Since Nick's death, things haven't been the same. But the truth about Nick's death seems to have popped up recently. Will Karen be able to avenge Nick? Or will she find that maybe things have gone too far?
As Karen was driving to the hospital, she thought about what they could have called her about. What could possibly have gone down that worsens the already bad situation?
But she was distracted by that when she arrived at the hospital.
She gets out of the car and walks in.
In the check-in room, she saw some people sitting in the chairs coughing, babies crying, and people yelping in pain while they held their broken bones.
This made Karen want to cry as she realized just how needed hospitals are.
She walked up to the lady at the reception desk, who was on the phone.
“Ok, I'll tell you what. Let's schedule an appointment to do your MRI. So let's see”, she said as she typed some stuff on the computer in front of her.
“We can schedule one on January 3 next week, is that good?”, the lady asked.
Assuming the person on the phone said yes, Karen started talking.
“Um, hi, I'm here for a doctor to see me”, Karen said.
“Sooo, an appointment?”, the lady asked as she raised one eyebrow.
“Well, yes, no, I don't know. I got a call-”
“Here, tell me your name”
“Karen, but-”
“-Alright Karen, who did you schedule an appointment with?”
“I didn't, it's like one of them scheduled an appointment with me”, Karen said as she realized how stupid and unusual that sounded.
“Um...that's not how it works, so I'm sorry. Unless you have an appointment or a medical emergency, I'm gonna need you to step aside Karen”, the lady said.
“No, it's just that-”
“Next!”, the lady said with a slightly raised voice as she looked behind Karen and at the person behind her.
“No, one of the doctors said that he needs to talk with me”, Karen said with a slight bit of anger in her voice.
But the person behind her started walking in front of her.
“You're holding up the line sweety, there are people here who need serious help”, the old lady said.
“Yeah, I know but-”
“Please lady, move aside!”, the lady at the reception desk shouted.
“NO!”, Karen screamed as she slammed her hands down on the reception desk.
Everyone in the check-in room stared at her.
Karen heavily breathed in anger as she stared at the lady behind the reception desk.
“Now...I want you to go get Ronan right now, and tell him that Karen is here”, she said as she pointed at the door that leads into the hallways that the doctors roamed in.
“Yes ma'am”, the lady said as she looked down and walked over and into the hallway.
Then there was an awkward silence as everyone just kept staring at her.
Karen tried to act casual, but the feeling of dozens of eyeballs staring at her made her uncomfortable.
A few seconds later, the lady came back inside with Ronan behind her, who scanned the room, but his eyes set on Karen when he found her.
“Ah, Karen, glad you could make it, please come with me”, he said as he tilted his head towards the door and then walked towards it.
Karen followed.
“So, what did you call me for?”, Karen asked as they walked down the hallway filled with doctors.
“I will explain that when we get to the morgue”, Ronan said without looking at her.
“What's the morgue?”, she asked.
“Basically the autopsy room”, he replied.
That made Karen think of billions of questions while they walked to the morgue.
Eventually, they made it to the autopsy room.
Karen looked around and saw a bunch of drawers with names on each and every one of them.
Then a doctor in light blue and a white make around his face walked over to them.
“Hey Ronan, how can I help you?”, he asked.
“Henry, I've told you that Karen is coming in a few minutes”, Ronan replied with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
“Oh yeah, I forgot”, Henry said as he looked at the ground in embarrassment.
“So, uh, this is Nick's Mom”, Ronan said as he walked over to the side to show Karen fully.
“Ah, hi, I'm Henry nice to meet you”, he said as he extended his hand.
Right when Karen was about to shake it, she shrieked with fear as she noticed that his glove was covered in blood.
“What? Oh, sorry about that”, Henry apologized as he took the red hospital glove off his hand, and extended it again.
Karen then relaxed, she didn't realize how tense she was.
Then she smiled and shook his hand.
“So, have you told her yet?”, Henry asked Ronan.
Ronan glanced at her, and then back at him.
“No”, he replied.
“Well, don't you think we should?”, Henry said.
“Tell me what?”, Karen asked curiously.
Henry and Ronan looked at one another and then back at Karen.
“So...let's just get straight to the point. So your child, Nick, he didn't die from cancer”, Ronan said quickly.
Karen looked at them in shock for several moments.
Then she finally replied.
“Wait, what?”, she said in shock.
“Henry, can you explain? Cause I don't know if I could do this”, Ronan said as he looked down.
“Um..sure”, he replied.
“So, what do you mean he didn't die from cancer? What else could he have died from?”, she asked.
“Alright, when I tell you, you have to keep calm okay? We will explain so just relax and listen”
“Okay”
“So when we did the autopsy on him, we found that he died from anthrax attacking his organs. But just to let you know, he did actually have brain cancer, but anthrax killed him before brain cancer even would've killed him. Because if left untreated, anthrax will kill the person within-”
“-2 to 3 days”, Karen interrupted in understanding.
Henry nodded his head.
Karen thought about it for a second.
“But, how did he get anthrax?”, she asked as she raised one eyebrow.
“Actually, about that”, he said as he walked over to his pieces of paper attached to a clipboard.
“I actually noted that there was a lot of swelling in a particular area in his arm tissue”, he added.
“So? That means...what?”, Karen asked.
“So, that means that he had to have been injected with anthrax. So let's say, if he were to have inhaled anthrax from someone else, then it would just enter his lungs. But it turns out that I found no lung inflammation or anything. But, I did find the swelling in his arm, which is very unusual, because any other type of anthrax wouldn't have just swelled up in one limb like that. Unless the anthrax entered through that particular area”
“Yeah, and there's no way that someone would do that on accident. Because we have no supply of anthrax here. Because anthrax is a drug used in wars and stuff, so we have no access to it. So that could only mean-”
“Someone...murdered my son.”, she said in a saddened voice.
Both of them stared at Karen, who was pacing around with her head down.
After several moments, she finally stopped and slowly turned around.
“We're gonna find that bastard who killed my son. And when we find them, we're not gonna just let them go to jail, I want them to burn in a thousand hellfires. I want them to spend the rest of their life in pain, wishing that they could go back in time and change their decision. Because oh boy, once they see who they're up against, they're gonna realize they messed with the wrong person.”
Then Ronan walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Don't worry Karen, we'll find them”, he said.
A tear then dripped from Karen's eyes and splashed onto the ground lightly.
She sniffled and looked up at Ronan.
“Tell me, who do you think killed my son?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know, but we're not gonna stop looking until we find them”, he replied.
“Whoever they are, they're gonna wish they had never touched my son”
