wrong

A Lesson Gone Wrong

A Sequel To Just A Prank

By Abbacor

           

Wed. Aug 30^th 9:45am

* I can’t remember how long I’ve been here, or just where ‘here’ is even. I do remember my name – Patricia Jackson. I mostly remember what and who got me into my current predicament. It was a job I had as a Volunteer Patient and two grade school friends who decided to play another prank on me that went horribly wrong. *

          * Steven Franklin and Donald Wellington. Two guys I ‘thought’ were my friends and who are doctors in training at the hospital where I did the temp VP job. In my short and few lucid moments I am questioning if they are in fact the devil’s step-children instead. *

* After their class did their thing with their test patient – ME – and stuck me in a situation I could not get out of on my own or do anything about, they decided it would be a real lark to knock me out with drugs and stick me in a room of the kids-ward overnight. All while I was encased in a full body cast, had a halo temporarily attached to my head, and was on a ventilator due to those same drugs they gave me. And I do mean a full body cast too. It covered everything from my neck down, including all ten fingers and toes out to the very tips. The only thing not covered was my privates and from the neck up. That’s it. And the halo took away my ability to move my head with just the suction cup posts that were used initially. Then it got worse. *

          * The next morning, instead of those two idiot clowns showing up, a nurse and doctor strolled in and decided they would ‘fix’ the oversight of the halo not being held with real pins and screwed four of them directly into my skull. Took care of that problem real good there. Then they moved me from a regular room over into the kids ICU unit where I ‘would receive better care in ICU’. Right. The only injury I had actually sustained was from the halo pins being screwed into my head! *

* But nooooo, they had a proper and signed patient chart saying I was some Jane Doe with a horrible list of injuries that had to be taken care of properly, so they screwed the pins in and moved me. Nothing I could do about it then, and even less now. *

* My only possible way to try to communicate was with my eyes. Sadly nobody paid attention to my feeble attempts at that. So for the first few days in ICU I tried to get their attention by fighting what little I could against the respirator they had me on. I was able to set off the alarms on it and some of the other monitors two or three times at least, maybe more. What did that get me? An increase on the level of the various drugs they had me on until I am now essentially paralyzed and can’t fight anything, and the drugs put me into a haze most of the time too so I don’t really make much sense of what is going on when I do remember anything at all. My moments of lucid clarity are random, few, far between, and short. At least I think they are anyways. For all I know with these drugs in me my sense of time could be so screwed up I’ve only been here for a couple of days so far. I’m mostly certain that I’m still in the full body cast and everything though since I can’t move, I still hear a machine breathing for me, and see these two black bars on the sides of my face. Strangely, I can’t see the breathing tube in my mouth anymore. *

* Speaking of moving me, I seem to recall something about being moved out of the hospital itself to a sister facility across town or something. It’s all really fuzzy, but I think I remember a ride in an ambulance going someplace. I have no idea when that happened though or where to. *

* I think I remember something strange from what I assume is last night too. I have no idea when it was, but I think there was someone in the room with me in the dark with the main lights still off. I kinda came to with someone standing there looking at my chart. The next thing I remember is this person coming back a short time later with a cart of stuff. After messing around with some things I felt something being inserted into me up my butt. For some reason I have the feeling this wasn’t the first time this happened either. *

* Nothing I could do to stop ... him? ... her? ... hell, I don’t know. Them will have to do. *

* I couldn’t do anything to stop them from what ever they were doing. Can’t move, can’t scream, can’t even push a button. All I could do was lay there while they did what they wanted. The thing going into me was apparently guided and got shoved way up inside of me. I swear I thought they were going to take a look at my tonsils through my butt. Finally they stopped shoving it in and began slowly pulling it out. As it came out they would pause for a short bit and then pull it out some more. After each pause I started to feel a mild burning sensation inside of me that just got worse with each stop. Like a really bad sunburn or rash you can’t get at. Finally they were done and the thing was out but I was still burning on the inside. It was horrible. Then they inserted a needle into a port on my IV line below the pump for the drugs and injected it in. They said something I don’t remember at all and they were gone with all the crap they brought in. My next drug induced haze started shortly after that. *

* I’m awake and somewhat aware right now though because the doctor and nurse have temporarily stopped my drugs this morning. I think they are concerned with something they found. I can’t figure out what they are talking about though. I hope it’s not bad. Seems like they have made a decision though since the nurse just started up the drug pump again and I think she said something about giving me a little extra for the pause. *

* Guess I’ll see you later. *

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8 weeks earlier

Wed. June 28^th 4:30pm

“Do you think Patricia will be ok up there?”

“Sure,” Steven responded. “She’ll be fine. With that dose of Rocuronium she just got she’ll be asleep all night easily. We’ll come back in the middle of the day tomorrow and take her out again and get her out of the cast. No problem.”

“Yea, I guess so. What do we tell Doctor Henry?”

“Come on now Don, we don’t tell him anything. Same rule as always, if they don’t ask we don’t tell. If he does ask, we’ll come up with something vague enough to still appease him. Looks like we need to waste a little time before we go back. Let’s go to the pub down the street and grab a bite to eat.”

Thurs. June 29^th 11:53am

“Um, Steve, we have a problem. A big problem.”

“What do you ... Oh shit. Where is she???”

“Yea. Good question.”

“...”

“Steve, we can’t exactly go around asking the desk where their Jane Doe is at. She shouldn’t have been up here in the first place.”

“Crap. Ok, we’ll figure something out and find Patti. Let’s get out of here for now though, no need to stand around and get caught.”

         

Mon. July 3^rd 5:37pm

A doctor and nurse are walking down the hall together and holding a conversation.

“A patient of mine you say? And there were some problems?”

“Yes doctor.”

“I see. And what was the nature of these little problems?”

“According to her chart the positioning posts for her halo were left in place and had to be finished with the proper skull pins on the floor, then she was moved from pediatrics to pediatric intensive care to correct the oversight of where she was located. Once in PICU she appeared to be fighting her treatment so we had to step up her IV infusion a few times to keep her calm.”

“Hmm.”

“I’m sure that you are getting the daily updates in the system once all the records were properly entered in yesterday, but I just wanted to be sure you were aware of these things personally since she is so seriously injured sir.”

“Yes, very good of you. Thank you.”

* If this is who I think it is she’s going to kill those two. I won’t have to do a thing to them myself. *

They arrive at the door to a room and the doctor stops in the doorway.

“Ah, yes. I recall this one clearly. Our Jane Doe. You say she is staying calm now that you’ve had to elevate her drugs?”

“Yes sir.”

“Very good. Let me see the chart please.”

The doctor frowns while reviewing the chart, but he signs on the appropriate places then leaves the nurse in charge of the patient.

* I’m sorry Patricia, but there is little I can do to immediately reverse this at this instant. The medications being infused into you for several days now are problematic enough. Your ‘friends’ have said nothing, but I’ve been wondering why they are acting strangely these past few days. Now I know why. I’m afraid I’ll have to wait until after the holiday too. Maybe I can use this to teach them a very serious lesson. -sigh- I apologize in advance for what I’m about to do, Patricia. Since you’re stuck here for at least a few more days, I’m going to add on another few days on top of that and we’ll see if we can’t teach them that pranks of this nature are not acceptable. *

Wed. July 5^th 6:47am

Two young doctors-in-training are in an empty administration room early in the morning. One keeps watch at the door while the other is working away at a computer terminal.

“Holy ... Steven, I found her.”

“Well? Where is she?”

“Patricia is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. And it’s worse than we thought.”

“What do you mean ‘worse’? What have you found Donald?”

“Dude, take a look. Her full medical chart – the one that we made up as a class – has been entered into the system as a regular patient!”

“What?!? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Steven moves over to look over Donald’s shoulder at the screen.

“No, I’m not! Shit! Look! There’s a note saying they screwed pins directly into her skull!”

“What’s this part here? Dammit. Looks like she tried to fight the machines and they upped her drug levels. If I’m reading this right she’s on such a high dose she’s practically a C-1 quadriplegic now and probably drugged out of her mind to boot.”

“What are we going to do? We can’t just walk in and take her out of there. If not for the fact that ICU has constant round the clock nurses and doctors keeping a close eye on all the patients, Patricia is going to have to be weaned off those drugs very carefully before she can be moved.”

“I know Don, I know. I don’t know what we’re going to do about this.”

“Steve, I’m getting scared here. What are we going to do? We are so boned!”

“Keep it together Don! We’ll figure something out. Shut it down and let’s get out of here before someone comes in and catches us. We’ll fix this. Somehow.”

‘I’ll take care of you, Patricia,’ thinks Steven. ‘Don’t you worry about that. I’ll get to you.’

Wed. July 12^th 2:14am

A lone figure pushing a small cart enters the room where a patient encased in a full body cast quietly lays in bed hooked up to several machines and tubes. The chart on the wall is removed and looked at.

“Good,” the figure whispers, “they did a whole bowel irrigation during the late afternoon like I hoped they would after my little update in the system.”

The chart is replaced and the figure approaches the cart of equipment.

“So, let’s see how they react to this.”

A box labeled ‘endoscope’ is opened revealing a long coil of tubing connected to a large device with additional wires leading off the side of it. A small monitor is brought up from a lower shelf on the cart and connected to the device then power cords are plugged into an available outlet on the wall.

A tube is opened and a generous amount of some type of lube is applied around and in the patient’s anus just prior to the long tube being inserted and slowly pushed further in while the dark figure carefully watches the small monitor screen and directs the end of the scope deeper into the bowels.

The patient’s eyes open when the tube first begins to be inserted, but they are glassy and unfocused and do not seem to settle on any one object.

The tube continues to be inserted until the full length resides within the patient’s abdomen. Satisfied with the position, a small glass vial containing a clear liquid is attached to a port on the device. The tube is extracted a short distance before stopping and a trigger is briefly pulled which injects a small spray of the liquid inside the bowels. This is repeated numerous times as the tube is slowly removed, injecting about half of the contents of the vial by the end.

By the time the tube is completely removed the patient appears to be experiencing some distress from whatever is being done, although there is little to note from their inability to move or produce any sound. Just an increase in the movement of the eyes and sweat appearing on their face.

“First part done.”

A syringe with an attached needle containing another unknown fluid is picked up and the full contents are injected into the IV line through a port at the neck where the IV is inserted into an available artery.

          “And that’s the second part.”

The figure looks at a watch then goes to look out the door briefly before coming back and quickly cleaning up any evidence they were there, pushes a few buttons on the pump the IV line is connected to, then quietly leaves.

The patient continues to show signs of distress for several minutes until the alteration done to the pump does its job, sending a temporary increase of both pain medication and muscle relaxant to the patient who settles back down and their eyes once again close.

         

         

         

Wed. July 12^th 7:33am

“Doctor, something has changed. These numbers are off from last night, and the urinary output is definitely lower than it should be this morning.”

“Let me look. Yes, I see. Have you noted anything else that is out of the usual parameter with the patient this morning?”

“I was just about to check the undergarment for a movement or discharge after yesterday’s procedure.

“Doctor, there is some bloody discharge here.”

“How much nurse?”

“Not a lot, but it’s not a little either.”

“Let me check the output tapes and monitor logs here.

“Hmm, yes.

“It looks like our patient had a rough time last night it seems. Make special note of all of this on the patient chart and logs. I also think, considering the duration of the on-going treatment here, that it is time to do a tracheotomy for long-term intubation. Make note of this as well, and if we have no objections from above then I will do the procedure later this afternoon.”

‘Yes Doctor.”

The chart is updated and signed, and notes are entered into the computer records.

Later that afternoon, an extra dose of anesthesia is administered to place the patient into full sleep. The Endotracheal tube is partially pulled out to make room. Next a stoma is cut into the patient’s windpipe at the base of their neck and a smaller tracheotomy tube is inserted and properly secured in place with sutures. Then the ventilator is disconnected from the endotracheal tube and connected to the tracheotomy tube. Finally, the endo-tube is fully removed and disposed of and the cuff on the tracheotomy tube is inflated to seal the airway.

