A/N: Chapter One of the incomplete I'm a Doctor story.
Chapter One I am innocent, I tell you! You've got to believe me! Wait... Why are you all rolling your eyes in disbelief?
As the strange twist in events subsided from everyone who had seemingly been teleported away from the hospital, something rather noteworthy beyond that rather mere teleportation itself, had also transpired. You see, they were in the hospital, and yet at the same time, they were not in the hospital. By that, I mean that they weren't in the hospital as they had been before the teleportation. Confused? Well, perhaps it might be best to let you see what happened next, as a means of hinting at just what I meant by what was said just now. And perhaps at the same time, it would be good for me to recite a pledge which no one here unto has ever heard of before (or any variation thereof). And the pledge in question of course, is the following:
In full knowledge of the obligations I am undertaking, I promise to care for the sick, with all the skills and understanding I possess, without regard to race, creed, color, politics or social status, sparing no effort to conserve life, to alleviate suffering, and to promote health.
I will respect at all times, the dignity and religious beliefs of the patients under my care, holding in confidence all personal information entrusted to me, and refraining from any action that might endanger life or health.
I will endeavor to keep my professional knowledge and skill at the highest level, and to give loyal support and cooperation, to all members of the health team.
I will do my utmost to honor the international code of nursing ethics, and to uphold the integrity of the professional nurse.
Don’t worry. I can guarantee that absolutely no one reading this had a smile upon reading that. I can also assure you that said pledge will be coming up again in reference during a later chapter of the story. Back to the story anyway, as I’m clearly just stalling for time at the present moment (Or am I?).
Dreaming Jessiey had yawned just as the transition took effect. It seemed like nothing had happened at first, but as she looked around, something clicked in her mind, as if alarm bells were ringing non-stop to say that something was inherently wrong at this very moment in time. She glanced about her, and everything looked the same as it had beforehand. Everything that is, except for what could best be described as a soft reddish hue of light coming through the window. Patients were still in their beds, except that there were no electrical devices attached to anyone. Be it IV pumps, an EKG monitor, endoscopy cameras, life support machines, etc. Those devices seemed to have all vanished into thin air. Not only that, but electrical devices within people had also vanished, meaning that those with a pacemaker for example, were suddenly devoid of those lifesaving devices.
Sadly, this meant that those patients who had been on life support, were now at risk of instant, albeit literally painless death due to the lack of oxygen circulating through their bodies. Doctors in NICU had a problem as well, as infants under their care were no longer in a good environment.
One of the nurses on the fourth floor’s Digestive Health Ward, reached into her pocket to try and retrieve the wireless phone that she normally carried, in order that patients could reach him quickly, only to discover that the phone was missing. But if it made it any more comforting for the gentleman nurse, none of the patients or doctors on duty had phones either at this point. So, it was rather moot.
*****
Outside, Waffle King Richard, Kuro the Unicorn, and Queen Leo of animals looked around where they stood in sheer disbelief. The parking garage was now literally empty. Let alone the strange reddish hue of what might appear to be sunlight, even though the sun had long set already at that time in the late evening.
“Wh-what the heck?!?” Queen Leo managed to say while wondering just where her car had vanished to. “Where is my BMW?!”
Admittedly, they had far more pressing concerns however. A really thick fog was rolling in, and it wasn’t a whitish fog as is normally thought of by the public when they think of a thick fog. This was a greenish fog, and it didn’t look like a fog one would want to get caught up in, as it slowly grazed along the floor of the garage towards the trio of medical professionals.
“I think we had best go inside the hospital for now” Kuro mentioned softly. I don’t like the look of that fog.”
“That can’t be good” Richard said. “That’s typically a sign of a poisonous gas such as chlorine. Come on. We need to get inside the hospital and seal the entrance. Also, be prepared for a mass casualty incident.”
“Good idea” Kuro replied.
As the three quickly tried to rush towards the entrance and seal the doors, they noticed that all of the lights were missing, and that the only light source which they could see, was that reddish hue in the sky.
“Strange” Queen Leo thought to herself. “It’s like a summer evening sunset on a countryside lake.”
