Mitosis

Prologue

 Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt, bzzt.

A soft beeping sound reached Keith's ears. His eyes were heavy and his thoughts felt sluggish. He was laying on a soft surface, but he course feel something sticky coating his skin.

With effort he wrenched his eyes open.

"Gah!" He cried out, squeezing his eyes shut against the glaring light. He waited for several seconds, letting himself recover. More slowly this time, he lifted his eyelids, squinting until his eyes adjusted. The walls of the small room were white and several tables with tools on them stood in various positions around his bed. A machine sat next to him, making the little beeping noises that had woken him up. He could see a fluid bag on a hook above him with a cord that was inserted into his left arm. Was he in a hospital?

He tried to push himself into a sitting position and heard a squelch. "Ugh!" He said, looking down.

His skin was bright pink and coated in a gooey substance. A layer of what looked like thick, black paper lay in clumps around him. He fingered a piece, bringing it closer to his face for inspection. He gasped when he realized what it was. Skin. Burned skin.

He felt his arms and face, the glop that coated both stuck to his hands and had the consistency of buggers. He laid back down in his pillow, feeling confused and drained of energy. He was hungry too. Very hungry.

His arms felt heavy, but he lifted them up to his face with effort, examining them. Before his eyes the pink slowly faded away and his skin began to take on its normal tan hue. The goo on his arms glistened in the reflecting light. Suddenly the sappy liquid grew dry and cracked. It dissolved into dust and fell off Keith's skin in a small cloud.

Keith coughed as some of the dust entered his throat. He waved his hand through the cloud to clear the air. He sat up again and noticed that the layer of burned skin on the bed was gone. Piles of dust was all that was left of it. He ran his hand across the sheets, spreading the dust over its white surface.

He heard a voice suddenly cry out. A woman stood in the doorway, wearing a blue nurses outfit. She rushed over to his bedside and reached for his arm, lightly brushing the skin with her fingertips. Her face held a look of wonder and she examined him.

"This is a miracle." She breathed.

"Uh, what is?" Keith asked, a little unnerved by her actions. His voice seemed to bring her back to reality and she straighten up, looking at him in amazement.

"You had major burns on almost every surface of your body." She said. "Second and third degree. We were going to have to do skin grafting in some areas." She grabbed a clipboard off of one of the tables and began to write frantically, glancing up at him every few seconds.Keith watched her for a moment, unsure what to say.

"So..." He began, "How did I get here? Where is here?"

"Oh, that's right!" She exclaimed. "You don't know. You're at the River Valley Hospital. A farmer found you on the side of the road a few hours ago, all burned over. He called an ambulance and they brought you here. Do you know what happened to you?" She asked.

"Um..." Keith said, trying to remember. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was eating dinner with his family and then... nothing. It was a blank spot. "I don't know." He said.

"Hm." The nurse said, writing more stuff down. "What is your name?" She asked.

"Keith Parry."

"Alright Keith. I'll send in your doctor to examine you and call up your parents. They're probably very worried." She said as she walked back to the door.

"Okay." Keith said. She glanced back and him and shook her head in wonder before closing the door. He settled back down in the bed, utterly bewildered. He idly shifted the light dust on the mattress with his hand. "A miracle." He whispered curiously.