Page 22 of Dark Visions (Strange Gifts #1)

The emergency room was slow but with steady streams of people filtering through. The male nurse behind the desk lifted his head to see the couple that looked somewhat familiar approach.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Aislinn softly. “I was here about a week ago and saw Dr. Krauss. I was wondering if he’s in tonight. I’m having some residual headaches.”

“You’re in luck. He’s in the lounge. I’ll go get him. Why don’t you two have a seat right here,” he said, walking them into a curtained area.

Aislinn nodded at the nurse and hopped onto the table, her hands shaking with fear. She shivered, not from the cold but from terror. The terror of what might come tonight.

“I’m right here, honey,” said Kane, standing at her back. “Nothing will happen to you.”

“Hello, I’m Dr. Krauss,” he said, extending his hand.

“Y-yes,” said Aislinn, slowly raising her hand, “we met last week. I had a severe headache.” He eyed the young woman up and down and then stared at Kane.

“Right, yes, of course! Sorry, I see a lot of people here.” He shook her hand solidly and then shook Kane’s hand. “Tell me about these headaches.”

“Well, they have plagued me for years. I get them suddenly, and they are quite debilitating. I just want to be sure there’s nothing serious happening.”

“Have you had an MRI? CT Scan?” He listed off a dozen other procedures, and Aislinn nodded at them all, eyeing him cautiously. “Unfortunately, that’s about all we have in our medical hands at this time. I can give you something for the pain and something that may stop the headache at onset, but that’s about it. Do you need a referral to a neurologist?”

“No, no, that won’t be necessary. I just wanted to be sure,” she said sweetly.

“Well, you look as though you’re in great hands,” he said, grinning at Kane. Kane nodded at the doctor but didn’t smile. “No charge for today. We’re slow tonight anyway, but don’t tell administration. They’d hang me.” He winked at the two and left the exam room.

Kane grasped Aislinn’s’ hand, and they strode out the sliding doors into the parking lot, where Adam waited anxiously by Kane’s truck.

“Well?” he asked expectantly.

“It was different,” said Kane. “I didn’t feel the zing. I’ve never felt something so different before. It was more…”

“Sadness,” said Aislinn.

“Yes.”

“I didn’t get a sick, evil feeling. I got sadness. I wonder if he’s feeling remorse.”

“God, I have no clue,” said Adam. “The mind is an amazing thing. He could have split personality disorder. His mind could give off two people’s psyche.”

“Could that really happen?” asked Kane.

“I honestly don’t know, brother, but we’ll know in the next forty-eight hours. If Aislinn has another vision, we’ll know more about the good doctor.”

Adam rode back to Kane’s home and then took his car home. He hoped that Aislinn wouldn’t suffer with another vision, and yet hoped she would see something that could help them stop the murders.

He turned his car onto 30 and spotted the campground off in the distance, the very one that Flip was staying at. Pulling off at the exit, he took the long dirt road back into the campground. Campers of various sizes and shapes filled the spots. He knew that many people lived here year-round and wondered how someone could survive in such a small space. His own house was too large for just him, but he was a man that needed room.

Taking the big loop around the park, he spotted Flip sitting near a burning fire pit in front of a large motor home. The big awning stretched out over a few folding chairs and a picnic table, his dark face lost in thought as he stared at the fire.

Adam parked his car and walked toward the campsite. Flip never looked up as if not hearing him at all. Yet Adam knew his friend heard everything. He was trained to hear everything, and Phillip ‘Flip’ Cho would never allow anyone to sneak up on him.

“Why are you here?” he asked coldly.

“Well, hello to you too, asshole,” he replied.

“Hello.”

“Flip? What the fuck, dude! We’re brothers. I’m worried about you and your sorry ass. I want to help you if I can.”

“You can’t help me, Doc. No one can,” he said, still staring into the flames.

“Flip, I know you’re different.” His head snapped up, and a flash of anger filled his face, making Adam take a step back. “It’s okay, Flip. I’m different too. You know that.”

“I don’t know fuck! You’re not different, not like me.”

“Really? You wanna compare dick sizes? Look, I don’t know what your issue is, but I know that I carry my own burden, Flip. Didn’t you ever wonder how I saved Gilman? Thomas? Did that not ever occur to you?”

