Everyday I use the symbol "@" when I'm filling out appointment cards for patients as they leave. Not because it really saves me much time but because I like the way it looks. I mean, how long does it really take to cross a "t" as opposed to putting a little circle around your "a"? Plus it reminds me of when i was a little kid. Odd, right?
Well, everyone has seen the symbol since they were able to read the keys on a keyboard, whether your first keyboard was a computer or a typewriter you could always see the little "@" above the number two. As a child I always assumed I knew what this symbol meant because only one thing really meant sense. It had to mean AROUND (a-round... as in "a" with a little round circle around it). What the hell else would possible make sense? Plus I always saw it on appointment cards, much like the ones I write out for patients. "Dentist appt. 7/24 @ 12:00" That makes sense, right? No one shows up right at 12:00. You either show up a few minutes early or a few minutes late, but it's AROUND 12:00. That was my child's logic.
I don't know when I found out that it actually meant AT, but I know I was disappointed. AT makes no sense. It's not like AT is a long word that you really need to shorten up is it? It's two letters, for Christ's sake! Even though I know what it really means I still like to think of it as meaning around instead of at. Besides how many of our patients actually show up AT their scheduled time? Oh, around two a month.... and it's usually a fluke. They were running late and just barely managed to show up on time. It's never on purpose, I promise.
That's all. I don't know why I felt the need to post this in a blog, but at least it's not just another boring old chapter in my now obsolete story :P
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Eartha -- Chapter 5
Yep, I've been pretty lazy in blog world lately. It probably looks like I gave up entirely on my blog, but that's just not true. So instead of taking the initiative to write a real blog I'm barely maintaining by putting up the next chapter of my story. I've come to the realization that this is pretty pointless since I'm re-writing the whole thing and the chapters I have posted are already obsolete. Oh well. For anyone who's actually reading you will get to see the rough draft and maybe if this story ever gets sent in to a publisher you will see its far better revised version. Until then enjoy the rough patches.
Chapter 5
She woke from a restless sleep in the morning and knew she was going to have a difficult time trying to concentrate on anything today. She was cranky and not in the mood to speak to anyone. She left her room early in hopes she could avoid contact with any of the other students. She managed to slip out of the dorm room without a sound and without attracting any attention. The few students that had already been in the common room did not even realize anyone had left. She pulled the door closed silently and sighed.
“Guess what,” a voice said behind her. She jumped and whirled around to face who had spoken. Garrick was standing right behind her.
“What?” she asked irritably.
“Dr. Timmus put up a notice,” he said ignoring her tone, “They found out what really happened last night.”
“What do you mean ‘what really happened’?” she asked.
“Acheron was lured outside. Someone snuck in while Acheron was out,” he said with a certain excitement in his voice, “They broke into the files.”
“What files?”
“The student files,” Garrick explained, “Dr. Timmus keeps thorough records of all the students. Past and present.”
“Why would someone go to such extremes to break into student files?” she asked.
“I’m not sure, but it could be dangerous for whoever’s file was taken,” he shrugged.
“They don’t know what’s missing?” her eyes widened with surprise.
“Well not yet. They stole the actual paper file. So they wont know what’s gone until they run what they have still through the computer,” he explained, “It could be one file, it could be a dozen. They’re pretty clueless right now.”
“So what exactly does all this mean?”
“No one knows,” he replied, “And no one will know unless something happens to one of the people whose file was taken.”
“Oh, gee, that’s real reassuring.” Eartha said sarcastically.
Mr. Sayers’ class seemed even more dull than normal since she was still anxious about the news that Garrick had shared with her. Whispers of what had happened were buzzing all around the school and a lot of the students knew that Acheron, Eartha, and Garrick were all somehow involved. People were staring at her throughout all her classes. There was a lot of whispering and pointing that went along with the staring. It was a bit annoying, but she ignored it much in the same way she had ignored the extra attention she had received on her first day. My Sayers was droning on as usual and as usual most of the students were ignoring him so Eartha took it upon herself to raise her hand to stop the senseless babble.
“Yes, Miss. Wicken, do you have a question?” Mr. Sayers asked somewhat annoyed by the interruption.
“Yes,” she replied, “But not about the subject. I was just wondering what exactly happened last night?” The entire room went silent and all the focus was on Mr. Sayers. This was very unusual for Mr. Sayers and it seemed to unnerve him a little bit, but everyone seemed very interested in what exactly had taken place the night before.
Mr. Sayers frowned, “I’m sure Miss. Wicken, that you read the notice that Dr. Timmus posted.”
“Yes, and it didn’t really tell me much,” she returned, “What exactly was taken? I mean, are we in danger because of this incident?”
“None of the current student’s files were taken,” he answered still annoyed, “So, no, you are in no direct danger.”
