Dark Matter: The Secret Revealed

Chapter 6: Belinda

I felt the warmth of Damien's hand in mine. Everything else in the room became real and present. The door opened in front of us, and quickly the three of us focused our attention towards a tall, balding man in a white coat with a stethoscope wrapped around his neck.

"Mrs. Garant," he said fixing his gaze upon Damien's mother. "I am Dr. Schroeder. I am the physician attending to your husband."

Before Damien's mother had a chance to speak, Dr. Schroeder spoke again.

"Your husband has an influenza infection which is causing respiratory failure. He is the first case we have identified in Coriander, but I am afraid he is not the last," the doctor said. He shot a glance at the emergency room, which we could see through the small window in the examining room door. An increasingly worried and restless crowd with flu-like symptoms was gathering. People who were ill tended to send out their thoughts like distress signals making it easy for mind-reading immortals like myself to know precisely what they were thinking.

"We are providing him with ventilatory support," Dr. Schroeder continued, "and we are treating him with sedative agents and antibiotics. We have stabilized his vitals for the time being. Do you understand?"

Damien's mother nodded.

"I need to ask you two questions. Does your husband have asthma, diabetes or any acute or chronic condition that you know of? And, has he been travelling of late, specifically to the southern hemisphere?"

Mrs. Garant swallowed hard, her eyes betraying a myriad of thoughts racing through her brain. "He was in Australia in late May and yes, he suffers from asthma," she said. Her body was shaking a little, and tears were welling up in her eyes.

"I know you are deeply distressed, Mrs. Garant by all of this. I am sorry. We believe it is an H1N1 influenza strain, but we are running tests to make sure we are correct." Dr. Schroeder said. "I want all of you who had direct contact with the patient to see the nurse. We will put you on a course of anti-viral medication. Are any of you having flu-like symptoms?"

We all indicated we were not. As an immortal, I was not susceptible to human illnesses.

"We are also doing the same for all of your husband's co-workers. I know this is difficult, but I need you to let the nurse know who you have been in contact with over the past several weeks since he returned from Australia," Dr. Schroeder added. He then turned and began to leave.

"Can we see him?" Damien asked.

"He has been isolated so that he does not infect other patients in the hospital. Until we know precisely what we are dealing with you can only see him through glass. I am sorry, but you will do him no good if you become ill as well. This type of virus is highly contagious. I must leave you, but I will speak to the nurse who will take you to the ICU."

When the doctor opened the door, I heard raised voices and I noticed that a young man down the hall in the emergency room was raising his voice at a hospital intake nurse who was trying to explain why the wait was so long. The emergency room was overcrowded with many people coughing and now looking very agitated. The whole scene reminded me of the images I had seen in Damien's mind last evening when we were outside on my lawn.

I heard Mrs. Garant cry out and then she fell to the ground in a heap. Damien went to her rescue and gathered her in his arms.

"Come sit over here, Mom, on this chair until the nurse comes back," he said. I could see he was worried.

"I can't believe this is happening," she said. "He was feverish and coughing this morning, but I thought it may have been a cold coming on and nothing more."