Rachel Wood

This is actually a chapter form a book I am working on, however I am told that it wants to be a novel by itself. I really don't think that is the case. A short story maybe.

 

 

Rachel Wood

 

“Dad, don’t forget I’ll be late tonight. There is some leftover meatloaf in the fridge,” said Rachel hopping on one foot, while putting a shoe on the other one. 

 

“Ray, you said that you'd watch the fight with me tonight. Terry Marsh is coming out of retirement.” Neil Wood sometimes acted more like Rachel’s child than her father.

 

 Rachel leaned over to kiss her fathers cheek as he sat where he always was in his recliner in front of the TV. She loved the man but he sometimes worked her nerves. She could not seem to get him up and out. “I am sorry Dad but we have a staff meeting after work. They don’t let me chose the times for those. Record it for me and we can watch it tomorrow” she reasoned.

 

“By then I’ll know who won. What fun will that be?” Neil whined.

 

  “Well, you can taunt me then.” Rachel was confident in the way that she handled her father. She had learned it from her mother who always knew the right things to say to appease him.

 

“Damn right I will!” There was excitement in his voice.

 

Out on the street, there was a stiff wind. Rachel turned up the collar on her suit jacket. She was thinking that she should have brought an overcoat, but she was late for work and did not want to go back again. She would just have to be cold. It seemed that winter was coming early this year. She hated winter in Maine. It was so endless. She wished that she could live in Florida or someplace else that was warm all the time. Forced to walk to work because her clunker of a car was in the shop again, Rachel hurried. By the time that she made it to the office, she was freezing. A hot cup of tea was in order.

 

On her desk was the usual flower arrangement from Tommy Sterling. It came every week with a marriage proposal. Sitting down at her desk with the tea, she took a sip and let the hot liquid warm the insides of her throat and stomach. Part of her wanted to tell Tommy yes. He was a fine man, a local contractor. He was not unattractive and Rachel knew that he would treat her well.

 

It was just that there seemed to be no challenge to life anymore. She wanted to solve mysteries and be absorbed in people of complexity. Everything in Orono was simple. It was as if the fight had been knocked out of everyone. She could marry Tommy, buy a house, squeeze out a few puppies, maybe join the PTA and then her children would grow up and do the same thing. “What’s the point?” She asked herself out loud.  

 

That thought caused her some anxiety. She was afraid of becoming her mother who got so bored and frustrated that one day she said she was going to the store, and never came back Rachel wanted to believe that her mother had befallen some ill fate, but her suit cases were missing as well as some of her clothes. $5,000 had been withdrawn from a savings account the day before. Also, the cookie jar money was gone.

 

So ended Rachel’s relationship with her mother, she was 12 when her nearly perfect world was turned upside down. A girl needs her mother when she is 12.

 

 Shrugging of that feeling, she began her days work. Mr. Bevy’s body seemed to be fine. There were no signs of damage externally. Rachel began the incision, starting at the shoulders and coming down into a Y under the solar plexus and continuing down to the pelvic bone. Then she peeled the skin back and cut the ribs. Once everything was open, she could get a good look at the organs.   

 

As Rachel examined the organs, she began to see complexity that bewildered her. Everything seemed to be encased in some kind of blue energy. She felt foolish saying it out loud for the recorder. Everything glowed slightly. She had a silly thought about radiation exposure, shook it off and continued. Then she noticed the pericardium was unusually large. She cut into it, and then peeled back the tissue. What she saw made her gasp. Inside the pericardium was two hearts. Her head reeled. She had to step back and breathe.

 

Both hearts looked healthy. They were slightly misshapen and fit together like two puzzle pieces. Each heart had three valves but the one on the right was maybe 20% larger. Rachel wondered if this had been noticed by another doctor. She had the medical records. She decided to check.

 

Still a little dazed, she closed up the cadaver and covered it with a sheet. Then she put it in cold storage. Grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge, she sat down at her desk. She took the file folder, opened it and began running through it.

