Waxing Chaos

It wasn’t the time of the call; Blake was used to that, and he was a light sleeper - call it the nature of the job. When the call at 1AM is from your doctor, that raised both eyebrows. Blake wasn’t sick, and his next physical was over six months away, so obviously Dr. Miller needed a patient’s help for once.

He chuckled at the thought as he sat in the lobby of the E.R. Business was light for a holiday season, save for a man who strolled in holding an injured arm and promptly escorted back to Radiology. Seated at the opposite wall were what looked like two sets of parents, their eyes deep with worry. Blake’s attention drifted further down to the young girl wringing her hands into a sweat. One of the mothers reached across the empty seat between them and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Blake knew right away that wasn’t their daughter, a credit to the old detective days he left behind a long time ago, but not the instincts. Those never leave and have served him well in this line of work.

Before he knew it, Dr. Miller appeared and pulled him to a side office, where images of burn wounds in various stages from two patients lined up on the wall screen. Blake was no expert, but they appeared out of order, as the skin in the center pictures of each row looked remarkably well-healed compared to those surrounding them.

“So why am I here again?” Blake asked.

“Thanks again for coming,” Miller said as he typed away furiously on a laptop. “You know I wouldn’t have called unless I was out of options.”

“Gee...thanks,” Blake replied with a wink.

“You know what I mean, this one’s out of my league and appears to be right up your alley.”

“So, let’s hear it.”

“Kinsey and Jordan, both thirteen at the only middle school in town. Their parents call 911 at the same time last night saying their kids jumped out of a dead sleep with severe itching and pain. Kinsey on her arm, Jordan on his hip and leg.”

“Both in separate houses and linked with the same condition at the same time?” That was enough to reel Blake in.

“Correct. Cops searched both houses, no sign of foul play.”

“Did they know each other?”

“They’ve been dating for a while, that’s all we know so far. At first, I thought maybe they were self-inflicted, part of some sort of bizarre Romeo and Juliet lover’s pact. They are thermal burns, after all, but there’s no evidence pointing to a cause. We got nothing.”

Blake pointed to the center pictures that looked healed, “Why are these-”

“They’re not out of order,” Miller interrupted, causing Blake to think the Doc had his own special psychic ability to read minds.

“That’s the progression?”

“Yes, they both arrived with second-degree burns. Hers was almost third-degree, but we were able to pull it back before it worsened. Then late morning they magically started to heal... but-”

“Burns don’t heal that quick.”

“No, not even the best burn unit in the county could pull that off. I was about to release them until suddenly, they both got worse again at the same time around sunset. Those last pics are from about an hour ago.”

“Back to where we started,” Blake said.

“And where you come in,” Miller bounced back. “It’s my professional nature to be a skeptic, but that time you helped me...”

Blake tapped his shoulder, understanding it was an episode Miller would rather forget. “Don’t mention it.”

“Let’s just say I’m more of a believer now,” Miller sighed. “I’m stuck, and we have to do something before it gets worse.”

“Can I talk to them?”

The doctor shook his head. “They’re sedated to hold the pain off, but you can talk to the parents in the lobby.”

Blake felt the gears start to turn as he settled into his groove.

“I want to talk to that girl in the lobby.”

That made Miller stumble to get his words out.

“She came with Kinsey’s parents, but she’s not their kid.”

Blake turned to meet his gaze, “I know.”

“She’s Kinsey’s best friend. Her parents aren’t here. We don’t have permission.”

“I know,” Blake groaned. He was not looking forward to this. “You called me, Doc.”

Dr. Miller swallowed hard.

Tammy sat across from the doctor and his odd-looking friend, sipping on her favorite soda and chips from the vending machine bought on the doctor’s dime.

Blake hated dealing with kids. None of his previous cases compared to their world. To him, they were the third-greatest unsolved mystery behind outer space and the human mind.

Thank God for comfort food, he thought as Tammy took another swig of her drink and started to ease back in her chair.

Still, her eyes never left Blake, making it clear his work was cut out for him.

