Nathaniel Sewell's Blog, page 13

Amanita – Chapter 11

11

“Laina,” Artemis said as she dried her red hair with a cotton towel. “I need to go back home, report in, do you have other family where I can take you?”
Laina sat on the edge of the hotel bed watching a cartoon cast from the hotel flat screen television.
“Can I stay here?” Laina asked. She searched Artemis’s eyes from within a needy void. She stopped and slumped acceptance. “I can go back, I’m a big girl.”
“Let me think,” Artemis said. She thought Laina’s gaze brought back memories of Benjamin. His eyes where now Laina’s eyes. “Don’t want people thinking I kidnapped you, I’m not sure what to do.”
“I’ll go back inside,” Laina said. She stared forward like a battle tested solider. “But, my momma’s dead. She ain’t wakin’ up.”
“Let’s go over to see her,” Artemis said. “Tell her, and the nurses you’re with me. When’s last you were home?”
“I can’t remember,” Laina said. She fumbled with the television remote. “A few weeks, I’d guess.”
“Do you have a change of clothes at the hospital?”
“No,” Laina said. “I just wear this, I’m fine.”
“That’s not acceptable,” Artemis said. She paused for a few moments. She pointed at the bathroom. “Get in there, shower up, we’ll do our best with what you have for now.”
Laina shrugged meekly. She dutifully bathed, and put back on her dirty clothes. Artemis stopped her, and shared one of her long sweaters, it covered Laina from the turtle neck top on down her fragile body appearing like a long dress.
“Feel better?” Artemis asked. She examined Laina, and patted her on the shoulders. “You look spiffy.”
“Yes,” Laina said. Her hair still wet. She smiled up at Artemis. She hugged Artemis’ suddenly at the waist. “I like you.”
“No worries,” Artemis said. She patted Laina on the head. “Let’s get moving. I’ve got work to do.”
Artemis combed through Laina’s hair, and she slowly, carefully, unraveled Laina’s dishwater blond tangles. After Laina’s hair was dry, they got some hotel breakfast, and Artemis walked with Laina into the hospital. They made their way into the floor where Laina’s mother lived on mindless life support machines. Artemis walked up the nurse’ station. It happened to have been the same nurse from the night before.
“Yes,” the nurse said. She acknowledged Artemis. “Pulling a double, need the money, and we don’t have enough staff. Help you?”
“How long’s the lady got left?” Artemis asked. She pointed behind her with a right thumb. “You know…”
“Not long,” the nurse said, lowly.
“Well, if anyone comes looking,” Artemis said. “I’ll look after the little girl.”
“No bodies going to come, girls on her own,” the nurse said. She didn’t look up from staring down at the computer screen. “Find her a home. Or, better, give her up to protective services. Let them deal with the mess.”
Another nurse moved over next to the other nurse.
“Keep her out of here,” the new nurse said, bluntly. “She’s like a feral cat, they’ll use her.”
“Why?” Artemis asked. “I don’t understand.”
The nurses looked at each other.
“Sorry,” the new nurse said. She blew her stringy hair off her face. “These hospital walls have ears, and we need our jobs. Just disappear with her.”
“Yeah,” the other nurse said. “Walls have eyes and ears.”
“They’ll cremate the remains?” Artemis asked.
“That’s what were told,” the nurses said in unison. “Please, get her out of here, we’ve got to get along.”
Artemis walked over behind Laina who was standing at the patient room door staring over at her mother’s lifeless body.
“Laina,” Artemis said. She sucked in a deep, deep breath, she slowly let it release through her open lips. “Say goodbye to your mother, I think, I think it’s best.”
Laina stepped over toward her mother. As the life support machines rattled, they pumped oxygen, and the monitors blipped vital signs. She stared at the body covered with a greenish hospital sheet, and white cotton blanket. She touched her mother’s hand, she pulled back as if she had touched cold death. And then Laina quickly turned, and ran out of the room. Artemis let her pass, she looked inside and saw no signs that her mother’s spirit remained in the room. She was certain Laina’s mother was gone forever. She whispered a prayer for the dead even though she was a non-believer. She turned around, and saw across the long hospital hallway Laina sitting on a wooden bench, aimlessly staring forward. Artemis walked over to her.
“I’m sorry, Laina,” Artemis said. She kneeled down on her left knee, and gripped Laina’s tiny left hand. “We’ll figure this out, don’t worry.”
“What does it feel like to be alone?” Laina asked. Her eyes searched Artemis’ for answers. “I’m a big girl.”
“To accept the facts,” Artemis said. “And decide to keep a positive thoughts, and that you’ll decide to be happy. And then you no longer feel alone. That’s what I do.”
“Where will they take me?”
Artemis thought about her life. She considered the nurses recommendations. She turned to look back over at the busy nurses station as they investigated patient charts and exam rooms.
“Let’s take a road trip,” Artemis said. She nodded over at Laina. “Can you get inside your home?”
“I think so,” Laina said. “Mr. Sammons has a key.”
“Ah, Virgil. Let’s start there,” Artemis said. She stood up with her hand out in front of Laina. “I’ve met him, where’s his grocery?”
“Down the highway,” Laina said. She grasped Artemis’ hand. She slinked forward and walked with Artemis. Laina never looked back toward her mother’s room. She just walked stoically out of the hospital.
Artemis drove with Laina away from the hospital. Laina briefly then looked back, then she turned around and clicked in her safety belt.
“Laina, you’ll need to navigate,” Artemis said. “Can you help me?”
“I know the way,” Laina said. She pointed to turn right at the traffic light that was flashing a yellow caution.
#
“Florida?” Virgil asked. He grinned over at Artemis as if Florida was an imagined place for him with endless soft white sands, limitless palm trees, and skinny topless girls sipping rum based pina coladas.
“Bad idea?” Artemis asked.
“No, I think it’s great,” Virgil said. He jiggled the key to open the trailer door. “Laina you’ll be a good girl?”
“I don’t know,” Laina said.
Laina entered through the metal door dented at the bottom from frustrated nights. On the inside there was only a darkness, and strong odors. Artemis and Virgil cautiously followed in behind her.
“Damn,” Virgil said. He covered his nose. “Laina, you can’t live here.”
Laina scurried farther inside the single wide trailer as if she could run to an exact spot blind folded inside a dark coal mine. The trailer was stuffed from laminated flooring to black moldy blotched ceiling tiles with dusty items even unsellable at a low rent flea market.
“I guess mom was a hoarder,” Artemis whispered over at Virgil. She was careful not to touch anything.
“The state pays the rent,” Virgil said. He stared down at the floor. “I had no idea-“
“No child should live like this,” Artemis said.
“No kiddin’,” Virgil said. He kept his hand over his nose. “You just take her, get her away from here. This is no place for a child.”
Artemis nodded dutifully over at Virgil. Virgil stood quietly near the kitchen area, he continued to stare down at his dirty boots as Artemis stepped forward between indiscriminate magazine and musty newspaper piles, a well worn fabric couch covered with a ghostly white bedsheet hidden beneath with more magazines and boxes stuffed with junk. She moved down a narrow hallway. Within a small room on her left, toward the trailers far end, there, she found Laina’s bare room. But for the cardboard castle that Laina had fashioned as a hide away from depravity. Artemis kneeled down and discovered Laina hunched down from within her den with her lost eyes searching back hoping for sunshine but expecting darkness.
“Laina,” Artemis said. She resisted her tears. “Leave it all behind, just come with me, you’ll need to trust me. I’ll get you new things, I promise.”
“You promise?” Laina asked. “Momma never kept her promises.”
“I always keep my promises,” Artemis said.
Artemis held forward her hand. Laina scurried out, and they left the trailer that Virgil would soon set on fire and reduce to forgotten rubble.

