Splat… splat… splat… splat. I noticed the sound of the blood drops from my hand hitting the floor. I looked down and saw that a small red puddle had already formed. The blood drops didn't drip down quickly, so since a puddle had formed I realized that some time had already passed.
I was still in shock and disbelief of what had happened. When the shadow left, I couldn't do anything but be motionless and keep staring at my dead mother's ashes, trying to make sense of it all. Time had passed with me in this thoughtless state, until I started feeling the pain in my left hand again and my mind focused.
I had to do something about this situation, about my mother, but I wasn't in a state to think about that at the moment, so I gave the state of my hand priority.
Since staring at my mother, I had subconsciously held my wounded hand raised to the side above my heart. The knife was still lodged through my hand, dyed entirely red with my blood. My long-sleeved dark blue shirt was bloodied at the wrist, though my blue jeans and black socks were still their original color. Another red puddle was also present where the knife had pinned my hand to the floor, somewhat larger than the one below my raised hand.
Observing the state of my hand and how much blood I lost, I concluded that my life wasn't in danger. The worst part was the pain and the grisly sight, but I knew that yanking the knife from my hand would only make the wound worse. It was obvious I needed a doctor and surgery. I felt capable enough to walk to Elise's house, so I didn't have to call emergency services. It was a slight mercy. If I had to call 911, the police would likely get involved too, and I still could not think about how I would explain the supernatural crime that had happened here.
Having decided what to do, my body came into action again. I pulled out my smartphone from my right pocket, opened the group chat of Elise, Ken, and me, and typed: 'Someone came into my house and attacked us. My hand is wounded, but otherwise I'm fine. I'm walking to Elise's house and will call when I'm on my way.'
After sending the message, I put my phone back into my pocket and stood up. The pain spiked when I moved my wounded hand, but I gritted and bore it. I walked into the kitchen, still holding my hand raised above my heart, grabbed a kitchen towel, and wrapped it carefully around my hand and the knife to cover the sight of it. I didn't want a passerby to bother me or make a call if they saw my wound.
I turned around to walk to the front door, but my phone rang at that moment. Probably Elise or Ken, but I ignored it and kept moving. I passed through the living room, took a last look at my mother's ashes, and continued walking. I grabbed my sandals and put them on instead of my regular shoes, since I couldn't tie my shoelaces with one hand. I couldn't put on my jacket either with my hand as it was, so I left it hanging on the coat rack. I took my house key, opened the door, stepped outside, and locked the door behind me, putting the key in my right pocket with my phone.
As I crossed the street and started walking toward Elise's house, I estimated the walk would take about ten minutes. A few cars passed by, and some pedestrians noticed the towel covering my hand but quickly looked away. I ignored their glances and focused on moving forward.
My phone kept buzzing. I saw missed messages from Elise and Ken, so I opened the group chat and started a group call. Almost immediately, Elise's concerned voice burst through the speaker.
"Jack, are you okay? What happened? Where are you?"
"I'm okay and walking toward your house," I said calmly. "Listen and don't panic, but I have a knife stuck in my hand, so go and tell your father to get some tools ready. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Oh god. Okay. I'll tell Dad," Elise said hastily.
"Hey, is the person who attacked you gone? Is your mother fine?" Ken's voice joined in.
"He's gone. And my mother… I'll tell you later in person. I'll explain everything when my hand is fixed. Can you also come to Elise's house, Ken?"
"Okay, I'll head over there immediately," Ken said after a pause.
"I'll hang up then. See you two soon."
"Yeah." "Be careful," Elise and Ken said in tandem.
I hung up and focused on the road ahead of me. I dodged the question about my mother, did they think right now that she was not fine. I'll explain later. But how? How would I explain the insanity that had happened?
My pain riddled thought tried to think about how to best tell them, without much success. I walked the streets distracted by my mind and in pain. And in that state, before I knew it, I arrived at Elise's large house. Her father ran a one-person medical practice from their home. As a former respected hospital doctor, he was well-renowned and licensed to perform minor surgeries and administer controlled medicine. He was a real boon to this town, which had no hospital.
I entered through the doctor's office entrance, stepping into the waiting room where eight other patients were seated. I shifted my gaze to the side, where the reception area was, where the receptionist and Elise stood. Everyone's eyes shifted to me, stopping and widening when they saw the now partially red towel covering my hand. Elise's eyes were the widest of them all. As I closed the door behind me, Elise hurried toward me, her face a mixture of shock, worry, and guilt.
"I'm sorry. I told my dad what happened, but he said you had to wait in line. I don't know what's going through his mind, he's never done anything like this before."