She offered her bag of chips to Dr. Miller, who took one and thanked her. The real icebreaker came when her hand slowly glided in Blake’s direction, causing him to sigh with relief so loud he had to stifle it. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so tough after all. He took one and used it as an excuse to scoot his chair closer to the table as Miller started the chat.

“Tammy this is-”

“How are they?” Tammy interrupted.

Wow, what a pistol, Blake thought.

“They’re sleeping,” Miller answered with a broken smile, “but they’re not getting better.”

“Will they?”

Blake decided it was his turn. “We don’t know Tammy, that’s why we brought you in to help.”

“Are you a doctor?”

Nice try, kid. Blake knew she was smarter than that, it was too late for her to play dumb.

“No he’s not Tammy,” Miller smiled, trying not to look at Blake for help. “He’s a friend of mine, someone who – well...”

 All Blake could think of now was how much time – or little time - those poor kids in the burn unit had before turning too crisp to be rescued from whatever power was holding them hostage. He had to get this show on the road, but he had to find a middle lane that didn’t scare her too much. The truth was the best option at this point.

“I’m who comes to help when the doctors can’t.”

“So you’re a cop?”

“No, but I used to be. That means we shouldn’t be talking to you right now without your parents. We could get into a lot of trouble.”

Miller almost choked on his chip. Blake had just asked him to play along, not admit to breaking every law on the books. He could feel his license fading fast. “Can I have another chip please?”

Tammy handed him the whole bag, keeping her eyes locked on Blake who didn’t skip a beat.

“So, you can call and ask them to come up here and listen to everything you have to tell us. Or we can just talk like this and nothing leaves this room.”

Miller saw Tammy perk up at the options she was given and regained his composure. If this was the game, so be it.

“We just want to know what you know, so we can help Kinsey and Jordan.”

Hearing their names made Tammy cringe. Her eyes welled up. “It was Allison,” she sobbed.

“Who’s Allison?” Blake asked with the firm air of an official interrogator. He checked himself and pulled back, there was nothing official about what was happening here.

“It used to be the three of us – me, her, and Kinsey - we were all BFFs. Then she and Jordan started going together, she was nuts about him. Then Jordan broke up and a couple of weeks later Ali saw him and Kinsey necking under the bleachers before the ball game.”

Just when it couldn’t get any worse. Blake wanted to walk out right there. The only thing worse than dealing with kids was a love triangle with kids. He had to try to find some humor in this.

Well, at least they still neck under the bleachers.

Blake and Miller were a captive audience now and let Tammy spill all she had.

“Ali was so pissed and kept saying she’d get even with both of them. Every time we got together she had all these cult books with her.”

“You mean occult?” Blake corrected.

She snapped her fingers and pointed at him, “Yeah, that! She was always into that stuff, but now she was studying it more than her homework. Witchcraft stuff, she loved candles too, she has candles all over her room, but her mom won’t let her light them cuz she’s afraid of catching the house on fire. She’s into all that super-spirit stuff.”

“Supernatural,” Blake corrected again.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“That’s ok,” Blake replied. “Did she say what she was going to do?”

“No. I don’t know how, but it was bad enough to do this to them. She even loves her Human Biology class now, and she hated all those science classes. We all took our blood last week in class to see what our blood types were. She couldn’t wait to prick her finger and do that, and Ali’s scared to death of needles! It’s like she’s not afraid of anything anymore.”

With that Tammy broke down in heaving sobs. Miller stepped over with a handkerchief and gave her plenty of time to compose herself before she left.

“Let’s hope she keeps this to herself.” Miller said.

Blake rubbed his eyes. “I think she will. She’s too scared for Allison to know she snitched on her. Hell hath no fury and all that. Do you have connections at the school?”

Miller perked up and now actually looked excited to be a useful part of this. “I have enough pull, what do you need?”

“That blood test they did in Biology class. Can you get the blood types from the teacher and see if they match what you have on record for Jordan, Kinsey, and Allison?”

“Done,” Miller answered, “you have a hunch?”

“It’s always a hunch. Things like this start with blood.”