End. Chapter 11.

Amanita – Chapter 10

10

“We are efficient with our payment models,” Loraine said. “It’s all about understanding the government codes.”
“Artemis, you have to understand, we have developed a unique platform that truly combs through the data to enhance our value-based scoring,” Gene said. His eyes appeared as if he’d self-congratulated himself. “It’s our company edict, we provide quality patient centric care, at the right place, at the right time. But, we have to get paid for our efforts.”
“I understand, but what about these requests for records?” Artemis asked. “On it’s surface, the claim has some serious charges, cremation without consent, so forth?”
“HIPAA, and we are admittedly, overly cautious, protect our neighbors,” Gene said. He interlocked his fingers. “We focus first on being compliant with government standards, we have tested our consent forms in court, and they have stood up. We believe we’re in the right.”
“Artemis,” Loraine said. She glanced over at Gene. “We review and release as much patient record as possible, but there are proprietary tests that we simply cannot share.”
“You’re certain your position will stand up?” Artemis asked Gene. “IF, and it’s a long time away, we take this into court.”
Gene leaned forward onto the conference room table.
“Artemis, not with standing,” Gene said. He paused. “You are under a NDA, so anything I tell you does have in a way, legal privilege.”
“Just as long as we aren’t involved with fraud,” Artemis said. “Where are you headed?”
Lorraine got up and left the conference room after Gene glanced over at her. She tightly closed the door behind her.
“I’ll be blunt,” Gene said. “The community needs this hospital, it needs it to stay open, to care for the community.”
“We agree,” Artemis said. She sat back in the high-back chair.
“Well, in a such,” Gene said. “We have our masters in Nashville, they guide our decision-making these days, you understand?”
“I do,” Artemis said. “I am quite aware.”
“Good, good,” Gene said. He wiped perspiration from along his forehead, just beneath his combover. “All the hospitals have a mission to be a truly closed-loop system, you understand?”
“I do,” Artemis said. “Own profit center.”
“But, being a not-for-profit,” Gene said. He grinned. “Allows us some flexibility, tax and so forth, but yes, each facility has to meet our goals, or, well, I’m searching for a new job. And being as the coal business has died off, I’d be moving from Selene, truthfully.”
“So, are you cryptically saying some of these claims are in fact, accurate?” Artemis asked. “I need to know this.”
“Not really,” Gene said. He waved over at Artemis. “It’s like the standard of care, to a civilian, they might not appreciate how medicine, genetics, works as a practical matter, which you understand.”
“Get with it,” Artemis said.
“For example,” Gene said. He stared over at Artemis. “The one on life support, the little girl you’re helping, which I fully embrace, it’s what Jesus would want you to do.”
“Okay,” Artemis said. She was not shocked that Gene was a aware she had been in the hospital. She knew the place had video cameras monitoring every nook and cranny.
“The patient is close to death, lost the baby,” Gene said. “Sad situation, we unfortunately deal with every day, these poor folks end up on Medicaid, so for us to get compensated, we extend their lives in the hopes they might come out of the induced coma, but long enough to meet the government codes, you understand?”
Artemis covered her mouth with the back of her hand. She thought punching Gene in the face was not a good response.
“I don’t believe this,” Artemis said. “First do no harm-“
“Oh, I agree,” Gene said. “But, we have to work, as I said, in a somewhat flexible standard, to both care and, well, pay for that care. I know it’s a tough view.”
“I’ll say this,” Artemis said. “I’ve had some, ah, interesting cases over the years, but I’ll give you credit, you’re honest about being corrupt.”
Gene squinted his eyes, and smirked over at Artemis.
“You’re an arrogant youngster, you don’t know, what you don’t know,” Gene said. He leaned forward. “But you’ll keep your mouth shut, besides, we can prove our standard, it’s all in the records, our patient records are clear and transparent, we don’t hide our methods.”
“But that woman should be dead and buried,” Artemis said.
“That’s your opinion, not a fact,” Gene said. “And, you’re not a doctor, it’s Dr. Demetrius’ decision, he’d be the one on the witness stand, not you.”
“Fair enough,” Artemis said. She stood up. “I don’t like you, or your little friend, but I have a job to do; I do know one thing, records or not, the dead always reveal the truth.”
“I would agree,” Gene said. “Good luck with the little girl, I think you should do us all a favor, get her out of Selene, it’s not a good town for her.”
Artemis left the hospital and marched over to Jerome Jenkins’ office. She stepped inside, and surprised the young boy at the greeter station. His brown eyes had expanded into larger than normal orbs.
“I need to see, Jerome,” Artemis said. “Now.”
The boy scrambled from his desk chair and disappeared down a side hallway. After a few brief moments, Jerome Jenkins appeared at the hallway opening. His shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His readers dangled from a stretchy eyewear cord.
“Well, well,” Jerome said. He leaned his to the side. He grinned over at Artemis. “Did you get saved? Here to convert me, or what not? You look a bit angry…”
“How much?” Artemis said. “What’s the number.”
Jerome walked farther into the waiting area. He leaned onto the front reception counter.
“Honestly?” Jerome said.
“Yes,” Artemis said. “Off the record?”
“Sure,” Jerome said. “I can keep my mouth shut, but, I think I know what your about to tell me.”
“Then tell me,” Artemis said.
“Those people over at that hospital,” Jerome said. He searched Artemis’ eyes. “Sanctimonious, and corrupt, all at the same time, about right?”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Artemis said. She nodded. She clenched her back molars. “On the record, got a number I can take back?”

End. Chapter 10.