Thurs. July 13^th 4:02pm

‘Amazing. Still nothing from Donald or Steven. Not directly at least,’ thought Frederick Henry.

‘How long are they going to let this keep going? It’s becoming longer than it should as far as Patricia’s health is concerned with those drugs and no real medical need for them. And now the ICU staff have done a tracheostomy on her. Standard procedure for long-term intubation, but I didn’t think we’d get here and didn’t watch how long it had been until it was already done. I would have thought they’d fess up and admit this to me or someone before now. I know they’ve been snooping around enough that they should have figured out at least the basics with her situation by now. But nothing. Unreal. I suppose it’s time to up the ante then and see if that forces their hands.’

Doctor Henry picks up the phone on his desk and dials a number on his speed dial.

“Yes, I need to speak with Doctor Epstein please, it’s Freddie Henry.

“Yes, I’ll wait.”

“Boom Boom! What can I do for you?”

*chuckle*

“Oh, I don’t suppose you have any extra absence notes from your mother lying around do you? Look, I’ve got a case here that I want to move to a more long-term facility that can handle a high-maintenance patient. Thing is, I still need to be kept as the primary consultant on this one for special reasons. And I want to do it asap. Like tomorrow morning.”

“Yea? Well you’re still listed on the roster here you know since we take over cases frequently from the big house. Just how high are we talking here for maintenance anyways?”

“Total actually. Completely dependant for everything. And female.”

“Sounds like a hard case. Gonna make it?”

*sigh*

“Should. Circumstances are ... odd ... though. The less questions asked the better. Can you take it?”

“Yea, we have a room available. No sweat. What can you tell me off the books on this one? Sounds intriguing.”

“Well, not much. I need to keep this hand close to my chest for now. But, here’s what I can tell ... “

Sat. July 15^th 9:03pm

A young man with a worried look on his face sits at a computer late at night.

“Oh no. They’ve moved Patricia to some other place again. Some kind of long term facility.

“And they’ve done more. Full Tracheotomy it looks like. Crap, one more thing she’s going to kill us for.

“And what’s this all about? Something isn’t right here; she shouldn’t be having those kinds of electrolyte and output issues or bloody discharge. I’ve got to tell Steven.”

He turns off the computer and quickly leaves the office.

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Current day, earlier in the morning

Wed. Aug 30^th 1:42am

“Here you are, I finally found you,” comes an almost inaudible whisper from the shadowy figure standing by the bed.

“But find you I did,” they continue. “Now to continue your special treatment.”

The same endoscope that was used almost two months ago is opened up and prepared for use. Applying the lubricant the tube of the scope is again inserted into the patient’s bowels up to the full limit. The same half-full vial is attached and injected into the bowels as before. This time the amounts injected are greater than before so the vial is emptied with only about half of the tube being removed. The vial is replaced with a new one and the procedure is continued until the tube is all the way out leaving the new vial half-full. A full syringe is once again injected into the IV line, although this one is larger than the one used previously.

“This may not be enough,” the figure quietly says, “so I’ll probably be back again tomorrow night to make sure.”

While all this is happening, the patient appears to be trying to focus on the figure but cannot maintain their concentration for more than a moment at a time. The unknown and potentially dangerous figure once again cleans up any evidence of their presence, makes an adjustment to the IV pump, and is gone into the night. The patient falls unconscious a short time later.

Thurs. Aug. 31^st 2:01am

The unknown visitor once again enters the room unobserved with their cart of equipment. They pick up the chart and flip to the most recent entries.

“Hm. Not quite enough as I thought. Almost got the kidneys to shutdown though it seems. But there are notes that if it gets worse then the next steps will be quite acceptable I think.”

They look over at the patient on the bed, “Yes, I think one more treatment will do nicely.”

As the figure begins to prepare the endoscope one more time, the patient’s eyes open and watch the figure in the dark. At first there is no recognition, then the eyes widen as some level of comprehension is made.

The same procedure is repeated a third time with the bowels. This time only the half-full vial is used and a syringe matching the very first one is used to inject the unknown drug instead of the larger sized one from the previous night. By the end of this the patient is once again showing signs of distress with facial distortions and sweating.

“And it’s done. That should definitely push you over the line.”

The evidence is cleaned up, and while replacing the undergarment on the patient an observation is made.

“Oh my, look at this. You’re already seeping blood from your anus now. Heh. That’s definitely going to make them move to surgery, I’m sure.”

They notice the patient looking at them.

“And look at you, watching me. This is what happens when you get in my way. Not like you’ll remember any of this. Or at least not enough to matter. Have a nice night.”

The figure backs up into deeper shadows and finishes their clean up and leaves, without adjusting the pump this time. The patient continues to show extreme discomfort for a couple of hours until they become exhausted and fall asleep.

Later that morning

Thurs. Aug. 31^st 7:21am

“Oh no, this is bad,” states the nurse as she walks into the room.

She immediately inspects the urine drainage bag hanging on the side of the patient’s bed, noting the extremely dark color and very low volume of the fluid within. Next she opens the undergarment and gasps at the amount of blood she finds.

Rushing to the wall by the door she hits a red button and steps into the hallway.

“Doctor Jones! We have an emergency! I need you here now!” she yells out.

In moments a middle aged doctor runs into the room where the nurse is already pulling the overnight tapes and logs. She points out the bloody undergarment and urine bag while handing the data over immediately.

“Dammit. It looks like the kidneys have shutdown completely and I’d hazard a guess we have either lesions or a rupture in the bowels somewhere. We’re going to have to put her on immediate dialysis and perform an endoscopy to see how bad the damage is. Chances are good we’ll end up doing a colostomy. I hope it won’t wind up being permanent.

“Get an injection of sedative ready so we can make sure the patient is out cold then we can get started right away.”

More medical staff enter the room as the nurse leaves. The doctor starts directing them to prep the patient by having various machines disconnected with others being moved or placed into travel mode. She orders one to go bring in an endoscope so an endoscopy can be performed.

The first nurse returns and the injection is made into a port on the drug pump.

“Why now, Doctor?” she asks while she finishes the injection.

“What do you mean Wendy?”

“Well, she’s been doing so good, all things considered. So why now? Why the sudden down turn?”

“I don’t really know. If I recall, there was an earlier episode with this while she was still over in the hospital ICU, but it seemed they got her stable at the time and she’s been ok while here. At least until now it seems. Let’s get her stable again first; then we can worry about why.”

“Of course.”

A short while later the doctor is watching a large monitor while the camera of the endoscope is being directed through the bowels.

“What a mess! There are lesions all over the place in here! We are most definitely going to be doing a colostomy here. No, wait. The damage is higher. Make that an Ileostomy. Her entire large intestine and rectum need to be separated out so they can rest and hopefully heal.”

“And the kidneys Doctor?”

“Did you get the second blood test back yet?”

“Just came in Doctor. Right here.”

“Yes. Ok. Dammit, it’s what it looks like. While we’re in surgery for the Ileostomy setup equipment for dialysis in here and we’ll get it started as soon as she’s back here in her room.

“Get the OR prepped ASAP and get her moved down as soon as it is ready. We’ll need to cut a window in the cast ... wait. When was the last cast change done?”

“Um, looks like the first one was scheduled for tomorrow actually.”

“She’s been in the same cast since she was brought in? Well, fine. We’ll cut this one off and do a new one and leave room where needed for the dialysis and a stoma window.”

Mon. Sept. 4^th 12:23pm

* How long has it been this time I wonder? I seem to recall a late night visit again with more pain. Still can’t remember who it was. Not sure I would even know who it was for that matter. There was also something about ‘this is what I get’ and ‘surgery’ I think. No clue what that means. *

* Then there was the next morning. At least I think it was. I recall a lot of people in the room being all excited, but not in a good way. And something going up my butt again. Then it was all a blur and nothingness until now. *

* What is that new noise? And why is my belly hurting? Let’s see if there is anything new I can actually see around here. Hmm, can’t really see it clearly, but there seems to be a new machine over there to the side doing something. Might even be the source of the new noise. *

* Hello, what’s this? Are those my hands? Last time I was able to remember seeing them they were all white. Now it looks like a painters palate threw-up all over them. Too bad I can’t see anything else but my hands, might be interesting to see what I look like and if this new pattern goes all the way. *

* Oh, wait, here comes someone. I wonder if it’s that chatty nurse who likes to tell me things. Maybe she’ll see me looking at her and get talkative. *

A young nurse enters the room and begins to work with something on Patricia’s side. She can feel some slight tugging going on while the nurse does her thing.

* What is she doing down there? And why can I feel it? *

The nurse finally looks up and sees Patricia looking at her.

“Oh, you’re with us for the moment! How nice! It’s me, Nurse Randalyne. I’m just emptying your colostomy bag out here. It’s been a hectic few days around here with you young lady. We were really worried there.”

* Oh really? You don’t say? *

“I’m afraid the news isn’t good, but at least there’s a little something of a silver lining!” she grins.

* How nice. You’re such a cheery twit it’s probably all bad and you’re just sugar coating it again. *

“The doctor’s did a cast change for you a few days ago after some surgery, and thought you’d appreciate something nicer than a big heavy bulky plaster cast. So, they did a fiberglass cast this time which is much lighter and they could do colors too. Guess what color it is?”

* Right. First off, I can’t move an inch or talk or even breathe on my own thanks to you morons thinking I’m a real patient here. And second I can actually see my hands you twit so if the rest of me matches then I’ve got a pretty good idea here. And third, what do you mean “after surgery”? *

“It’s called Pastel by the manufacturer, but most people call it tye-dye because it’s got pink red white yellow blue and green all over the place like it’s some kind of San Francisco-style urban camouflage pattern! And they did the entire outer layer of your cast with it! It’s amazing! Oh! I’ve got to get the mirror and show you! I’ll be right back!”

* Annndd Chatty-Cathy’s gone. Wonderful. –sigh- At least I can’t actually throw up when she shows this mess to me. At least I hope I can’t. And here she comes again. *

“I know it’s just a large hand mirror, but look! Isn’t it just the cutest thing!”

* Oh, god. Now that is shocking, but not barf inducing. Can’t deny it’s colorful though. I might even like it - once I get used to it. Damn it woman, hold the mirror still for a moment would you? What the hell was that thing? Go back, I only saw a glimpse of it. *

“So now the not so good news.”

* Finally, something substantial at least. *

“I’m afraid you’re a very sick, hurt little girl. Your injuries are a bit worse than we thought. It appears the damage to your internal organs was a ticking bomb that finally went kaboom here.”

* My what? *

“Your intestines took some damage in the accident and it seems they didn’t start to heal like we hoped. Instead they were getting worse and finally started to fall apart. We found out when you started to ... well ... bleed from your anus and the doctor had to put a camera in there to see what was going on.”

* Shit. Maybe that was that blurry memory with everyone running around in here? But why did I start to bleed? I wasn’t hurt. *

“They had to do an emergency surgery to give part of your intestines a rest and hopefully time to heal on their own. The doctor had to do what is called an Ileostomy.”

* A what surgery?!? *

“It’s where they go into your belly and cut the small intestine from the large intestine and pull the end of the small intestine through a small hole in the right side of your belly. That’s called a stoma. In your case the open end of the large intestine was sewed shut and left in place so the large intestine and rectum, or put together the colon, can try to heal on its own. We’re going to have to watch that closely by the way; if it doesn’t start healing or gets worse they may have to actually remove parts of it or even all of it.

“A bag is placed over the stoma on your belly here to collect the stool since there isn’t a way to stop it from coming out now. We have to empty it out and give it a quick rinse every three hours and change the bag every three days. We did your first bag change yesterday afternoon so you’ve got a couple days before the next one. Um, see here?”

* HOLY CRAP! I’ve got a bag on my side collecting my shit! How?!? Why?!? I don’t think that was what I saw in the mirror earlier. What the hell happened here??? And can it get any worse? *

“Also, you had to be put on continuous dialysis because your kidneys shutdown. So to keep your blood clean it has to be filtered through a machine right now. Normally we’d use an artery in the arm to do this, but with you in this cast the doctor decided to use the artery and vein in your upper thigh. Here and here. See?”