“Well, just because it wasn’t my file that was taken doesn’t exactly make me safe,” she shot back before he had a chance to return to his lesson.
“I don’t know what you mean Miss. Wicken,” he said glaring at her.
“Well, Dr. Timmus updates his files when he has something to update them with, correct?” she asked.
“Yes, that is why we keep them,” he said, “to keep us up to date on the others outside of the school.”
“Well, then, if my father’s file was taken then not only is my father in danger, but my mother and myself,” she explained. Suddenly the room was in an uproar of worried students. Most of the students had at least one parent that had gone to this school before them. Students were asking to leave so they could warn their parents or near hysterics with worry.
“Calm down!” Mr. Sayers yelled, “Quiet!” Eventually the room was quiet enough for Mr. Sayers to speak, “Miss. Wicken, I think you need to discuss your issues with Dr. Timmus,” he ordered her out of the room, “And the rest of you… your parents have already been informed of the break in and are taking precautions. There is absolutely nothing to worry about. Miss. Wicken is upsetting you unnecessarily.”
Eartha rolled her eyes gathered up her things and left the room muttering as she left, “At least Dr. Timmus will be able to give me valid information.” Another surge of whispers and giggles erupted in the classroom. Mr. Sayers had to take another few minutes to calm his class again before he could continue his lesson.
Eartha had no worries about going to Dr. Timmus’ office. Most students would fear being sent to his office, but Eartha had spent so much one on one time with him that she wasn’t even the tiniest bit worried. The other students tended to be afraid of him because they understood that he had a power that even the officials couldn’t control. Eartha on the other hand saw him as her only protector in this school. Without him here she probably wouldn’t have ever been admitted to the school. She opened the door to Dr. Timmus outer office and the secretary glanced around nervously. “Mr. Sayers sent me,” she announced, “for disrupting class.”
The secretary nodded nervously and pointed to one of the waiting chairs. Apparently she knew that Eartha had something to do with what had happened last night, but she didn’t know what. The ignorant people tend to choose fear over asking for the truth. The door opened and another student was leaving the office with Dr. Timmus right behind him. “Garrick?” she asked surprised.
“You too?” he asked sheepishly.
“Yes, you’re both very disruptive students,” Dr. Timmus smiled, “Mr. Strom you can return to class. Miss. Wicken, please come in.” He motioned her into the office and Garrick smiled as he left the office.
“I’m surprised really that I saw from Mr. Strom before I saw from you Miss. Wicken,” Dr. Timmus said.
“Well, if Mr. Sayers hadn’t nearly put me in a coma with his droning I probably would have been disruptive a little sooner,” she replied. Dr. Timmus smiled and motioned for her to take a seat across the desk as he took his place behind it. “Have you discovered what files are missing?” she asked seriously.
“No,” he replied honestly, “A lot of the boxes were torn through and it looks like there may be several missing. Papers from some of the files have been scattered across the floor. So it may not even be an entire file missing, but just pages from certain ones.”
“Do you have any clue what they were after?” she asked. Dr. Timmus looked at her and then he did the strangest thing, he treated Eartha like an adult, no even more than that, he treated her like an equal and started to explain what he knew, “Well, here’s the thing, Eartha, we know the person who broke in was psychic because they managed to lure Acheron out of his dorm and out the front door. They couldn’t break the lock so they needed someone from the inside to open the door for them. When Acheron opened the door he blacked out probably because the other person made him. He left him out there until he got what he wanted. During the scuffle between you and Acheron~ I assume Acheron was put under some kind of trance to attack anyone who came along~ the other person must have slipped out. So, basically all this boils down to is the person couldn’t have been a non-psychic. Unfortunately, it gives me no clue as to what they wanted from my files,” Dr. Timmus sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. “It went very smooth for this person even with having the unexpected problem of you showing up at an inopportune time. He slipped in and slipped out with no one seeing and left nothing behind for us to trace. Not even a hint at an electrical signature that all psychics have which tells me that whoever did this has very good shields and a completely contained mind.”
“So, how am I to know that my parents aren’t in danger?” she asked not knowing what else to ask.
“I have warned them, Eartha. Right now that’s all I can offer you. They will be careful, but this is a danger we’ve all see before. Someone is always out to hurt us out of fear or wanting control. It’s the same old story this time too. We will find out who did this eventually, they will do something to draw attention to themselves and we will lock him or her up so they can’t hurt anyone. You can’t keep secrets in our community for long.”