Amanita – Chapter 9

9

“My momma’s dead-“
“No, Laina, you don’t know that,” Artemis said. Laina curiously stared at Artemis. She was scrunched under the bed sheets, her head pushed into a pillow, her tangled hair shrouded her eyes. “Let’s hope for the best, stay positive.”
Laina shook her head with certainty. She was sniffy.
“The nurses say their keeping her alive for a few more days,” Laina said. “I heard them talking.”
Artemis sat down on the cushioned chair near the hotel room windows. Curious why Satan had purposefully ruined her full-moon. She looked over at Laina. Artemis thought Laina did not appear upset that her mother was dead, she was now beyond acceptance. Her eyes told that story. Artemis thought Laina’s eyes were active, observant and more intelligent than her scruffy appearance.
“What else have you heard?” Artemis asked. “What have you seen, you know, you’ve been roaming the hospital?”
Laina looked around the two bed hotel room like she was searching for a deep dark secret. She shifted over closer to the lamp, she clicked it on. Her faced covered in bright light.
“They aren’t here?” Laina said.
“They?”
“Like in the hospital,” Laina said. “There’s these things inside, they scare me.”
“Sweetie,” Artemis said. She moved forward on the chair cushion. “Be more specific, where in the hospital, what did these people look like? Tall, fat, so forth…”
Laina scrunched her legs toward her chest. She squished her eyes together, and then she opened them.
“Dark like,” Laina said. “They growl at me, in the night.”
“Like little tiny dark spots? Or, orbs of light?” Artemis asked. She was certain Laina had seen demonic figures. “All moving together-“
“I can’t see them,” Laina said. “But I know when they’re there, they came for my mother.”
“Did you tell the nurses?” Artemis asked.
“No,” Laina said. “They don’t like me.”
“It’s not that,” Artemis said. “They have work to do, it’s not your fault.”
“At night I walk around the hospital,” Laina said. “I go to the cafeteria, some times they give me food.”
“They feed you?” Artemis asked.
“Most of the time,” Laina said. “Lots a times, they warn me to go hide, there’s these people they want me to hide from.”
Artemis rubbed her chin. She wondered what else Laina had accidentally scene or heard. But it was getting Laina to remember in context from where she was at the time.
“Where do you hide?” Artemis asked.
“They pushed me under the kitchen counter, they told me to be quiet,” Laina said. She glanced up at the ceiling. She blinked in repetition as if her long eyelashes were butterflies floating in static motion. She stopped blinking and paused for several moments. “A dark room, it’s cold, no one goes in.”
“Who are ‘they’?” Artemis asked. “The people that help you.”
“People in the kitchen,” Laina said. She looked over at Artemis. “Some of the doctors help me, they buy me food, the nurses do too… “
Artemis got up, she started to pace toward the bathroom door, and back toward the hotel room windows.
“Are there others like you?”
“I’ve seen some,” Laina said. “Seen some get caught, I stay by myself, I don’t need them.”
“You’re very brave,” Artemis said. She stopped pacing. “What’s the dark room like, I know its cold, are there, ah, you know, a long line of drawer like things with sleeping people inside?”
“No, that’s the morgue,” Laina said. “I seen it too. I stay away from it, it scares me, I heard growls the one time.”
“I can imagine,” Artemis said. “Do you sleep at night?”
“No,” Laina said. “That’s not smart, I go to sleep in the morning, the nurses don’t bother me.”
“Go back,” Artemis said. “The cold room, imagine your inside, when you go inside, can you describe what you see?”
Laina’s eyes scanned around the hotel room. She fiddled with her fingers.
“They look like mushrooms,” Laina said. “I seen mushrooms before, in the forest, Mr. Sammons showed me, told me not to eat them, they might make me crazy.”
“Mushrooms?” Artemis asked.
“I’m sure,” Laina said.
“How big’s this room?” Artemis asked. She waved her hands in the air. “Really long, tall, when you hide, where in the room do you go?”
“All over,” Laina said. “Some times they turn on rain, it rains on the mushrooms, but stops, I have warmer spots, I can see just enough to hide from anyone that comes inside.”
“Is that your favorite spot?” Artemis asked.
“For the most part,” Laina said. “It’s not far from my momma’s room.”
“Think you can sleep?” Artemis asked. She flicked on the business desk lamp. She walked over and turned off the lamp between the beds. “I’ll leave this one, I’ll be over in the other bed, you’re not alone, okay?”
Laina shifted under the bed sheets. She looked up at Artemis.
“Are you all alone, too?” Laina asked.
Artemis sat down on Laina’s bed.
“You don’t have any family?” Artemis asked. “Uncle, Aunt… Grandma, Grandpa?”
“No,” Laina said. “It was just momma and me, I never met no one else, momma said grandma was dead.”
“I’ll find them,” Artemis said. “I’m not alone, I have friends. I work a lot, now, you need to try and get to sleep.”

End. Chapter 9.