The pain in my hand was too much for me to care about what her father said. I briefly looked around the waiting room and saw that no one had serious injuries or sickness. After confirming this, I walked past her through the waiting room toward the consultation room door. Elise followed, seemingly wanting to say something more, but she held her tongue. I opened the door and stepped inside.
The doctor was just about to perform an ear exam on an elderly patient, but stopped when I entered. Both turned to stare at me.
"I thought I told Elise…" The doctor's words halted when I removed the towel from my hand. The elderly man's face grimaced, but the doctor's expression remained stoic.
I pointed at the door and addressed the elderly patient. "Out. This is an emergency."
The patient nodded without hesitation and hurried past Elise out the door.
Elise stood by the door, aghast at my hand's state.
"Close the door and make sure nobody comes in until we're done," I told her. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded, stepped out, and closed the door.
The doctor had been silently observing my hand. I turned toward him. He was bald with a blonde beard. He also had a handsome but stern face with a fit demeanor.
"Can you fix this?" I asked rather curtly, pointing to my destroyed hand.
"It's not life-threatening, just like I gathered from what Elise told me and the fact that you could still walk here and didn't call an ambulance. You could have waited your turn."
"I'm in pain, and I doubt anyone will come in now until you're done with me."
"Fine then. Come with me," he said with a slight sigh.
"Any other wounds besides that hand?" He asked me.
I told him I got hit in my diaphragm. He pulled up my shirt and concluded that there was just a big bruise, nothing ruptured or worse.
He then led me to the surgery table, and I laid down, placing my wounded hand on a side table. The doctor worked quickly and efficiently, grabbing some stuff before beginning. He first applied a tourniquet above the wrist and injected my hand with anesthesia, finally blessing me with relief from the pain.
He then grabbed his surgical tools and started operating, but I looked away as he worked, not wanting to see more of my blood leave my body. The pressure on my hand was faint, and I didn't even feel when the knife was removed. In what felt like less than five minutes, the doctor was already wrapping my hand in a bandage.
"Thanks," I said when he was done, but then the doctor silently began unwrapping the bandage again. Confused, I watched as he revealed my hand, completely healed save for a scar where the knife was and sutures, which the doctor started removing again.
Shock hit me again. Only miracle physicians could achieve something like this so quickly. I shifted my gaze to the doctor, who observed his work with a slight smile.
When he was done, he removed the tourniquet, and all feeling returned to my hand without pain. Apparently, the anesthesia didn't overstay its welcome either. I sat upright and moved my hand, balled my fist and wiggled my fingers. Everything worked painlessly.
"What did you do," I asked with a flabbergasted tone.
"The same as I always do. But I had a feeling the results would be good, just like with the other patients today."
A sense of dread filled me.
"Did this start around four o'clock?" "Did you experience brief visual whitening today?" We asked each other at the same time.
Our eyes locked onto each other. It seems we were on the same wavelength.
"My vision did turn white for an instant, as did my mothers. I assume the same happened to you too?"
"Yes, and all my patients have experienced the same phenomenon around that time."
It was widespread then. I fell into contemplation. Was it only this town, this country, the whole world? It seemed supernatural things were happening since everyone saw that white flash. First that shadow, now the doctor before me who seemed to have turned into a miracle healer. If it is really something supernatural, then what would this mean for the whole world?
"Elise said you were attacked. Can you tell me what exactly happened?"
His question turned my attention back to him. I had trouble imagining people would believe me if I told them what happened, but the doctor seemed to also grasp that something odd was happening to all of us. In that case, I thought I should tell him. From what I knew and gathered about him, it seemed like he wouldn't outright dismiss my explanation because of my age or the supernatural aspect of it. And, he could help me. Honestly, I was completely lost on what I should do now. Help and guidance is exactly what I needed.
"Something attacked us, yes."
The doctor remained unreactive, imploring me to continue.
"We were at home just going about our business, until we both saw that white flash. Then, something appeared out of thin air. It looked like a shadow in the form of a man. It…, that was who attacked us. It… it… it wounded me and disappeared after… after killing my mother."
I said it while looking down at the floor. Reality hit me. She was gone. She would never come back. I was alone, empty, cold, and lost. My emotions threatened to overwhelm me, I didn't know what to do now.
"Sir…, I don't… I don't know what to do now," I managed to mutter with a tremble in my voice.
I waited for a response, waited for guidance. And after a few moments, I heard him speak.
"Ruby is… dead?"
I looked up, not expecting that remark. I saw that the doctor's face for the first time showed something other than a stoic expression. There was disbelief and sadness in his eyes.
Ah, of course. He was also a fan of the world's most famous actress. No, more than that. He was her physician. To only know about her on the silver screen was one thing, but to experience her charm in person was something more entirely.
