Organ - Chapter 5

ORGAN

Chapter Five

It was not long after Oscars failed escape attempt, foiled by the omniscient Doctor Boothe, that he was informed on his pending relocation to a new room in a more “practical” ward of the hospital in Greenwood Heart. No doubt in his agitated fracturing mind that this was a precaution to keep him under more eyes now, that he had been inevitably labelled as a flight risk, even worse was the idea that Boothe could spin this as confirmation of Oscars depleting mental cognition. He was told to gather up his things, minus his backpack which still remained in the possession of Boothe along with his phone, or so Oscar assumed, and wait for someone to come later this evening to collect him. Right on time, the hospital staff seemed regimented with military authority since his escape, a nurse came plodding into the room and instructed Oscar that it was time to move to his new room across the facility. Oscar had a momentary thought of arguing but after his episode before that led to nurse Katie being suspended, he assumed he had no friends left in the nursing staff and considered the possibility that everything he did and said to them was being fed straight up the line to the overseeing Boothe in his isolated office command. So onward they led him through what felt like miles of tediously familiar corridors, into an elevator that had a lingering scent of hospital latex and once more back down another few hundred yards of vinyl corridors, finally Oscar was gestured into his new room. It was darker, the walls decorated a darkened blue, unlike his egg-shell white coated room across the hospital, upsettingly he noticed the room lacked any windows or view to the outside, it felt like a prison cell and as this thought sank into his minds bath of tepid worry, the metallic clack of the door locking echoed behind him welcoming in the dark clouds that rained seclusion and nothing else.

Oscar stood staring in disbelief as the attending nurse walked away without making eye contact or breathing another word, she had locked him in and made her exit swiftly. Oscar walked over and tested the door handle, it was indeed locked, the room was slightly bigger, it had a small box TV hung up in the corner of the room and had an adjoining bathroom with a shower for him to use at his leisure. It smelt of disinfectant that was doing its best to sting the back of his throat, hardly the largest of his concerns in that moment, going through a couple of cabinets beneath the bedside table, Oscar rummaged around and only found a change of robe, a fresh looking bible and a set of baby blue cotton pyjamas, these looked similar to those in his original room but changed colours to a more easily spotted red, Oscar wondered aloud if this was to keep an eye on patients likely to make a run for the exit if given a chance. Later that day Oscar sat enjoying the reality of his new room, squinting across the vastness of the room to make out the TV, without having any idea what channels he was surfing he bided his time waiting for the next calamity to become unearthed. The brain idling binge of barely visible programming was interrupted by Boothe entering the room, the door unlatched loudly which gave him a startle and brought him from a crumpled seat upright, his stomach briefly ached but Oscar had grown extremely well versed in reading the signs of a big attack, this felt more akin to the lump in his pit waking up itself. Boothe marched into the room and dropped his clipboard at the foot of Oscars bed, into the holder attached, Oscar stared down at it trying to catch a glimpse of some information, any information, which might be useful for him to seize back control of the situation. Boothe went about opening and closing the one blind that shut out the window to the corridor, it let no light in, but faced a utility closet which thus far had seen little traffic to distract him. Strolling back over to Oscars side. 

“We need to discuss what happened earlier today Oscar” Boothe explained, he continued before Oscar could conjure some words in response.

“You endangered yourself and our staff, you could have got hurt, you could have caused someone else to get hurt coming after you” Boothe was relentlessly canvassing this portrait that captured him as a selfish child. 

It was infuriating but indefensible. Oscar began to interject but was met with something new.

“PLEASE DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!” Boothe bellowed as he struck the corner of the bed frame with his palm.

It rattled and stung Oscars ears that had been dulled by the hours alone in silence. Boothe gathered himself collecting the shreds of professionalism, breathed a large exhale that wafted Oscars way covering him in a cloud of coffee and unidentified foods. 

“You are going to be held under the hospitals care as a risk to your own safety. We have informed both your mother, the mental wellbeing facility, and the local police office; they have agreed to keep you here at Greenwood Heart for observation until we can determine both the outcome of your scans on the growth in your abdomen and also the state of your mental health” Boothe explained with no pauses for further interruption opportunities. 