* I just had to ask, didn’t I. And that’s what I caught a glimpse of earlier. Tubes of blood – my blood – between my legs. *

“This tube goes up to the machine over here which passes the blood through special filters and fluids which we change out twice a day before coming back again in this tube.”

* Wha-what the hell is going on here? Why is ... all this crap being done to me ... when I’m not even injured ... like they think I am? I’m actually being ... treated ... for real problems. Somehow ... I’m becoming ... the real girl ... on the charts. *

“... more medications ... make you ...”

* Wait ... fading out. Oh hell ... drugs again. Time for ... la-la-land. *

* ... *

* But ... what if ... maybe ... stranger did this ... at night ... *

“poor thing, looks like the drugs are kicking in again. I hope she gets better.”

Sun. Sept. 10^th 3:37pm

“Anything Don?”

“Yea. This just keeps getting deeper and deeper Steve.”

“What do you mean? You found something, right? What is it?”

“Patricia’s records are being kept up to date here in the hospital, apparently so Doc Henry can be kept in the loop as a primary consulting physician. I told you we should have gone to him early on. Now it’s even worse.”

“What now?”

“Her kidneys did shutdown and she’s on CRRT dialysis. And that’s not all.”

“Not all? What else?”

“From the way this is worded, it seems the internal injuries to the abdomen were worse than they thought and were not healing. In fact her large intestines and rectum began to actually deteriorate and she started bleeding internally. They stopped counting the lesions that were found inside, Steve. It was that bad. They did an emergency Ileostomy.”

“Well, that’s unexpected.”

“I don’t get it. What’s going on Steven? Patricia was not injured in any accident. How is all of this even happening? And why have they not figured out there are no skeletal injuries here? They even changed the body cast for a new one. How did they not notice?”

“I’m going to hazard a guess they are concentrating on the kidney and intestinal problems right now which distracted them. I can’t really give you an answer about why those are happening though.”

“What if Patricia and Doc are actually pulling one over on us?”

“How so?”

“Well, we’ve never actually seen Patricia since we left her in the pediatric ward. All we have to go off of is these records I am able to access. And don’t forget, it’s only a copy of the patient chart that I am able to pull up. I can’t get to her actual full patient record here. I don’t have the access for that. What if she’s not really laid up still and they are turning the prank back around on us?”

“That’s ... an interesting theory. However, I am going to counter with the rumors and few comments both of us have overheard about the Jane Doe who was in the huge body cast. Do you think those were setup just so one of us could over-hear them in some way?”

“Well, I don’t know if the Doc is up to that level, but Patricia certainly is. She could come up with that. And again, we haven’t actually seen her since. Anywhere.”

“There is that. Ok, tell you what. It’s been over two months already. One of us should check out her apartment and see if she shows up there at some time, or if it’s even being lived in. Or for that matter after this long, if it’s even still hers.”

“Ok, right. Good idea. And if we don’t find her there?”

“Then we will have to figure out a way to go to the place the file says she’s at and try and see her for ourselves. See if it’s all true or not.”

“Ok. Sure.”

“Shut it down and let’s get out of here.”

Wed. Sept. 13^th 11:51pm

The figure places large eye patch pads over the patient’s eyes and quickly tapes them down. The patient gave a barely noticeable jerk but it is too late, the eyes are covered and they can not see now.

“Can’t have you recognizing me,” comes the whisper right next to her ear. “We have some work to do on your face and you might remember something eventually. Of course, this should help increase the confusion.”

The controls on the drug pump are adjusted and the figure watches for a moment as the patient tries to yell out or scream; their mouth opening and closing without a sound due to no air passing over their vocal cords.

When the patient’s mouth opens again a thick rubber block is quickly inserted in between the teeth on one side forcing the mouth to stay open. A needle is attached to a syringe then the needle is lowered through the mouth and inserted deep up into the joint where the lower and upper jaw meet. A portion of the milky-white fluid in the syringe is injected, and the needle is repositioned a couple more times with more fluid injected each time.

A second rubber block is force between the teeth on the open side and the first block is removed opening up access to the other side of the mouth. The needle is inserted and the fluid injected in the same manner on the other side as well.

“There. That should do it.”

Another injection is done into the IV port on the neck, although smaller than the previous injections done in this manner. Cleaning up the debris from what has just been done, the figure goes to the door and takes a brief look out then returns.

“I think I have enough time to give you another treatment.”

The endoscope is once again setup and utilized to inject an unknown fluid from a familiar looking, half-empty vial into the large intestines and rectum. Only half of the remaining fluid is used this time however. They stand up and look over the large cast encompassing the patient.

          “Sooner or later they’re going to decide it’s time to do a check up on all of your supposed broken bones and they’ll be very confused when they do, won’t they. Not a single one broken. Won’t that make them wonder. Don’t worry though. I’m working on something to take care of that little dilemma too. I just haven’t gotten my hands on everything I need yet. I’ll see you soon.”

Quickly cleaning up, the mysterious visitor leaves after finally removing the eye patches from the patient who is out cold.

Fri. Sept.  15^th 7:07pm

A young doctor is sitting in a quiet corner of a lounge room with nobody else around. A second one walks in and joins the first.

“Well? What did you find Don?”

“I’ve basically camped out at her apartment all this week when I’m not here, and no Patricia during any of those times.”

“Hmmm. And why are you late this evening?”

“This afternoon movers actually showed up and the landlord let them into the apartment. I waited until he was gone then kinda wandered in like I lived on another floor. I made a comment to one of the movers about someone moving out. His response was that they were taking everything out of the unit to put into storage since the resident hasn’t been around and hasn’t paid rent for over two months. I pried a little more and he told me they are usually called when the lease has been defaulted on and the landlord is starting procedures to claim title to possessions Steve.

“This is looking really bad here. Have you thought of how we can get in and try to see her?”

“Maybe. It depends on the location. Was there anything in the computer that gave an address?”

“No. Not an actual address. It was just the chart remember. But, with a couple of the notes in it, and I did some low-key asking around, I’m pretty sure she got moved to the sister-facility three blocks from here. Seems to be a regular thing when they have a long-term, high-maintenance patient and they don’t want to take up a bed here for that long.”

“Ok. We can work with that. Like I said, I have a few ideas – especially now that you’ve told me the where. We’ll get over there and find her.”

‘Good thing I know that place. I’ll have to get Donny in there now to appease him and verify whether or not Patricia is there.’

Sat. Sept. 16^th 8:45am

“And let’s see about getting those teeth nice and clean now, shall we?” says the candy-striper.

She unwraps a new toothbrush and squeezes out a small amount of toothpaste onto it, then takes a small suction tube and gently places it into the patient’s mouth and turns on the suction pump to quickly remove the water and foam that is about to be created from brushing her teeth. A small amount of water is poured over the end of the toothbrush and the teeth of the patient, and a gentle brushing begins.

Barely two minutes into the process and there is an audible popping noise as the patient’s lower jaw dislocates.

“EEEEK!!!”

“Oh my god! Oh god! Oh No! What happened?!? NURSE CINDY!!!! HELP!!!! Oh god oh god oh god!”

“What’s the matter Carol? Why are you all upset?”

“Look! Look at her jaw! What did I do?!? What happened?”

“What do you mean her ... Oh. Oh no. Her ... her jaw ... it’s dislocated.”

“What did I do? It just popped out of place and I couldn’t make it go back! I was being extra gentle! I swear! How did that happen?”

“Sssshhh, Carol. It’ll be ok. Let’s just get the doctor in here to take a look at it.

“Doctor Jones! We need you in here!”

“What is it Nurse?”

“The patient’s jaw appears to have dislocated while Carol was giving her a tooth brushing.”

“Her what?

“It’s dislocated alright. Dammit. Not something else with this one. What the hell is going on?”

“I’m so sorry Doctor Elizabeth! I don’t know what happened! I was just doing a regular tooth brush and being extra gentle like I always do and it just popped out! I don’t know what I did wrong! I’m sorry!”

“It’s ok Carol, it’s ok. I’m sure it was nothing that you did. You’ve always been very careful with our patients and nobody has ever had a complaint about you. Don’t worry. Clean up your things here and go take a break before you move on to the next patient, ok?

“Cindy, let’s get the portable digital x-ray in here so we can take a look at what’s going on in there. Depending on what we see, we may need to get an MRI done, so check the schedule and see if we can fit her in just in case.”

“Yes Doctor.”

The nurse leaves, ushering the candy-striper out with an arm around the girl’s shoulders and giving words of encouragement. A machine is brought in with some extra help a short time later and setup. Soon a digital image is being displayed on a screen.

“Well, I don’t see any definite fractures, but there does appear to be something wrong with the tendons. I just can’t tell with this device. *sigh* Get her into MRI as soon as possible and get a good view of this. I’m pretty sure I can just pop the jaw back into place, but I don’t know if it will hold and then come loose again later, or even stay at all.”

Sat. Sept. 16^th 1:00pm

“Well just wonderful. During the positioning for the MRI the other side of her jaw came loose as well. And looking at these pictures her tendons have essentially disintegrated and ruptured.

“Prep her for surgery so we can go in and try to repair the tendons, then we’re going to have to wire her jaw shut to keep it in place. Can’t this kid catch just one lucky break here?”

Sun. Sept. 17^th 3:23pm

* groan *

* Mmm. Time for a little awake time again. Wonder how long it will be this time. –YAWN- Hey, wait a minute. That didn’t feel right. And it hurt! *

* What the hell? My jaw won’t move! And what the hell am I feeling on my face? What is that? I can’t quite see it. Is that? Are those bandages wrapped around my nose? What the hell is going on here! *

* I get the feeling I’ve had another late night visit too. I can’t remember anything definite, but I am getting the strong impression that someone who does not like me is intentionally harming me and means to do more. *

* Someone’s coming into my room. They better explain what the hell this is! *

“Hello. Looks like you’re awake at the moment.”

* No shit! What’s going on here?!? *

“I’m Doctor Elizabeth Jones. I’ve been the primary doctor looking after you since you were transferred to our facility here. And I’ve been the doctor who has done most of the surgeries on you while you’ve been here too.”

* Yea, nice to meet you. Explanation if you please?!? *

“I was just coming in to check on your latest surgery and change the bandages myself.”

* Well talk and work at the same time woman. Don’t keep me in the dark. *

The doctor begins to gently unwind bandages from around Patricia’s lower face and head.

“So, you’ve had a pretty hard string of bad luck since your initial accident.”

* If you only knew, and I would not call it ‘bad luck’. I’m beginning to think this is all intentional. *

“And now I’m afraid that I have one more thing to add to your ongoing and apparently increasing medical problems.”

* Well spit it out already! *

The doctor finishes removing the first layer of gauze, which has small spots of blood showing on it, and begins removing a second one.

“It would seem that we inadvertently stumbled upon a combination of drugs in your case that may be having a detrimental effect on your body. Specifically on your tendons. We’re contacting the various manufacturers to make sure, but I think that they will confirm what we suspect.”

*sigh*

* Just get on with it. Please? *

“Since you can’t move anything other than your jaw we didn’t notice what was happening. Yesterday morning one of our candy-stripers was brushing your teeth and your jaw dislocated in her hands. Please don’t think ill of her. Carol is quite gentle with all of our patients and it was not in any way her fault. Once we did an exam we found that the tendons in your jaw have torn and ruptured completely. We believe it was the interaction of the various drugs in your system that caused them to weaken and they just happened to break when Carol was working in your mouth with a soft-bristle toothbrush. Scared the snot out of the poor girl too. She was so worried she had done something wrong to hurt you. So.”

* Oh bloody hell. Let me guess. *

A second and third layer of gauze has been removed while the doctor talks, each one showing more half dried blood stains on them.

“We had to cut open your jaw, on both sides I’m afraid, to try and repair the ruptures.”

* Uh huh. Go on. *

“It was a bit worse than it looks on the MRI, and I had to cut you open a bit more than I wanted to.”

The doctor starts to remove several bloody gauze pads from both sides of Patricia’s face.

“I was able to suture the tendons back together again, but it took a bit of work to accomplish.”