Amanita – Chapter 8

8

Artemis sat across from Laina behind a table at a all night diner that had only recently banned smoking. She had draped Laina with her winter coat. Laina would not look at the menu, she sat back and looked around the busy restaurant. She watched other nearby restaurant guests eating and drinking.
“You can have anything on the menu,” Artemis said. “I’ve got this, don’t worry.”
Laina looked down at the menu, but she appeared lost. She squinted her eyes. Artemis realized Laina could not read the menu. She thought silence usually told her the truth.
“Momma said I was dead weight, we don’t go to restaurants.”
“Well, I don’t think your dead weight, you need to eat a good meal,” Artemis said.
“I don’t know,” Laina said. She shivered on the bench seat like an abused dog.
“Okay, if I order for you?”
“Sure, I guess,” Laina said. She pushed the menu forward, pulled her legs up and hugged them. She meekly stared over at Artemis. “Thank you.”
“What do you like?” Artemis asked. She gripped the laminated menu. She quickly scanned it. “Hamburger, french fries… want a strawberry milk shake?”
“Sure,” Laina said, blankly.
“Cool,” Artemis said. “Let’s get some comfort food.”
A plump waitress with tired eyes walked over next to their table. Her ink pen was speared into her kabuki actor styled hair bun.
Artemis made the orders, she chose foods she thought a little girl might like. She picked more deep fried food than she thought wise, but it was about Laina, it was about Benjamin’s child. The waitress left the table and moved toward the busy fry cook station.
“Do you go to school?” Artemis asked Laina.
Laina shook her head. She crinkled her face.
“All right,” Artemis said. “It’s okay, I was talking, just curious. I knew your father, Benjamin.”
Laina looked out the restaurant window into the dark parking lot. At the street corner a single street lamp offered minimal light across a drab environment.
“He’s dead,” Laina said. She touched the window and examined her hand print. “Momma said he was never coming to see me. I held her back.”
Artemis reached forward, she smacked her fingers on the formica topped table near Laina.
“He would have,” Artemis said. “He was a brave man, I think you would have loved him, I know he loved you.”
“He left me,” Laina said.
Artemis thought Laina was hard inside her frail body. The pretty little girl had seen and experienced countless disappointment, heartbreak over and over for the first decade of her life. Her eyes no longer had happy expectations for a trip to Disney World.
“What if I told you I was there?” Artemis asked.
Laina slowly looked over at Artemis. She inspected Artemis’ face, she scanned every centimeter of Artemis.
“He sent me to find you, no kidding,” Artemis said.
“How?” Laina said. She crossed her arms. “I don’t believe you-”
“I know, I’ll prove it,” Artemis said. She thought through her words, and wondered how best to talk with a child. “I’m not sure if it will make sense, but, I am telling you the truth. I don’t lie, my mother always taught me to be truthful.”
“Why did he die?” Laina asked.
“He was a solider,” Artemis said. “He was fighting bad people, sometimes soldiers die for others, like you, and me.”
Laina stared blankly over at Artemis. She enraptured herself deeper within Artemis’ winter coat. The waitress brought over two strawberry shakes, with bendy straws. She set one in front of Laina, her eyes told Artemis she happily examined the sugary drink. But she did not make any movement toward it.
“It’s for you,” Artemis said. She gripped her shake, and sucked through the straw. “Laina, try it, it’s tasty.”
Laina hesitantly touched the straw with her forefinger, and then she slowly moved forward, and she sucked at the straw opening until she tasted a bit of shake. She smiled. She looked glassy eyed as she released the straw and sat back.
“There you go,” Artemis said. “You like it? I like mine.”
“I like it,” Laina said. She backed farther away from the shake. She never took her gaze off the shake. “Can I have it?”
“Yes,” Artemis said. “It’s all for you, but you don’t have to drink it all, it’s up to you.”
Artemis thought Laina acted like a released prisoner of war. She wondered how Laina had endured what she suspected was the years of abuse, both physical and mental. Artemis tried to hide her feelings, she relayed on her training to focus on facts, and not emotions. She was determined to stoke the flicker of the spiritual flame that Laina barely remained inside her.
The waitress returned with plates covered with cheeseburgers, french fries and onion rings. She set a plate in front of Laina who leaned her fingers against the side of the table and she spied at the deep fried delights.
“What you hiding from, sweetie?” the waitress said. She slid the paper guest check over toward Artemis. “Clear your plate for your momma.”
“Thank you,” Artemis said. She placed more than enough cash on the ticket to cover the bill plus a healthy tip. “Here you go, keep it all, I don’t need a receipt, but, I’m just her father’s friend, I’m no mother.”
The waitress looked down and realized it was a nice tip.
“Well, thank you,” the waitress said. She winked at Artemis as she walked away from the table and slipped the bill and cash into the front pocket for her apron.
At first, like the shake, Laina was hesitant. But with Artemis’ encouragement, and example her hunger gave in and she devoured the food. She ate as if she’d been fasting for three weeks.
“I need to do some work later,” Artemis said. “It’s a full moon tonight, but, you can stay with me, my hotel room’s warm, you’ll be safe there.”
“What about my momma?” Laina said. She talked with her mouth stuffed with french fries.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Artemis said. “I’m sorry, she’s in really bad shape.”
“I know,” Laina said.
They finished eating, and Artemis navigated Laina back to her hotel. She stopped at the front counter, and got Laina a room key, and advised the house staff to keep an eye out for any wondering young girl. She got Laina to her room, she turned on the television and found Laina a good show to watch. She snuggled Laina into the double bed, and turned down the lights.
Artemis was confident Laina would be safe for an hour or so, and then she made a trip back to Most High cemetery.
“Oh how you have complicated your life,” Satan said. It was in the form of a dark particle orb. “Couldn’t resist the little girl, mom’s not quite into my world, yet.”
Artemis stood near the second row of the cold cemetery. She was confident Satan wanted to keep something hidden within the circular park like setting. She understood why those in limbo had gone into hiding, again. She was also certain if Satan wanted her dead, she would already be dead.
