Strange #Mystery #Suspense
Strange: A doctor’s frightening dreams, deathbed children waking up cured, and an archeologist’s deciphering Mayan ancient hieroglyphs.
Strange: Mystery/Suspense
Buy at: Amazon, Barnes and Nobl
BLURB: Strange
Frightening dreams night after night are afflicting the chief of pediatrics, Adam Stafford, at Ocala Regional Medical Center. Will there be a conclusion of his dreams or will he succumb to a death spiral before he can awake? At ORMC, Adam attempts to understand why deathbed children on the pediatric floor at ORMC awakened cured without any medical explanation? In a near-by town, an archeologist, Lisa Douglas, is searching for the meaning of ancient hieroglyphs on various Mayan relics recently discovered in a cave along Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. There seems to be a possibility that all these scenarios are intertwined with a twelve-year-old male patient, Arius Turner, at Ocala Regional Medical Center.
EXCERPT: Strange
Arius Turner lay supine on a long rectangular table outside the opening of the MRI’s cylindrical chamber. His arms pressed up against the side of his small, medium-build body. Two Velcro straps laid horizontal across his legs and mid torso; his head was wedged snugly between a foam head support. He laid motionless on the table. The twelve-year-old patient hadn’t said a word of dissatisfaction or showed any frightening emotions when the MRI technician secured him to the table.
Alan Stark, the MRI technician, stood to the left of Arius. The technician, a stout, middle-aged man about six-foot tall, wore a long, blue lab coat. He peered up to his right at a computerized panel of multicolored lights and digital numbers. A moment later, he turned his head downward and to the left toward Arius. “We will be starting the machine soon. Like I said earlier, there will be a loud and rapid tapping noise coming from the machine. So, don’t be afraid. You won’t feel any discomfort or pain.” He paused. “Would you like ear plugs to block the noise? Or maybe you’d like to wear some head phones and listen to music during the procedure?”
“I’m not scared or worried,” Arius answered confidently. “I know no harm will be done to me. Unless I have a heart pacemaker or some other type of electronic device implanted within me. And, no thank you regarding the ear plugs or headphones.”
Alan frowned with a puzzled expression. “You must’ve had this procedure done before?”
“No. I’ve never had an MRI,” he answered with a hint of insolence in his voice. “Besides, I try to read about anything that may harm my body and mind.”
“Well excu-u-u-se me,” Alan blurted out jokingly. “I didn’t know I was speaking with The Shell Answer Man. Of course, you’re too young to know what I meant by that?”
“You would be surprised to what I know, Mr. Technician Man,” he answered with a grin. “He was a fictitious character on a TV commercial many years ago, who would answer questions regarding automobiles and gasoline products.”
“I guess there aren’t too many things I can get by you?”
Arius frowned with puzzlement. “I wasn’t trying to intimidate you. I was reciprocating your statement.”
Alan smiled. He turned around and directed his attention across the room toward a glass partition in the wall. Behind the partition sat a middle-aged, oriental woman in front of several monitors. He gave the woman the “thumbs-up” sign. She reciprocated with the same gesture.
Returning his attention toward the MRI’s panel to his right, he reached out and placed the tip of his index finger on a green button on the MRI panel. He looked down toward Arius. “Here we go, young man,” he said with a monotonous, programmed tone of voice. “The table will slide into the cylinder and stop. The scanning will occur several seconds afterward. It’s very important you don’t move during the entire procedure.”
“I understand the procedure,” said Arius.
Alan pushed a green button. The MRI’s rectangular table slowly moved into its coffin-like cylinder. A few moments later he pushed a red button. The table stopped. “The procedure will start…now,” said the technician.
A high shrilling noise shrieked from the MRI machine. The noise then stopped. All the previous lit buttons on the panel went out, as if someone or something had pulled the plug, disconnecting all functions of the MRI machine.
Alan Stark jumped backwards a couple of feet during the MRI’s piercing screech. It appeared all the blood had drained from his face, leaving him with a pale, ghost-white appearance. His eyes appeared like small white saucers as his mouth gapped wide open. He finally shouted, “What the hell happened?”
Alan turned toward the woman at the control monitors. She shook her head back and forth while shrugging her shoulders. He peered down toward Arius. The twelve-year-old patient laid still, motionlessinside the cylindrical chamber. He couldn’t understand why this young boy wasn’t moving or crying out?“Are you all right, little man? Are you still with us?”
No verbal response. Not even the slightest twitch, from the twelve-year-old patient’s body. A few seconds passed, “I’m fine.” Arius’s voice was calm.
A deep sigh of relief came from Alan. “I’m glad you’re all right. You had me worried for a moment.”
“I assume something went wrong with the MRI machine?” Arius said matter-of-factly.
“It lost all power without warning,” he answered. “I’ve never seen this happen before.”
“Since there isn’t any power to the MRI table,” said Arius, “I assume you’ll have to manually move the table?”
“Yeah. You’re right.” He seemed surprised by Arius’s intuitiveness. “Hang in there. I’ll have you out in a few moments.”
When he was about to engage the manual lever to the table, the door leading out to the hospital corridor burst open. He spun around. Coming through the doorway was the transporter, Caleb, who’d brought Arius down from his room, and behind him were a few other hospital employees. All of them expressed concern on their faces.
“Whatin heaven’s name was that horrible noise coming from this room?” Caleb asked anxiously. “The shrilling noise sounded like you and your patient were being attacked by a million bats.”
“The sound you heard came from the MRI machine,” Alan answered, “and I don’t have the foggiest idea what happened. It just crashed.” He turned back around and started to move the table out from underneath the MRI’s cylindrical opening. In less than a minute, the sliding table was out from underneath the cylinder.
Arius looked up at the technician. “Thank you. You’ve been very kind.”
Alan smiled. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re all right.”
Caleb, who was now standing a few paces from the end of the table, asked: “Are you going to restart the MRI?”
“I don’t know how long it’ll take to fix it,” answered the technician as he shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Since you’re here, you can take our young patient back to his room.”
Alan reached down and removed the Velcro straps from around Arius’s legs and torso. He next spread the head support allowing his young patient the freedom to sit up. To his surprise, he noticed Arius didn’t have a single bead of sweat across his forehead. Most children would’ve been yelling “bloody murder,” or they would’ve been crying hysterically until they were pulled out from under the MRI machine.But not this patient, he was composed and unaffected throughout this frightening ordeal.
Caleb returned with a wheelchair. “Hop aboard mate. Your ship is sinking.”
Arius frowned. A moment later a smile appeared. He now apparently understood what the transporter had meant by his statement. He slid off the MRI table and sat in the wheelchair.
The transporter said goodbye to the MRI technician, turned the wheelchair around and headed out of the MRI room. On their way back to the pediatric floor,neither of them said anything of significance nor anything about what could’ve happened to the MRI machine.Caleb dropped Arius off in his room and left.
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Website URL: www.gregdidaleusky.com
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/G.-L.-Didaleusky/e/B003P6MDN8/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
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