Somehow Eartha wasn’t reassured by this and left Dr. Timmus office with the same doubts she had gone in there with. She looked at her watch thankful that Mr. Sayers’ class was over. That was one less annoyance she would have to deal with. She went through the rest of her day like a machine. She didn’t speak to anyone or answer any questions about what had happened. She skipped her meals to avoid Garrick. She didn’t want to see anyone including him or maybe especially him. Even though he knew everything he didn’t understand everything. Right now all she wanted was to be home with her parents. They knew. They understood. They were the only ones that would make her feel better. That night she passed out early from the sleep deprivation of the night before and the lack of food she had in her system.
The dream struck her immediately. She didn’t really realize what was going on she had never slipped into a dream so quickly. It was bothering her because she knew this was not reality. She knew that she was lying in her bed in the dorm room, but that was not what she was seeing.
She seemed to be a part of a meeting. There were about two-dozen people in the room. She only saw the backs of their heads. All their heads were turned towards one man speaking near the front. She could not see the speaker either. There were too many people between her and him. She tried to move forward, but she seemed to be frozen in her position at the back. She strained to hear what the speaker was saying.
“We should not be the ones hiding from them! They should be hiding from us!” she heard him announce, “We are the powerful! We have the control!” She heard many of the people agreeing with the speaker, but she still didn’t know what he was talking about. “I have gathered you here for our first meeting to send you out to recruit more of our kind. We need an army for those who would try to stop this natural process. Remember survival of the fittest! We are the powerful and we will survive and those who are weak will perish!” Did that mean this man planned to kill those who he deemed as weak? She wondered. “I invited many others to our meeting today that did not show up! They apparently do not believe that we are the stronger species and therefore we must show them the path or push them out of our ways!” there was another loud eruption of cheers and yells of agreement. This was not good, Eartha decided. Whoever this person was, they were planning on killing people who did not follow him. Dr. Timmus needed to know about this immediately. How do I get out of this dream? She wondered. She tried to pinch herself, but she realized there was nothing there to pinch. She seemed to be at this meeting only in spirit and not in the flesh. She wanted out of this nightmare, but she didn’t know how to get out. “I have files and lists of those who chose not to join us tonight…” Suddenly the dream began to fade. No! Eartha thought. Not now! I need to know if those are the same files and whose files they were so I can warn them! She frantically tried to hold on to the dream, but then everything went black.
The meeting and all the people were gone and she was back in her room in the dorm. She looked quickly at her clock and realized she had only been asleep for about five minutes. She leapt out of bed. She had not undressed earlier because she had been so tired and now she was thankful. She ran out of her room and through the common room. She ignored all the stares she got from the other students still up and studying. Students were not supposed to be in the halls after ten especially after the incident from the night before, but this was an emergency. She knew it was not a dream, but a vision she had just had. She had to tell Dr. Timmus immediately and she didn’t really care if she got in trouble for being out of her dorm room after ten. She ran through the outer office door. His secretary was already gone for the night and the waiting room was dark. She crossed the room and pounded on the inner office door afraid Dr. Timmus had already gone to bed for the night. The door opened slowly and Dr. Timmus peaked his head out and was only mildly surprised to see Eartha standing before him out of breath. “Something wrong, Eartha?” he asked opening the door so she could come into his office.
“I think …I mean, I know I just had a vision,” she gasped.
“Have a seat and catch your breath,” he suggested. He went behind his desk to his computer. He clicked a few button and then turned the monitor off. He looked across at her and rose an eyebrow, “Caught it?” he asked.
Eartha nodded her head quickly, “At first I thought it was a dream, but I’m almost positive it wasn’t. It had to have been a vision. I’m sorry for being out so late again and bothering you, but I think it might be important.”
“It’s okay, Eartha. Tell me your vision,” Dr. Timmus replied calmly.
“Well, there was a large gathering of people and I was at the back of the crowd,” she started, “I couldn’t move closer to see who any of the people were, but I could hear the speaker. He said he had files and a list of other people who he was going to try to get to join his group. If they refused he said he would get rid of them. He was talking about being powerful and how he was going to get rid of the weak and anyone who would not join them. I’m positive that the list and files came from your files. They’re going to kill anyone who doesn’t join their group!”
“Did you actually see the files or the list?” Dr. Timmus asked in his same calm voice.
“No, I couldn’t see anything! I only heard what they were planning! The vision started fading the moment he showed them the list. I tried to hold on to see what they looked like, but I couldn’t do anything.”
“He didn’t say any names or~”
“No!” she said impatiently, “but I know that it was the same person who stole your files and he’s going after all those people!”
“Okay, okay, calm down, Eartha,” Dr. Timmus said slowly.
“I can’t calm down!” she cried out, “That could be anyone! Everyone! He has a list of people… it’s not even the files he took. He could be after anyone on his list!”
“Eartha, I understand the seriousness of this,” he assured her, “Come with me. This has upset you, but what you need most right now is sleep.”
“I can’t sleep!” she protested.