* Of course. And? *

“Then, once I sewed everything together again ... mmmm, these sutures are looking pretty good here. Nice pink edges and the seepage appears to be at a minimum at this point. So, once I closed you up, I had to close your mouth again. Popping your jaw back in place was easy and I did that during the open surgery, but we had to keep holding it in place by hand while I sewed the wounds closed.”

* Keep going. I’m pretty sure I’ve got it figured out now, but please finish. *

“I had to completely wire your jaw shut to keep it closed so your tendons can heal. Pretty extensively too I might add.”

* And there it is. *

The doctor moves over and gathers some supplies and comes back to the bedside then begins to gently place new gauze pads over the wounds on both sides of Patricia’s face and secure them with new rolls of gauze bandages.

“I’m sorry about the bandages here, but with as much cutting as I had to do, this is the best way. The heavy bandaging here will probably only have to be kept up for a week or so, then we can reduce it to taping pads over the suture sights until they are ready to be removed in about another week after that. The wires on the jaw though are going to stay for a while.”

* Well ... Shit. Not like I was actually using my mouth for anything worthwhile, but it was kinda nice to get in a good yawn whenever I wanted to. Now I don’t even have that to look forwards to. *

“Once we get the confirmation back that we are expecting about the drugs, that’s only going to mean that the rest of your tendons are probably in as much danger of rupturing as well.”

*sigh*

* What else? *

“We will see what drugs can be substituted out for others that won’t make it any worse and hopefully slow or even stop the damage from continuing, but the list is already pretty limited as it is. We are going to have to be extra careful the next time we decide to do a cast change. We may not even do one again for a while because of it.”

* Well that figures. Just great. *

“In the mean time I’m going to be lowering the level of the drugs you’re on now. Not a lot. You’ll still be on the ventilator for the foreseeable future and you’ll still not be able to really strain against the cast which should keep you from harming yourself and tearing any of your weakened tendons. But it should mean you won’t be in a drug induced stupor quite so much.”

* A silver lining after all. Of sorts anyways. I’ll get to be aware of my surroundings more, but I’ll be bored out of my mind more too. *

The doctor finishes bandaging Patricia’s face, leaving everything below the eyes enshrouded in white gauze. She reaches over and pushes a few buttons on the pump.

“But not yet. Sorry. With the surgery fresh from just yesterday I want you to get some rest. So I’m actually upping them for today. We’ll see about lowering them starting tomorrow.”

* Damn. Well in that case it’s good night in a few minutes I guess. *

Mon. Sept. 18^th 1:01am

“HA! This is even better than I thought!”

The late night visitor looks over the chart gleefully.

“So, extensive surgery to sew the tendons together and wired the jaw shut. And it looks like they are going to blame the drugs like I hoped. Excellent. And tonight I’ll start working on adding more realism to this chart too.”

A large doctor’s bag is placed on the bed and opened up. The figure then turns and makes adjustments on the pump for the drugs.

“Can’t have you waking up for this though.”

Several large metal syringes with large bore needles screwed onto them are produced along with vials of a slightly murky liquid. Several regular looking syringes are also pulled out and long, slightly curved needles are attached to these. These needles are also much larger in thickness than what has been used on previous visits.

The normal syringes are filled with the fluid, then the tip of one needle is carefully threaded into the end of the cast around the fingers of the left hand; almost as if they are trying to avoid the fingers all together. Once the hand is reached though it is apparent they are intentionally piercing the hand and trying to hit a specific target. They reach their mark and seem to push even harder for a moment then they inject some fluid. This is repeated twice more on the same hand which empties the syringe.

The next syringe is picked up and the same process is done with the right hand. Then both feet. Always avoiding the fingers and toes, but seeming to purposefully pierce the hands and feet to inject the fluid into specific locations that all require a brief but hard push to get in the right spot. Some of the locations appear to be quite deep and almost out of the range of the length of the needles being used when working on the feet.

Through-out the repeated injections the patient chart is reviewed multiple times and small nods or grunts are made as if confirming the information with the injection being worked on.

Reviewing the chart again, then looking at the large body cast, the unknown assailant looks at the time and seems to come to a decision. The large metal syringes are placed back in the bag and more of the normal syringes are produced along with more needles to attach to them.

“Taking a bit longer than I expected. I’ll just keep going with the easier to reach areas tonight, and I’ll work on the tougher to reach ones another time.”

More stabs are made through the opening of the cast around the perinea area and more fluid is injected deep into the patient. The stranger is careful that the actual point where the needle pierces the skin is always up underneath the cast where it won’t be seen without a thorough exam. They even roll the patient up onto their side and prop her up with pillows so injections can be made from below.

Once done with the lower body, they move up to the opening around the neck and, again careful to make the injections where they cannot be seen, continue to inject the murky fluid until they are satisfied. A final injection is made into the back of the neck while the patient is propped up on their side, and with this last one it can be seen that the person is actually applying enough force to insert the tip of the needle into the bone of the vertebrate before forcing the fluid to be injected into the bone itself. After removing the needle an alcohol swab is used to clean the site and pressure is used to stop any bleeding before a roll of gauze bandage is used to wrap around the neck and up over the lower face to conceal what has been done.

“Definitely longer than I thought,” they say looking at the time again.

The used materials are cleaned up, the pump is checked and adjusted, and the unfriendly visitor leaves with a final quiet comment to the patient on the bed.

“I’ll be back to do more as soon as I can.”

Tues. Sept. 19^th 11:43pm

The patient lies with her eyes closed, awake yet unable to do much else. She fails to hear the soft footfalls of someone quietly entering the room. Buttons are pushed on the drug pump and the change causes a light beep from the device which startles the patient. They open their eyes just in time to see pads get placed over them which are then taped down.

“A bit more alert I see,” the stranger whispers in her ear. “I guess the changes to the drugs is messing with you a bit and leaving you awake at odd hours now, huh?

“Well I’m back again like I said. And I need you out, so you’ll be asleep again soon.”

While waiting for the adjustment on the pump to have its desired effect, the doctor’s bag is opened and the large metal syringes are pulled out.

“Are you possibly feeling a bit sore in the hands and feet, and maybe a few other areas? Too bad. That’s just the first step.”

The perpetrator of Patricia’s problems checks and believes she is again in a drug induced sleep.

“Good. This is going to be even more difficult, and I’m probably going to have to do this part over the next two or three nights. Good thing they used fiberglass for this cast at least. It’ll be easier to penetrate than plaster, and with this pattern it’ll be a lot harder to notice the small holes where I do this.”

The figure checks the patient chart and moves down to the left leg. A metal syringe is picked up and they begin to slowly force the sharp needle through the cast, twisting and pushing with great effort. Breaking through the fiberglass the syringe is unscrewed leaving the needle and end cap in place in the cast and a new needle is screwed onto the syringe. The cast on the left leg is slowly penetrated twice more in different locations, each time leaving the needle in place. Twice on the lower leg and once on the upper.

The same process is also done on the right leg, but only on two locations, one lower and one upper. Once there are five needles inserted into the cast, looking like metal tubes poking out, the assailant takes a break and rubs their hands and wrists from the effort. They look at the time and a small curse escapes them.

Quickly normal syringes with smaller diameter, yet still long needles and vials of the murky fluid are pulled out of the bag. Using the needles imbedded in the cast as guides they begin to pierce the legs and bones beneath and inject the fluid as had been done the previous night.

Finishing up the fifth injection, the figure struggles to remove all of the needles from the cast and quickly cleans up. Inspecting the cast over the legs, they are satisfied the holes are not obvious with the wild colors and choice of locations that were made, and they quickly leave.

No more than fifteen minutes later a nurse enters the room. She checks the monitors around the patient then empties and does a quick rinse of the colostomy bag on her side.

Wed. Sept. 20^th 7:03am

* Damn, that is so frustrating. I so want to move ‘something’. Even if it is just to yawn. God my legs hurt. Wait. Someone was in here again last night. I remember that. And I remember my eyes getting covered up so I couldn’t see. I think there was something said about my hands and feet hurting, which they have been. Now my legs hurt some too. In fact I’m sore almost everywhere except my arms and head and back, Even my neck hurts. *

* Shit! Someone is definitely trying to hurt me here! And I can’t tell anyone about it either. Crap! Crap! Crap! I have a feeling they’ll be back again tonight too. I’m in real trouble here! *

A gentle knocking sounds from the doorway.

“Hello? Can I come in?”

* I’d answer, but I’m a little tied up at the moment. *

“Geez, what a dope Carol,” says a teenager as she comes into Patricia’s view. “She can’t answer.”

“Um, hi Jane. I’m Carol.”

* Uh-huh. I’m Patricia. *

“Oh. Um. Yea. Sorry. Ok, I know your name is not Jane but that’s what they are calling you because you came in with no ID and couldn’t talk and then it was too late because you still couldn’t talk and there haven’t been any missing person alerts that match you and they had to get child welfare involved or something and they still don’t know who you are so you’re still Jane Doe.”

~blink~

* Nervous or something? *

“Oh geez. You didn’t need to hear all that. I’m babbling again I’m so nervous. I’m sorry. Let me start over.”

* Ohhh-kayyyy. *

“I’m Carol, the candy-striper. I do little things around here for the patients to make them feel a little better. Like I was doing for you the other day when I was brushing your teeth. I’m so sorry. I was being real gentle, I swear. And your jaw just popped out. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I am sooo sorry. I feel horrible.”

* Um, sure honey. *

“I tried to push it back in but I didn’t know how. And then they said they had to take you into surgery and cut open your face to fix everything or sew it back together or something. And your jaw has to be wired shut for like forever now because of what I did. I just feel so bad for what happened and I am SOOO sorry,” finishes Carol as a tear trickles down her cheek.

* Dang. Laying it on a bit thick there kid. But from what I remember it’s not your fault. In fact I have a good idea whose fault it is. I just can’t remember anything about them. *

“I’ll make it up to you. I swear. I’ll find something to try and make it a little better somehow.”

* Sure Carol. You do that. *

Carol noticeably perks up. “Oh, I know. I hear that aloe and cocoa butter are really good for reducing scars. Once they take all the bandages off I’ll come in as often as I can to rub some into your scars to help them heal faster and fade quicker.”

* That, actually sounds pretty nice of you. Thanks Carol. *

“I have to go to school now, but I wanted to see if you were awake and say hi. See ya.”

* Not like I’m going anywhere. You know where to find me. *

A bit later that afternoon

* Getting sleepy. Must be ... drug time again. Wait ... who’re those two figures ... can’t tell ... *

Wed. Sept. 20^th 3:16pm

“It’s her.”

“We haven’t got a good look yet, you can’t be sure from the door.”

The two men quietly move into the room and approach the patient on the bed. They miss seeing the eyes closing shortly before they stop at the bedside.

They look at the figure lying there. She is encased in a full body cast from the neck down that is covered in a wild pattern of mostly bright pastel colors. The cast extends all the way out to the tips of all fingers and toes. There is a window in the cast over the right side of the belly where a colostomy bag hangs, partially full. The left inner thigh is partially exposed near the crotch where two tubes are attached to IV’s that circulate the girl’s blood out to a dialysis machine and back into her body again. The tubes for the dialysis lay next to the tube connected to an indwelling catheter which drains a minimal amount of urine into a bag hanging on the side of the bed. A tracheotomy tube enters her neck down near the junction of the neck and chest which is connected to a respirator that is controlling her breathing for her. The girl’s head is immobilized by a Halo ring which is screwed into her skull and the accompanying frame is attached to the body cast. An IV line is inserted into the left side of her neck providing a route for multiple drugs to be administered through a drug pump and a naso-gastric feeding tube is inserted into her right nostril to provide nutritional feeding. Her lower face is swathed in gauze bandages covering the entire lower half of the face and all of the neck.

“Dammit Steven,” whispers Donald, “If that’s not Patricia then who is it?”

“Ok, ok. It’s her.”

“Good god, look at her. What the hell has happened? She shouldn’t be hooked up to all of this stuff Steve. She wasn’t hurt at all. And look. They chopped off her hair too. She is going to be so pissed when she finds out.”

“Yea. Probably was getting in the way so they cut it short. Really short.”

