Crimson

Chapter Fifty-Four

Watching her carefully, sitting in silence, the room filled with the angst of the two brothers. A soft cloud permeating through their misery as they continued observing helplessly as their mother lay hospitalized. The soft hiss of her air tube filled her nostrils as the plentiful beeps identifying her vital signs cut through the silent agony of her children. Isabella Herrera, the mother of these two adult children lay motionless, her pallor pale as her vitals remained on the cusp of dangerous levels.

Inexplicably, slipping into a coma, Dr. Banks rushed to identify what transpired within her. The multitude of tests continued to vex Dr. Banks as she consulted specialists within the hospital to no end until an oncologist took up the task to assist her.

Feverishly, invested, Doug Tyler nearly crumpled once he saw her lying helpless in her hospital bed. The, once, luscious, vibrant lips and pallor now relegated to muted hues. Although only two days have passed since she bizarrely slipped into a coma, her face appeared gaunt as her cheekbones sharpened while her cheeks receded.

Glancing at two men seated next to her bed, Doug's pulse quickened as he saw the sons of Isabella wearing masks of sadness and pain. Feeling a little sweat form on his brow, Doug wiped it off with his free hand as he held Isabella's chart in his other.

As the motion roused on of the men towards the doorway where Doug planted himself, Brandt, the younger of the two, stood and waited expectantly with wide misty eyes. With heavy bags under them, his face expressed one whose tear ducts poured forth until empty. His mouth quivered slightly as he glanced at Doug. Appearing much younger, his body language betrayed his feelings as he looked onto to any sign of hope. With his face buried in his hands, Celestino turned slowly to see the Dr. in his white coat standing before them.

Clearing his throat, attempting to get all of the nervousness out of his voice, Doug spoke while walking into the room with his hand held out to shake theirs, "I'm Dr. Tyler. You can call me Doug."

The two men sat silent while nodding for him to continue. Dropping his outstretched hand, Doug read the room and continued to read over Isabella's chart before continuing.

"I'm an oncologist here," Doug stated while continuing to read.

"Oncologist?!" Brandt cried out. "Does that mean mom has cancer?!" He said worriedly.

Rigidly sitting up, Celestino's eyes widened as he brought his full attention to Doug.

"Ah, you must be the therapist son. Hm, Brice? No Brandt." Doug said reading over the next of kin information. "That must make you Celestino?" Doug said in an overly enthusiastic tone.

"Therapist? How did you know?" Brandt said suspiciously, "I never told anyone that."

Feeling the heat starting to blossom in his head, Doug stammered, "I-uh, well, I know Isabella." Thinking hard, he started, "Well, we work here, you see. I met her during orientation."

Celestino's eyes hardened as he watched Doug squirm as Brandt what anxiously for the true reason of this intrusion.

His anxiety getting the best of him, Brandt shouted out, "Does she have cancer or not?!"

"Ah, no. All tests show abnormal hormonal levels as well as some organ damage, however, cancer has been ruled out." Doug said returning to his formal tone.

"Great!" Brandt yelled once more, "Another doctor that can't figure out what is wrong with ma."

Standing slowly, Celestino placed a large, but gentle hand upon his brother's shoulder. Meeting his eyes, he nodded as Brandt disengaged.

"You're the guy, aren't you?" Celestino asked meeting Doug with an examiner's gaze.

"U-uh, what do you, I mean I don't understand." Doug said stammering.

"You and Ma have been dating, haven't you?" Celestino pressed.

Doug's face lit up beet red as all of his embarrassment cascaded over him. Darting his eyes toward each brother, in turn, losing his voice, he only let out a few tones and hums while attempting to regain some composure.

Walking towards Doug, Celestino reached out his hand to shake Doug's. Sighing in relief, Doug grasped Celestino's hand with both of his.

Looking at Celestino and Doug in turn with confusion inundating his senses, Brandt thought to himself, "Ma was dating? What the fuck. I didn't know that."

Celestino motioned for Brandt to come alongside him, as Brandt remained perplexed.

Seeing his brother's visible confusion, Celestino said in an aggressive big brother tone, "How are you the therapist if you can't even see what's happening in front of you?"

Annoyed at his brother, Brandt moved to greet Doug before stopping in his tracks as additional movement, once again, brought his attention to his mother. Isabella sat with her eyes opened, moving around, yet unfocused.
---
The land of Duidon, in the Plains of Nasfa.

Motioning for Dorn to come to his side as he continued observing the interaction of the thorns surrounding him, Pligal continued to swoon inspecting the hypnotic reactions of the plants before him. Moving closer, the thorns pulsed a calming tone, while moving his talon away, the tone lighten and abated.

Turning to speak to Dorn as he close the distance, Pligal felt his body freeze violently. As his limbs contorted, his free will wrenched from his control. Flailing as a wild tulac, Pligal's crazed behavior caused the 23rd Centuria, who began whizzing pebbles at the thorny bushes to quickly take up arms as they considered themselves under attack. Optis and the Clathor guard cautiously kept their distance as Dorn doubled his pace to examine his comrade.

Finally, Frozen in place his orbs widened as his mouth opened wide. Bellowing words in a mixture of voices unknown to him, Pligal recited some perplexing dialogue before crumpling to the ground in a multicolored puff of dust. His orbs tightly, shut, his body dimly exuding the lighting mechanism of the death state. Trying all he could, Dorn could not rouse Pligal from his deep slumber.
---
With Isabella's mouth opened, a gaggle of voices called out through her lips, all of them blended yet distinct boomed in the small room saying words as foreign and eerie to her sons and lover. Harmonizing, they seemed to present a cacophony of exuberance, as they seemed to drown out everything around them, even the light as the lamps and overhead florescent bulbs dimmed with each, apparent syllable.

The veil of reality fizzled, for each of them, as the sounds continued. Soft cries and gasps resounded around them as the many within 800 meters of Isabella became swallowed up by the reverberating energy cascading from her. Dimming, the light of day swooned, as the booms of syllables continuing to cascade through the darkness, gaining strength as the veil of what was, burned to nothingness. Through the dim cloud supplanting the hospital room, pillars of light beamed, as they surrounded a gray figure turning to meet the gaze of the intruders within the sanctity of this hidden dimension.

Swiftly dissolving back to reality, the room returned jarringly as the curtain of reality replaced the uneasiness of the dimension of dark and light. Isabella's eyes shut tightly after the voices boomed before writhing in place. Surrounding her, as her body rested while her mind continued to venture into the dimension of luminescent beings, the still bodies of her sons and lover lay littered in her hospital room.

Throughout the hospital, patients and hospital staff, adorned the nearby floors and furniture as their lost consciousness from the boom of energy and sounds. The former sounds of movement and voices, now replaced by the eerie stillness of machines keeping track of patient's vitals, formed a heaviness in the air of the Medical University of South Carolina.

As the bodies piled on top of each other a sound permeated through part of the inner hallways, up on the higher floors, loud trills of beeps pulsed through the hallways as alarms and life support monitors conducted a symphony of death. Midway through surgery, some patients bled out while one, with their surgeon, rested on their open cavity, seized violently as the surgeon's vitreous fluid oozed, mingled with their own blood down into the patient. Their scalpel, tightly woven in their hand as they rested upon it, unable to move, as it pierced their eye, mere millimeters away from their brain. 

You have reached the end of The Greys: Volume One.  Please let me know what you think so far and stay tuned for the next volume of the series.  Don't forget to vote.