90 Day Survivor - Regi S. (uplifting book club books .txt) 📗

Never in Doctor Ryin Stevens’ entire medical career had he seen a hospital as full as St. Joseph’s was today. The waiting room was full of eager police officers and lawyers all attempting to get the same idea and information as everybody else around them. In the emergency room, paparazzi and private investigators disguised themselves as ill or injured, hoping to get a chance to get more information on St. Joseph’s two newest ICU patients. Outside the main exit stood all the different local news channels pressing for information from the passing detectives, as well any visitor, ambulance driver, or patient that happened to be walking by.
Dr. Stevens was standing at the nurse’s station, filling out daily paperwork, when he saw the couple sitting quietly, holding hands. The woman had blonde-brown hair and was in her mid-to-late thirties. She was more slender than most women her age, and looked like she had not slept in days. The man was in his early forties. His black hair was beginning to turn gray and he had little stubbles of hair growing from his chin. The bags underneath his eyes said two words: worry and fear. His face was stern, whereas the woman’s face was gentle yet full of worry.
“Poor things,” the nurse wearing purple scrubs, Elizabeth Schumaker said, pulling her long, blonde braid over her shoulder.
“Are they the parents?” Dr. Stevens asked, in a hushed voice.
“They’re the boy’s parents. I overheard the mother say that her husband has not slept since the night it all happened. Poor dear blames himself,” the nurse wearing blue scrubs, Rachael Adams stated.
“And the girl?” Dr. Stevens asked.
“Nobody has shown up for her at all,” Elizabeth said.
“Well her parents are dead,” Rachael added.
“But still, you would think her grandparents would show up, or something.”
“You would think.”
Dr. Stevens traveled away from the gossiping nurses over to the room where two police officers stood, guarding the door. He showed his identification yet was denied access.
“I’m one of the surgeons assigned to this case. I would like to see my patients.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” one of the officers said, “but Detective E. G. Hyde is questioning and asked for us not to allow anybody in the room.”
Dr. Stevens opened his mouth in protest, but was cut off by another doctor.
“Ryan,” his friend, Derik Brennan called from the nurse’s station. “Have you seen today’s paper?”
“No, why?”
“Listen to this:
Doctor Uncooperative in Police Investigation, Causing Miscarriage of Justice
Dr. Ryan James Stevens, head of surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Cressona, Pennsylvania, has caused police to wait for valuable information involving the kidnapping of two teenagers (names yet to be released). These children were held captive by a madman (name yet to be released) for 90 days and are now being called the ’90 Day Survivors’. The doctor’s inability to understand the importance of the information these two teens hold to the capture of their abductor is crucial within the first two hours of a case. An article by T. J. Stevens.
He also spelled your name wrong.”
“Who doesn’t?” Dr. Stevens groaned.
“Your cousin is an asshole.”
“Yeah, you think I don’t know that?”

In room thirteen, located in the Intensive Care Unit of St. Joseph’s Hospital, history was being made. Attached to many different monitors and devices, lay two sickly children. The boy was about thirteen years old and the girl was maybe fifteen or sixteen. They both were mal nourished and covered in a series of injuries.
The boy’s left eye was covered by multitudes of gauze wrap and medical tape. His blonde hair stuck out of certain areas where the wrap did not cover, as well as only part of his face. His right leg was in a boot and levitated eight inches from his bed. There was another bandage around his hand, where part of his right ring finger used to be. He had severe anal abrasions and tears. His lips were cracked from dehydration and he was so skinny, the doctors had to have him in a young child’s smock.
The girl was in worse condition. Half of her thin, black hair was shaved off her head where now sat a massive bandage. Her skin was very pale and her eyes were bloodshot. Though she could barely open them, it was easy to tell that her eyes were a deep blue color. Her lips were chapped and the skin under her nose was dry. She had anal scarring and tears as well as a punctured uterus and severe vaginal tears. She was so skinny her ribs were defined greatly in under her pale white skin. Under her right eye sat an ugly purple bruise along with another yellowing one on her cheek. She too, was wearing a child’s smock.
The detectives stood around the room, all prying the boy for information. He was very confused and angry that none of the people around him cared what happened and how he was emotionally scarred, they just wanted to know all the gruesome facts. They had not even let him see his parents yet.
A doctor with red-brown hair entered the room and yelled at the detectives for harassing the two victims and not allowing the doctors to tend to all their medical needs. He chased the detectives out of the room and turned to the boy.
“Hello. My name is Dr. Ryin Stevens. Can you tell me your name?”
The doctor was so sincere and kind towards the boy. He nodded and spoke his first words upon his arrival.
“My name is Dominic. Dominic Bowser.”
“Nice to meet you, Dominic. How are you feeling?”
“I’m really tired. And hungry. When can I see my parents?”
“In a little while, I’m afraid. We need to wait until we know that you are stable and can handle being around people. We don’t want any excitement getting to you or your roommate,” Dr. Stevens said, addressing the girl asleep in the bed next to Dominic. “Do you know her name?”
“No. I’m sorry. He…he just called her ‘girl’.”
“That’s quite alright. I’ll ask her when she wakes up.”
Dr. Stevens turned to leave the room when Dominic spoke one last time. “Good luck with that, sir. She doesn’t speak. The only time I heard her voice was when she…when…”
“That’s fine, Dominic. Right now, I don’t want you to think about that. I just want you to rest. Can you do that?”
The boy nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