Don picks up the chart, “What is on here? How are they explaining all of this?”

“You mean something we haven’t already seen? So, anything?”

“Not really,” Don replies after a moment of looking over the pages. “It’s mostly the same. Just a few notes expanding or confirming a few things is all. According to this, and damn well confirming it by looking at her, this ‘patient’ is on a drug cocktail to keep her fairly sedated most of the time that creates the need for a ventilator. This is due to multiple fractured bones, internal abdominal injuries that have required extensive surgery, failed kidneys requiring continuous dialysis, there’s a comment about putting her on the list for a kidney replacement, severe weakening of the tendons - because of said drug cocktail apparently - which resulted in tendon ruptures in the jaw requiring surgery and wiring the jaw shut to repair and heal. And a note indicating they are going to hold off a ‘regular’ cast change for an extended time out of consideration for those tendon problems.”

“Hm. Sounds pretty bad.”

“Dammit Steven, it looks pretty bad! Look at her! She’s a mess!”

“Yes, I suppose she is. We can’t stay here Don. We shouldn’t be in here in the first place; the group is on the other end of the floor and won’t be coming over here.”

“Yea, ok. Let’s get back to them. At least we know for sure it’s Patricia and where she’s at now.”

‘Yes you do. I wonder how much longer you’ll keep quiet on this now, while I try and figure out how to handle this.’

Thurs. Sept. 21^st 2:05am

“Good, looks like the bag was recently emptied. I should have enough time. One more hard session tonight with the cast again and the prep work will be done. I’ll need to wait a little bit before I can finish up this phase and then everything on the chart will be right.”

Once again the mysterious intruder makes changes to the pump to keep the patient asleep then begins the hard work of inserting larger diameter needles through the fiberglass cast at various points. Over time needles are left poking out in multiple places. Two on either side of both wrists, one on each side of the left forearm at different levels, one at the right elbow, another on the right upper arm, the left upper arm near the shoulder and the left shoulder as well as the right shoulder, and finally the last two which were the hardest to get inserted – one each at the outside of each hip.

After taking a few minutes to rest, the murky fluid is slowly injected into the patient’s bones through the access sites created by the needles which have been forced through the cast. Finishing the last injection, the figure checks the time and nodded happily seeing they still have some time left. Looking at the vial of fluid which is nearly empty, they grin.

Removing all the needles from the cast takes some time, and the two in the hip require pliers be used to get them out. Once all have been removed the patient is rolled up onto their side and propped up with pillows again. Two locations low along the spine and right next to each other are selected and needles are forced through the cast allowing access to the inside. Two final injections are made into the vertebrate of the lower spine, emptying the last of the fluid into the patient.

Removing everything then cleaning up the evidence, the patient is once again left lying in the same position as when the person came in and they leave.

Thurs. Sept. 21^st 6:15pm

* God, how early or late is it this time? I hate these drugs. I never know what time it is when I come out of it. Damn I am hurting. Hurting more in fact. Shit. Now my arms and shoulders really hurt and my back and hips. Practically everything is sore now except for my head. That rat came back again I bet. Guess that means it’s some time in the morning at least. *

* Ow. Can’t even try to wiggle to get even slightly comfortable. This sucks. *

* Oh look, it’s Chatty Cathy again. *

“Hi sweetie! Time to check up on your machines and fluids and it’s colostomy bag change day too!”

* God, how can anyone be so happy to have to change out a shit-bag? Guess that means it’s later in the afternoon instead of morning then. Oops. Damn drugs. *

“Well, not much in the urine bag, but that’s sadly normal for you right now. At least it’s not actually empty this time which is an improvement.”

* Well isn’t that nice. *

“Hmm, yep. Time to change out the filters and filter fluid in the dialysis. This should only take about ten minutes or so.”

* Knock yourself out there. I’d offer to help ... but, you know. *

Twelve minutes later, “Ok, that’s all done. Let’s see now. Hmm, logs look mostly normal for the day. How did it go last night? A bit rough again I see. I wonder what keeps making these spikes at night?”

* If you guys would maybe pay more attention at night you just might find out. *

“Well, it’s not exactly bad, but unknown spikes are not good either. We’ll figure it out.”

*Yea, right. You haven’t yet. Schmuck. *

“How’s the undergarment looking here? Time for a change again. You’re still bleeding into it more than we’d like I’m afraid. The doctor is going to have to do another evaluation it looks like.”

* Whoopie. Another session of let’s see how far this tube can go up my butt. I so look forward to it. Not. *

“Ok, let’s get the bag emptied and changed for a new one.”

* Oh goody, here we go. *

“I know you don’t particularly like this bit, but you seem to at least be tolerating it better.”

*Yea, you’ve gotten better at being gentle with peeling the rotten things off my skin. Just do it and get it over with. *

“Ok, got it off.”

* Damn, and I just said you were getting better. Thanks for proving me wrong. Ouch dammit. *

“There, nice and cleaned up. Stoma looks nice and healthy. Good reddish-pink color and not protruding any further. Let’s measure it for size again and see how much it’s changed this time.”

* Well? Any smaller? *

“About a centimeter smaller again. That’s normal. It’s only been three weeks so far, and they will normally shrink for up to six weeks after the initial surgery. You’re doing fine. Not enough to need to change the size of the opening we’ll cut in the wafer this time around though. The old one will work fine as a guide for the new one.”

* You mean you’ll cut. I can’t do a damn thing right now. *

“Ok, got the new one on and it looks good. Almost no leaking during this change too. Pretty good if I do say so myself.”

* Which you do. *

“Looks like it’s time to get you another bag of food, and you’ll be set for the night.”

* Joy. At least I don’t have to taste that stuff. I bet it tastes awful. *

Fri. Oct. 6^th 4:11 pm

“Ok, try to not clench your jaw or cheek. That’ll just make it harder to pull the stitches out when I cut them.”

* Sure, fine for you to say. You’re not the one with sharp stainless steel instruments coming at your face. *

Doctor Jones carefully pulls up each suture with tweezers then cuts one end close to the skin. Maintaining the hold with the tweezers the now loose string is pulled out as gently as possible. All twenty-five sutures are removed on the left side then the twenty-five on the right.

“There. That wasn’t too bad was it? I tried to be as gentle as I could.”

* I guess it could have been worse. At least it didn’t feel like you tried to pull any of the knots through my skin. *

“Ok. Now for the next thing to check up on. I know you don’t like this one, but it’s been two weeks since the last time and I need to see how those bowels are doing. Wendy should be showing up any moment with the scope.”

* And there she is. Let’s just get this over with as quickly as possible, ok? *

The scope is setup and Doctor Jones proceeds to inspect Patricia’s large intestines. Thirty minutes later the end of the tube is pulled out and Nurse Wendy begins to clean up the equipment while Doctor Jones cleans up Patricia and replaces her undergarment.

“Well, it is showing some signs of healing in a few places. But not near as much as I’d like to see. And there are some places that still have me really worried. Much longer without improvement and I’ll have to go back in and start removing bad parts.”

* Oh geez. Are you telling me that I’m going to wind up with a permanent poo-bag here? *

“As things look right now, I’m pretty sure we can still repair what would get left to leave you with a mostly normal intestinal system in there. In other words no permanent bag for the rest of your life, but you would have a few minor concerns to keep an eye out for as a result. Those would probably be long term; which we would teach you about and how to take care of in time ... once you are out of all of this,” she says with a frown as she waves at Patricia in her body cast and halo.

* Well that’s a relief. I can live with that. I’d kinda have to though, wouldn’t I? *

Knocking on the body cast Doctor Jones says, “I am not taking you out of this until around Thanksgiving, and it will probably be just to change it out for a new one.”

* Of course. Like I would ever think I’d be able to get out of this mannequin shell before I turn grey and die here. *

“I do want to see how your bones are doing through all of this though, so I’m going to schedule you for some x-rays here. Let’s say in about ten days. That would be on the sixteenth.”

* Why not. I’ll be sure to dress up in my finest for you. *

“I’ll see you later sweetie.”

* ta-ta. And away they go. *

* This should be interesting to see what you find considering I’ve never broken a single bone in my life. Of course, there is that thing my late night visitor has been doing to me which made me ache all over. That still hasn’t fully cleared up either. I wonder how much worse it would be if I wasn’t getting all these drugs that include some pain killers in them. *

“Hi doctor Elizabeth! Did you take out the stitches today?”

“Hello Carol. Yes I did. Just now in fact. The incisions look pretty good too.”

“Does that mean I can start using some scar creme on them?”

“Hmm. I don’t see why not. Keep it gentle and use the creme sparingly until we see how she reacts to it.”

“Great!”

* Well hello there Carol. *

“Hi! I came straight to your room first ‘cause I heard they were going to take the stitches out today and they did! I’ve got the creme I told you about, a couple of them actually.”

* So you really meant that and are going to try and treat my scars right off the bat here. Thank you. *

“Oh gosh. This is the first time I’ve gotten to see them. They are kinda long, aren’t they?”

* I have yet to see them. I only get to feel people poking and prodding around on my face. *

“No matter. I’ll use the aloe creme today. Tomorrow I’ll use the cocoa butter creme and keep going back and forth between them. Today and tomorrow I’ll just do it once, but the jars say it should be done three times a day. I’ll try to work up to that if I can.”

Mon. Oct. 9^th 12:30 am

The patient wakes with a start to the feeling of something stabbing her in the left ankle.

“Hello there. Nice of you to join me.”

* Oh hell! Not you again! *

“Bet you thought I’d forgotten you.”

* I was kinda hoping. *

“Nope, not a chance. And here I am.”

* Ouch what the hell was that? Why are you stabbing me in the foot and ankle? *

A dial is slowly turned up from zero on a device that is out of the patient’s line of sight. Wires come from the device and are attached to long metal probe needles that have been inserted into the patient. One is between the first and second toes of the left foot, and the other through a hole in the cast on the lower left shin. As the dial is turned up the patient begins to feel something tingle in their foot and leg as an electrical current goes through their leg between the two probes. The higher the dial goes the more electricity is applied and the muscles begin to tighten and cramp involuntarily which becomes quite painful.

* Ow. OW! Hey you shithead! That really hurts! AHHHHHH!!! *

Suddenly there is a *crack* from inside the cast, followed quickly by two more and one more a moment later. The dial is turned up slightly higher and kept there for another ten seconds before getting turned all the way down to zero again.

“I bet that hurts. Don’t deny it; I can see the tears from here.”

* YES THAT HURTS you sick diseased pile of elephant crap! *

“I just broke your foot and I think the lower leg by using an electrical current to make your own muscles contract so hard they broke the bones holding them back.”

* God dammit! You bastard! *

“Of course, it’s a lot easier for that to happen after the injections of concentrated glucocorticoids I gave you a couple of weeks ago. They have been forcing your own body to increase the activity of cells which break down bones while retarding the activity of the bone-forming cells.”

* Holy crap! You’ve been setting me up for this shit? *

The needle is pulled out of the foot and moved up along the inner side of the left leg where a hole in the upper portion of the calf is located. With a hard jab the needle is inserted into the muscles there.

* OW! You bitch! *

“Time for another one or two breaks,” they say as the dial on the device is slowly turned up from zero again.

* Oh no. No. Stop! OW! STOP! PLEASE!!! AHHHHH!!!! *

The level of the current goes somewhat higher this time before a crack is heard. The dial is again turned up more and held for ten seconds which results in a second crack being heard then it gets turned down to zero.

* Oh god. Please make them stop. Please. *

“If you manage to pass out during this, I won’t wake you back up again. But I’m not going to stop. By the time I’m done tonight you will have broken bones that should relatively match what was put in your chart by the class. And probably several torn tendons too most likely.”

* Go to hell you sick camel’s anal leakage. *

“Although, the drugs you’re on didn’t cause your jaw to rupture like it did.”

The needle in the lower calf is pulled out and moved up to a hole in the thigh and inserted in the thigh muscles.

“That was me. I injected your jaws with another type of concentrated steroids that simply ate away at them until they tore under the slightest tension.”

* Asshole. *

The dial begins to turn, sending an increasing amount of electricity through the patient’s muscles once again.