“Yes, the nurse will help you sleep,” Dr. Timmus insisted, “She will give you something. Visions tend to take a lot out of a person. You need to gather your strength back up.”
“We need to warn people,” Eartha insisted.
“I need to warn people. You need to gather your strength,” Dr. Timmus said firmly and she knew better to argue with him anymore. She reluctantly followed him to the nurse who took charge of her immediately. She shooed Dr. Timmus back out of the hospital wing and rushed Eartha into a nightgown. She forced Eartha to take several gulps of a nasty smelling liquid that the nurse insisted would put her to sleep. Eartha didn’t have much time to argue about going to sleep with this nurse because before she could even protest she was out cold.
Eartha slept for three days. The liquid that the nurse had given her was only supposed to keep her sleeping for about a day, but Eartha’s body had decided that she needed more time to heal. The nurse was worried thinking she had done something wrong so she immediately showed Dr. Timmus. “She’s fine,” he assured her, “Her body has it’s own healing pattern. It probably has nothing to do with the vision or what you gave her. She had to fight off a vampire and then not get any sleep to recuperate. This is just her body’s way of telling her she needs a break.”
“But she hasn’t taken anything in for these three days. That can’t be healthy for her,” the nurse protested.
“Well, it’s not exactly going to kill her is it?” Dr. Timmus laughed, “The only thing that will kill Eartha is complete exhaustion, if she uses up all her energy to heal someone else. Her body can go without a lot of things for extended periods of time. In other words, it would take a little bit more than lack of food to harm her.”
When Eartha finally did wake up she did not even know that three days were passed and did not understand why the nurse was so happy to see her awake. The nurse explained to her that she had missed three days of school and although Eartha groaned about the homework she was going to have to make up she was not at all surprised that she had slept for three days. She had the hunger gnawing at her insides that was telling her she had gone far too long without food. She voiced her need of sustenance to the nurse and the nurse looked almost embarrassed that she had not already offered the girl a meal. Eartha assured the nurse that it wasn’t that big of a deal for her to go three days without food. After all she had once gone without food for an entire week after an incident with her extended family a couple years back.
The nurse somehow managed to keep Eartha under her care for another week to make sure she was all right. She brought Eartha her homework daily and helped her when she needed it. The nurse had never seen anything quite like Eartha and she took an interest in her unique healing ability. She would have loved to study Eartha’s habits more closely, but she was afraid she would offend or annoy Eartha if she was kept in the infirmary much longer. Eartha on the other hand respected the nurse a great deal. Most people did not really care what offended or annoyed her if it served their own interests. She was appreciative of the nurse’s attitude and willingly answered questions that she normally felt were no one else’s business. Which was probably why Eartha allowed the nurse to keep her in the hospital wing for so long. When she did return to class she was entirely caught up with all her classes. In fact, in some areas she was actually ahead because of the nurse’s extra insight.
Chapter 5
She woke from a restless sleep in the morning and knew she was going to have a difficult time trying to concentrate on anything today. She was cranky and not in the mood to speak to anyone. She left her room early in hopes she could avoid contact with any of the other students. She managed to slip out of the dorm room without a sound and without attracting any attention. The few students that had already been in the common room did not even realize anyone had left. She pulled the door closed silently and sighed.
“Guess what,” a voice said behind her. She jumped and whirled around to face who had spoken. Garrick was standing right behind her.
“What?” she asked irritably.
“Dr. Timmus put up a notice,” he said ignoring her tone, “They found out what really happened last night.”
“What do you mean ‘what really happened’?” she asked.
“Acheron was lured outside. Someone snuck in while Acheron was out,” he said with a certain excitement in his voice, “They broke into the files.”
“What files?”
“The student files,” Garrick explained, “Dr. Timmus keeps thorough records of all the students. Past and present.”
“Why would someone go to such extremes to break into student files?” she asked.
“I’m not sure, but it could be dangerous for whoever’s file was taken,” he shrugged.
“They don’t know what’s missing?” her eyes widened with surprise.
“Well not yet. They stole the actual paper file. So they wont know what’s gone until they run what they have still through the computer,” he explained, “It could be one file, it could be a dozen. They’re pretty clueless right now.”
“So what exactly does all this mean?”
“No one knows,” he replied, “And no one will know unless something happens to one of the people whose file was taken.”
“Oh, gee, that’s real reassuring.” Eartha said sarcastically.
Mr. Sayers’ class seemed even more dull than normal since she was still anxious about the news that Garrick had shared with her. Whispers of what had happened were buzzing all around the school and a lot of the students knew that Acheron, Eartha, and Garrick were all somehow involved. People were staring at her throughout all her classes. There was a lot of whispering and pointing that went along with the staring. It was a bit annoying, but she ignored it much in the same way she had ignored the extra attention she had received on her first day. My Sayers was droning on as usual and as usual most of the students were ignoring him so Eartha took it upon herself to raise her hand to stop the senseless babble.