“You know what I think-“
“Ah, you’re learning,” Satan said. “You cannot hide from me, or your God the father – we are beyond you.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“Are you being obtuse?” Satan said. “It’s the other way around, I’ll reveal in my own good time.”
“The dead always tell the truth,” Artemis said.
“Ah, your thoughts,” Satan said. “Yes, I am the great deceiver, but the dead don’t fear the truth, so, you’ll have to wait for it, one clue at a time.”
“Why?”
“My enjoyment, to watch human greed,” Satan said. The orb glided down and near Artemis. “You should go up into the mountains, find your new friend , he’ll show you the place, there’s a great tree, where foolish humans worship me, it might be good for you.”
“And what,” Artemis said. “Get murdered?”
“No harm will come of you,” Satan said. “You’re correct, if I wanted you dead, you’d already be dead searching for God.”
“Why are you so interested in me?” Artemis said. “I’m only a insignificant human.”
“In due time,” Satan said. “Go up into the forest, I think you’ll enjoy the show.”

End. Chapter 8.

Amanita – Chapter 7

7

“Can I help you?”
“Yes,” Artemis said. She strode up to the hospitals information counter. An older lady sat behind and smiled up at Artemis. “I need a visitors pass, I work with the risk management department, they said I should come over here for a pass, you know, log me in?”
The lady shook her head in agreement, she reached forward.
“Honey, I need to see you driver’s license-“
Artemis handed it forward, and she turned to look around the busy lobby searching for a child that matched Laina Lynn’s description. It was a similar scene for every hospital Artemis had investigated. Disease and human malfunction attacked all walks from life. And those not afflicted were left to wait and ponder the uncertain future.
“Here you go, honey-“
“Thanks,” Artemis said. She clipped the badge onto her jacket. “Can you tell the room for, Ruth Lynn?”
And within seconds Artemis had Ruth Lynn’s room number. She walked deeper into the hospital. As she foraged along the same hospital smell enraptured her, the similar color coded lines that directed healthcare staff toward the correct floor. She took the stairs and avoided the elevators. Eventually, she found the obstetrics floor, and she began her search for Laina Lynn. But she realized as she looked into several patient rooms there were numerous woman intubated, and surviving off life support. She thought about her claim file, and the allegation that the hospital had misused the informed consent form, and cremated their remains without the families knowledge. She thought her instincts inside her brain were thumping at her on full speed.
Artemis acknowledged the nurses behind the nursing station. She located Ruth Lynn’s patient room, and then she was horrified. The woman’s wilted body was hooked up to life support, as her spirit stood next to her, her dead stare was directly over at Artemis. The machine cycled along just kept pumping oxygen into a pregnant cadaver. The monitor above blipped her vital signs. And curled up into a corner of the room, underneath the large bed, a tiny little child was balled up within a thin blanket.
Artemis kneeled down, she gently reached forward to touch the child’s shoulder. The child shook from being cold, and alone. She was a girl Artemis thought given her delicate bone structure. She looked at Artemis with one blue eye as she spied over at her from underneath the blanket’s protection.
“Are you Laina?”
“Yes,” Laina said with barely a whisper.
“I’m a friend of your father’s,” Artemis said. “Do you remember your father?”
“No,” Laina said.
“I’ll help you,” Artemis said. “Have you eaten?”
Laina merely shook her head. She scrunched farther away form Artemis. Artemis stepped back, and gave Laina distance, and time.
“I’ll be right back,” Artemis said. She stood up, and walked out of the room, and over toward the nursing station.
“Pardon me,” Artemis said. “The child inside the room, I’m friends with her father.”
“I understand,” the nurse said. She was wearing a pink uniform with a stethoscope draped over her neck.
“Does she have any family?” Artemis asked. She buttoned her jacket to hide her sidearm. “I’m happy to help, if I can.”
“I know,” the nurse said. “We’re at a loss, they have the patient on life-support, hoping to keep the baby alive. It’s not likely, but they’re trying.”
“She looks dead,” Artemis said. “Sorry, I’m a former medic, her pulse is weak.”
The nurse took off her stethoscope, and placed it behind the counter and next to a computer screen.
“I know,” the nurse said. “Not my call, but- you know.”
“No, I don’t,” Artemis said. “She’s not the only one, you’ve got several others up here, they’re all pregnant?”
“Yes,” the nurse said. “The hospital expects us to keep them all alive, I’m not sure why, I need my job, you know.”
Artemis considered if she should tell the nurse her true identity. She did not like being dishonest, and thought it blocked her ability to reason between right and wrong. She pondered the thought, but then the girl Laina had emerged from the patient room. She wore a tattered dress, her long hair in tangles, but Artemis thought her blue eyes came from Benjamin.
“I thought you left me,” Laina said.
Artemis waved Laina over toward her.
“I’ll never do that,” Artemis said. She looked back over at the nurse. “All right if I take her to the cafeteria?”
“Please,” the nurse said. “I don’t think she has anyone, no one but you’ve come to the see her mother.”
“No family?” Artemis asked. “I’ll get her some food, but, protective services, shelter?”
“This is not a big city,” the nurse said. “We’ve kept her hidden so far, but, our homes for kids can be nightmares up here in the mountains. The nurses have tried to help her, but, we’ve families too.”
Artemis stared down at Laina who was holding her hand. She thought of Benjamin, and she nodded over at the nurse.
“I’ll take her,” Artemis said. “You okay with that, for now?”
“Please,” the nurse said. She leaned forward, she whispered. “Just get her out of this hospital, her mom’s gone, the baby’s gone, hear me?”
Artemis reached forward and shook the nurses hand. In all her case work over the years she knew the overworked nurses in every hospital kept the facility working, and they new all the secrets. She reaching into her purse, and withdrew a business card, she placed it on the counter.
“I’m up here on a legal matter,” Artemis said. “This little girl was my deceased lover’s child, it’s just a coincidence, if I need some help, have some questions, help me out?”
The nurse closely examined the business card. She pushed it back over toward Artemis.
“No,” the nurse said. “I need my job. But listen to me, keep the child out of here, we’ll act like we never saw her.”