Flip stared at his old friend across the flames. His face flickered in the red and orange of the flames, his blue eyes bright and intelligent as always. He had wondered how Doc saved the two men. The others said it was impossible, the internal bleeding, the damage done to limbs, beyond repair. Yet somehow, Doc saved them both.

“So, what, you’re saying you got fucking super doctor powers?” he asked.

“Something like that,” he grimaced, shifting from one foot to another, kicking at the gravel.

Flip stared at him and reached beside him, grabbing a beer. He gestured for Adam to take the cold bottle, jerking his head to the seat beside him. Adam took the beer and sat in the flimsy chair.

“So… talk,” said Flip. “How did you save Gilman and Thomas? Let’s not forget Folger, too.”

“Folger, yea, I forgot about her.” He stared at the dark sky for a moment and then leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “I see everything when I’m working on their bodies. Everything.”

“What do you mean? Like their thoughts?” he asked.

“No. I see their injuries without even opening them up. I know what’s bleeding and where. I see it. I see the heart pumping or not. I see the bullet. I see the artery. I see everything, and I know what I have to do to fix it. I saw the bullet that ripped through Gilman’s spleen. I saw the artery bleeding out in Thomas’s leg, and I knew that Folger’s brain was swelling and hemorrhaging at the same time. And I never even picked up the scalpel to see that.”

Flip stared at his friend, his dark gaze intimidating and uncertain. Could that be what happened? Is that how he saved their friends?

“If you were to touch me… If you touch me, you can see if I’m sick?” he asked quietly.

“Are you sick?” Flip didn’t answer but just stared straight ahead. “Yes. If I touch you, I can see if there are any life-threatening illnesses.”

Flip stood and turned toward Adam, his huge frame looking down at his friend. Adam rose to meet his stare, although he did have to look up a few inches. He waited and realized Flip wanted him to touch him. Adam nodded and reached out, touching the side of his friend’s neck, the only bare spot accessible.

He closed his eyes and focused. The heartbeat was faster than normal, but not unusually so. Blood pressure was solid, pulse solid. Organs were intact and functioning well. His brain was an interesting picture. An entire section was generating energy at an alarming speed, but there was no indication of a tumor.

“You have no life-threatening illnesses, Flip.” His friend nodded, letting out a long slow breath. “Your brain, however, is functioning at an alarming speed in one particular area.”

Flip plopped back into his seat, taking a long swig of his beer.

“Now, are you going to tell me why you thought you were sick?”

“I didn’t think I was sick. I wanted to see if it was something… curable.” Adam sat next to his friend again and stared at him, waiting patiently.

“Fuck! Are you going to talk to me or not?”

“Shut the fuck up,” he said through clenched teeth. “Yes. Just give me a minute.”

Adam waited patiently for his friend to gather his thoughts. When Flip started to speak, Adam didn’t think he would ever stop. The words flowed so freely, and without pause, he knew that he had been holding this in for a long time.

“So, you can move objects at will?” he asked. Flip nodded.

“See that chair?” He pointed to the chair across the fire pit, and Adam nodded. Without flinching, he flung the chair across the road. Adam didn’t move, didn’t let out a sound. Thinking he needed more convincing, Flip pointed to his motorcycle. He leaned forward and stared at the vehicle.

Adam watched, mesmerized by the palpable energy coming from his friend. The motorcycle lifted off the ground, seemingly floating on air, and moved a dozen feet to the left, and then settled carefully back on its kickstand. Flip sat back in the chair and looked down at his feet.

“That convince you?” he said with a sarcastic tone.

“That’s fucking cool, dude,” he said, smiling. “I know you don’t think so, and I get it, but it’s fucking cool. You know, I know that you saw Kane the other day. He’s different too.”

“Kane is? I mean, I sensed something about his woman. She was nice, kind of sweet in a way. She wasn’t anything I would have pictured Kane with, but she was different.”

“She’s definitely different. We all should sit down and compare stories,” he said with a grin. “Look, Flip. I know this is hard for you, brother, but we’re here for you. We’re always here for you. If we’re freaks, then by God, let’s be freaks together.”

Flip laughed for the first time in forever. His mind relaxed just a bit. He nodded and clinked the neck of his beer bottle to Adam’s.

“Alright, man, I’ll think about it.”

“Promise me you won’t up and leave anytime soon?”

“Promise,” he said, smiling at his friend.