“Yes, Miss. Wicken, do you have a question?” Mr. Sayers asked somewhat annoyed by the interruption.
“Yes,” she replied, “But not about the subject. I was just wondering what exactly happened last night?” The entire room went silent and all the focus was on Mr. Sayers. This was very unusual for Mr. Sayers and it seemed to unnerve him a little bit, but everyone seemed very interested in what exactly had taken place the night before.
Mr. Sayers frowned, “I’m sure Miss. Wicken, that you read the notice that Dr. Timmus posted.”
“Yes, and it didn’t really tell me much,” she returned, “What exactly was taken? I mean, are we in danger because of this incident?”
“None of the current student’s files were taken,” he answered still annoyed, “So, no, you are in no direct danger.”
“Well, just because it wasn’t my file that was taken doesn’t exactly make me safe,” she shot back before he had a chance to return to his lesson.
“I don’t know what you mean Miss. Wicken,” he said glaring at her.
“Well, Dr. Timmus updates his files when he has something to update them with, correct?” she asked.
“Yes, that is why we keep them,” he said, “to keep us up to date on the others outside of the school.”
“Well, then, if my father’s file was taken then not only is my father in danger, but my mother and myself,” she explained. Suddenly the room was in an uproar of worried students. Most of the students had at least one parent that had gone to this school before them. Students were asking to leave so they could warn their parents or near hysterics with worry.
“Calm down!” Mr. Sayers yelled, “Quiet!” Eventually the room was quiet enough for Mr. Sayers to speak, “Miss. Wicken, I think you need to discuss your issues with Dr. Timmus,” he ordered her out of the room, “And the rest of you… your parents have already been informed of the break in and are taking precautions. There is absolutely nothing to worry about. Miss. Wicken is upsetting you unnecessarily.”
Eartha rolled her eyes gathered up her things and left the room muttering as she left, “At least Dr. Timmus will be able to give me valid information.” Another surge of whispers and giggles erupted in the classroom. Mr. Sayers had to take another few minutes to calm his class again before he could continue his lesson.
Eartha had no worries about going to Dr. Timmus’ office. Most students would fear being sent to his office, but Eartha had spent so much one on one time with him that she wasn’t even the tiniest bit worried. The other students tended to be afraid of him because they understood that he had a power that even the officials couldn’t control. Eartha on the other hand saw him as her only protector in this school. Without him here she probably wouldn’t have ever been admitted to the school. She opened the door to Dr. Timmus outer office and the secretary glanced around nervously. “Mr. Sayers sent me,” she announced, “for disrupting class.”
The secretary nodded nervously and pointed to one of the waiting chairs. Apparently she knew that Eartha had something to do with what had happened last night, but she didn’t know what. The ignorant people tend to choose fear over asking for the truth. The door opened and another student was leaving the office with Dr. Timmus right behind him. “Garrick?” she asked surprised.
“You too?” he asked sheepishly.
“Yes, you’re both very disruptive students,” Dr. Timmus smiled, “Mr. Strom you can return to class. Miss. Wicken, please come in.” He motioned her into the office and Garrick smiled as he left the office.
“I’m surprised really that I saw from Mr. Strom before I saw from you Miss. Wicken,” Dr. Timmus said.
“Well, if Mr. Sayers hadn’t nearly put me in a coma with his droning I probably would have been disruptive a little sooner,” she replied. Dr. Timmus smiled and motioned for her to take a seat across the desk as he took his place behind it. “Have you discovered what files are missing?” she asked seriously.
“No,” he replied honestly, “A lot of the boxes were torn through and it looks like there may be several missing. Papers from some of the files have been scattered across the floor. So it may not even be an entire file missing, but just pages from certain ones.”
“Do you have any clue what they were after?” she asked. Dr. Timmus looked at her and then he did the strangest thing, he treated Eartha like an adult, no even more than that, he treated her like an equal and started to explain what he knew, “Well, here’s the thing, Eartha, we know the person who broke in was psychic because they managed to lure Acheron out of his dorm and out the front door. They couldn’t break the lock so they needed someone from the inside to open the door for them. When Acheron opened the door he blacked out probably because the other person made him. He left him out there until he got what he wanted. During the scuffle between you and Acheron~ I assume Acheron was put under some kind of trance to attack anyone who came along~ the other person must have slipped out. So, basically all this boils down to is the person couldn’t have been a non-psychic. Unfortunately, it gives me no clue as to what they wanted from my files,” Dr. Timmus sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. “It went very smooth for this person even with having the unexpected problem of you showing up at an inopportune time. He slipped in and slipped out with no one seeing and left nothing behind for us to trace. Not even a hint at an electrical signature that all psychics have which tells me that whoever did this has very good shields and a completely contained mind.”