End. Chapter 7.

Don’t Think that I have forgotten the day, 6.6.2004

Don’t think that I have forgotten,

I wonder where time goes to hide?

Pause…

Reflect…

It does not hide,

The truth constantly stares back us from the other side,

Each life slips through a bespoke portal,

Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall,

As if a wishing well yearns for worthless pennies,

A monarch butterfly’s ripple spreads from the center,

Basking from the mortals hopes and dreams,

Wondering if life might be heaven sent,

Pause…

Reflect…

…zero

…zero

From a penny flip,

But regrets and tragedy never relent,

I wish I understood a magic word,

A word so simple,

It’s easily misunderstood,

…Love, Love,

It has two consonants,

It has two vowels,

All equal against the whole,

But it has many meanings,

So deep the well,

The mind cannot dive down to touch the submerged floor,

A place only God knows exists for sure,

There,

Someone looks back up at you,

Lovingly hidden within those depths,

Two, Oh,

And waiting for you,
The moment,
She comes back into view,
And eternally forever together.

End. NS

Amanita – Chapter 6

6

Artemis discovered an address for Laina Lynn’s mother, Ruth Lynn. It was not difficult to determine after a basic internet search. She drove her rental truck into the dense Appalachian forest along narrow, winding blacktopped roads. She dodged several hulking coal trucks, drove past the shaved mountain sides, and then proceeded to got lost in the wilderness.
As Artemis drove along, she found a local gas station next to a single story grocery store. She parked her truck in front of the grocery with an old fashioned Coca Cola sign bolted next to the front screened door. She walked inside over wooden planked floors, and found an older man with a buzz cut. He waved over at Artemis from behind the counter.
“Can you help me?” Artemis said. She pecked with her forefinger on her smartphone. She positioned the screen for the man to read the address. “Any idea where I can find this?”
“Sure can, just up the road, on the right,” the old man said. “But it’s empty, nobody home, as Ruth Lynn’s over in the hospital.”
“Why?”
“Drugs,” the old man said. “Poor girl went and got pregnant, again, I’m not sure what to say.”
Artemis stood near a partially full rack for moon pies, fig newtons, and off brand potato chips. She huffed.
“What about her daughter, Laina Lynn?”
“Ain’t seen her, lately,” the old man said. “Them drugs are powerful, evil stuff, ain’t like getting a handle of Kentucky nectar, them drugs they’ll put you down.”
“Sorry,” Artemis said. “I don’t understand. Handle?”
“Bourbon sweetie,” the old man said. He tilted his head as he examined Artemis. “You know, get the big bottle, one’s that got a handle on it, cheaper, it lasts for weeks if you know how to drink.”
“Oh,” Artemis said. “I’ve never, well-.”
“Laina Lynn’s like a feral cat,” the old man said. He glossed his tongue into a irritable spot on his teeth. It sounded like a mouse squeak. “She’s got nobody, hadn’t seen her, just like she disappeared. Maybe at the hospital?”
“Well, thank you, perhaps I’ll go there,” Artemis said. She pointed toward the road. “This the same way out?”
“You look like you got a little angry in you,” the old man said. He chuckled as he scratched his chin. “If I poked at ya.”
“I’m not angry,” Artemis said. “Just lost… anybody think to place signs for the roads?”
“I know, it’s a problem, but I recon that you’d be fine going back that way,” the old man said. His brow revealed long wrinkle lines between his bushy eyebrows. “Best be careful up in here, I know my way, but, there’s been some weird happenings, up in the old forest, like up there praying to trees, don’t like it.”
Artemis studied the old man’s blue eyes, she thought he was being bluntly honest. She opened her coat to reveal her loaded weapon holstered to her waist.
“I can take care of myself,” Artemis said.
“Nice gun, I have no doubt,” the old man said. He leaned forward across the store counter. “Be extra careful, it ain’t just one, there’s a bunch roaming. I’ve had some come in for whatnot, they just don’t look right, I know they ain’t from here, like you.”
“They’re alive?” Artemis said. She waved her hand. “I mean, they’re sort of, pale looking, unfocused?”
“I guess,” the old man said. “They just seem drugged up… they pay-up in cash, even so, I’m prepared, that’s why God invented shotguns.”
“Sorry,” Artemis said. She handed the old man her business card. “What’s your name?”
The old man put on his eye glasses. He stared above them back over at Artemis.
“Virgil Sammons, ma’am,” Virgil said. “Fancy card, from down in Florida. Caduceus? You work for the hospital?”
“Yes, we only consult, I don’t work for the hospital,” Artemis said. She noticed Virgil stepped backwards. “Not an employee, I investigate liability cases for our company. Hospital’s a client, seriously, I’m just trying to figure out a legal problem.”
Virgil crossed his arms.
“Not sure what to think about you-“
“I understand,” Artemis said. “I came looking for Laina Lynn for her father, he’s gone, but he, how do I say this?”
“Benjamin,” Virgil said. He sighed at the cruelty of life. “I knew him, good boy, sorry he got mixed up with Ruth Lynn – she’s a mess. But, last I checked, the boy died, they never told me where, just that he’d been killed.”
Artemis stared down at the dusty vinyl floor.
“I was there, can’t say where,” Artemis said. She wiped her eyes. “I was a medic, tried to save him, died holding him as the bullets whizzed past us.”
They quietly stood near each other inside the modest grocery store for several minutes. Artemis remembering the moment Benjamin’s bloody body passed from her clutches and into limbo.
“That’s terrible,” Virgil said. He coughed.
“Well, I have a job,” Artemis said. She rubbed her forehead. “I was just checking up on Laina Lynn, I’d do what I can to help her.”
“I believe you,” Virgil said. He opened his wallet, and carefully stuffed Artemis’ business card into the paper cash section. “I’d go look inside that hospital, she might be there, where I’d go if I were her, you know, near her momma.”
“Good idea,” Artemis said. She shook ’s hand. “Thank you, if I can help, remember anything, call me.”
“I’ll be fine,” said. “Go find her, and you get out of here before it gets nightfall. Since they sold the hospital, year or so, just stay in town, you’ll be safer there.”
Artemis turned toward the front doors. She stopped and turned back around.
“Stupid question,” Artemis said. She gripped the door handle. “What’s Laina Lynn look like, I’ve never met her?”
“Oh, I see,” said. He looked up at the tin ceiling. He pointed back over at Artemis. “Bout your shoulder height, dishwater blonde, got Benjamin’s blue eyes, she’ll look right through you.”
“Thanks,” Artemis said. “I’ll find her.”
Artemis exited the grocery, drove the truck over to the gas station where she refueled. As she finished tightening the fuel cap, as the temperature had dropped below freezing within the dusk across the two lane road, from within the tall oak and sycamore trees, appeared a white stag, and walking with the muscular stag was a ghostly Native American warrior. Artemis guessed he was painted in his traditional tribal markings, he tightly held a bow and arrow. She looked up into he sky to discover a blazing full-moon.
Artemis thought the warrior appeared to act as a protector for the stag, they were blended at the intersection for the living and the dead. The healthy twelve-pointed stag scratched at the ground with its front hooves, it snorted foggy breaths through its snout, and it bit off a brown leaf that winter had not taken. The warrior relaxed and stared over at Artemis, he appeared curious how she had the vision to see him. Then the stag turned and trudged back within the dark forest’s protection. The warrior threateningly shouted over at Artemis and quickly followed the stag.