 

After reviewing the medical records, she was even more confused. It seemed as though these medical records were of another man. There were numerous exams over the years and even one chest ex-ray that showed one normal heart. Didn’t anyone ever notice the extra heart beat with a stethoscope, unless they beat alternatively? Rachel decided to call the family, surely they would know. She looked at her watch. It was meeting time. This would have to wait until tomorrow.

 

The next morning, Rachel couldn’t wait to get to work. She went straight to her desk, skipping the morning tea. She opened the file on Morgan Bevy and searched for a contact number. She found Michael Bevy, son. There were two numbers listed. He would probably be at work now so she called that number.

 

“Hello?” He chirped.

 

“Hello is this Michael Bevy?” She asked.

 

“Yes it is. How can I help you?” He said regaining his composure.

 

“Dr. Bevy, this is Rachel Wood the coroner. I am sorry about your parents.”

 

“Thank you. What can I do for you Dr. Wood?”

 

“I know this is a bad time, but I have a few questions about your father’s health.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“I would rather do this in person. Could you possibly come down to my office?”

 

“Dr. Wood, I am very busy at this time, couldn’t we just do it over the phone?”

”Please call me Rachel. It’s just that, well, your father, ah, he had some abnormalities. I was wondering if you were aware of them and if you could explain them to me.”

 

  He paused and then blurted “abnormalities?”

 

A very hesitant Dr. Wood said “yes sir” drawing out the yes. “He was, unusual.”

 

“Dr. Wood,” Clearly he was growing impatient. “I am well aware that my father was not an ordinary man, however I am not sure that his abnormalities are anything that you can see with the naked eye.”

 

“I understand your confusion. I am also quite confused.” She placed emphasis on the word quite. “That is why I thought that we should meet. I would like to show you what I mean.

 

With anger in his voice, he snapped back “Dr. Wood, are you suggesting that I witness my father’s autopsy?” He didn’t try to veil his sarcasm.

 

Rachel Wood felt like a fool. “No Sir I am not. I am sorry that I bothered you. Never mind and once again, I am sorry for your loss. Good Bye”. Then she hung up the phone.

 

Rachel felt like fool. She had a quality in her personality that sometimes drove her mad. It was an undying need to question, to understand everything. So Morgan Bevy was unusual. That doesn’t mean that he was not loved by his family. “Rachel you need to work on your people skills.” She said to herself. However, she had no clue as to how to finish this case. She had to put something on the form as to the cause of death. Yet she could not discern anything that would explain it. After meditating for a while, she decided to go and look at the body again.

 

As soon as she opened the drawer, she noticed a discernable buzzing. It sounded like a cell phone that was set to vibrate. She pulled back the sheet that covered the body. There was that blue glow again, but stronger this time. The other strange thing was that part of the incisions that she had made during the autopsy had closed up. Not with stitches but healed, completely healed. By knee jerk reaction, she slammed the drawer shut and nearly ran from the room. Still shaking, she fixed a cup of tea, and then the phone rang.

 

“Coroner’s Office” Rachel’s voice was squeaking.

 

“Hello, I am looking for Rachel Wood,” said a female voice in an overly business like manner.

 

Gathering herself, Rachel replied “this is Rachel wood.”

 

“Ms. Wood, this is Rebecca Sanderson at Eastern Maine Medical Center. I have a gentleman here by the name of Neil Wood. Is he your father?”

 

“What happened is he alright?” Rachel said, with panic in her voice.

 

“He’s somewhat stable, but he had a heart attack. Could you please come down here? He’s in ER now, but they are getting ready to move him.”

 

“I’ll be right there.” Rachel heard herself say.

 

She nearly ran from the building, forgetting all about Morgan Bevy’s body. Once she arrived at the hospital, she was ushered up to the 6^th floor and into the intensive care unit. Her father was in bed with all sorts of things hooked up to him. He was on oxygen and there was a blood pressure cuff attached to him that would start up automatically. There were wires attached to his head and chest that were monitoring his heart and brain. He looked really pale. She almost didn’t recognize him. He appeared to be sleeping.