“So, how am I to know that my parents aren’t in danger?” she asked not knowing what else to ask.
“I have warned them, Eartha. Right now that’s all I can offer you. They will be careful, but this is a danger we’ve all see before. Someone is always out to hurt us out of fear or wanting control. It’s the same old story this time too. We will find out who did this eventually, they will do something to draw attention to themselves and we will lock him or her up so they can’t hurt anyone. You can’t keep secrets in our community for long.”
Somehow Eartha wasn’t reassured by this and left Dr. Timmus office with the same doubts she had gone in there with. She looked at her watch thankful that Mr. Sayers’ class was over. That was one less annoyance she would have to deal with. She went through the rest of her day like a machine. She didn’t speak to anyone or answer any questions about what had happened. She skipped her meals to avoid Garrick. She didn’t want to see anyone including him or maybe especially him. Even though he knew everything he didn’t understand everything. Right now all she wanted was to be home with her parents. They knew. They understood. They were the only ones that would make her feel better. That night she passed out early from the sleep deprivation of the night before and the lack of food she had in her system.
The dream struck her immediately. She didn’t really realize what was going on she had never slipped into a dream so quickly. It was bothering her because she knew this was not reality. She knew that she was lying in her bed in the dorm room, but that was not what she was seeing.
She seemed to be a part of a meeting. There were about two-dozen people in the room. She only saw the backs of their heads. All their heads were turned towards one man speaking near the front. She could not see the speaker either. There were too many people between her and him. She tried to move forward, but she seemed to be frozen in her position at the back. She strained to hear what the speaker was saying.
“We should not be the ones hiding from them! They should be hiding from us!” she heard him announce, “We are the powerful! We have the control!” She heard many of the people agreeing with the speaker, but she still didn’t know what he was talking about. “I have gathered you here for our first meeting to send you out to recruit more of our kind. We need an army for those who would try to stop this natural process. Remember survival of the fittest! We are the powerful and we will survive and those who are weak will perish!” Did that mean this man planned to kill those who he deemed as weak? She wondered. “I invited many others to our meeting today that did not show up! They apparently do not believe that we are the stronger species and therefore we must show them the path or push them out of our ways!” there was another loud eruption of cheers and yells of agreement. This was not good, Eartha decided. Whoever this person was, they were planning on killing people who did not follow him. Dr. Timmus needed to know about this immediately. How do I get out of this dream? She wondered. She tried to pinch herself, but she realized there was nothing there to pinch. She seemed to be at this meeting only in spirit and not in the flesh. She wanted out of this nightmare, but she didn’t know how to get out. “I have files and lists of those who chose not to join us tonight…” Suddenly the dream began to fade. No! Eartha thought. Not now! I need to know if those are the same files and whose files they were so I can warn them! She frantically tried to hold on to the dream, but then everything went black.
The meeting and all the people were gone and she was back in her room in the dorm. She looked quickly at her clock and realized she had only been asleep for about five minutes. She leapt out of bed. She had not undressed earlier because she had been so tired and now she was thankful. She ran out of her room and through the common room. She ignored all the stares she got from the other students still up and studying. Students were not supposed to be in the halls after ten especially after the incident from the night before, but this was an emergency. She knew it was not a dream, but a vision she had just had. She had to tell Dr. Timmus immediately and she didn’t really care if she got in trouble for being out of her dorm room after ten. She ran through the outer office door. His secretary was already gone for the night and the waiting room was dark. She crossed the room and pounded on the inner office door afraid Dr. Timmus had already gone to bed for the night. The door opened slowly and Dr. Timmus peaked his head out and was only mildly surprised to see Eartha standing before him out of breath. “Something wrong, Eartha?” he asked opening the door so she could come into his office.
“I think …I mean, I know I just had a vision,” she gasped.
“Have a seat and catch your breath,” he suggested. He went behind his desk to his computer. He clicked a few button and then turned the monitor off. He looked across at her and rose an eyebrow, “Caught it?” he asked.
Eartha nodded her head quickly, “At first I thought it was a dream, but I’m almost positive it wasn’t. It had to have been a vision. I’m sorry for being out so late again and bothering you, but I think it might be important.”
“It’s okay, Eartha. Tell me your vision,” Dr. Timmus replied calmly.
“Well, there was a large gathering of people and I was at the back of the crowd,” she started, “I couldn’t move closer to see who any of the people were, but I could hear the speaker. He said he had files and a list of other people who he was going to try to get to join his group. If they refused he said he would get rid of them. He was talking about being powerful and how he was going to get rid of the weak and anyone who would not join them. I’m positive that the list and files came from your files. They’re going to kill anyone who doesn’t join their group!”
