Excerpt from the short story:
Cher Walks out of the back of the hospital, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one up
“Long day?” She hears a familiar voice say, before turning around and greeting her coworker
“Hey cam, yeah, did you see the new guy in the trauma ward?”
“Real nasty business. All those symbols carved into him, it's a miracle he’s still alive.” Cher takes a long drag of her cigarette
“Really makes you wonder who would do such a thing
***
Cher walks into a room, holding a clipboard against her chest. A patient sits on the bed, marks, odd symbols are carved into their body. Cher is taken aback. She has never seen anything like this before. She walks over to a chair to sit down.
“I don’t know if you already know, but you are in-”
“I know” She’s abruptly cut off by the patient in front of her, she takes a pen from behind her ear.
“So… with the markings carved into you..” She pauses observing the patient's body language, oddly calm given the condition he’s in “do you remember how you got them?” She wheels her chair next to the patient, opening a cabinet near them.
“No”
“You don’t remember anything?” She wets a cotton ball and holds it over the symbols
“No nothing”
Cher nods, taking mental note to add to her notes on her clipboard later, Cher presses the cotton ball against the symbols, no reaction. She takes mental note of this too. She removes the cotton ball and throws it away. She pulls her chair closer, grabbing their arm and examining the symbols
“What are these…?” Cher asks under her breath. She runs her thumb across one of the symbols. It’s smooth. She pauses and looks at her thumb. Nothing. The symbol lights up and glows a mix of a bright blue and purple.
Knock
Knock
Cher turns her head to the door, and pushes her chair back from the patient
“Come in” Cher yells. The door creaks open.
“Results from the blood tests come in…” a doctor appears in the doorway, he walks in and stands near the bedside. “Though i'd like to run more tests.” He looks at Cher with a concerned look, then back at the patient with a welcoming smile.
“We will let you rest for the night through.” He nods to Cher, Cher stands up and places the pen she was using behind her ear. She hands the clipboard over to the doctor. They both head towards the door.
“What were the results?” The patient asks. The doctor stands in the doorframe.
“Everything came back normal… Thankfully” The patient nods and the doctor closes the door. He turns to Cher.
“Somethings wrong”
“What?” She looks at him “but you said…”
“I know what I said”
“So you lied?”
“No, thats the thing its true, but i shouldn’t be'' He sighs
