When my wife Angie and I found out she was pregnant with twins we were ecstatic. We knew there was a good chance we'd have twins since each of us had twin siblings ourselves, and it was exactly what we were hoping for. Sadly, the feeling didn't last. At a visit to our OBGYN they discovered that there were no longer two fetuses in Angie's womb, but only one. It was due to a medical phenomenon known as Vanishing Twin Syndrome where one fetus miscarries and is absorbed, or in other words "consumed" by the other fetus. We were both devastated as most anyone in that situation would be but Angie seemed to take it much harder.
I mean here's a woman who's never been religious in her entire life and now she was in church praying almost every day. It seemed pretty normal at first but before long she became overcome with denial. She began claiming that the doctor had just overlooked the other fetus during the test, that it was just hiding and would reappear later. As if that wasn't disturbing enough I learned through a friend that Angie had been meeting with an old woman known around town as Juju because of rumors that she was involved with Black Magic. Worried, I confronted her but she assured me that they had just been talking because Juju had also dealt with the loss of a twin years ago and could relate to what she was going through. I let it go but recommended that she see a psychiatrist, and to my surprise she agreed.
While seeing the psychiatrist she started showing substantial improvement, and in a short time had developed an increasingly positive outlook, even appearing to finally accept what had happened. A couple months later Angie gave birth to our son, Tobin. Unfortunately Tobin was born with a hole in his heart that would require two open heart surgeries, a blood transfusion, and medication that he'd most likely have to take for the rest of his life to help his blood pump properly. Other than that and a yearly routine checkup with a cardiologist Tobin was expected to live a pretty normal life with few restrictions.
Tobin is now fifteen years old, and up until about a week ago everything had been going fine. See, it's common procedure for doctors to change the type of medication or the dosage amount taken by patients as they get older and Tobin's Cardiologist, Dr. Alvah felt it was a good time to do so. Also pretty common is for patients to experience side effects as their bodies adjust to the new medicine. So when Tobin started having dizzy spells we assumed that's all it was.
However, a couple days after the dizziness started things took a turn for the worse. The three of us(Angie, myself, and Tobin) were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, I was talking to Angie and turned to ask Tobin something when I noticed he was just staring straight ahead towards the wall. He wasn't looking AT the wall though, it was as if he was looking Through it. His face was expressionless, almost like he was in some type of trance. I waved my hand in front of his face and said "earth to Tobin" but there was no response. Then without warning He screamed out in pain, put his hands over his ears and fell to the floor, curling into a fetal position. I rushed to him but by the time I got down beside him he'd already stopped screaming and was no longer in the "trance".
Angie and I helped him to his feet, walked him into the living room and sat him on the couch. He appeared more alert but was noticeably shaken and confused.
We had him describe what happened as best as he could so we could relay it to Dr. Alvah and find out what needed to be done. Tobin said that while he was eating, he'd looked up from his plate and everything seemed to stop, it was as if he was still inside his body but no longer in control. He could see me and Angie sitting there talking but couldn't hear anything. He couldn't move, speak, or even shift his eyes no matter how hard he tried. He then started to hear what sounded like someone whispering from off in the distance, it was getting closer but it never got close or clear enough to distinguish any kind of words, if that's what they were. At last, there was a burst of a loud, unbearable ringing that threw off his equilibrium causing him to fall to the floor, and just as quick as it happened, it was over and he felt normal again.
I called Dr. Alvah and filled him in on everything that had happened. He said for Tobin to discontinue his medication and if everything went ok to come see him in one week. He explained that Tobin may still have a couple of these episodes as the medicine left his system but if they were as severe as this one to bring Tobin in to see him right away.
We pretty much stayed in the living room for the rest of the day, watching movies and keeping an eye on Tobin, making sure nothing else happened. Later that night we put Tobin to bed and I hopped in the shower.
While showering I could hear Angie's muffled voice speaking to someone on the phone, I couldn't tell what she was saying through the sound of the water and the walls, but there was an unmistakable tone of anger in her voice. When I got out, Angie was sitting in bed and I could tell she'd been crying so I asked who she'd been talking too. She said it was her mother and that she was explaining to her what was going on with Tobin which is why she'd gotten upset. I kissed her forehead and assured her everything was going to be fine and she needn't worry. She vaguely nodded her head before closing her eyes and dozing off, with me surrendering to my increasingly heavy eyelids shortly after.
