Lockdown: The Arcadia Diaries

Bacterial Infection

Arcadia, ME

July 4, 2019

Faith Jones

"Oh, God. What happened here?" Nurse Veneisha Rucker, a kindly young African-American woman, is examining the blister-looking rash on my arms and legs in the small hospital room I'm in. My mom is next to me, holding my hand the entire time.

"I don't know," I start sobbing. "But it really hurts!"

"When did this start?" Rucker asks my mom.

"This afternoon," Mom replies, clueless. 

"Yeah, one moment, I was fine, the next I start breaking out in painful boils everywhere," I croak. 

"Did you feel anything when you were swimming in the water?" Nurse Rucker asks me.

I shake my head. "No. I didn't feel a thing. It just came out of nowhere! The boils, the lesions, the rash-OW!"

"Sorry." Nurse Rucker had accidentally touched one of the boils. 

Arcadia, ME

July 4, 2019

Anna Seals

"Have you been around any livestock, any live animals recently?" Nurse Shannon Bradley, a brunette in her thirties with blue eyes, asks Joan, who shakes her head. "Any allergic reactions to food? Anything like that?"

"No, not really," Francesca croaks. "But it really hurts. It looks like boils, lesions."

"What was the last thing you ate?" Nurse Bradley asks.

"Crab legs," Joan replies simply. "We were eating lunch together and..."

"Could it be possible that the crabs you ate were infested with some kind of disease?" Nurse Bradley asks.

Joan and I look at each other. "What, like tapeworms?"

"It's a possibility that you ingested some crab infected with a bacteria or virus?" The nurse clarifies.

We both shake our heads. "I mean, if there was, how was I supposed to know?" Joan asks.

Arcadia, ME

July 4, 2019

Faith Jones

It turns out I have to be hospitalized until they can figure out a diagnosis, which means I am stuck in the hospital. As I'm being wheeled into my hospital room, I overhear another nurse calling herself "Treva" asking questions to another patient, a man calling himself David. Derek is asked something about food allergies and David denies having any.

Like myself, David's whole face is covered in the ugly rash. Before I am wheeled into my hospital room, the last thing I hear David mention is that he ate "crab salad" before he came down with the rash. 

My gears immediately begin to turn. Could this be some kind of food poisoning?
I shake my head. It can't be food poisoning. Not if it happens when you're swimming in the ocean and come down with it!
My nurse enters the hospital room. It turns out to be Treva. "Hi, I'm Treva. I'm gonna be taking care of you today, okay?"
I smile, only to wince in pain at the boils on my legs. "Where's my mom?"
"We're not allowing family members into the room at this time, in case this thing is contagious," Treva replies softly.
"Contagious?" I look at her in confusion.
"Yeah, a couple of us think it's some kind of contagious disease," Treva replies. "Like a virus or something."
"A virus?" I'm really intrigued now, despite the fact that I'm in pain.
"Yeah. Look, I gotta run, but do you need anything before I go?" The nurse eyeballs me sweetly.
I take a deep breath. "A phone charger would be nice. I have an iPhone 11, so..."
"I'm sure we have an iPhone charger around here somewhere." Treva smiles. "I'll be right back."