Oscar toiled with the words, he was scared of the outburst from his doctor, which was new and as much as he wanted to pretend, it did shake him up with a sense of danger that he had not felt since he was originally peeling himself up from the sheets that night Katie was last seen in the ward. Oscar was at a loss for words, but a couple found him, he looked back up at the Doctor and made a simple request. 

“Can I have my bag back? If the door locks from the outside it shouldn’t be a problem right?” he asked with pleading childlike tones to his voice. 

Boothe stared at him and resisted the urge to peer back at the door. 

“Yes, I will bring your bag back later on tonight. It still has your phone and charger in there, but I would suggest giving your mother some time before contacting her. She has been through a lot, and I am sure you don’t want to pile onto her stress right now that you caused earlier with your silly stunt” Boothe said with obvious condescension in his voice. 

He was manipulating his patient, the young man knew it, but he fell for it all the same and nodded into his lap before clicking back on his TV. Boothe left the room, and the door locked behind him as he went, Oscar watched his shadow pass the blinds out of the corner of his eye, the fear finally set in, but after todays attempted exit, he reminded himself that it would be best to sleep this one off and contact his mother in the morning to explain his actions to her. It was a restless night, the barbed spiteful words of Boothe and the slam of his board echoed through his mind, this was a quiet side of the hospital, and the serenity was causing Oscar unease, he did not much care for his old room, but at least it felt less like a sealed coffin. He flicked on his phone that Boothe had so generously returned and saw finger prints he did not recognise, his doctor had obviously attempted to unlock his phone, he was sure of it but had no proof and no idea the reasoning behind it. It was a problem he was going to be better equipped to face in the morning, Oscar wasted some time ambling about the digital world pointlessly before he finally nodded off to sleep, safely tucked away in a forgotten corner of the building.

Evening came and Oscar dreamt as he usually did, a deep unsettling sleep that left him in a pool of sweat and swirled sheets beneath him, this bed was unprepared for the newest patients restlessness, the sheets had been lightly tucked and the comforter was hardly gripping anything at all. Considering Oscars brush with suffocation, this was yet another lapse in judgement and care by the hospital staff, or perhaps they simply did not care anymore. Thankfully tonight was not going to be the night Oscar was taken by some polyester bed sheets, it would however be one he would remember when he re-joined the waking world. Oscar snored away with his body contorted and twisted like unspooled wire, his mind began to flash with colour, dancing lights took form, and he found himself sitting in a corner looking out into a room, an office, which took shape as pieces of furniture and structure fell into place before his eyes. It was not familiar to him and as it built itself out of the swirling brush strokes he recognised the human appearing behind the desk in front of him, it was Boothe, but he looked different, younger and with more colour to his face and perhaps two or three stone lighter in the gut. 

Oscar watched on as the Doctor shifted at his table and scratched over some papers, sensing this was a dream and unwilling to linger here, Oscar attempted to shout and wake himself in lucidity but still he appeared stuck in that undesirable space. The door to his left rattled with a feint echoing knock, it swung open and in stepped a woman in civilian clothing, Oscar failed to make out her face as she made her way to the table, the room was filled with a muffled static disturbing and mixing the conversation being had before his eyes, every other word crept through as the noise held itself firmly around his eardrums as an audible contraceptive. Oscar leaned forward causing the chair to squeak beneath him, suddenly the noise stopped, the people froze for a second as if paused in place and began once again as he ceased his fidgeting. Shaking his head lightly from side to side, hoping to clear the fog. 

“I hope you realise what an opportunity this is?” Boothe said to the woman before him as he stood up and walked to her side, he sat down on the lip of the desk still facing this woman and continued, “plenty of nurses have come through here and failed when things got tough, I don’t want that to be you, I am tired of dealing with people who are wasting my time at this hospital” he elaborated on his point but seemingly was grilling this poor woman who crouched down in her seat nodding along like a broken bobble figurine.

The lady in the chair opposite the uncomfortably close Boothe leant back and brushed her fringe out of her face. 

