#and its me and one (ONE) other kid tonight. literal child hes still in hs i think

[possum-tooth]

my supervisor texted me back! but now im a bartender..

[lexiwhittenburg-writer-blog]

Halloween M.D.

Halloween is always the busiest night of the year for New Orleans' University Medical Center ER. Tourists travel to see the culture come alive this time of year, but don't always know how to handle the atmosphere. The ER staff see a spectrum of things all year in New Orleans from dehydration, alcohol poisoning, car accidents, and the like. Halloween however brings the crazy out in this town.

Dr. Danielle Plath is working this Halloween night. Her shift started at four o'clock in the afternoon. It is now seven in the evening and she's seen a child who was run over by a drunk driver, four young girls who were suffering from alcohol poisoning, and a grandfather who was quite literally almost scared to death while taking his granddaughter trick-or-treating. The fun has begun, the staff say, when a group of teenage kids burst through the doors -- every one of them suffering from what seems to be a heart attack. There were nine of them total. Six boys and three girls. They live here in New Orleans, and are familiar with the surroundings downtown. This was no downtown accident or over-drinking, however. Dr. Plath took the child that was most coherent to decipher what was happening to them. Her name was Lila Bastion. Her friends and her were sixteen or seventeen. She was replaying the events leading up to their arrival through quick, painful breaths as the nurses and Dr. Plath stabilize her. "We went to.. the cemetery by.. the school.. to see what would happen... My friend.. pulled out a.. Ouija board.. and started talking... It was moving.. we thought he was moving it.. it spelled die.. we all started getting pains.. in our chest...," Lila explained. Her voice softened as she began to fade. Dr. Plath stopped asking questions and returned to her main focus of stabilizing these kids. Danielle went from child to child making sure they were all being taken care of and stable. Once they were better, she would speak to all of them together. The parents of all the kids were notified and instructed to come in as soon as possible.

It took three days for all of the kids to get stable and out of their hospital beds. Dr. Plath sat down with all of them, as well as their parents, in her office. She had to figure out what happened. No drugs or alcohol showed up in their blood work, and all of their vitals were normal. "Lila," Dr. Plath began, "You told me that one of your friends pulled out an Ouija board while you were all in the cemetery." Lila nodded and Dr. Plath continued, "I need to know what happened. This is the most unusual case I've ever seen. A couple of you came close to dying." The parent's gasps made one of them jump. He spoke up, "My name is Ralph, doctor. I was the one who brought the board." Dr. Plath nodded, "Okay, good. Can you tell me what happened?" He looked to his hands and began speaking, "It was my brother's. He plays with it all the time. I always thought it was fake, like everyone always says. I wanted to take it to freak everyone out. We were in the cemetery trying to perform a seance, but nothing was happening. I pulled the board out of my bag and put it in the middle of our circle. I was the only one who would touch it though." He looked to his friends who were shuffling awkwardly. Dr. Plath kept her eyes on Ralph. "I started asking it questions like its name, age, year it died, stuff like that. It answered all of them. Its name was Esther, age twelve, died in 1902. Probably got sick and couldn't get any help or something. Anyway... Things got weird when I asked why it was still here, why it couldn't pass on. That's when it spelled "die" and all of us started having the chest pains. I know no one else believed it, but I wasn't moving it and I didn't hurt us!" Hs stood quickly and faced his friends, raising his voice. Dr. Plath held her hand out and stood from her desk, "Ralph, no one is blaming you, okay? Just sit down and let's talk it out. All of us." She looked to all of the teens in her office. They were terrified. What was she going to do?

It'd been two days since Danielle had spoken to any of the teens. She's been in her office after every shift for hours at a time, researching what could have happened to these kids. She found numerous stories about this Esther spirit in the cemetery they visited. The myth states that the little girl's mother died from pain in her chest, and her father abused her for years after her mother's death. She was out to get revenge on both of her parents for the abuse and the abandonment. She was diagnosed with scarlet fever and died at twelve. There were so many stories of children just like this in history, Danielle found. But there was only one Esther that this happened to in New Orleans in 1902. The reason she was here was clear. Even though Danielle wasn't religious or superstitious, this wasn't a coincidence and something needed to happen. Nine healthy, teenage kids don't all have a heart attack at the same time for no apparent reason. Danielle picked up the phone and dialed the local priest.