I woke the next morning to a loud thud followed by the sound of various objects crashing to the floor. I immediately thought of Tobin, leapt out of bed and raced to his bedroom, when I got there he was on the floor groaning, his hands over his ears writhing in pain.
His bed side table had been knocked over and all his things were scattered about the floor. I got down on beside him, wrapped him in my arms and held him firmly until it was over. Tobin was terrified now, and it was obvious that this episode had been much worse than the last, Tobin said the ringing sound was excruciating, and he experienced a sharp pain in his chest as well. The whispering sounds from before were much clearer and bizarrely human-like, even though it only sounded like gibberish or some unknown language.
Once he seemed somewhat back to normal I told him to get dressed while I called Dr. Alvah to let him know I was bringing Tobin in right then.
While walking back to my room to get my phone it dawned on me that Angie was missing. I had awoken in such a panic when I heard Tobin fall that it hadn't registered to me that she wasn't in the bed. My first thought was that she may have went for a walk or to the grocery store so I decided to see if her car was out front in the driveway. I opened the front door and almost slammed it right into Angie, who was on her way inside. The redness and puffiness of her eyes indicated that she'd been crying again, and with a look of frustration and a hint of embarrassment on her face she dropped her head and walked quickly past me and into the house.
As I started to shut the door I happened to glance out across the yard, and there, at the end of the driveway, walking away from the house was Juju, the lady and supposed black magic practitioner that Angie had been to see during her pregnancy. This struck me as incredibly odd, as I had no idea she and Angie had kept in touch over the years. I wanted to ask her about it to make sure everything was ok but it would have to wait. Right then, getting Tobin to Dr. Alvah was my top priority.
I called Dr. Alvah from the car and let him know what had happened, when we arrived at his office we were immediately taken back to an examination room where Dr. Alvah greeted us and asked some questions about Tobin's episodes.
He explained to us that experiencing mild side effects to the new medication was common but he had never seen anyone react to it as badly as Tobin had, which meant that Tobin was either a rare case, or that something more serious was going on. He then asked Tobin to remove his shirt and sit on the exam table so he could listen to his heart. Tobin's heart beat sounded strange so Dr. Alvah wanted to do further testing, particularly a test called an ECG(echocardiogram) that would hopefully give him a better understanding of what the problem might be.
The way the ECG works is, a glob of clear gel is applied by a Sonographer to the area of the chest where the heart is located, the gel allows a wand-like device called a transducer to slide effortlessly on the skin. When the transducer is placed on the skin it projects a picture of the area onto a video screen allowing the heart to be viewed from different angles as well as being able to hear the sound of blood flowing through, and being pumped from the heart.
We gave our consent and spoke with Tobin in an attempt to comfort him while we waited for Dr. Alvah and the Sonographer to prepare to administer the test. When Dr. Alvah returned to take Tobin down to the echo room we were told that because the room was so small me and Angie would have to wait in an adjoining room during the test but we would be able to watch through a large window between the rooms. This didn't help Tobin's anxiety at all but he understood how important the test was. Once in the room we watched through the glass as Tobin went into the test room.
There was an examination table on the far side of the room, running parallel to the big window. Dr. Alvah stood at the foot of the table to observe Tobin during the test. In front of the table was the machine used to give the Echo. It was basically a mobile computer desk with a large wand attached to it by an electrical cable. Tobin took off his shirt and laid back on the table.
The Sonographer sat beside him and in front of the computer and applied the gel to Tobin's chest, afterwards typing some info on the keyboard, and finally picking up the wand. He placed the tip of the wand in the gel on Tobin's chest and slowly moved it around, a picture appeared on the computer screen but because of the angle of the computer we couldn't really see it clear enough to make out what it was. He would pause, every few seconds and hit a button on the keyboard, I'm guessing to take still pictures.
While me and Angie were alone in the adjoining room I decided to take the opportunity to ask her about Juju the black magic lady being at our house that morning. She didn't respond at first, but then, without taking her eyes off of Tobin in the next room, and with tears starting down her cheeks she told me she had made a bad mistake. Before I could even ask "what mistake?" Angie gasped and I looked over to see Dr. Alvah running over to the computer screen with a panicked expression on his face. He and the sonographer began banging their fists on top of the computer and checking the wires suggesting that the screen had possibly froze.