“I am not here to waste time, I want to help people” she calmly replied with a closed mouth smile, Oscar sensed her nerves as if they shared a state of emotional fragility momentarily. 

Boothe laughed with a condescending roar almost falling backwards over his desk, he looked up at the ceiling and back down to her eyeline.

“Everyone that comes through here wants to be a hero but let me tell you a little secret that most of us real doctors don’t want people to know” he paused and leaned in to her ear.

His face briefly brushed hers and she pulled away slightly, just enough to distance the contact that appeared completely normal for this senior Doctor. 

“I don’t care for the number of lives we save now; it is about the lives we save later with our research. 

We don’t need heroes at Greenwood Heart, we need soldiers to the cause” Oscar heard the words loudly, clearly, and while this felt unsurprising coming from Boothe, it felt completely unbelievable that this was the message being given to someone trying to find their place in the medical world. Oscar struggled trying to stand up and leave the room, he had seen enough of this and wanted out of this obvious nightmare. Arms remained glued to the arm rests, bolted in place like part of the furniture itself. Looking down to reasons with the lack of mobility in his limbs he witnessed two shiny silver bolts threading and spinning through a gaping hole in the back of his hand, securing him to the seat at his wrists trapping him in place. He fought and struggled but his lack of strength and weightlessness made it a futile effort as the metal and bone rubbed scrupulously close in his drilled in hands, looking up he noticed that the play had yet again paused. 

“You want me to see, fine, show me” Oscar spoke aloud to himself, insisting he see the images play out, this production needed to be completed and as Oscar struggled fiercely one last time in weak burst of movement. 

His stomach began to sting, the sign was there, and he felt it develop in severity. Oscar slowed his breath and ceased his struggle to free these fixed bolts in his appendages that locked him into the armrests, the pain ached, pierced, numbed, and disappeared just as it had arrived. It was apparent that he was trapped in this dream, this teasingly lucid nightmare, and now he could all but sit and watch. Shuffling in her seat the woman being dressed down found her courage to put even further distance between the two of them, accomplished by climbing to her feet and placing herself behind the chair, Boothe still leaning against his dark wooden desk sensed her anxiousness, but Oscar saw something in his eye, it was predation, as though he was watching an animal stalk its prey. It was hateful and menacing all at the same time. 

“I don’t see it that way, I want to help the people suffering in front of me” the woman explained with a shaky authority. 

With that she began turning to leave, but before her back was fully turned Boothe stood and grabbed her by the arm catching her in stride. 

“Let go of me!” she snapped back with conviction but obvious fright trickling through her words.

Boothe pulled her slightly closer but did not loosen his grip, the pressing rings of fingers visible on her shirt sleeve. 

“Don’t think you can get by here by doing and saying whatever you like, the board may own the name, but this is MY hospital, and we do things MY way” he barked the words that had following comets of spit trailing behind them. 

“Let go!” she begged once again, shaking herself free she paced a step backwards. 

“I am the person you need to impress here, not some attending head nurse and not your patients, ME, if I hear that you have done any procedures alone again without authorisation, and I truly do not care how large of small they may be” he paused to revel in the threatening tone “I will have your career destroyed before you are even out of training. Do you understand? Be a team player” Boothe barked, the woman stood shocked staring at the floor, “Do you understand Katherine?” he repeated himself and now gave up that vital piece of missing information. 

Oscar sensed it when she defended herself, this was his missing in action nurse, it was Katie. Oscar watched as the characters froze once more, then in snap of horrific swing, their arms and legs became limp and held aloft by strings, they swayed momentarily as heavy puppets in the air swinging from the noose, thick drool seeping from their mouths in a rapid viscous waterfall, before launching into blackness above them. Oscar awoke with a gasp and a deep breathe, the pool of sweat beneath him now a sickening lukewarm bath that swam on top of his sheets like oil atop water. Oscar did not try to fall back to sleep, he pulled himself upright and wiped his sweaty hands on his pyjama bottoms. Remembering the pain, he felt in his dream, he pulled up his top and gazed down at the bump now protruding from his stomach, giving it a gentle tap with a shaking finger, it stung, just as always but seemed to continue its sleep.