 

When she touched his hand, he opened his eyes and looked at her. “Hey Ray” he said. It was obvious by the strain in his voice that he was in great pain.

“Ssh Dad don’t try to talk. Your nurse sent for the doctor. You’re going to be fine.” She tried to sound positive. The truth was that he looked awful. 

 

“No baby girl I am not. I am going to die.” He spoke like he did when she was little and he was her father not the needy whiney man that he had become.

 

His behavior made her feel like a little girl. She wanted to cry. “Oh Daddy not now, I need you.” She tried to hold back the tears but it was a lost cause.

 

“Don’t worry about me Ray, I’ll be ok. You just concentrate on getting out of Orono. I love you baby girl, and your mother loved you too even though she couldn’t show it. You’ll be fine.”  With that Neil Wood closed his eyes for the last time.

 

And so ended another chapter in Rachel Wood’s life. Both parents were gone. She had no siblings and few friends. She stayed with the body for a long time and when she finally went home, it was dark. Sad and distraught, she got out of her car and headed for the door to her house, when she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. She thought it was a blue flash but decided that it was a shooting star. She whispered “Go in peace Dad” then made her way into the house.

 

 The funeral was on Friday evening. It was quiet and simple. She knew that her father would want it that way. Since he was a veteran, there was Honor Guard present. They gave her a flag and told her that they were sorry for her loss. Weren’t those the same hollow words that she tried to feed Michael Bevy? She cried herself to sleep that night.

 

The next morning she called in sick. That night, she went for a drive to clear her head and ended up in Morgan Bevy’s driveway. Why she had come here, she didn’t know, but there has to be answers somewhere.  Nothing seemed to make sense. She was about to go when there was a flash of blue light. It was the same blue light that she had seen the night her father died. It was coming from behind the house; she had to check it out.  

 

Rounding the corner of the house, she saw a man. At least she thought he was a man, head to foot he glowed, florescent blue. He didn’t notice her so she crouched down behind a hedge to watch. He was holding some kind of instrument and waving it back and forth over a few boxes.

 

Then the boxes just disappeared. Rachel gasped and he heard her. Their eyes met for a second which seemed like an eternity to Rachel. She regained herself and turned to run. Suddenly the blue man appeared in front of her.  

 

They were face to face. Rachel was trembling as she asked “What do you want?”

 

The man kept looking at her for what seemed like a life time. Then he said, “Rachel Wood do you wish to come with us?”

 

Trembling, she asked “Come with you where?”

 

“We are going back to Falone.”

 

“Where?” She knew somehow what he meant. But she was still very nervous.

 

“I think you know.” He said in a calm and reassuring voice. “You may choose of course. But I thought that you would like to go. You have such an adventurous spirit. Come with me and see a world of amazing things. Things that you could never imagine” the man said, dreamy eyed.

 

“Nor could believe, I’ll bet.”

 

“It’s up to you Rachel, but if you don’t want to go, I’ll have to wipe your memory. I can’t have you jeopardizing our mission. We are not finished here yet and a panic would cause people to act violently when we do get ready to make ourselves known.”

 

Rachel definitely didn’t like the idea of memory wiping, and she did always want out of Orono. This was out, way out! “Ok, I’ll go. I just have to go home and pack a few tings.”

 

“You will not need anything. Everything will be supplied. Just stand still and hold my hands.” He said confidently. Then he reached out and took her hands in his.

 

She took a deep breath, and then she heard a soft humming. Gradually, the humming grew louder. The man started to glow blue again. It was like an aura of light and it started to spread to her as they held hands. Rachel’s body became engulfed in the blue light as the humming became louder and louder. It felt like bees were all over her. The humming was vibrating and increasing more and more. Finally they shot off toward the sky, still holding hands.

 

That was the close to another chapter in Rachel Wood’s life. She would have many adventures and live a rewarding life. But that is another story…….