* No. No. OW! AHHHHHHH!!!! *

Another crack is eventually heard, this one much louder and taking longer to accomplish with a higher level of electrical current.

The stranger removes both needles and moves down to start over on the right leg and the process is repeated using the available holes in the cast which were made before. The patient’s bones continue to be broken from the bottom up.

* Why? Why are you doing this to me? What did I do to you?*

* AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! *

The assailant continues to work, moving from the legs to the hands and arms. Once all four limbs have been broken in multiple places, the needles are inserted into the hips and pelvis a couple of times. Somehow, the patient does not pass out from the pain of the torture they are experiencing.

* Please god. No more. *

* I can’t take any more of this. Make them stop. *

“Amazing. You’re still here. I’m betting the next one will be too much for you.”

The patient is rolled up onto their side and propped up. The needles are inserted at opposite angles into the two holes that were made in the cast at the area of the lower spine.

         

          * No. Please. *

         

The dial is turned up to a high level as fast as the shadow can twist the knob.

Another crack is heard as the patient passes out.

* AHHHHH---  *

The needles are removed, then carefully inserted just above and just below the location on the back of the neck where the injection had been done. The dial is turned quickly one last time with a resulting crack and turned back down to zero immediately. The needles are removed and the patient is laid back down again.

“Good thing I disabled the alarms before I started,” they say as they look at the monitors. “I’d probably have set off several if I didn’t. More than once too. I’m going to have to adjust the drugs before I turn the alarms back on as it is or they’ll just go off when I do. Still got a pulse, even if it is a bit jumpy and weak. No way they’re going to miss this. But it’s too late now, I’m almost finished with my plans and the interloper is now a match for her chart. More or less.”

The drug pump is adjusted, and equipment is cleaned up. Just before leaving the stranger makes a final adjustment to several of the machines and then disappears.

Mon. Oct. 9^th 7:03 am

“Doctor Elizabeth, I think something is very very wrong with Jane Doe. As soon as I found the settings I came and got you and didn’t touch or change anything. I wanted you to see it.”

“Ok Carol. But what makes you think something is wrong?”

“Well you know I want to be a nurse or doctor, and everyone is being really nice showing me things and answering my questions when I ask. I’ve kinda become close to Jane and have asked a bunch of questions about her treatments and what all the settings on the machines mean.

“One thing Nurse Cindy showed me was the settings on the drug pump and when you changed them Nurse Cindy made sure to point it out to me. This morning when I came in Jane was asleep and I looked at the settings on her pump to see if they had been changed again. I’m pretty sure they are way higher than before and I know you were lowering her doses so it didn’t seem right.”

“Alright. I don’t recall authorizing a change. Let’s go look.”

A few minutes later Doctor Jones and Carol are standing in the room while Elizabeth is looking over the settings and charts. A moment later she is accessing the log files and checking the output tapes.

“Carol, I need you to go get who-ever is the head duty nurse for the floor right now and send them in here immediately. Then go take care of the other patients for now.”

“Yes ma’am.”

A couple minutes later Head Nurse Ichikowa enters the room.

“Susan, why is this patient’s dosage turned up to near coma levels? There is nothing on her charts to indicate it being authorized or recorded.”

“What? No change was made to my knowledge.”

“Take a look. The current settings are way above what they should be and the logs show they have been that way for at least five hours.”

“This can not be right, but it is so. How? I didn’t authorize this nor was anything reported from the night shift when I came on this morning.”

“I’m dropping the meds all the way down to let her wake up and be lucid. Once she’s awake I want to be notified immediately so keep someone physically checking on her every fifteen minutes please. Don’t rely on the monitors.”

Doctor Jones adjusts the settings for the pump and updates the chart.

“I want a high alert notice on this patient ASAP and a warning tag on the door. Something is not right here. Order a full evaluation of all the logs and tapes for this patient from the time they were brought through our doors. We’re looking for any inconsistencies or unusual patterns what so ever. And I want it yesterday.

“There have been too many ‘bad luck’ occurrences with her and now this. There is something going on with this child and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

“Yes Doctor.”

Mon. Oct. 9^th 11:34 am

* Ugh. I am beginning to hate waking up from these damn drugs. Especially when I’ve been graced with another night time visit from my personal torturer. I never know what’s going to hurt next after that.

* Strange. I don’t feel any new pains except in my neck. And I can remember a lot of what happened last night too. Who ever that sick bastard is had me reeling and screaming in pain from what they did to me. I’m sure they broke at least half the bones in my body, but I don’t hurt anywhere.

* Wait a minute. It’s not just a lack of pain. I can’t feel anything. All I can feel is the pins in my skull, the soreness from my jaw, and a pain in the back of my neck. There ... There’s nothing else!

* Oh god no! Please, let me have something! I ... I can’t move! Even in this god forsaken cast I should be able to push against the inside of it and feel it! Or feel my chest pushing against the inside when the air pump breathes for me! But there’s nothing! There’s nothing below my neck!

* NOOOOOOO!!!!! *

Tear begin to flow freely down the girl’s cheeks as she cries.

A few minutes later an orderly checks on the patient and finds her awake. He immediately leaves and reports to the nurses on duty that the girl is awake. A nurse enters the room a moment later.

“Oh sweetie, what’s wrong?” she asks while trying to wipe the tears away, but the girl continues to cry.

“Honey, the doctor and all of us are really concerned for you, and Doctor Jones is going to be coming to see you as soon as she can. Something is wrong and they are investigating your problems. Please don’t worry, we’ll do everything we can to make it better. I’ll just get some help and we’ll do your usual maintenance right now.”

Calling down the hall another nurse arrives and they perform the tasks the patient has gotten used to. Despite their reassurances and gentle handling, the girl is inconsolable and begins to cry even harder as they work.

* Oh gods, I can’t feel that! Nothing! I can’t feel what you’re doing! I’m paralyzed! *

Mon. Oct. 9^th 3:47 pm

“This is unbelievable. How did we miss this?”

“ Doctor Jones, I can only guess that it was the inconsistent randomness of the occurrences that kept us from recognizing what was going on.”

“Well it is going to stop. As of right now I want a guard on this girls door twenty-four seven. How ever and whom ever has been doing this will be stopped, and if there is any justice they will be caught.”

A nurse knocks on the door and enters the conference room.

“Doctor, the girl is awake and responding.”

“It’s about time. Maybe we can get a few answers here. I want the detective to meet me in her room immediately.”

Several minutes later a woman with a badge and gun at her waist enters the patients’ room.

“Detective, I’m glad to see you.”

* Hello, there’s a detective coming in here? Are you finally going to get to the bottom of all of this? It’s a little late considering that asshole has turned me into a damn cripple.  *

“Hello Doctor. I am Detective Henrietta Montgomery. I understand that you have called me here to assist in the interrogation of a possible victim of abuse, is that correct?”

“Yes it is. Allow me to give you the background for this situation.”

The detective sets a tape recorder down on the bedside table and turns it on.

“Please go ahead doctor.”

* This should be interesting. Go for it doc, lay it out there. I’ve got some more surprises for you. *

“For the record I am Doctor Elizabeth Jones and I am the attending physician for this patient. Her name is currently unknown due to no identification being found or provided so she is listed as Jane Doe.

“According to her patient information she is a thirteen year old girl who initially suffered multiple injuries requiring extensive casting over her entire body as you can see. Because of the extreme number of injuries presented surgery was avoided as much as possible to reduce the stress on her body. Early complications required using a strong regime of drugs that made it necessary to include a mechanical respirator for life support. Due to the necessity for long term full care she was transferred to our facility here.

“At the time of transfer the patient was considered to be in a serious but stable condition. A little while after arriving the patient began to experience a down-turn in their condition. Slowly over multiple days various internal organs began to experience further degradation and failures. Because of the serious nature of her injuries and treatments, these were initially thought to be due to the injuries in question and an unfortunate result from the combination of drugs being administered. Additional treatments and some surgeries were performed, yet the patient continued to experience more problems and had to be downgraded from serious to critical.

“This morning one of our candy stripers who is quite observant alerted me to an alarming situation with the status of the drug pumps. On verifying what was pointed out I ordered a high priority full review of the patients’ charts and records of the various logs from the machines you see supporting their life here. What we found is most disturbing, and can only be explained as an intentional and systematic interference by an unknown individual in an attempt to seriously harm or even possibly kill this girl while concealing the act with the patients own injuries and treatments. The details of the specific injuries and treatments will be made available in a report for the record.

“I ordered the drugs keeping her relatively sedated to be stopped this morning. This was so that she would come up out of the semi-twilight condition she has been kept in and we can attempt to communicate with her and see if we can get some answers. Communication with her is going to be very slow and difficult due to her inability to move with the cast she is in and her inability to speak because of the tracheotomy for the respirator and her jaw is also wired shut. We are going to be limited to asking primarily yes or no questions, or using a alphabet board that someone will have to point to so she can spell out what she wants to tell us.”

* I can’t wait to see the expression on your faces when you find out. *

“Jane, I know that’s not your real name, so let’s try to figure out who you actually are. I’ll point to each letter of the alphabet on this board, when I get to the right letter close your eyes for a second to show us that is the one you want. I know it will be slow. We will also use two blinks for YES and three blinks for NO. So that you know, today is Monday October ninth.”

Slowly pointing out the letters they get a name.

P. A. T. R. I. C. I. A.   J. A. C. K. S.O. N.

“How old are you?”

2. 1.

“Twenty-one?”

* Yea, I’m really twenty-one dammit. I’ve been here long enough that my birthday went on by while I was in lala-land. *

YES

“Oh. That is unexpected. Your chart indicates you’ve only thirteen. So the chart is wrong?”

YES

“I see. Were you actually injured in a building collapse like it says?”

NO

“This is getting even more complicated. How were you hurt?”

N. O. T.   H. U. R. T.   I. N. I. T. I. A. L. L. Y.  

“You weren’t? Are you saying you were healthy?”

H. A. L. O.   P. I. N. S.   F. I. R. S. T.   I. N. J. U. R. Y.

“How can you explain all of this? And what about the surgeries I’ve had to perform since you got here?”

T. O. R. T. U. R. E. D.   S. I. N .C. E.

“Good lord.”

N. E. E. D.   X. R. A. Y. S.   N. O. W.   R. E. A. L.   B. R. O. K. E. N.   B. O. N. E. S.   T. H. I. N. K.   P. A. R. A. L. Y. Z. E. D.

“You think you’re paralyzed?”

F. E. E. L.   N. O. T. H. I. N. G.   N. E. C. K.   D. O. W. N.

“Oh my god! When did this happen?”

L. A. S. T.   N. I. G. H. T.   O. P. E. N.   C. A. S. T.   F. I. N. D.   M. A. R. K. S.

“Detective, this interview is over. You have a name, and the records will give you the dates to start from. Find out what you can. We need to confirm what Patricia has just told us and make all necessary efforts to treat anything we find.”

Moving to the doorway Elizabeth slaps the emergency button on the wall and yells, “I need a full crash team in here stat! We have a patient in extreme duress!”

Following the alarm and announcement from the doctor, the staff seemingly explodes into action and people being running. The next few hours are hectic as Patricia’s claims are confirmed. X-rays are done first that show the newly broken bones throughout her body. With this knowledge they are careful to no open up the cast which contains her while other devices such MRI’s and CAT scans are done. Her cast is eventually cut open to reveal multiple puncture wounds that have bled into the cast padding inside along with burn marks around many of the wounds. The broken bones are properly realigned where necessary, and with no better course to follow she is once again wrapped in a new cast just like the one she has been in; although they let Patricia pick a teddy bear pattern as the new outside layer.

During the time that Patricia is out of the cast, tests are done which confirm that she is completely paralyzed from the neck down. None of the attempts from Patricia to move any part of her body have any result, and all of the tests to check her sense of touch are unsuccessful.

Patricia’s medical charts are completely changed out. The ones for ‘Jane Doe’ are kept in tact and sealed for evidence, and a brand new chart with her proper name is opened up and updated. The information for what has occurred and been done since Patricia entered the long term facility is copied over from the Jane Doe file, and the results of the new information from the day’s tests and procedures is added.

