I hadn’t looked at my fake bio for almost a year. I figured I could remember the basics and I could improvise the rest as long as I didn’t lie myself into a corner. “I’m originally from Ohio, so that’s why I don’t have a NY accent. I’ve been here just under a year.”
“So what brought you here to NY?”
“I was kind of in a rut back in Ohio. I had broken up with a girl I was with for a few years and I lost my job so I thought it was time for a big change. I would like to work in the medical research field so I’m planning on registering at NYU, most likely on a path toward clinical research. Also, I was thinking maybe I could get into a rock band eventually.”
“Cool! I know you will achieve everything you want Luke. I think you are a nice person. I only wish I could be here to watch your success,” LeAnne said with the biggest smile I had seen.
After a long awkward pause in our conversation, I continued, “I had a friend here a few months ago. He died of soft tissue cancer. I think we would have been friends for life if he had lived. We had a connection. I know that working in a hospital, especially in and around a cancer wing, I shouldn’t get so emotionally attached to people, but we are human and it happens. I was devastated when Eli died.”
“My feelings for you are the same only different,” I said. LeAnne looked surprised.
“I’m not sure why. I hardly know you but I think I’m a good judge of character.”
LeAnne looked confused and made a hand gesture to let me know that she didn’t understand. “It’s difficult to explain or to even understand. When I am on my way to your room to take you somewhere, my heart races and I can’t wait to see you. I feel as if I want to take care of you.” Intellectually I knew that part of it was because I was lonely and homesick and had no real friends there. But there was something else, something unique to LeAnne and the way I felt about her. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but when I am with you I have this overwhelming desire to hug you and hold you in my arms. I guess I just feel helpless and I would do anything if I was able to help you. So, it is more than a friendship like I felt for Eli. I think in another life, in another world, we could be even more than friends. There I’ve said it.”
“So much for my shyness,” I thought.
LeAnne reached for my hand. When I looked back up at her, she was smiling and crying at the same time. I hadn’t heard LeAnne’s parents enter the room so when I realized someone was standing behind me, I turned and got a sudden flashback of the time when Eli’s parents came into the room and I was holding his hand. Again I felt a little embarrassed so after greeting LeAnne’s parents I said goodbye.
As the weeks went on, LeAnne and I talked about anything and everything and it seemed she had forgotten our conversation about UFOs. I hoped it wouldn’t come up again. But as soon as I looked at her I no longer cared where the conversation led. Over the course of four days, it looked like her condition deteriorated dramatically. She gave me a half smile and lifted her hand to say hello without saying anything. By the time we arrived at the IV room, she was asleep so I left her with the nurse.
When I arrived back two hours later to pick LeAnne up she was awake but she still looked pale and weak. She seemed suddenly frail and older looking. She didn’t speak at all until we arrived back in her room and I helped her back onto the bed. “Luke,” she whispered weakly. “I’m done.”
“I know LeAnne. I wish there was something I could do to make it better.”
“No Luke. I mean I’m really done. I’m done with everything. I wish someone could do something. You know what I mean.” LeAnne stopped to catch her breath again before continuing. “I can’t ask that of you but I will ask something. If you have time, could you spend a little time with me,” LeAnne said and gasped for air for a moment before continuing again. “You’re like a big sponge that absorbs heartache. I’m not sure why but I like seeing you more than my own family.”
“It’s not unusual to feel more comfortable with a stranger than a family member LeAnne. With a stranger, you don’t have to care about what they think of you. You can be totally open and honest.”
“I suppose that’s true. I’ll tell you something right now that I would never tell my parents.”
“You don’t have to say it LeAnne. I know.”
“It’s that thing I was referring to before that I said I couldn’t ask of you. Too bad it’s still considered a crime. I have this feeling that you would help me do it if you could.”
LeAnne and I were locked in a stare. I could tell that she knew something but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. I had a sudden brief flash of Eli and I was taken back to the day when Eli realized I was different. “What if it was actually possible?”
“Yes Luke. I am ready.”
I felt the same heartache I felt with Eli. I felt the same kind of bond or emotional attachment but it was different. I had never felt anything like it back on Ranjisan, not even with Syrma. I had an uncontrollable urge to hold LeAnne in my arms but my phone was buzzing.
“I have another assignment but I’ll be back later.”
At the end of my shift I punched out and took the elevator up to LeAnne’s room. I could hear the sound of talking before I stepped in. I hadn’t seen LeAnne’s parents since the day she checked in but I assumed it was them. Just as I was about to turn around, the woman who I assumed was LeAnne’s mother stepped out of the room and headed for the nurse’s station. She gave me a quick nod and continued on down the long hallway. She looked excited or impatient as she asked the nurse several questions about LeAnne’s condition. I decided to go home and return early the following day.
That night I decided I would contact the Tseen Ke group and start a dialogue about LeAnne. The decision was fast and unanimous. LeAnne was the perfect candidate, the timing was right and no one else introduced any other possible candidates. I was given the sanction to perform Tseen Ke on LeAnne.
