CHAPTER ONE
A classic blue 1984 Ford LTD sedan sits struggling to idle outside of the hospital emergency room entranceway. Its doors are open revealing the interior of the vehicle is coated in patches of freshly dripping and oozing blood. SARAH, a ghostly little girl in a knee-length tattered nightshirt, emerges from the car and smiles.
Her attention moves to a dark thick trail of blood that winds through the hospital halls, a trail which ends at the operating room doors. A woman’s voice echoes its pleas through the hospital, “No! No! No! Not Again!”
Inside the operating room, JESSE ABLE’s small body writhes in pain in the center of a whirlwind of doctors and nurses struggle to save his life. A nurse leads VICTORIA and ROGER ABLE from the room, as more staff enters to help, “for us to help you need to clear out.”
Victoria and Roger stare helplessly at one another outside of the operating room. Roger watches in confusion, as the waves of medical staff moving around them like a whirlwind, “What’s going on?” Roger pulls his wife close to offer comfort, but careful to not allow her to filthy her outfit on his grease-covered coveralls.
Victoria still wearing her work clothes cries, “It’s just like before…” Roger embraces her, as she sobs uncontrollably. Additional medical staff rushes past the couple and into the operating room. Sarah stands at the far end of the hallway in a devilish silhouette in the morning sunlight, as it passes through a large window.
Jesse’s terror-driven words echo through the halls of the hospital, “Get away from me! Mom! Dad!” Doctors attempt to comfort him, “Calm down were trying to help!” Sarah’s demonic smile shows, as she dances and twirls undetected in the chaos.
Dr. Daily emerges from the operating room. Roger and Victoria rush to the doctor side with hope in their expression. The doctor makes short work of their moment of hope, “We did all we could, but…”
Roger turns to Doctor Daily a deeply furrowed brow, as he takes heavy determined steps towards him, “After everything you have done to him.” Roger stops just inches from the Doctors face.
Dr. Daily instinctively raises his arms defensively between himself and the dead boys' father. Dr. Daily takes a deep breath before beginning his plead for understanding, “I told you the infection had spread throughout his entire body. We have been doing everything we could to help him.”
Roger grabs and lifts Doctor Daily by his jacket. The Men slam hard against the operating room wall. Pictures and the doctors' chart fall to the floor. Victoria places a loving hand on Roger’s shoulder, “Please. Stop.” Roger shakes his head and releases the Doctor.
Dr. Daily picks up Jesse’s chart and thumbs through several pages. He stops looking and slowly closes the chart, as he lowers his head, “He body is exhausted. The Zocyn and Vancomycin had begun to hurt his body more than help.” He pauses seeing the pain and sorrow filling the faces of Jesse’s parents. Dr. Daily whispers and lowers his head, “We have stabilized him for now. You should spend some time with him before.”
The doctor walks away in shame. Victoria loses her composure and collapses into a heap sobbing. Roger sits on the hallway floor holding his wife. The doctor pauses and turns to the couple, “We will get him to a room for you. Sit tight for us in the Waiting room. While we get everything set.” Roger and Victoria nods and rise. They follow the doctor to the waiting room.
Inside the hospital waiting area Victoria sits at a small kitchen table holding her cell phone, “we should call my mom. She’ll come up here.” An episode of Ghost Whisperer plays on the television in the room. Roger nods into her in agreement, “you want me to call her?” The housekeeper scrubs away at the coffee stains on the counter top near the shallow sink.
Sarah smiles watching the couple struggle to remain civil in a moment of utter despair. She enjoys being unseen by the living, as she stands in front of Victoria mocking her every motion and emotions. Sarah settles on top of the small kitchen table staring at the housekeeper.
The housekeeper blinks repeatedly as Sarah influences her to believe she has completed cleaning the room. The housekeeper turns and robotically exits the room. She forces the edge of her cleaning cart under the edge of the door handle and walks across the hallway to the restrooms.
A loud alarm sounds surprising the couple. They leap to their feet and rush to the door. The radio announces, “Code Blue Room 114! Code Blue Room 114!” “Open the door!” Victoria yells at Roger.
Sarah rock back and forth in the despicable delight of the torture she is inflicting on the couple. She hops off the table top and skips through the door joining the chaos in the hallway. She faces the couple and growls the words, “this next part will kill ya.”