End. Chapter 6#

Amanita – Chapter 5

“You likely think I’m some hayseed lawyer-”
“No, I know you’re well educated, I know your background,” Artemis said. She sat across from the plaintiff lawyer, Jerome Jenkins. His law office was within easy walking distance from the hospitals front doors. It had taken Artemis’ assistant several days to set up the meeting. “Friends call you, J Square? You’re a busy man.”
“Yeah, it’s my nickname, grew up here, high school basketball star, helped get me educated,” Jerome said. He was tall, and red-headed. “Don’t think you being a red too, going to cause me to go soft on this case.”
“I know,” Artemis said. “I figured we can at least talk about the case before we have to respond, and get the dark suits involved.”
“Please send in one them pretty boys out of Lexington,” Jerome said. He twiddled his pen between his fingers. “I enjoy whipping them in court, trust me, they know me.”
“Not sure, yet,” Artemis said. “Maybe we can come to an understanding without them?”
Jerome studied Artemis’ face. He rolled his eyes, and sat back in the wooden conference room chair.
“What’s with the tattoo?” Jerome asked. He pointed his pen across the table over at Artemis’ right hand. “All nice and hidden, but I noticed, how’d they find you?”
Artemis rubbed her right wrist with her other hand. She thought of Benjamin, and the day he had been killed.
“Friend’s birthday,” Artemis said. “I prefer to remember his birthday, he’s no longer with the living.”
Jerome leaned back, he knocked his head.
“Fair enough, sorry,” Jerome said. “Most med-mal folks are pasty-white old farts trying to act all tough, and sinister. You’re rather easy going, you ex-military?”
Artemis stopped rubbing her wrist. She understood Jerome made his living creating mental subterfuge, being observant, and he was just getting warmed up with her.
“Marine, then special forces,” Artemis said. She gave Jerome a death like stare just to mess with him. “I’m a well trained medic, bounced me out, got recruited into medical malpractice, I guess they figured I had the stomach for it, at least it’s always interesting.”
“Well, I’ll be, not many women in that world,” Jerome said. “Guess I’ll not tick you off, either way, thank you for your service.”
“Sure, I was lucky,” Artemis said. “Hospital files look air-tight, where’s your evidence.”
“I like you,” Jerome said. He slipped on a pair of reading glasses. He opened a legal file folder. “Get with it, good on you. I’m old school, like to have paper in my fingers.”
“To be clear,” Artemis said. “Sorry for anyone you knew, opioid addictions a nasty problem.”
Jerome glanced over at Artemis. He acknowledged her point.
“Yeah, I know the families,” Jerome said. He unbuttoned her dress shirt sleeves, and rolled them up to about mid-arm. “We are committed to this cause, it’s not just about money.”
Artemis opened her arms and focused on keeping calm and resolute. She had heard the ‘not just the money’ canard from every plaintiff lawyer that had ever filed a claim.
“Really?” Artemis said.
“Ms. Lamb, for now, I’m funding these cases, it’s expensive,” Jerome said. He looked over at her from above his reading glasses. “This is my hometown, I know everybody. And your hospital has a lot of explaining to do. All I see from them is making money by getting innocent people hooked, and then getting paid again by pushing them into their rehabilitation facilities. And human beings don’t just go into a hospital and then come out after being cremated. I find those DNR’s the hospital waved in my face suspicious, at best. And don’t get me started on the consent forms and every employee is under NDA’s, poor people just want to keep their jobs.”
“At least call me, Artemis,” Artemis said. “Ms. Lamb makes me sound old. But the records indicate your clients had problems, soft tissue injuries, so forth, our physicians were simply following the standard of care, preventing a potential Ebola outbreak, they have solid reasoning behind them.”
Jerome set his readers on the table. He nodded as he pondered Artemis’ statement.
“Once that hospital was sold, taken over by your client,” Jerome said. “I was afraid they’d just focus on making money, and not patient care, they have not disappointed. The people that own that hospital rarely show their faces here in Selene.”
“Hospitals are businesses,” Artemis said. “Nothing illegal turning a profit.”
“True,” Jerome said. “But not at the expense of human lives. And don’t think I don’t notice how busy that hospital is, I hear they’re into whole lot more than direct patient care.”
Artemis considered Jerome’s comment. She was not confident her earlier observations concerning the refrigeration trucks would have been a useful topic. She was certain Jerome was quite aware of the refrigeration traffic, and he was holding his knowledge back for another inconvenient moment.
“The reason I’m here,” Artemis said. “We are prepared to fight this out, might take a long time, a lot of money.”
“That’s all true,” Jerome said. “But, publicly traded companies don’t like bad press. I’m not sure you all want to drag this matter out, either?”
“We’ll see,” Artemis said. She stood up and reached forward to shake Jerome’s hand. “Let’s keep talking, in the meantime, I’ll be in touch.”
Artemis walked down the town’s Main Street blanketed with enough sunshine that warmed her just past the freezing mark. She was certain that Jerome knew exactly where he was taking his case. She thought he had investigated the hospital down to every tongue depressor. And her client was cryptic at best.
As Artemis walked toward her hotel along the sidewalk, past an elementary school, she recognized the handsome face. Satan was in human form strolling along the side walk wearing denim bib overalls and a bright red hunting cap with ear flaps. It sarcastically waved at Artemis, and it quickly moved over to stand next to her.
“Honest plaintiff lawyer,” Satan said. He rubbed his hands together like it was about to lustfully devour a glazed donut. “Imagine that, he’s honest, but Jerome’s been up to no good.”
“Don’t you ever give it a rest?” Artemis said.
“No, I’m Satan –“
“I have a job,” Artemis said. “Why are bothering me in the daytime?”
Satan put its hands on its human form hips, it stared into the sky.
“Artemis, Artemis Lamb,” Satan said, playfully. “I am the great deceiver, remember that you are my human plaything. I could inhabit Jerome. Who else could I play with? Questions, questions, but you’re correct. Jerome knows a lot more than he’s telling you – for now – I am quite pleased with this hospital, they are doing Satan’s work. Get it, that’s me.”
Artemis stopped, and stared down at the concrete.
“You’d do a lot more than, body parts, killing people’s easy for you,” Artemis said. She stared into Satan’s dead eyes. “What are you doing?”
Satan smiled, and it clapped its hands.
“Now you’re using that brain,” Satan said. It leaned in closer to Artemis. “That thing you know who gave you, until next time. Oh, go find that little girl. She’s off limits, for now, I get bored torturing children. And tonight, it’s a full moon, just saying.”