The new patient chart shows that Patricia has numerous newly and badly broken bones, many of which are more shattered than just simply fractured, She is on continuous dialysis for failed kidneys, has a complete colostomy due to an extreme number of lesions in her colon, and currently has her jaw wired shut from surgery to repair ruptured ligaments and tendons. And most worryingly to everyone, Patricia is listed as a complete quadriplegic with no sensation or movement below her chin.

The current treatment for her multiple conditions changes only slightly to recognize and accommodate the findings of her paralysis, and an armed police officer is stationed outside the door to her room. Nobody goes into the room that is not on a list which has been approved by both Doctor Jones and Detective Montgomery.

Mon. Oct. 16^th 8:11 am

“Patricia, I just can’t believe what has happened to you. It’s horrible,” Carol says as she is gently rubbing skin creme into Patricia’s surgical scars on her jaw.

“How could someone actually do to another person what they did to you. It’s unbelievable.”

* Tell me about it. I’ve lived it. Now that I know everything that’s happened to me even I can’t believe someone would be that cruel, and it was done to me. *

~blink blink~

“Huh? Oh, are you agreeing with me? No, wait, you’re looking to the side. Do you want the letter board?”

~blink blink~

“Sure. Give me a minute to finish up with your other scar.

“Okay, here we go. Ready?”

T. H. A. N. K.   Y. O. U.   F. O.R.   Y. O. U. R.   K. I. N. D. N. E. S. S.   

I.   A. M.   G. L. A. D.   I.   H. A. V. E.   G. O. T. T. E. N.   T.O.   K. N. O. W.   Y. O. U.

“Aw. I’m glad I finally got to meet the real you, Jane,” Carol giggles in return.

“I feel so bad that your jaw broke while I was brushing your teeth. It’s the least I could do.”

Y. O. U.   K. N. O. W.   T. H. A. T.   I. T.   W. A. S.   N. O. T.   Y. O. U. R.   F. A. U. L. T.   A. T.    A. L. L.   

M. Y.   T. O. R. T. U. R. E. R.   C. A. U. S. E. D.   T. H. A. T.   T. O.   H. A. P. P. E. N.    N. O. T.   Y. O. U.

“You know very well that was not your fault in any way Carol. We’ve talked about this.”

“OH! Hi Doctor Jones. I know. But I still feel bad. Maybe if I could have seen something or noticed something was not right sooner then maybe you would not have needed to cut Patricia’s face open and wire her jaw shut. At least I can help to make her scars fade quicker.”

“You are a good person, Carol. Patricia is lucky to have you for a friend.

“Now, I need to talk to Patricia about some confidential things. Are you about done?”

“Yes Doctor. I finished applying this morning’s creme and we were just talking.”

“Okay, then I suspect you need to get to school. We’ll see you this afternoon.”

“Yea, I really shouldn’t be late again.

“See you later Jane!”

The giggle from Carol as she leaves brings a small smile to the face of Patricia.

“Jane? She knows your name is Patricia, right?”

YES

“So I assume that is a joke between you then?”

YES

“Okay,” Dr. Jones chuckles.

“So, I want to talk to you about your condition, specifically your paralysis. I’ve been going over the tests and scans. It appears the injury to your neck caused spinal swelling and shock but no physical damage to the spinal cord itself. I am hoping that the complete paralysis from the neck down will start to show signs of improvement and reducing in the near future. Unfortunately, because of how long it took before we found out and were able to start giving you the proper treatments, it is probably going to take some time for any improvements.

“Chances are you’ll remain on the ventilator for a while yet. In fact, most likely for as long as you’re still in that halo and cast and probably for a bit after. You’ll have been on and dependant for mechanical respiration for quite a long time so I’m going to want to take it slowly when we get to the point of taking you off it again.

“The injury to your lower spine is a bit more problematic. It appears there may have been actual damage done to the spinal cord. Until we can get you out of that cast and the cervical trauma begins to resolve itself we just won’t know how it is going to affect you. I am hopeful that it will not be extensive, but I have to be honest with you. There is the possibility the damage is going to result in some level of a permanent disability. I’m sorry.

“As to your intestines, the damage that has been done is severe. The last scope that was done was not good. I have you scheduled for surgery in the next few days to remove portions of your large intestine that are too damaged and not healing. If all goes well I should be able to pull the remainder of the intestine together and leave you with a functional colon still. So no permanent colostomy as long as things don’t get any worse.”

I.   U. N. D. E. R. S. T. A. N. D.    

T. H. A. N. K.   Y. O. U.    F. O. R.   B. E. I. N. G.   H. O. N. E. S. T.   W. I. T. H.   M. E.    

H. A. S.   T. H. E. R. E.   B. E. E. N.   A. N. Y.   N. E. W. S.   F. R. O. M.   T. H. E.   P. O. L. I. C. E.

“Nothing new. With no fingerprints being found, and no physical evidence being recovered, they are having a hard time trying to figure out who has been doing this to you.”

H. O. P. E.   T. H. E. Y.   F. I. N. D.   S. O. M. E. T. H. I. N. G.    

T. H. A. T.   P. E. R. S. O. N.   N. E. E. D. S.   T. O.   B. E.   C. A. U. G. H. T.   A. N. D.   P. U. N. I. S. H. E. D.

“So do I. They are still working on the case diligently, Detective Montgomery is really taking this seriously. She is determined to bring everyone responsible to justice.

“Are you doing alright? How have you been this last week now that I’ve reduced the drugs to just the minimum needed?”

I.   A. M.   G. E. T. T. I. N. G.   A. L. O. N. G.   

T. H. E.   P. A. I. N.   I. S.   T. H. A. N. K. F. U. L. L. Y.   L. I. M. I. T. E. D.   T. O.   J. U. S. T.   T. H. E.   P. I. N. S.   I. N.   M. Y.   S. K. U. L. L.   A. N. D.   M. Y.   N. E. C. K.    

M. Y.   J. A. W.   I. S.   B. A. R. E. L. Y.   N. O. T. I. C. E. A. B. L. E.

A. S.   M. U. C. H.   A. S.   I.   H. A. T. E.   T. H. E.    L. A. C. K.   O. F.   S. E. N. S. A. T. I. O. N.   I. N.   T. H. E.   R. E. S. T.    

O. F.   M. Y.   B. O. D. Y.   I. T.   I. S.   A.   B. L. E. S. S. I. N. G.   I. N.   D. I. S. G. U. I. S. E.   T. H. A. T.   I.   D. O. N. T.    

H. A. V. E.   T. O.   S. U. F. F. E. R.   F. R. O. M.   F. E. E. L. I. N. G.   T. H. E.   P. A. I. N.   F. R. O. M.    

E. V. E. R. Y. T. H. I. N. G.   E. L. S. E.

“There is that. But that’s just your physical wellbeing. How are you doing mentally?”

B. E. I. N. G.   O. F. F.   T. H. E.   D. R. U. G. S.   I.   G. E. T.   B. O. R. E. D.   A.   L. O. T.    

I.   C. A .N. T.   S. T. A. N. D.   D. A. Y. T. I. M. E.   T. V.    

S. O.   I.   L. I. S. T. E. N.   T. O.   T. H. E.   R. A. D. I. O.   I. N. S. T. E. A. D.

“And at night?”

I.   A. M.   S. C. A. R. E. D.   T. O.   D. E. A. T. H.   T. H. A. T.   A. S. S. H. O. L. E.   I. S.   G. O. I. N. G.   T. O.    

C. O. M. E.   B. A. C. K.   

I.   W. A. K. E.   U. P.   F. R. E. Q. U. E. N. T. L. Y.   S. W. E. A. T. I. N. G.   F. R. O. M.   N. I. G. H. T. M. A. R. E. S.   

W. H. E. R. E.   T. H. E. Y.   F. I. N. I. S. H.   T. H. E.   J. O. B.   O. R.   I.   A. M.   T. R. A. P. P. E. D.   F. O. R. E. V. E. R.   I. N.   T. H. I. S.   C. A. S. T.   A. N. D.   H. A. L. O.   A. N. D.   W. I. T. H.   T. H. E.   T. U. B. E.   I. N.   M. Y.   T. H. R. O. A. T.    

S. O.   I.   C. A. N. T.   T. A. L. K.   E. V. E. R.   A. G. A. I. N.

“I’m sorry. I hope the counseling sessions will start to help with that. You know we have a guard on your door and access is strictly limited to a very short list of people who are allowed in.”

YES

“Good. I need to get going. We are going to take care of you to the best of our ability. I promise. The nightmare is over Patricia, it’s going to get better.”

Tues. Oct. 17^th 11:41 pm

A loud noise wakes the patient, although she is unable to move or react other than opening her eyes. A moment later there is a shout in the hall outside her room.

“Officer! We need your help! There’s been an accident out front and we need all the help we can get immediately!”

“I can’t leave. This patient is at risk and under twenty-four hour protection.”

“She’ll be fine! We don’t have enough people for this and need everyone we can get! Lives are at stake here! We need you now!”

The guard appears where the girl can see him.

“They need help. I’ll be right back as soon as I can. I promise,” he tells her as he leaves.

* No! Don’t leave me! Please! *

Several minutes later someone enters the room and she hears the clipboard with her chart being moved. A moment later a new face wearing a surgical mask appears looking down at her.

“How convenient, you’re all alone. My little distraction should keep them busy for a while.”

* OH GODS NO! NOT YOU! SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE! *

“Aw, you’re crying. How touching. Don’t you worry, I’m just going to make sure you can’t tell anyone ever again about me and leave you with a gift or two.”

Patricia’s assailant holds up the end of an endoscope so she can see it.

“Does this look familiar? It should. You’ve had it up inside of you several times now, and it’s going inside one more time. You’ll need that colostomy bag for the rest of you life once I’m done.”

They hold up an odd looking wrench with the other hand.

“And this here is the halo tool. Once I’m done shoving this tube up your butt I’m going to loosen up the bolts on you halo and twist your head around a few times. By now your muscles should be so weak you won’t be able to stop me even if you weren’t paralyzed. A bit of moving up and down and side to side should make your paralysis permanent I think.

“Gee, what was the last thing you could feel? Oh, that’s right. It was when I was breaking your bones. I hope you remember that, because it will be the last things you ever felt. You’ll never feel anything ever again, for the rest of your life. My final gift to you, the feeling of your bones being broken the last sensation you’ll ever feel.”

* No. Please, no. Not this. Someone, please. Not this. *

The tears stream down unceasingly as Patricia hears the diaper get removed from over her crotch and the sounds of the endoscope being setup then entering her anus and colon. Over the next thirty minutes she can hear an occasional click as the intruder once again injects acid into several sections of her large intestines.

“Hey! Who are you and what are you doing?!?”

* Carol? *

The sound of a cable falling and clattering to the floor is heard as the unknown assailant spins around.

“I knew something wasn’t right when I heard about the accident out front of the hospital! Get away from her! HELP! Someone is attacking Patricia again! HELP ME!”

The masked invader quickly jumps and grabs Carol.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re going to be sorry you interrupted me!”

There is a brief scuffle as they fight, with Carol trying to get away while her attacker tries to keep her mouth covered with their hand. They spin around several times, knocking over the cart with the endoscope on it and bouncing against Patricia’s bed. The assailant winds up behind Carol with their hands around her head and neck.

“Now you can join this bitch!” they yell out.

Patricia hears Carol let out a scream of pain that is suddenly cut off then she hears the sound of a body falling to the floor.

*Oh gods, Carol! NO! *

“What is going on in there? Who screamed like that?”

“Dammit!” Patricia hears the attacker exclaim just before they run out of the room.

“Hey! You! Stop!”

The sounds of people running down the hall go past the door to the room.

The sound of quiet gasping from the floor next to her bed, as if someone is unable to breathe, catches Patricia’s attention.

* Carol! What did they do to you? Are you lying there dying? Not you! Not Carol! I can’t do a thing! Someone help! Please!!! *

A nurse comes rushing into the room and see’s Carol lying on the floor gasping for air.