I arrived at the hospital an hour early and went straight to LeAnne’s room. I knew it would be too early for her parents to be there. When I stepped into her room, the dead stare she had while sitting there looking at her breakfast changed to a warm smile. “You’re in early Luke.”
“Yes, I wanted to talk to you before your family got here.”
“It’s about what we talked about yesterday?”
“Yes. I can do it, whenever you’re ready.”
“Wouldn’t you get in trouble?” LeAnne asked. “Won’t they know it was you? I don’t want you to go to jail.”
“No. They won’t know what happened. They won’t know it was me.”
“How could you possibly do it so that they don’t know it was you? As soon as the machine flat-lines, they will all come running in.”
“If we do this, it will take four or five days after I administer the treatment. At that time, you will simply fall asleep. You will feel relatively well during the four day waiting period.”
“I don’t understand Luke. I want to do it, but I am curious about the whole thing. How do you know about this? How are you able to do it? How does it work?”
It was time to explain the process while managing to ignore LeAnne’s questions. “It would take about three minutes for me to perform the treatment which consists of three injections. The first two injections will reduce the fever and body aches for 3 to 5 days. You should even be able to breathe more easily. You will feel better during your last hours. You would have to say goodbye to your family while at the same time controlling your emotions so they don’t get wind of what we’re doing. The final injection will cause you to fall asleep about 4 to 5 days later. In the end, you will just go to sleep.”
“It is time Luke. I agree to do it under one condition,” LeAnne said with a sly smile. “You have to tell me who you really are. Do you belong to a secret organization that does assisted suicides? I need to know before I leave this world.”
“I will explain it on day 3 after I administer the injections, I promise. I don’t have to tell you that it must
be kept a secret.”
“I will take your secret with me when I leave. It is time. The pain is getting worse and the drugs seem to help less and less. Today is Tuesday. Can you do it Friday or Saturday? The family will be in over the weekend and I can say goodbye. You can say goodbye Monday. How does that sound?”
“It is settled. Friday after my shift. Now, for the rest of the time we spend together, let’s talk about something else.”
***
When I left for work Friday, I felt like a criminal. The Tseen Ke pack was stashed in a side pouch of my lunch bag. As I rode the elevated subway from Queens to New York City, I felt both terrified and liberated. I was thinking that no one on that train could ever imagine in their wildest dreams that there was an alien from outer space riding the train with them. This particular alien was carrying a set of serums that would end someone’s life. It was exhilarating and I felt reborn. At least I felt that way until the moment I walked into LeAnne’s room. Suddenly it hit me. I did not want LeAnne to die. I suddenly understood what her family was feeling. It was selfish of me but I wanted her to stay alive as long as possible. But it was too late. LeAnne looked like a rabbit in the headlights. She was wide awake and alert and staring wide-eyed at me.
Her glance shifted to my lunch bag. “You have it with you?”
“I do.”
“I’ll take that hug now,” LeAnne said. I put the bag on the windowsill and turned toward LeAnne. Her arms were outstretched and she was sitting up and leaning toward me.
We were still hugging and crying ten minutes later when the nurse’s aide walked in with the lunch menu. We separated long enough for LeAnne to circle a few things on the menu. “Let’s do it before I change my mind,” LeAnne whispered, took a few breaths and continued, “before anyone else comes in here. Maybe we should go in the bathroom.”
I helped LeAnne into the wheelchair and moved behind her to push her toward the bathroom, pushing her a few feet before stopping. “What’s the matter?” she asked.
“I can’t LeAnne.”
“What do you mean Luke?”
“I mean I can’t do it. I thought I could but I can’t.” I leaned over and we hugged for a few long moments again.
“So that’s it. You brought it with you but you aren’t going to do it. Give it to me and I’ll do it myself.”
I ignored LeAnne’s request to give her the Tseen Ke pack. “I think I might have another idea. I’m going to leave now. I have to talk to some people.”
“Would you please tell me what is going on Luke. Who are you really and who are these people you need to talk to? What do you want to talk to them about?”
“Ok LeAnne. It’s time for a few truths. I think it will be less of a shock to you then for most people.”
I went to the windowsill and pulled the Tseen Ke pack from my lunch bag and rested it on LeAnne’s lap. The case itself was made of a flexible metallic fabric. “This is an unusual case. What’s it made out of?”
“It’s just a basic metal fabric used for many things.”
“Metal fabric? What, where, who are these people you need to talk to? Where was this made?”
“I need to talk to people from my home,” I said with a sly smile. “It’s very far away. That’s where this case and the serums were made.”
“LeAnne, open the case and look at the writing.”
LeAnne opened the soft metallic case and peaked in at the three cases holding the syringes. She pulled out a folded piece of metallic cloth and began unfolding it. As soon as she touched it, it opened up and flattened out. All the wrinkles and creases were gone. The document was a fact sheet on the Tseen Ke process including step by step instructions, follow-up and potential problems and solutions. But of course it was written in a language that no human had ever seen. There were no alphanumeric characters to use as a starting point or reference. There were no letters that seemed to have any relation to ancient Latin or Roman and yet it was unlike any logographic language such as Mandarin.
