Sarcophagus

Children of A New Age

      The rain poured down hard, the kind of rain that makes you expect Noah was going to show any minute. The pounding sound of rain slamming on asphalt permeated the air. In the parking lot of St. Joseph hospital it was no less quiet than the onslaught of rain further down the road. The staff slipped into the building, dodging raindrops, or shielding their heads with whatever was available to them. A shadowy figure also lurked in the shadows this night, watching the staff and waiting for an opportune moment. After the shift change the parking lot emptied out, except for one doctor, a mister Larry Williams. Arriving late, he started to make his way towards the entrance. He let out a soft wail as he dropped to the ground, the shadowy figure went to work. The good doctor was drug out of sight, taking his coat and credentials the shadowy figure assumed his identity and slipped inside the hospital.

     Once inside he produced a comb and determinedly tamed his blonde hair. He was a younger man, a little over six feet tall, with soft eyes and a dazzling smile. With a doctors confidence he strolled into the hospital, heading for the elevators.

"Evening doctor." he heard as he strolled by, all of which he answered with a smile and a nod. Calling for the elevator he stood staring at his reflection in the elevator doors, when a voice behind him shook him from his trance.

"Hello there, I don't believe I've seen you around here before" the nurse questioned him

" Oh, hello there. I am the neurologist specialist that was called in, for the Susan Connors case" he slyly replied

"Oh, I had no idea." " Do you really think you can help her. Even in her deep comatose state" the nurse replied.

" That's what I'm here to find out, now if you'll excuse me." The elevator dinged as he was finishing his sentence and he unceremoniously stepped onto the elevator and pushed the button marked eight.

     When the doors closed, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled article he had cut out of the newspaper days earlier. The article was about a 13 year old girl named Susan Connors, a special girl who lapsed into a deep coma and no matter what doctor or what treatment was tried, still she lay there lifeless. The family had given up on Susan Connors, but you can't treat this with medicine. The young lad who was speeding upwards toward this girl was something different.

     The elevator dinged as it came to a rest on the eighth floor. The nurses station was just a few feet from the elevators, he stood up to the nurses station.

     "Hello I'm Doctor Larry Williams, and I'm here to see Susan Conners, could someone please point me in the right direction?" he smiled with a bemused look. The nurse on duty at the station reached into a stack of charts and quickly flipped through them. When she came across Susan she held it out and the young man took it, briefly scanned it, and headed down the hallway.

"Your welcome", the nurse scoffed under her breath.

     The chart laid out a very complex and puzzling story. Susan was a normal child, from a fairly normal background. Father was an alcoholic who was in and out of the hospital himself. There were no reports of abuse or neglect, in fact there were very few blemishes to speak of. The problems started when she turned ten, excruciating headaches, excessive dizziness, temporary blindness, things that should have been the symptoms of a much larger problem. So her family started with the family doctor, but to no avail. So specialists were called in, doctors with so many titles they were hard to comprehend, they were all stumped. The latest machines and tests were all used, still no diagnosis would come. The world's best were called upon, the leading physicians in their fields were called, at exorbitant cost these men and women were brought from the corners of the globe. All for naught, in desperation the parents turned to new age healers; shamans, witches, druids, witch doctors, Native American holy men, occultists, herbalists, alchemists, all failed.