“Did you actually see the files or the list?” Dr. Timmus asked in his same calm voice.
“No, I couldn’t see anything! I only heard what they were planning! The vision started fading the moment he showed them the list. I tried to hold on to see what they looked like, but I couldn’t do anything.”
“He didn’t say any names or~”
“No!” she said impatiently, “but I know that it was the same person who stole your files and he’s going after all those people!”
“Okay, okay, calm down, Eartha,” Dr. Timmus said slowly.
“I can’t calm down!” she cried out, “That could be anyone! Everyone! He has a list of people… it’s not even the files he took. He could be after anyone on his list!”
“Eartha, I understand the seriousness of this,” he assured her, “Come with me. This has upset you, but what you need most right now is sleep.”
“I can’t sleep!” she protested.
“Yes, the nurse will help you sleep,” Dr. Timmus insisted, “She will give you something. Visions tend to take a lot out of a person. You need to gather your strength back up.”
“We need to warn people,” Eartha insisted.
“I need to warn people. You need to gather your strength,” Dr. Timmus said firmly and she knew better to argue with him anymore. She reluctantly followed him to the nurse who took charge of her immediately. She shooed Dr. Timmus back out of the hospital wing and rushed Eartha into a nightgown. She forced Eartha to take several gulps of a nasty smelling liquid that the nurse insisted would put her to sleep. Eartha didn’t have much time to argue about going to sleep with this nurse because before she could even protest she was out cold.
Eartha slept for three days. The liquid that the nurse had given her was only supposed to keep her sleeping for about a day, but Eartha’s body had decided that she needed more time to heal. The nurse was worried thinking she had done something wrong so she immediately showed Dr. Timmus. “She’s fine,” he assured her, “Her body has it’s own healing pattern. It probably has nothing to do with the vision or what you gave her. She had to fight off a vampire and then not get any sleep to recuperate. This is just her body’s way of telling her she needs a break.”
“But she hasn’t taken anything in for these three days. That can’t be healthy for her,” the nurse protested.
“Well, it’s not exactly going to kill her is it?” Dr. Timmus laughed, “The only thing that will kill Eartha is complete exhaustion, if she uses up all her energy to heal someone else. Her body can go without a lot of things for extended periods of time. In other words, it would take a little bit more than lack of food to harm her.”
When Eartha finally did wake up she did not even know that three days were passed and did not understand why the nurse was so happy to see her awake. The nurse explained to her that she had missed three days of school and although Eartha groaned about the homework she was going to have to make up she was not at all surprised that she had slept for three days. She had the hunger gnawing at her insides that was telling her she had gone far too long without food. She voiced her need of sustenance to the nurse and the nurse looked almost embarrassed that she had not already offered the girl a meal. Eartha assured the nurse that it wasn’t that big of a deal for her to go three days without food. After all she had once gone without food for an entire week after an incident with her extended family a couple years back.
The nurse somehow managed to keep Eartha under her care for another week to make sure she was all right. She brought Eartha her homework daily and helped her when she needed it. The nurse had never seen anything quite like Eartha and she took an interest in her unique healing ability. She would have loved to study Eartha’s habits more closely, but she was afraid she would offend or annoy Eartha if she was kept in the infirmary much longer. Eartha on the other hand respected the nurse a great deal. Most people did not really care what offended or annoyed her if it served their own interests. She was appreciative of the nurse’s attitude and willingly answered questions that she normally felt were no one else’s business. Which was probably why Eartha allowed the nurse to keep her in the hospital wing for so long. When she did return to class she was entirely caught up with all her classes. In fact, in some areas she was actually ahead because of the nurse’s extra insight.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Holy Crap! You've got to be kidding me!
My manager just informed me that there was a full moon last Sunday. That apparently translates into the dumbest people in Omaha crawl out of their hidey-hole and find a telephone to call our office and irritate the hell out of me. Yesterday I had one extra special patient call up and ask to get a follow up appointment to see the doctor (not that odd). Her exact words were, "Dr. T-- did surgery on me a few years ago and I need to get in to see him because I think there is something wrong again." Logically I asked, "What did surgery did you have?" This of course is when the phone gets all scratchy and cuts out for a second, but I do manage to pick out the word "stomach". Ehm, wrong answer. For those of you who don't know me or where I work let me run through a quick explanation. The doctor I work for only takes care of varicose and spider veins in the legs. Very specific. He is a retired doctor and he used to be a general and vascular surgeon. He's not anymore and he hasn't been for over two years now. We pretty much informed every patient he's ever seen that he no longer does any surgery that doesn't have to do with veins in your legs. Every once in a while we get one patient that hasn't heard and we get calls like this. It's really not that big of a deal until they turn into this lady. So, once I hear the key word "stomach" I know we will not be seeing her in our office. I proceed to tell her that the doctor has retired from general surgery and she needs to return to her family physician with any problems and if she needs a surgeon her family doctor will be able to refer her to a new surgeon. This woman's reply? "But the doctor is still there, right?" Oh, boy. Yep, it's one of those patients that just doesn't want to give up her dream of coming to see a retired doctor who can't help her. "Yes, he is still working, but he doesn't do general surgery anymore."