“What language is this?”
“It’s the written language of my people.”
“Who are your people and why have you changed your mind about our plans? What is it you need to talk to your people about?”
“I will tell you as soon as I have an answer. I am sorry LeAnne but I can’t tell you now. Please trust me.”
I put the needles back in the case, kissed LeAnne on the forehead and left. I thought she was a little annoyed with me but I couldn’t tell her of my idea. I didn’t want to get her hopes up. Even if my idea was possible, I didn’t think we had enough time. For LeAnne, time was running out.
10 - A new proposal
I sat staring at the laptop screen, logged into an empty chat room. It was too early for the others to check in but I was anxious to get their opinions on the concept I had quickly become obsessed with. It wasn’t until after 11:00 PM when they started checking in. When they were all there, one by one they asked me for a status and update on LeAnne.
“I planned to perform the procedure last night but I have postponed it.”
“Why, were you unable to be alone with your patient?” Thomas asked.
“No. I could have done it. I had plenty of time. I postponed it in order to ask you all about another path I would like to take.” I had been thinking all evening, exactly how I was going to ask them. “Here goes,” I said to myself as I began typing.
“Is it possible to get the cell therapy application here?”
There was no activity on the chat screen for several minutes. Finally Thomas replied, “We talked about that last year. It is too difficult to administer the follow-up therapy because it requires slow transfusions. First we would have to get it here and then you would need a laboratory setting for the transfusions. This would be almost impossible to do without exposing us.”
“There is a medical facility at CIPE. If I could move her, why can’t we do it there?” I asked.
“That’s out of the question,” Pocahontas said. “Since it is against CIPE regulations, we wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret and when they found out, the treatment would be halted and we would be arrested. It’s a violation of the first protocol.”
“Then how about if I move her somewhere like a clinic or hospital that is managed by one of us?”
“I don’t think the timing will work,” Cactus1 typed. “Perhaps we can help find a location for a future patient but there isn’t enough time now for this one.”
“Can we proceed with getting the serums here?” I asked. “I will try and locate a facility somewhere.”
“I agree,” Thomas typed. “If it doesn’t work out for this patient, we can save the serums for a future candidate. We will need to approve the lab setting before you are given the serums but I’ll proceed with getting the serums here. Does everyone else agree?”
The rest of the group agreed. The ball was now in my hands. I would have to somehow find a clinic that could perform the procedure and then I would have to move LeAnne there. It was an almost impossible task and I didn’t even know where to start.
I was just about to sign off when another message appeared on the screen in all-caps: “HOLD ON! I HAVE AN IDEA!” It was Joe (Shadrack) typing, “I may be able to treat her here at Hospice if you could get her here but I have a better idea. I am assuming that if we are successful with this, we will want to do more cure treatments. So, I think that if we are going to really do this and be successful, we need to set up our own secret medical facility. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. It just needs to be sterile and have a few of the basics. The actual medicines will come from home.” It was unanimous. We would postpone the Tseen Ke for LeAnne and we would proceed with finding a location to set up a secret treatment facility.
Carrying a double burden of racing against time and solving an unsolvable puzzle made it impossible to sleep or even relax. I felt disoriented and my legs felt weaker than ever.
“Having trouble sleeping again?” Connie asked when I stepped into
the office the following Monday morning.
I hadn’t actually registered at NYU yet but I had read enough about the clinical research curriculum at NYU to talk about it if I had to. “I started night school at NYU. It’s a lot of studying.”
I had two assignments before LeAnne’s morning treatment. By the time I got to LeAnne’s room I was ready to sit down for a few minutes. “Good morning Luke. You look like I feel,” LeAnne said with a half-smile.
“I’m having trouble sleeping LeAnne.”
“How do you think I’ve slept? You left me in a state of confusion and suspense the last time I saw you. Can you please explain what’s going on now?”
I was about to answer honestly when a nurse’s aide walked into the room. Her name was Mia and she had a heavy Spanish accent. “Hi Mia,” LeAnne said. “How was your weekend?”
Mia seamlessly drifted back and forth between Spanish and English, “Mi madre y mi padre están aquí from Santiago. Estoy muy tired, mucho cooking y limpieza.”
“So your family lives in Chile?” LeAnne asked.
I suddenly felt like a writer who overcomes writer’s block in a sudden wave of inspiration. The idea hit me with a mental shove. “Chile,” I said the word silently in my mind. “Manny from the CIPE conference lives in Chile.” Manny seemed sympathetic to the concept of using Tseen Ke on humans. “If only there was a way to contact him.” I was so lost in my thoughts that I mumbled the words out loud.
“What did you say Luke?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that I know someone who lives in Chile.”
Turning to LeAnne, I got the feeling that the only thing keeping her from becoming completely angry was the fact that she was so sick and weak. LeAnne only responded with a smirk. She hadn’t lost her train of thought while speaking with Mia. Mia was only halfway out of the door when LeAnne resumed our conversation, “So Luke, are you ready to tell me what’s really going on? It is my life we are talking about, or what’s left of it.”
The Good Reaper Page 10