The doctor refocused on me, and perhaps seeing something in my expression, regained his composure. Although, his formerly stoic expression seemed now somewhat weaker.
"I'm sorry about your loss. It's a horrible thing that happened, but I'm sure your mother would be glad that you are safe right now."
I didn't respond. I had nothing to say. The doctor seemed to notice this, and continued.
"The thing you said that attacked you, it sounds unbelievable. But, with what is happening to me, it seems that we cannot dismiss unnatural phenomena so easily anymore."
My attention peaked. The way he said that. Would he have also believed me if nothing happened to the doctor himself?
"That being said, I think informing the police of what happened would be the best course of action."
The police. Of course that would be a natural response after a murder has happened, but it immediately brought me into a cold sweat about the reality of this situation. Although what happened had supernatural elements, from what I gathered about the state of the world through what happened to me and the doctor, I could make an educated guess that supernatural things have become at least somewhat more commonplace. I gathered that getting the police to believe what really happened would therefore not be a problem.
That was not what I dreaded if I were to involve the police. No, what had me in doubt is whether the police would be on my side at all. If that man really murdered my mother through some sort of supernatural means, then the police would be on the side of the murderer.
That man. Thinking about him, the hatred somehow seemed to calm me down. Calm and cold. Good. He won't get away with this, but I had to stay calm to be able to do something. Always stay calm, just like he had taught me.
I could already conjure up a situation where the murder would somehow be pinned on me. Although, I also certainly knew that I have a lack of imagination compared to him. Perhaps he could create an even more terrifying scenario for me using these circumstances. Why else would he keep me alive and did he let that shadow stay until I identified him?
No, involving the police seemed like a horrible idea to me right now. But, it was at the same time the most logical step, and I have the doctor in front of me expecting me to do so. Should I convince him about my doubts?
I was not sure. He seemed somewhat rigid in his thinking from what I knew about him and what I gathered from all our interactions thus far, and my doubts were far fetched. I didn't feel like he was the type to circumvent common rules and logic on my hunches. But in that case saying that I do not want to involve the police right now would rouse his suspicion in me.
Damned if I do, damned if I don't. What a mess. Although I didn't know what to do yet, I could continue the conversation, and perhaps confirm my suspicions about him meanwhile.
"Would it help? I mean, the thing appeared and disappeared out of thin air. What could the police do about that?"
I looked at him while I said that, but his expression didn't seem to change, and he just responded back calmly.
"Even so, there must be some sort of evidence left behind. The purpose of the police is to solve crimes. So if anyone can help, it would be them."
There seemed to not be a speck of doubt in his words. I think that confirms that uttering my concerns to him would bring more harm than good. In that case, I was now in the dilemma of being expected to involve the police while wanting to not let them get involved at all. Luckily, from what the doctor just said a few seeds of ideas formed in my mind about how to get out of this predicament. I didn't know exactly what I would do, but I was sure that the initiative must be on my side to be able to do something at all. So, that was what I should be doing right now.
"You're right. I should call the police, perhaps they can figure something out."
"Yes, I'm sure they will."
"Yeah, I'll call them and head home. I'll do that, yes. Anyway, thank you for your help with my hand and the advice you gave me. I'll keep in contact with Elise, so you'll be informed through her about what's going on too."
"That's fine, and you're welcome. I'm sure they'll catch whoever took Ruby from us."
"Yeah, I hope so too," I said while getting off the table.
I had just lied through my teeth to him. I would not call the police, at least not yet, depending on circumstances. But, he would not either, since I said I would do it. That gave me the time that I needed to determine my course of action. I could already visualize scenarios in my head about different ways things can go depending on what I would do, but I still had to determine the best outcome. And for that, I knew I had to go back there again.
"Alright. Thank you once again. I'll send the next patient in on my way out."
With that our conversation ended and I walked out the room.
And back in the waiting room, everyone now looked at me with different expressions. Elise and Ken were also there at the entrance, Ken seeming to have just arrived now. I'll go to them in a minute, but first…
"Sorry for the inconvenience caused by my emergency, and thank you for your patience. The doctor will see you now again."
Having addressed the other patients, I then walked towards my friends.
"Are you okay?" Ken immediately asked when I arrived.
"Yeah, my hand's fine now," I said, showing the scar.
"How…" Elise started, but couldn't finish.
"I'm in a hurry and have to get back home," I said, interrupting her. "Come with me and I'll explain everything on the way. But honestly… I think it's going to sound insane."
Author note: Dear reader, Thank you for once again reading this chapter and supporting the story! I wanted to inform you that I plan to upload a new free chapter here every week on Sunday at this time (3 P.M. ET).