Evolution has ensured that our brains just aren't equipped to visualise 11 dimensions directly. However, from a purely mathematical point of view it's just as easy to think in 11 dimensions, as it is to think in three or four.
– Stephen Hawking
:2020:
Ronnie blinks and thinks she must be going crazy. Surely, she is. She even closes her eyes, massaging her forehead for a second. Yet, when she opens them again, the vials are still there, labelled with Violet’s name, with the reference number that Ronnie pulled off the computer just minutes ago, but very clearly empty.
The first thing that Ronnie thinks to do is to run after Lani. Because if her baby’s blood is evaporating (if that’s what it is) then that must some sort of problem, surely.
But then, Ronnie has never ever seen anything like this, in over 15 years of working as a doctor. This is the first time she’s seen anyone’s bodily fluids just disappear like they were never there. Without leaving a single stain.
Is it possible that she didn’t draw the blood? No, no, she remembers clearly, baby Violet struggling and the heavy red fluid filling the syringe.
“I’m going nuts,” she says to herself, sitting back in her chair. “That’s what it must be. Just going fully, completely insane.”
There’s no reliable solution that she can think of that would solve the missing blood in the vials. There’s really nothing to explain it. It’s just gone - like it was never there in the first place.
Ronnie nearly jumps when the phone on her desk rings. She stares at it in suspicion for a second before answering.
“Paediatrics, doctor Nelson speaking.”
“Well hello, doctor Nelson, would I be able to steal you away for lunch today?”
Prince. “Hey. I don’t know. There’s a lot of work to do today, and it’s flu season, you know how it is.” Ronnie takes the blood vials in her hand, looking at them closely, looking for any traces of the disappearing blood. There isn’t even any stains. “I...I don’t know. Maybe?”
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” his playful tone turns slightly anxious. “You sound preoccupied.”
Well, I’m seeing blood disappear into thin air, so there’s that. “Yes. Yes, sorry honey. It’s just been a long, long day already.” I take a deep breath, I can’t worry him with my crazy brain. “Lunch sounds lovely. Birchwood?”
“Sure.” Ronnie can almost see him squinting at her in suspicion. She knows she’ll definitely get a barrage of questions over lunch. “See you in fifteen minutes.”
She hangs up and keeps staring at the vials, squinting her eyes as if the blood would magically reappear if she stares at it hard enough. Is it possible that she hallucinated it - Lani coming in, the baby, the blood? No, Pauline burst in, she saw Lani too. Didn’t know you had anyone with you. Still, what other reasonable explanation could there be for the blood disappearing? Maybe she hallucinated the episode where she drew the blood?
Hallucinations only means one thing: a broken brain.
Ronnie’s hand absentmindedly goes to her right side again, feeling the painful lumps. They’ve grown slightly bigger since she first found them. Maybe it’s spread. Maybe it’s not just stage two anymore.
With her stomach twisted, she dials the extension for neurology.
“Hi, yes, this is Nelson from obs. I need an MRI appointment.” She takes in a deep breath. “For myself, please.”