Danielle met Father Joseph at the cemetery where the children were all attacked. She explained the situation, and to Danielle's surprise, Father Joseph's reaction wasn't as she expected. He sighed and turned to Danielle, "Dr. Plath, I appreciate you coming to me, but I've researched this so-called spirit for almost seven years. I've not once found any trace of evidence that there are any spirits in this cemetery, to be frank." As he was explaining, he led Dr. Plath to a bench near their meeting place. "Father Joseph, you know I'm not religious, but there is no way these teens all had heart attacks at the same time naturally. Their blood work, vitals, all of the tests we ran were clean. I need help explaining this phenomena. Can you just... try one more time? For me?" A small smile disrupted the wrinkles around his mouth. Father Joseph placed his hand over Danielle's and squeezed softly, "Danielle, I know you're concerned. I will open my research back up, and we will both work on this together. Science meets religion." Danielle smiled and nodded. This was good. She needed to know. They both stood and shared a hug when Danielle spoke, "Thank you, Father. I will gather all of the research I found, and we can meet next week?" Father Joseph nodded, "Just come by my office Monday. I have all of my files together when I put them away."

Danielle was nervous. She did more research in the five days since she first met with Father Joseph. Instead of the historical aspect, she researched any possibilities of foul play that could have taken place to induce these heart attacks. Her manila folder turned into four, and her brain turned to mush. Saturday night, she sat in her home and poured a glass of wine when it hit her: Wolf's Bane. This drug doesn't isn't usually found except through autopsy -- and that's if it's being searched for. One of these kids poisoned all of them, or this was a suicide pact. Danielle called the hospital and asked the nurse to have all of their files ready for her to pick them up. There had to be something in these files, and she was going to find it. On her way to the hospital, she called Father Joseph. "Hello," he answered cheerfully. "Father Joseph! I think I have an idea of what happened. Wolf's Bane, or medically known as Aconitum." The other end of the phone was silent for a long time. "Father Joseph? Did you hear me?" The sound of fumbling could be heard, "Uh, yes, yes. I'm here. Sorry, Danielle. That isn't native to Louisiana. Where could this have been obtained?" That was a good question. "The dark web, maybe," Danielle answered. Father Joseph humphed on the other end. After a moment, Danielle continued, "I'm headed to the hospital now. I'm going to look over their files to see if anything was missed. I'll call you if I find anything." They hung up.

The nurse smiled when Danielle approached the station, "Hi Dr. Plath! Are you bored at home tonight?" Danielle chuckled as she took the files extended to her, "You could say that. Have a good night, Amanda. I'll see you Tuesday." With files in hand, Dr. Plath decided to head to her office to look these over just in case she needed anything else from the hospital. The files told her everything she already knew. To her surprise, however, they each had another vile of blood that was not tested. Since there were no issues with the initial tests, the extra blood was not needed for more extensive testing. This could be her chance to find the problem.

Danielle walked the blood down to the lab and met with the medical examiner, "Toby! I'm so glad you're here. I need some help." Toby turned from his microscope with a handsome smile, "Danielle! What a pleasant surprise! How can I help you?" She placed the blood on the counter by his microscope and placed her hand on the back of his chair, "Can you test for poisonous compounds such as, say, Aconitum?" Toby's smile faded slowly. He spun his chair around to face her and crossed his arms around his broad chest, "Danielle, what's going on?" She sighed, rubbing her forehead with her first finger and thumb. Toby leaned forward to look Danielle in the eyes, prompting response with a raise of one eyebrow. "Do you remember the nine kids that came in with heart attacks a few days ago?" Her arm fell to her side as she rose her head to meet his eyes. Toby nodded, "Yeah, there was nothing in their blood to indicate what happened." She was nodding and motioned towards the blood, "I think I know what happened." His eyes widened as recognition flooded his face, "Let me run some tests and see if there is anything I can find." Relief overwhelmed Danielle, "Thank you so much, Toby. I owe you dinner." Toby chuckled as Danielle made her way back to her office.

