Just A Scratch

Chapter One: Pills

     "Just take these pills and you will be better." Dr. James Matthews, said to his fifty-three year old patient. The old man nodded. His name was Donald Henry with abdominal pains.

     "Thank you. But what if the pains come back?" He asked. His glasses sat on his nose a little crooked like a seesaw balance with a slighter bigger kid on one side.

     "Than that means your taking the pills." Dr. Mathews answered. He have to work clinic hours due to doing a surgery on a patient without their consent. Even though the woman survived and he offered the husband a coffee, he still had to pay for it all.

     "What? I thought the pills were to help me." Donald looked at the bottle for side effects in case abdominal pain was a side effect.

     "According to this record," Dr. Mathews holds up a patient file. "Your birthday was two days ago. Happy fifty-third birthday by the way. Anyways, your birthday was two days ago, June ninth. I assume you probably had a barbecue from that stain on your left pant leg. I will also assume that you had heartburn for those heart burn relieve pills in your pocket. They might fall out. So you probably are just having a regular stomach ache from eating some food. And you don't need pills." He looks up from the chart to look at the shocked face of Mr. Henry. He opened his palm into a flat surface and waited for the bottle of his medication to be landed into it. Donald quickly gave me back the medication. He walked out a little shocked and closed the examination room door with a soft click.

     Dr. Mathews, James, sat there on the steel stool in front of where his patients would sit. He gripped the bottle in his hands. He was used to the twenty years of medication yet the bottle felt new and unusual.

     These pills were for him. Him and his rare brain disease. But this disease was actually rare and a syndrome. It is called Sunflower Syndrome, a sensitivity to light which can cause seizures if flashed, similar to epilepsy. Its named Sunflower Syndrome for sunflowers and their relation with the sun since the syndrome has a reaction to light. He doesn't have grandma seizures, but absent seizures. Where he will stare at nothing while his brain his hijacked by a seizure. To him this is normal, his life in isolation. He can be outside as long as his hair is cut short and he doesn't go somewhere that can cause the sun to seem like it is flashing such as running under trees that cast a shadow, a trigger zone for his seizures. But these were rare for him since he had medicine. Right now his medication was always low since he had to take five pills in the morning and five pills at night. They were strengthened so he didn't have to take more but it didn't help that his dose was constantly changed.

     "Dr. Mathews? Oh, there you are. Dr. Blake is looking for you." A reception desk nurse said as she poked her head in the the examination room. Dr. Blake sounds like a man but is actually a woman. She had long flowing black hair that was often put in a tight bun. She always wore a light colored blouse with either black pants or a black, business-like skirt. Every now and then she would throw in a brightly colored bow tie if her blouse had a collar. He thought that made her look sexy. But of course she was beautiful the way she was, everything he thinks is often exaggerated thanks to his brain. If he feels angry, he would be a flaming bull. If he felt love, he would be a rapist to the woman he was "hitting" on. If he was sad, he would be at the bar for nights struggling with depression. He always had to control his feelings, that's why he doesn't have a wife or kids or even five friends. But he does have three friends. Dr. Blake, a cardiologists, and is colleague.

     He wondered if he should get up from his stool to see if Dr. Blake wanted something that absolutely needed his attention. He smoothed his brown hair back into the very slight wave to the left. His hair was short cropped besides the slightly longer bangs. He looked younger than he actually was. In reality, he was thirty-one. But with his glossy hair and non-wrinkled skin he looked a few years younger then his actual age.