"Well, I don't think I need surgery. I just need him to check me out."
You just don't get it, do you? "He is retired. He doesn't see patients unless they have varicose veins anymore."
"So, what am I supposed to do?"
What did I just tell you to do not even a minute ago, you deaf old bat? "You need to return to you family physician so they can check you out and if you need a new surgeon they will refer you to one." Oh! Now it sinks in.
BUT!
That is nothing in comparison to the winner I just hung up with. It's another follow up patient and this time it is someone who actually has vein problems. Good start. I pulled her chart to see what she needs to come back in for because I realized long ago that our patients don't really pay attention when we tell them when they need to come back and what it will be for... so I stopped asking. Their answers just annoy me. In her chart the doctor says that they patient needs to obtain compression stocking (those really tight, thick stockings that squeeze your leg. yep, exactly what they sound like). So, I get back on the phone with her and ask her if she has gotten the panty hose and worn them for the past six weeks or so. Nope. She never got them. Okay, simple enough. GO GET THEM, STUPID! So, I explain to her that she needs to get the compression stockings from the pharmacy and wear them for six weeks before I schedule her for a re-evaluation. I even offer to fax the prescription in so she doesn't need to come and pick it up at the office. The conversation should have been over right there, but oh no. She pauses for a second and then asks, "Do I have to fill the prescription?" Huh? No, she couldn't have actually meant what she just asked so I requested that she repeat her question and she replied. "You know, do I actually have to fill the prescription?"
WHAT THE HELL????!!!! "Yes, you have to fill the prescription and actually wear the compression hose." Why the hell else would we write the damn thing and fax it in for you?
"Oh, but I don't have to wear them while it's hot, right?"
As long as it's for six consecutive weeks I don't give a shit when you wear them, you dumb bitch. I reiterated to her that she needed to wear them for six weeks so we could have documentation to send in to her insurance company so she could get the procedure done. If you don't want your insurance to pay for the $5000 to $7000 surgery feel free to not wear the support hose. I hope you get a blood clot and your leg explodes, because you're obviously too dumb to get the point.
How are there so many dumb people in the world?
"Well, I don't think I need surgery. I just need him to check me out."
You just don't get it, do you? "He is retired. He doesn't see patients unless they have varicose veins anymore."
"So, what am I supposed to do?"
What did I just tell you to do not even a minute ago, you deaf old bat? "You need to return to you family physician so they can check you out and if you need a new surgeon they will refer you to one." Oh! Now it sinks in.
BUT!
That is nothing in comparison to the winner I just hung up with. It's another follow up patient and this time it is someone who actually has vein problems. Good start. I pulled her chart to see what she needs to come back in for because I realized long ago that our patients don't really pay attention when we tell them when they need to come back and what it will be for... so I stopped asking. Their answers just annoy me. In her chart the doctor says that they patient needs to obtain compression stocking (those really tight, thick stockings that squeeze your leg. yep, exactly what they sound like). So, I get back on the phone with her and ask her if she has gotten the panty hose and worn them for the past six weeks or so. Nope. She never got them. Okay, simple enough. GO GET THEM, STUPID! So, I explain to her that she needs to get the compression stockings from the pharmacy and wear them for six weeks before I schedule her for a re-evaluation. I even offer to fax the prescription in so she doesn't need to come and pick it up at the office. The conversation should have been over right there, but oh no. She pauses for a second and then asks, "Do I have to fill the prescription?" Huh? No, she couldn't have actually meant what she just asked so I requested that she repeat her question and she replied. "You know, do I actually have to fill the prescription?"
WHAT THE HELL????!!!! "Yes, you have to fill the prescription and actually wear the compression hose." Why the hell else would we write the damn thing and fax it in for you?
"Oh, but I don't have to wear them while it's hot, right?"
As long as it's for six consecutive weeks I don't give a shit when you wear them, you dumb bitch. I reiterated to her that she needed to wear them for six weeks so we could have documentation to send in to her insurance company so she could get the procedure done. If you don't want your insurance to pay for the $5000 to $7000 surgery feel free to not wear the support hose. I hope you get a blood clot and your leg explodes, because you're obviously too dumb to get the point.
How are there so many dumb people in the world?
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