Roger throws his shoulder against the door repeatedly, but the door has been blocked on the other side. Roger stares through the narrow door window and spots the housekeepers cart pressed against the door. The housekeepers moved along the opposite wall, as a tidal surge of medical specialists and staff move towards the site of the radio’s emergency announcement.
Roger lowers his head trying to reel in his emotions, “The housekeeper’s cart is wedged under the door handle. I can’t open it.” Victoria stands determined next to her husband, “we can do this together.” She nods to Roger, “On push, got it?”
Sarah clutches at her abdomen as she laughs uncontrollably at Roger and Victoria. She mocks their struggles with the door, “Come on you can do it…” Her brow furrows and her eyes narrow, “Well, maybe this time anyway.”
Victoria and Roger lean against the door. Victoria roars, “Push god damn it!” Roger and Victoria’s combined effort threw the door open causing the cart to send several medical staff members tumbling over the unexpected reposition of the housekeeping cart.
Roger and Victoria trip and fall over the hallway pileup. Roger gets to his feet first and joins the wave of humanity moving to his son’s room. Victoria looks up in time to notice Roger disappearing into the crowd. She struggles to her feet along with the staff members.
Roger arrives outside Jesse’s room, but cannot enter as the room is filled with staff racing to save his son’s life. “Get out of my way!” Roger yells to no avail. Victoria bumps into his side. They look at each other helplessly.
Roger and Victoria watch as the medical experts call upon centuries of experience to attempt to save Jesse.
The couple watch as the confidence and ego of experts are torn asunder by the unknown. Roger stares on amazed by the line of the medical staff that reach their limit and leave the battle to save his son’s life.
Victoria stops Dr. Daily as he leaves the room his eyes dart from side to side. “What did we do wrong?” Dr. Daily exhales aloud unaware of Roger or Victoria’s presence. Dr. Daily realizes he still has the gloves and scrubs on that are covered in the blood Jesse spewed on everyone.
Sarah mocks the doctor’s emotions and motions as she exits the room behind him. She cannot hide her amusement with everything happening. Her eyebrows rise and a smile forms with a devious idea.
Dr. Daily shakes his head vacant of the confidence he proudly displayed before the couple earlier this evening. He raises his head only to have no words to properly convey the disappointment in his talents and training. Jesse’s medical documents burst from the chart on impact with the floor below Dr. Daily. His eyes dart from page to page unable to form the words he needs to offer comfort to the parents.
The couples hope bleeds away in their observation of the doctor who promised to save their child but failed them. Victoria pushes away from Roger taking a single step towards Dr. Daily. The doctor faces away from the couple, “I’m sorry you should say something it won’t be long now.”
Roger and Victoria push past the doctor to enter their son’s room. Medical equipment continues to beep and chip as Roger and Victoria enter. Roger cannot handle the emotions that turn his fear into hate and anger. He walks to the window to conceal his growing feelings of dread and takes a deep breath.
Victoria has always been the more accepting of her emotions. She hits hard against Jesse’s bedside and erupts in a deluge of tears and wails of coming loss. She picks up her son’s near lifeless hands, “He’s cold.” She immediately works his blankets into a cocoon to protecting in the only way fate has left for her son.
Sarah sits in an oversized recliner made for friends and family to remain with their ill family members. She cracks her neck to the right and utters an exhausted, “this part always takes too long.” She watches as Jesse’ s life trickles away with the last of the fluids moving into his body from the IV lines.
Roger studies the approaching storm as he realizes a long day is ahead of his little family. He pays close attention to remain facing away from his wife as his despair take the form of a large single tear that carves its way through the dirt and grease of the days' labors that still cover his face. He does not want her to think he is weak. He knows he will need strength enough for both his wife and the family that will be coming.
Sarah watches as the small boy’s spirit lowers his head unable to offer the comfort of simply holding his father’s hand in these last moments. Jesse studies his hands in confusion as they can no longer reach his father. The tears and wails of his mother draw him to her side. Without a thought, he reaches out to hug and comfort his mother.
Jesse cannot hold her as death’s cruel joke expresses itself endlessly by not allowing any fallen being from reaching across the veil to interact with the living.
The confused boy climbs like atop the bed and looks around the room. The sadness of the moment hits him hard as he loses hold of his emotions and begins sobbing into his palms. Jesse cries unheard and separated from those he loves most injured the world. The exhaustion of the day weighs heavily on the young spirit.
Jesse claws and drags himself back inside his body out of instinct. The world fades from sight as the boy’s spirit slumbers in its once protective shell.
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