Destiny

[jammi]

When I awoke again, I was in a different room in another hospital bed. Warm sunlight streamed through a large window onto my bed. I looked around me, content to lie still without attempting to so much as move.

I heard the door swish open and someone walk through, heels clicking on the floor. I looked up to see an nurse peering at a small machine on a shelf to the right of my bed, probably a vitals monitor. She looked up at me with an obviously fake smile, the sort sales assistants spend weeks practicing, before trotting out again, apparently satisfied I wasnt going to die of something unexpected.

I slumped back down under the sheets again lying perfectly still until I went numb and had to sit up. The sun was casting dull red rays through the window now, as it sunk slowly below the horizon. I sat cross legged on top of my covers staring at the cable jutting out of my arm, feeding me something, until a doctor wearing a lab coat bustled in. He was wearing a grave expression on his face.

Mr. Aldridge, we have been talking to the crew of the Eastbourne, and we know you collapsed twice. Here in the hospital you had some sort of seizure, after which you fell into a short, well, coma lasting two days.

While you were unconscious, we ran a brain scan on you, and we found something... odd. I gazed at him coolly, not wanting to give away any of my feelings of internal panic. Mr. Aldridge, have you ever taken the narcotic Cardimine? We need to know this for your own safety.

No I replied, slightly offended. The doctor sighed and removed his glasses wearily.

Look, your brain activity while you were unconscious was disturbing; it was hyperactive in some areas while inactive to the point of being dead in others. Weve seen similar patterns in overdose victims of Cardimine. If you dont tell us the truth now, well be forced to take a blood test and legal action if you are found to have the substance in your blood stream. The doctor stared at me like an owl for a moment before walking around to the other side of the bed to check the machine the nurse had previously been looking at.

Im telling you, I dont do Cardimine...

---

News article library, feedback and content requests.