In reality, however, there was no actual foggy cloud which threatened anyone. The three of them had seemingly just imagined it. Or at the very least, that is what I would have liked to have told you as the narrator of this rather unusual, if not somewhat entertaining story… Wait! Are you telling me that you are not enjoying this story at all?! Oh well, that isn’t my problem. The game master of course had yet to make themselves known for this game, and so far, said game master was rather entertained at merely watching innocent people die in intensive care, as a result of losing their life support systems from the teleportation. All this, simply to get revenge upon one member of the hospital’s staff. Revenge, for what many would describe as a rather petty reason. But you shall have to wait until a much later chapter of our story to find out the meaning behind the game which admittedly has yet to begin.
*****
naturesjewel meanwhile, had left her now barren of electrical devices office (everything had seemingly vanished within her office during the teleportation), and was headed towards the Emergency Room in order to talk to Dreaming Jessiey about the loss of electronics. However, she noticed as Security and others were rushing around, with doors open that normally are held closed by magnetic locks for several reasons. A technician ran over to naturesjewel to ask if she knew just what had happened, as suddenly their patient had fallen to the floor as the MRI Machine vanished. This of course, naturally made naturesjewel question what the technician was talking about, before a MRI Machine doesn’t just vanish into this air, given its immense size and weight. However, it sounded no weirder really, than the missing electronics from her office just a few moments earlier.
Waffle King Richard broke the period of confusion however when he burst through the doors from a side hallway alongside Queen Leo and Kuro, before he grabbed the technician and told them to issue a notice to the Emergency Room that they were to expect mass casualties for a chemical Haz-Mat incident, given the think green foggy cloud rolling up against the hospital.
“We need everyone available, as we’re likely going to have a lot of casualties once first responders bring them in.” He was completely unaware of what was going on within the hospital as he had been preoccupied with simply reaching that specific area of the hospital to notice the abundant lack of electronic devices, or the numerous staff moving about in a somewhat confused frenzy.
“Terrific! If it’s not one thing that could go wrong, it’s another!” naturesjewel commented.
“What do you mean” Richard asked, unsure of what she meant.
“All electronic and mechanical devices seem to have vanished into thin air. The hospital is rather barren, but with plenty of sick and needy patients” naturesjewel explained somewhat calmly. “We have no idea what is going on here.”
Well, they had no idea yet. But that was all about to change. And for the worse, I might add. For at that moment, a voice seemed to be heard by everyone. But it was heard within their minds it seemed, as if it were by means of telepathy.
“Good evening everyone. I trust you enjoyed your little trip to my newly created world. You see, you aren’t really in your trusty hospital as you knew it anymore. I have brought you all here, patients, visitors, and staff alike, to enjoy a game of my creation. I am perfectly capable of seeing each and every one of you at all times within this realm of mine. Of which I have a few rules to this game which I must go over with you, in an effort to try and ensure that you do not try to break these rules. Believe me when I say that you do not want to break any of these rules, unless you have a desire to be punished. And by punishment, I mean certain death.”
Whatever game this voice had in mind, it now had everyone’s attention, even if some folks thought that they were individually hallucinating due to the telepathy aspect of this communication.
“Now then, Rule Number One: From now, until the end of play, every hour we will have a new King, so to speak. That King can make a request of any of you, and the individual receiving the request cannot refuse the request, provided that it is not something above a PG-13 standard. If the King makes a request that is above a PG-13 standard, or fails to issue a command within the hour, then the King will be punished. If the recipient is given an order which is not above a PG-13 status and does not carry out the order given to them, then the recipient shall be punished. You have until the next hour to complete the order before I select the new King and deal out any punishments as I deem necessary.
Rule Number Two: Waffle King Richard can never be King.
Rule Number Three: Survival of Waffle King Richard beyond Hour 20 will result in Game Over and thus a collective punishment for all involved.
Rule Number Four: The King cannot order someone to ignore me, the Game Master, nor can anyone opt to drop out of this game. Attempting to drop out of this game will result in punishment.