“Emergency! I need help in here!” she yells out as she slaps the red button on the wall.

Fri. Dec. 1^st 1:18 pm

The alarm clock beeps gently, waking Patricia up from her nap. She opens her eyes and waits the few minutes for the alarm to stop. Once the alarm stops beeping the quiet of the room is broken only by the beeping of life support machines and the sound of two ventilators keeping their patients steadily breathing. Turning her eyes to the right Patricia can just barely see the occupant in the bed next to her.

She can just see the blankets covering the legs and torso of her roommate, from which the tell-tale front bars of a halo brace similar to her own rise up towards the head of the person lying there. She is unable to tell of they are awake or asleep, but the quiet beeps and whooshes from their equipment assures Patricia they are still alive.

* Oh Carol, I am truly sorry that bitch did this to you. It’s not fair. Neither of us deserve what she did, but you least of all. *

“Good afternoon, Patricia,” Detective Montgomery says quietly as she walks up to Patricia’s bedside with Doctor Jones.

“Carol seems to be asleep, so we’ll keep this quiet.”

“Let me check on her real quick, then we can get down to business,” Elizabeth says.

“Okay, Carol is fine. And she’s awake so we need to pull the curtain for this interview.”

“Alright. Patricia, as you know your and Carol’s attacker was caught through their own accident. They fell down the open elevator shaft when they tripped while trying to escape the officer who was chasing them after they ran from your room,” Henrietta begins.

“While it may be a violation of rules, you deserve to know what happened to them,” Elizabeth interjects. “They are currently residing in the prison hospital and are looking almost as bad as you do. The fall down the open shaft resulted in two broken legs in multiple places, broken hips and pelvis, a broken arm on one side and shoulder on the other, some broken ribs, and a broken neck. Several of the broken bones were open compound fractures requiring surgery to set the bones and close the wounds, as well as damaging several internal organs. They are looking at a long time just recovering from their injuries. The probability of permanent disability is pretty high.”

Henrietta picks up the tale again with, “Not to mention how long they are going to be incarcerated. The evidence we were able to gather from the equipment they were using on you that night along with the resulting search of their home gave us more than enough to have an air tight case against them.

“What you do not know is their identity. It turns out that your former class mate, Jamie, is the one who was behind all of your torture. Her last name is Epstein. As in the director of this facility. She is his daughter.”

* Jamie? My classmate? Oh, from the volunteer patient class! Good grief, it was her? *

“What I’m having a bit of a hard time figuring out still, and why I’m here conducting this interview, is just exactly how did you end up in the PICU ward of the hospital to begin with? I need you to help me clear that up.”

NO

“Do you mean you can’t remember?”

Yes ~ NO

“What? Wait. Let’s keep this simple. I’ll ask you some direct yes no questions.

“Do you know how you got in PICU?”

YES

“Do you know who it was that did what ever it was that put you there?”

YES

“Can you spell out their name for me?”

NO

“You won’t tell me who did it?”

NO

“Why?”

I. T. S.   C. O. M. P. L. I. C. A. T. E. D.   

I.   D. O. N. T.   W. A. N. T.  T. H. E.   P. O. L. I. C. E.   I. N. V. O. L. V .E. D.   I. N.   T. H. A. T.

“But Patricia, they are the initial cause of all of your injuries and problems. They are why you’re lying here in a body cast that completely covers you from the neck down, with a halo ring screwed into your head, and paralyzed with a machine having to breathe for you. How can you not want them to be brought to justice for this?”

Y. E. S.   T. H. E. Y.   D. E. S. E. R. V. E.   T. O.   B. E.   M. A. D. E.   T. O.   A. T. T. O. N. E.   F. O. R.   W. H. A. T.   T. H. E. Y.   D. I. D.   T. O.   M. E.

“So why won’t you tell me who it is?”

T. H. E. R. E.   W. I. L. L.   B. E.   L. E. G. A. L.   R. A. M. I. F. I. C. A. T. I. O. N. S.   F. R. O. M.   T. H. I. S.   

B. U. T.   I.   D. O. N. T.   W. A. N. T.   J. A. I. L.   T. I. M. E.   O. R.  P. U. B. L. I. C.   E. Y. E.   O. N.   T. H. I. S.

“Patricia. Why? Because this person put you in that situation they left you vulnerable to Jamie. Because you were put in a situation where you could not defend yourself, you are possibly going to have some level of permanent paralysis for the rest of your life.

“Carol over there is never going to fulfill her wish to become a nurse because she tried to stop Jamie and got her neck broken as a result. She’s paralyzed from the neck down, and doesn’t know if she’ll ever get any function back let alone how much. Doesn’t she deserve justice?”

J. A. M. I. E.   I. S.   T. H. E.   C. A. U. S. E.   O. F.   T. H. A. T.   A. N. D.   C. A. R. O. L.   W. I. L. L.   H. A. V. E.    

J. U. S. T. I. C. E.   F. R. O. M.   H. E. R.   D. O. N. T.   G. O.   T. R. Y. I. N. G.   T. O.   B. L. A. M. E.   A.   T. H. I. R. D.    

P. A. R. T. Y.   F. O. R.   C. A. R. O. L. S.   P. R. O. B. L. E. M. S.

“Why are you trying to protect this person?”

P. R. O. T. E. C. T.   T. H. E. M.   O. H.   N. O.   T. H. E. Y.   A. R. E.   N. O. T.   B. E. I. N. G.   P. R. O. T. E. C. T. E. D.    

I.   A. M.   H. I. G. H. L. Y.   P. I. S. S. E. D.   A. T.   T. H. E. M.   A. N. D.   T. H. E. Y.   W. I. L. L.   S. U. F. F. E. R.   M. Y.    

W. R. A. T. H.   B. U. T.   I. N.   M. Y.   O. W. N.   T. I. M. E.   A. N. D.   I. N.   M. Y.   W. A. Y.

“Ah, so it is to be personal revenge then. That can get you in a lot of trouble too.”

D. O. N. T.   W. O. R. R. Y.   I.   A. M.   N. O. T.   S. T. U. P. I. D.   

I. T.   W. I. L. L.   A. L. L.   B. E.   A. B. O. V. E.   T. H. E.   T. A. B. L. E.   A. N. D.   L. E. G. A. L.   I. N.   T. H. E.   E. N. D.

“Fine. Be that as it may, I am here in an official capacity on a criminal investigation interview. I have to inform you that by withholding information you could potentially be charged with obstruction of justice in the future if further criminal charges are levied against this individual.”

I.   H. E. A. R.   A. N. D.   U. N. D. E. R. S. T. A. N. D.   W. H. A. T.   Y. O. U.   A. R. E.   T. E. L. L. I. N G.   M. E.

“Alright. You’ve been warned.

“Off the record, make them pay.”

Fri. Nov. 30^th 10:03 am

Patricia waves as she sees Carol come into view around the corner. Carol notices her and turns her powerchair to navigate the aisles between tables of the restaurant they are meeting in. Her attendant moves a chair out of the way so she can sit at the table Patricia is at. Patricia maneuvers her wheelchair around so she can give Carol a hug in greeting.

“Hey Candygirl, long time no see.”

“Yea, it’s been almost fifteen hours ... since I saw you at therapy ... Jane.”

“You were putting in some serious work there on the hand cycle. Looks like you’re getting stronger.”

“Somewhat.

“I still have trouble with getting ... my hands to grab things.

“But I did ten minutes straight ... before needing a break.”

“Sounds like your doing better with your new trach tube.”

“I’m actually breathing on my own ... mostly.

“The vent is set for frequent ... assisted breaths now.

“How about your trach tube?”

Patricia reaches up and feels the tube going into the base of her neck behind the silk scarf she wears around her throat.

“I haven’t needed my respirator at night for two weeks, and before that only twice in the two weeks prior. If I can go for another month without it then Doc Jones says she’ll take it out permanently. I keep it capped all the time during the day now.”

“That’s good.

“Maybe you’ll get rid of it ... for the new year.”

“It would be cool if you could get rid of yours too.”

“It would, but ... I’ll probably need it at night for the ... rest of my life.

“I am working on not needing ... the machine during the day though.”

“Oh, here they are,” Patricia says as she waves over two men.

“Gentlemen, this is Carol Yates. Carol, these are out benefactors, Steven Franklin and Donald Wellington.”

“Hello Carol. It’s good to finally meet you. Patricia you are looking well.”

Carol nods to her attendant and she leaves the table to go sit at the bar, leaving Carol to be looked after by the three other people at the table.

“We’re glad you finally let us get together Patricia.”

“Hm, yes. I have missed seeing you two. And don’t blow smoke on how I look.”

“Patti, you do look good! Really!”

“Bullshit,” she exclaims while she pulls her scarf down to reveal the tube still present in her neck. “I am sitting here in a wheelchair that I’ll never get out of, I have soft brace supports on my wrists because my hands shake and are weak, I have a permanent ostomy so I poo into a bag, but I still have a small portion of my rectum in place that produces secretions still. My anus is loose so it leaks which means I have to wear a diaper to catch it. I still have a tube in my throat and carry around a portable ventilator just in case I have trouble breathing. And I have only one working kidney so I have to drink more water than normal. The only good thing is that I will, hopefully, finally be getting this tube out of my neck in a month or so. Then I can add one more scar to the list to go with the ones in my forehead from the nine months I spent in a halo and the ones along both sides of my jaw from having my tendons stitched back together and having my jaw wired shut for the same nine months I was in the halo, not to mention the burn scars from the electricity that rat used to break my bones. And the tendons in my jaw are shorter and tighter now so I can’t open my mouth as wide as I used to and I can’t yell at you as loudly as I want to.

“And my hair! Look at it!” Patricia demands.

“My bangs are only just now long enough to barely hide the scars,” she says, raising her hand to move her hair off her forehead and display the two round marks left behind from the titanium pins that penetrated her flesh and skull.

“And look how short it still is! I’ve barely managed to get it down below the top of my shoulders. It used to be down past my butt!”

“We are so sorry Patricia. We have done everything you asked. Are you still going to hold this over our heads?”

“Damn straight I am. I really loved my hair. Now it’s so dang short because of you. Every single time you try to tell me how good I’m doing I’m going to show and tell you everything that is not good.”

“Yea, we’re figuring that out. We’ve switched our specialties to ones that complement each other so we can work with people with spinal cord injuries like you and Carol. It’s going to take us three extra years to graduate and then earn our Doctorates. But we’re doing it.”

“You damn well better. Once you’re done with school and have a practice going you two are going to be taking care of Carol and I for the long term as our primary care physicians. The trust funds setup by you two and Doctors Henry and Epstein will make sure we can afford decent care until you get situated and start providing us our special discounted rates.”

“Aren’t you going to still get your accounting degree?”

“Of course I am. But all this mess has put me back by a year or maybe two. I’m going to focus on medical accounting so that once you have a staff I can take care of your books.”

“I’ll be in there somewhere too.

“I may never get my nursing degree like ... I originally planned.

“But I’m staying in ... health care in some fashion.”

“What ever it winds up being, we’ll have or make a position for you in our practice.”

“How are you girls doing right now though? Do you need help with anything?”

“I have to go to the bathroom every two to three hours so I can cath to empty my bladder and to empty out my ostomy bag. Do you have any idea how much that screws up trying to sleep at night? It sucks, I can tell you that.

“I emptied both just before coming here by the way, so I have about two hours or so before I have to do it again.”

“I’m going to need a potty break ... here in a little bit.

“Susan will take care of me.

“I just need ... to raise my hand to get her attention.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way. We’d like to help, both of you, with your daily care chores. It’s something we feel that we should start getting to know as early as possible. It may be a bit before our classes get to it, but we can be ahead of the curve when the courses get there. And it will help us to better understand our patients too. It will definitely help for the two of you of course; but also all of our possible future patients.”

Carol and Patricia look at each other for a moment then Carol nods.

“Not today I think,” Patricia answers for them both. “Carol just met you today. And I’m not so comfortable with letting someone who isn’t already directly involved with my routines just waltz in and look at the uglier side of my life. But we can talk and see for the future.”

“Fair enough.”