The girl was awake for the entire time she was there. She just kept her eyes shut so nobody would bother her. She did not like hearing the boy talk about her. She knew his name and he did not know hers. She knew his pain and he did not know hers. He thought he did but he only knew what he could hear. He did not understand the amount of pain that she suffered emotionally. Or mentally. Not to mention the physical torture she was put through. The most he knew was how loud she could scream. No more than that. And she never planned to enlighten him on any of the details. Not even her name.

After being shoved out of the room, the four detectives congregated in the cafeteria. They all got cups of coffee and began to discuss what had just happened. Detective Valerie Welsh was the first to speak. She cursed at the fact that they were chased out of a room by a doctor who had no idea what they were up against. She cursed at the fact that the bastard who put those two children through hell got away. She cursed at the fact that her coworker and friend was killed during his escape. Then she began to cry.
Detective David Rausch placed his hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her.
“Val, you really should go home,” Detective Darwin Lucas said in a quiet voice.
“No,” she snapped, “I am not going home until we have that bastard.”
“Val…” Rausch said.
“Don’t ‘Val’ me. My friend was just killed by a fucking madman!”
“Val, we were all friends with Lois. She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lucas lamented. “Hard to believe she was going to retire in a week.”
“Yeah, she was only sixty-five. I mean, my mother is older than that. And you are only ten years away from that, boss.”
Detective E. G. Hyde looked up at the three mournful detectives sitting around the table.
“Right now, I think all we should worry about is getting information from now on. We can worry about Lois later. She’s dead. There is nothing more we can do.”
Welsh stood up with a disgusted look on her face and stormed off to the ladies room. She mumbled something about Hyde being a cold-hearted bastard.
“Boss, that was…” Rausch began.
“Cold? Well, Rausch, I really don’t give a fuck. Honestly, I just am sick of this bastard. He will not stop until he’s dead and I hope that I am the one to do that. If you two have a problem with that, you can follow Welsh.”

The girl eventually fell asleep due to exhaustion. She was only asleep for about an hour when a crumbled up piece of paper hit her stomach. Her eyes shot open due to her nightmare and she quickly starred at the boy. He cowered down into his pillow, before speaking.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up but I never said…thank you. Without you, I’d be dead. You saved my life and I want to know how I can repay you.”
The girl looked at him and looked at the piece of paper. It was lineless and wordless. She looked over at him again.
“I know that you don’t talk. We were together for three months and we are going to be together for a long time still. Will you tell me what your name is? I hate not knowing your name. You saved me so many times and I never got to know what your name was. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to. I promise.”
She looked at him one more time before she picked up the Sharpie lying on the table next to her. She scribbled something down on the paper and tossed it back over to the boy.
He opened the paper and said: “That’s a pretty name. My name is Dominic.”
She nodded at him. And then at the tablet in his hand.
“Do you want to have this? I have a lot so you can have this one.” Dominic carefully threw the tablet over to her along with a rubber band full of pencils. “They’re all different sizes so you can use what you like.”
She nodded again before pulling out a pencil and beginning to scribble on the page.
Dominic watched her subtle movements with her hand. He could hear the soft sounds of the graphite pencil scratching the thick, white paper. Within thirty minutes, she was done with the picture. It was a picture of him. The exact look he was giving while he watched her.
“Is that me?”
She nodded.
“It’s really good. I have never seen something that good done in such a short amount of time.”
She almost smiled before flipping to a new page and beginning to draw something else. Within two hours, she had drawn Dominic, the little glass vase with a flower in it, the sink, the