Rule Number Five: No more than 10 living people can be in any given room, excluding hallways, at any given time throughout this game. Should more than 10 people be in a room, I will punish the necessary number of individuals needed to bring the number back down to 10, starting in the order of who entered the room first. Not who entered last.
Rule Number Six: I hate repeating myself, so there will be no reminders or warnings issued by myself before punishments begin for breaking the rules.
Rule Number Seven: Kings may not issue any order which circumvents these rules.
Rule Number Eight: If you can find me, the game ends and you all win. Well, save for those who have already been punished by that point in time, as they cannot be brought back to life by me.
Rule Number Nine: Good Luck, as you are going to need it.”
With that, the voice seemed to fade away, leaving everyone stunned in shock at what they had just heard. Seriously, just what was going on. However, the voice quickly returned.
“Oh, I almost forgot! The King for this first hour shall be… Ivanae. You have one hour.”
The voice left once again, leaving everyone wondering just where Ivanae was at that moment in time, and how best to deal with this strange turn of events.
*****
It turns out that Ivanae was taking a short nap in her office which was adjacent to the Burn Unit, and had slept through the telepathy session. However, it had instead come to her as a dream, so she was still able to grasp what was going on, even though her brain at first equated it to a dream as she awoke.
A Nurse Aide found Ivanae and explained to her that she was truly that king for this first hour, and that seemingly it was all real given all the strange things that had happened, including the disappearance of various equipment.
“So, who are you going to give your order to” the aide asked, curious to see what Ivanae would do.
“Well, if what you say is true, then I had best find Dreaming Jessiey and issue the perfect commanding order to her. Something that she would find absolutely horrifying.”
With that, she made her way to one of the stairwells and headed down the flights of stairs to the first floor and the Emergency Room. It took several moments, and it would have been faster if the elevators were available admittedly, but they weren’t obviously, and so the lengthy walk it was for Ivanae. When she entered the Emergency Room and had managed to track down Jessiey, Ivanae proceeded to gently tap Dreaming Jessiey upon her shoulder.
Dreaming Jessiey was talking to one of the nurses about how to deal with a patient who had come in complaining about a paper cut to his thumb, when Ivanae caught up to her.
“Oh no. What is it” Jessiey asked in dread, seeing Ivanae, who was supposedly the King for this round, having appeared before her.
“Dreaming Jessiey, I want you to perform, complete with the motions, I’m a Little Teapot, before a patient, right after having reassured them that you are the most professional doctor in our hospital.”
There was a brief pause.
“You’re joking, right?” Jessiey asked, unsure what to make of the order that Ivanae had given to her.
“I’m completely serious! In fact, why not do it for that patient you were just talking to the nurse about regarding what seems to be a superficial wound with that papercut.” Ivanae was trying to hold back the hysterical laughter that she knew that she would be experiencing shortly.
There was another brief pause, during which Dreaming Jessiey rolled her eyes in disbelief, before she shook her head. “This is ridiculous, but whatever.”
With that, she headed over to the patient in question, opening the curtain to the exam room that the patient was occupying, before making her way over to the patient with a concerned look upon her face. “Now don’t worry Mr. Sampson. You’re in good hands here in the hospital. In fact, I’m the most professional doctor that we have here. So professional in fact, that… [I’m a little teapot, short and stout! Here is my handle, and here is my spout When I get all steamed up, hear me shout ‘Tip me over, and pour me out.’”
Mr. Sampson simply looked at Dreaming Jessiey with a look of sheer confusion, not having been aware that Jessiey had been the assigned target of the order by Ivanae.
“Uh, sure. Whatever you say, Doc.”
Flustered, Dreaming Jessiey then left the room back into the Emergency Room hall, before that telepathic voice then spoke out to everyone. This time, it simply said four simple, yet extremely profound words for this situation.
“Obedience has been confirmed.”
Then it went silent again, as everyone both tried to figure out just what was going on, as well as try to figure out a way to stop this without any punishments taking place.
Waffle King Richard · Sun Jul 21, 2019 @ 02:39pm · 0 Comments |