Danielle looked at the clock on her computer. It read 10:45 PM. She'd been here for four hours without word from Toby. To stretch her legs, Danielle decided to make another trip down to see what was taking so long. The only noise in the hallway towards the lab was the clicking of her heels. The silence was eerie, unusual. The hospital is normally swarming with patients and staff alike, no matter what area. Danielle pushed the door open carefully as to not startle anyone who may be in there, "Toby? You in here?" The door swung closed behind her. "Back here!" She heard Toby call from a quarantined area of the lab. She walked towards the back, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Toby being held by someone at gunpoint. She couldn't see his face. It was hidden by a shelf holding medical supplies. "Toby, are you okay?" Danielle held her hands out in front of her, not sure what to do. "Dr. Plath, is that you?" A soft, scared voice came from the hidden face. "Ralph?!" The surprise was apparent in her voice. She dropped her hands to her sides and slowly crept forward enough to see his face, "What are you doing, Ralph?" His hands were shaking, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I--I...," he stammered as he shook his head. Toby's eyes were wide with terror and confusion. "Ralph," Danielle began, "Toby has nothing to do with this. He was only following my orders. It's me you want. Let him go." The words left her mouth in a hurry, mimicking what she's seen on television shows, hoping it would work. Ralph's eyes shot to Danielle, looking her up and down, "You?" His arm dropped from Toby's throat as the gun changed directions -- her direction. Toby fell to the floor, scooting towards Danielle on his backside. Ralph didn't seem to notice. His stare was boring into Danielle's eyes. "Why would you do this, Dr. Plath? We had a plan. We had a plan and someone ruined it!" His face grew red with... anger? Fear? It didn't matter. Danielle's first responsibility is to get that gun out of his hand. "I didn't know you had a plan. I would have left it alone if you told me. There was no way you could have told me in front of your parents, but you could have most definitely called to let me know when you were alone. We can talk about it now. Just drop the gun and we can talk. Okay?" Ralph's expression calmed, but his arm did not lower. Danielle raised her brow in question, lifting her hand up slowly, "What do you say, Ralph?" He looked down to his feet, eyes wandering the floor as if the answer were right in front of him. He quickly snapped his head back up, steadying the gun, "Sit down. On your hands. Then I'll put the gun down." Danielle did as she was told, sitting on her hands on the floor. That's when she realized Toby was gone. She calmed when Ralph sat in front of her, laying the gun on the ground. "Tell me about it Ralph," Danielle prompted.

"It was supposed to be all of us, together, leaving this Earth before it went to complete shit. I was asked to bring the Wolf's Bane, and I added the Ouija board as a prop for whoever found us. Make them believe it was some sort of seance gone wrong, you know? Someone backed out. I don't know who called 911," Toby was holding back tears as he explained what they had planned. "It was a suicide pact?" Danielle asked with concern. He nodded, drawing on the tile floor with his finger. "Where did you get the Wolf's Bane, Ralph?" It took him a while to answer, so Danielle prompted, "You aren't in trouble. It wasn't your fault. You and your friends had a promise. Someone didn't keep it." He nodded again, taking a deep breath. "I found it on the dark web. I've been fiddling with it for months, researching serial killers, criminals," he said, hurriedly adding, "I never contributed though. Well, until I bought the Wolf's Bane." He shrugged his shoulders, sighing. Danielle was nodding, unsure of what to say next. She's never been in a situation like this, but it seemed to be going well. "Ralph, who asked you to get the Wolf's Bane?" She wasn't expecting an answer, but she got one. "Lila did," he answered, "She knew I had access to the dark web, so she asked if I could look into getting some. The only reason I did it was because I wanted her to think I was cool, not some creep who surfs the dark web for kiddy porn or something." Ralph chuckled at himself and shook his head, saying under his breath, "How stupid." Danielle cut him off, "You are not stupid, Ralph. Did you want to actually go through with this plan? I know you bought the Wolf's Bane, but did you think it would actually succeed?" A minute passed and Ralph lifted his head to face Danielle, "No. Some part of me thought this was a test to see if I could prove that I knew what I said I knew. I'm fairly new to this area and they were the first ones to accept me into their group." Danielle took a deep breath. Ralph continued, "Lila was the one who actually put it in our drinks. At that moment, I felt that if they were really doing this, why shouldn't I? I wouldn't have any friends if they all died." Tears welled up in Danielle's eyes. She raised her legs to free her hands and lifted her arms to pull Ralph in. Before she could get to him though, the swinging doors busted in and the SWAT team entered the lab. Danielle and Ralph both stood, Danielle grabbing Ralph and pushing him behind her, "Don't touch him! I'm okay! Do not touch him!"

Danielle was in the waiting room of the police station when a detective called her name. He motioned for her to follow him into the squad room. She was escorted to the Captain's office. "Dr. Plath! My name is Captain Ramos. Please, have a seat." Danielle smiled and nodded in acceptance as she took the chair in front of him. "So, Danielle -- can I call you Danielle?" She nodded. "Danielle, why did you tell the SWAT team not to touch the boy who was holding you hostage?" He crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair, his buff chest pushing on the buttons of his shirt. Danielle moved closer to the edge of her chair, "Captain Ramos, he isn't well. He isn't the one you really want."