Without warning Tobin starts screaming and clutching his chest, Dr. Alvah and the sonographer grab him just as he starts convulsing. I bolt into the room and over to the table to help strap Tobin down to keep him from hurting himself. I happened to glance over at the computer screen once I had the strap locked down and what I saw sent chills down my spine. The still picture frozen on the screen that is supposed to be of Tobin's heart isn't a heart at all, but a face, like what you'd see during a pregnancy ultrasound.
The face is staring straight ahead, hollowed black holes where the eyes are supposed to be and a slight grin across its face giving it a sinister appearance. I screamed at the doctors and demanded they tell me what the fuck was going on, but they don't know, they're just as shocked and confused as I am. The lights start to flicker and in the next instant the electricity goes completely out.
Scared and confused I start feeling my way to the door to let in some light when from behind me comes an enormous surge of electricity followed by an explosion.
The force of the explosion throws me forward slamming me head first into the floor. Water from the fire sprinklers rain down all around me as I lie there trying to regain my composure and make some sense of what's going on. After a couple failed attempts, I'm able to get to my feet, my legs feel like noodles and I can barely hear anything except ringing caused by the noise of the explosion.
I turn around to see Dr. Alvah and the sonographer lying on the ground beside the mangled pile of metal that was once the echocardiogram machine, Dr. Alvah was lying on his back with his face toward the ceiling, a long metal rod protruding from his eye, to his right, the sonographer was on his back, his legs draped over the fallen chair that he had sat in while administering the test, his head was twisted to the side with a long flat scrap of metal lodged so deep in his throat that his head was barely on.
Then I see Tobin still strapped down to the table, not moving at all. Fear washes over me and I make my way towards him. Upon reaching him my fears are confirmed. Tobin was dead, a large fist sized hole in his chest as if something had reached inside him and snatched his heart out, his mouth and eyes were wide open, frozen in a look of terror. I dropped to my knees and burst into tears. None of this made any sense.
A sound from across the room caught my attention and I looked to see Angie sitting herself up against the far wall to the right, looking around in her own attempt to figure out what was happening. She must have known by the look on my face that Tobin was dead because when our eyes met she started shaking her head in disbelief and saying this was all her fault. My mind went back to when we had been in the observation room and Angie had said she'd made a big mistake, so now I demanded she tell me what she had meant. She offered no resistance, no hesitation.
She told me everything. She explained that back when she had last Tobin's twin and started spending time with Juju they performed a series of necromantic spells that were supposed to bring the deceased twin back to life, when nothing happened she just wrote it off as a sham and went on with her life, but fifteen years later, when Tobin started having his episodes something told Angie that it might have something to do with the spells and called Juju to ask her about it.
The night I'd heard her on the phone from the shower she had been talking to Juju, which is also why I had seen her leaving my yard that morning. Juju had looked into it and found that something had went wrong, the deceased twin that had been consumed by Tobin had come back to life but instead of being a separate child it had stayed inside Tobin and was now attempting to take control of his mind and body. Though, with Tobin's heart problems he was too weak to withstand the power of the inner twin, and since it wasn't able to take over Tobin it would eventually leave his body in search of another host.
The door to the room flew open and in rushed several firefighters followed by two police officers. The firefighters surveyed the scene, and began putting out the small fires that were scattered about the room and checked us over for any injuries. It wasn't until a firefighter pointed it out that I realized I had a deep gash in my upper back, probably a result from the earlier explosion. I guess with everything going on I had paid it no attention, but now that I had taken notice I started to feel faint. Nurses were called in and after wrapping my wound Angie and I were taken by wheelchair to a patient room where we were helped into two hospital beds. They told us they would be back to check on our conditions shortly but in the meantime a police officer wanted to ask us some questions about what happened.
The officer introduced himself and gave his condolences then asked us to explain our version of what had happened. Angie could barely speak through her sobbing so the officer decided he would start with my statement. He moved between our beds and turned towards me, a notebook and pen in his hands. For a split second my eyes met with Angie's and by the look she had I knew something terrible was coming. In one quick motion, the moment the officers back was to her, she reached up and snatched his gun from its holster. I wanted to react, to yell for her to stop but all I could do was watch.
The officer spun around to her but it was too late, Angie placed the muzzle of the gun under her chin and fired. I watched the back of her head paint the wall behind her, I watched her lifeless body slump back on the bed and still I couldn't react. I never even heard the gun go off. All I could hear was a loud ringing noise and what sounded like a whisper growing from the distance.
Posted by u/MadMax229