Gone Girl

Stoner's POV

"Dr. Stoner we need you, it's an emergency!" Nurse Joy came rushing into my office. I had just gotten a chance to sit, but it seems my work was far from done, though I hadn't expected to have any breaks given the most recent developments. Before I was even able to respond, Nurse Joy urged me once more, "please Doc, she's dying". Even though I was already making a motion to get up, I doubled my efforts. I began questioning her as she led the way to the patient's room, and by the direction we were headed I could tell it was Ravana. 

For an unknown reason, fear welled up in my chest which shocked me quite a bit, since I had not been afraid of anything in years. My life was always in my control and everything was always going the way I wanted them to go, so these few days I was surprised to find the amount of things I could no longer control and it was definitely beginning to throw me for a loop. The whole hospital seemed to be in some sort of frenzy and no one was sure of what was happening in the hospital, let alone the nation anymore.

By the time I had gotten to Ravana's corridor I was in a quick march with Nurse Joy now trailing behind me, who on the way had explained that Ravana went to get a CT scan of her brain done once I had left her morning checkup, but as soon as she got back she was complaining that her back pain was getting increasingly worse. Over the past few days I had been treating Ravana and monitoring condition, and while she did not seem to be getting any worse, she was not recovering either. The other physicians and myself have been working tirelessly to figure out what's wrong, as even though she was one of the first cases like this the entire nation had seen, she was definitely not the last. 

It started off as just a person or two, but then it was by the fives per day and for the first time in a very long time, all wards were almost full and this was a damn big hospital. I was two doors away when I could make out the faintest cry of pain coming from her room and I once again doubled my efforts as I basically busted through her door. Her head snapped in my direction a look of relief spreading through her eyes and her muscles relaxed a bit, but it was so easy to miss among the pure signs of anguish written over her skin. 

Right as I was about to ask her where the concentration of the pain was, as if reading my mind she started motioning to her lower back, which based on her scan showed that was where most of the virus was situated in body. Without missing a beat, I instructed Nurse Joy to give me a hand in turning her on her stomach, which proved to be a more difficult task than we expected, as Ravana was about to pass out any second, no doubt from the unbearable pain she was feeling.

I quickly got to work checking the area and I noticed a sizable bruise had formed on her back that wasn't there this morning when I checked her. Confused, I asked her "Miss Azurine, did you perhaps fall, or remotely hit anywhere along your lower back?" 

She groaned in response while signaling a no with her head. 

Visibly more concerned, I tried directly touching the center of the bruise rather than the areas around it, but a loud hiss left her mouth and when I glanced at her face, for the first time I noticed she was crying. I was being as gentle as I possibly could and she was obviously in too much pain to be questioned, so given the situation I did the best I could by squeezing her hand and reassuring her that she was doing well, while pleading with her to stay awake. 

After another minute of inspection, I could tell that there was a bigger issue as her spinal joint seemed to have been torn, but that shouldn't be possible because she wasn't physically harmed, nor was she doing any strenuous activity throughout the day to have caused it. More concerned welled up in me as I began speaking, "Miss Azurine, we're going to need you to do an x-ray and then depending on what we find, you may need surgery. Is that okay with you?"

Her non-verbal agreement signified a yes which would do for now as it was only an x-ray and I could get her to sign once we confirmed she would be needing surgery. I signaled to Nurse Joy to go secure the x-ray room on this ward and as she quietly left, I heard Ravana's breath grow more rugged, though she had stopped groaning. Worried that she was falling asleep, I spoke to her again asking her to stay awake but her only response was a feeble "call me Ravana please."

Already used to this by now I sighed, "Miss Azurine this is neither the time nor the place, I'm more concerned about your health at the moment."

A throaty rasp which I assume should have been a laugh left her chapped lips followed by a small groan, "won't even grant a dying woman's wish huh?"

Before I could respond, she cut my thought process, "I know I'm dying Doc, there's no need to hide or sugarcoat anything, I can barely feel anything and it feels like there's ants in my blood. I can feel that painful burning sensation in other places now so I know it's spreading," she breathed and deeply as she could, but it was a meek shallow breath. 

Nevertheless she continued, "I just wanted to hear my name being said without resentment for once, just once..." this time her voice barely above a whisper and then it was quiet. I knew at that moment she was dead but the doctor in me refused to give up, so I immediately tried to find a pulse, a breath, anything, but there was nothing. As I silently watched over her seemingly sleeping form, I experienced an uncomfortable ache in my chest, hearing the footsteps of Nurse Joy approaching quickly, I spoke to her one final time "Goodbye Ravana."

Nurse Joy seemed to have heard my words from the other side of the door, as she stopped in her tracks before slowly entering the room. As she looked at me I knew she heard what I had said and I could see the confusion in her eyes, though I knew Nurse Joy originally had disliked Ravana, I could surmise that she had grown on her based on her reaction. 

"Could you please go and fetch Miss Azurine's document from my office, I need to record her time of death."

With a solemn downcast look, she turned away and once again went through the door though this time significantly slower than the last. With her gone I was once again left with my thoughts and Ravana's warm but dead body.