End. Chapter 5.

Amanita – Chapter 4

“This file just smells,” Artemis said. She paced in front Wylie’s desk. “Wylie, you’re right, this might get expensive.”
“What’s it like?” Wylie asked. He crinkled his face and wiped his nose. “You know the people.”
“Like I went back in time, town stinks like sulfur from burning coal, you know, I wonder if they have actual clouds in the sky, or it’s just smoke clouds,” Artemis said. She shrugged as she kept pacing back and forth. “The hospital creeps me out, I had to come back home, to think.”
“Good,” Wylie said. He squinted his eyes after he read Artemis’ file notes. “What’s this business with trucks?”
Artemis stopped, she leaned her hands on Wylie’s desk.
“Just odd,” Artemis said. “They were loading stacks of boxes onto these refrigeration trucks, they were not delivering anything.”
“You sure?” Wylie asked.
“Yes, they were empty as they opened the back,” Artemis said. She pointed toward Wylie’s office windows. “Risk manager got antsy, pulled me away from the windows, then wanted to show me their cafeteria.”
“Think they’re peddling body parts?” Wylie asked.
“That’s a lot of body parts,” Artemis said. “Moving them around in broad daylight with a potential class action lawsuit hanging over their heads?”
Wylie pondered Artemis’ comment.
“Unlikely, ah, go relax for a few days,” Wylie said. He thumbed and fore-fingered his right earlobe. “I’d recommend setting up a conversation with the plaintiff firm, see where we sit before everybody lawyers up.”
“That was my thinking,” Artemis said. She leaned back up, crossed her arms, and started pacing again. “I’ll get them setup and get back up there, clocks ticking, need to respond.”
“Yeah,” Wylie said. “We’ve got less than ninety days, and then the dark suits get involved.”
“We better get a firm with local roots,” Artemis said. She stopped moving. “If this gets to a trial, better have a legit lawyer with a twangy accent, not unlike how you sound.”
“I’m just being authentic,” Wylie said. He laughed. “The wife digs it, I sound normal back home, you’d stick out.”
“I stick out everywhere,” Artemis said. “Later…”
Artemis drove back home to St. Petersburg, she flicked her car keys on the kitchen counter, and decided to take a walk. As she moved along Beach Drive within the touristy crowd she heard an odd voice.
“Art-em-is, Art-em-is…“
Artemis stopped, she looked for a familiar face. But there were none, those that past by her in both directions along the Beach Drive concrete sidewalk were all strangers from all walks of life. And they were all with the living.
“Artemis, deny me again?”
She looked down, the voice emanated from an older man, with a significant belly, wearing a fanny pack. She stepped closer toward him.
“Do I know you?”
“Please, you know me, what do think? This body’s about done for,” Satan said. “Didn’t take care of himself. Heavy smoker. I borrowed him from the nearby hospital, they told the family he’s resting comfortably, so I took him. I need to get him back soon, maybe I should strip naked and go wander the streets, just before, memorable way for grandpa to go out?”
“What do you want?” Artemis asked. She evaded making any eye contact with anyone strolling past them. “You like creeping me out, you know I can’t stop you.”
“Well, well, so tense,” Satan said. “I thought we were friends?”
“We are not friends,” Artemis said. She stood tall, and resolute. “What?”
“Fine, then,” Satan said. It had sat next to a large bronzed feminized crocodile figurine that it was caressing like they were passionate lovers. “Look at the boobs on this thing, wish it was real, so, I brought you a present, and it’s not even Halloween.”
Artemis was not fooled, it was unusually warm for the winter season even by central Florida standards. But she felt a deathly cold wash across her skin. She knew what Satan offered as a present was likely a painful lesson.
“What gives?”
“Well my dear, it’s not a full moon tonight,” Satan said. He kissed the bronzed crocodile. “But, go your way, have your Guinness at The Moon Under Water. Chat up your favorite bartender, Alan. After, walk out the front door’s at The Moon, go stroll beneath those banyan trees, and tell me what you see, you’ll love it darling, I guarantee it.”
“You did say you enjoyed torture,” Artemis said. She crossed her arms, she stared down at her shoes. “Right?”
“I do, all for fun,” Satan said. It waved her away with a dismissive hand flick. “And this is the sweetest kind, you’ll see my human toy.”
Artemis turned slowly and walked solider like away from Satan. Her vision was blurred as she kept moving past the restaurants and shops. She wobbled a bit, she kept staring down at the concrete, tourist children and hearing them lost in aimless conversations. Her thoughts blocked as if by the steam from a witches caldron for an unknowable gift from Satan. She sat on a wooden stool at the far end of the bar inside The Moon Under Water. She drank her Guinness, as the bartender Alan moved over closer to her from the other side he whipped the marble top with a moist towel.
“Now lass,” Alan said. He was an older man who said he hailed from Wales; a professional bartender that engaged his regulars like a kind priest within a confessional. “What’s the matter?”
Artemis gripped the Guinness glass with both hands.
“Tough file,” Artemis said. “My typical work day.”
“Ah, now, tell me more,” Alan said. He grinned as if you had heard the lament ten times that day. “You have an unusual job, I’m not made for such things. Too much death and despair for me.”
“I think my life might get worse,” Artemis said. She sipped the Guinness. “Do you think Karma’s for real?”
“Well, when we were in India,” Alan said. He whispered. “I was in military intelligence at the time, you know. They took it very seriously, I promise you that.”
Artemis considered Alan’s comment.
“I think I have a good heart,” Artemis said. She stared curiously up at Alan. “I think.”
“That’s karma,” Alan said. He pointed up toward the ceiling. “Only you know your heart, with your God. If it’s good, or bad, it’s how Karma works, at least, the best I’ve been told by the Hindu’s. It’s multi directional thing I think. It’s beyond my brain.”
“Then someone owes me,” Artemis said. “I hope.”
“Come back soon, Artemis,” Alan said.
Artemis finished her Guinness. She paid her bill, and walked away from The Moon Under Water’s front doors. As Satan had instructed her, she moved across busy Beach Drive by dodging cars, and she moved over underneath the two large banyan trees. She stared over at the pleasure boats and the yachts moored within the harbor. The partial moon blazed with a milky light as she watched the wandering spirits strolling undetected amongst the living. It was the first time she had ever seen them all slow down, as if they were being watched by an overprotective parent. But then she realized Satan had all power over the dead. And then, there her Benjamin waited for Artemis. He floated next to a ghostly white painted renaissance themed statuary. Artemis walked hesitantly over toward him across the park grass open space, and away from the banyan trees.
“Why?” Artemis said. She tried not to cry, she tried to keep her composure. “Why haven’t you gone on my love.”
Benjamin held his hands out, even though he could not touch Artemis. He appeared like a grainy hologram, trapped between universes.
“I’m not lost,” Benjamin said. “I love you.”
“I love you,” Artemis said. She thought how cruel Satan worked to torture the living, and the dead. “Go on, I’ll be fine, someday maybe we’ll meet again.”
Benjamin floated silently for several minutes.
“I need your help,” Benjamin said. “Satan knows the truth, I chose to wait, for my daughter.”
Artemis stepped closer toward Benjamin’s image. To those nearby their naked eyes only saw Artemis oddly talking to a statue. But St. Petersburg was a wacky town with many rather unusual people roaming the streets, so she was hardly noticed.
“I never knew you had a daughter?” Artemis asked.
“I was trying to tell you, I made a mistake,” Benjamin said. He looked downward. “But then, I took a bullet before… I’m sorry.”
“Where is she? I know we don’t have long,” Artemis said. She stepped back. “Satan sent you, I know this is not random, where is she?”
“Kentucky, near Selene,” Benjamin said. “She’s trapped, she’s a child, her mother’s a drug addict.”
Artemis understood that every human being held onto secrets because each person had their reasons. But as mortal time past the truth always emerged, even from beyond death. Satan devoured secrets for its own purposes to conceal the truth. Artemis thought that without releasing the truth every human was not living in freedom. And she thought Satan was having great fun at her emotional expense.
“What’s her name?” Artemis said, softly. She allowed the tears to slide down her cheeks. “I’ll find her, you know I will.”
“Laina Lynn,” Benjamin said. “She’s ten, I can’t protect her, and Satan knows she exists.”
“Satan knows we all exist,” Artemis said. She wiped her face. “Satan knows all our names, faces, we cannot hide. I just hope God’s watching.”
“I will not go on,” Benjamin said. His image began to flicker. “Without knowing she’s safe, Satan blocks me from her.”
“I’l find her,” Artemis said.
And thick clouds formed and blocked out the Moon’s glow, and Benjamin disappeared as he said, “I love you.”
Artemis stood looking at the statuary. She thought Satan had shared Benjamin for a reason, and then concealed him from the movement of the random weather patterns. But she understood Satan did not work randomly, she was now a target.

End. Chapter 4

Amanita – Chapter 3

3

Artemis hooked the laminated Do Not Disturb sign on her hotel room’s front door knob. Still fully clothed, she flopped backwards onto the queen sized bed, she rolled the comforter around her into a warm cocoon, and then tried to sleep. But her dreams were invaded by Satan, and by her memories of Benjamin. And the moment he died in her arms as lethal bullets rained past like a metallic sandstorm.
She wrestled with the specters in her mind until almost dawn. She got up. She took a hot shower, and then began to review the claim files, and the legal documents. Later, she decided she would march into the hospital and find her contact names. As Wylie recommended there was no need to have scheduled an appointment, it was a journey to find the truth before it was hidden away by legal maneuvers.
Artemis sipped bland coffee, she sat back on the desk chair, and decided to walk over to her bedroom windows. She stared down at the town’s streets. Within the night’s last remnants she saw that the wandering spirits had reappeared. They flashed golden streaks along the sidewalks, and moved through the unsuspecting local souls that were walking toward their own living destinations. She thought it was a sign from Satan. Satan would not just disappear, it wanted to toy with her mind. She shrugged, and turned to take a long, hot shower.
#
“Artemis?” He said, hesitantly. He had a greasy combover, and his ruddy face advertised that Kentucky Bourbon was his best friend. “I’m Gene, Gene Haskel, general counsel, ah, she’s Loretta Dean, head of risk management, why that’s an unusual name, we weren’t expecting anyone from our reinsurance partner, least today, and all, guess its gotten pretty serious, sending you up here, all of a sudden.”
“Good to meet you,” Loretta said. She was an impish, androgynous looking middle-aged woman. “I guess.”
“My father was into antiquities,” Artemis said. She stone faced closely watched Gene and Loretta for personal ticks that might tell her their true thoughts. She could tell her comment did not answer the question. “Greek mythology, Artemis, goddess of the hunt, the moon, so forth.”
“Oh,” Loretta said. She nodded, she glanced over at Gene. “You don’t look Greek.”
Artemis was certain Gene was the decision maker, and Loretta was his stooge.
“My mother was an Olympian, Irish national team, javelin thrower, bronzed in the pentathlon,” Artemis said. She shrugged. “They met at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, as they say, love at first sight, so, I’m here, with my blazing red hair, and the rest is history.”
The three set in a vast conference room cluttered with fancy high-back chairs, gold leafed framed portraits of the hospital system’s long since deceased former CEO’s, and a statement making mahogany eagle claw footed table. A ponderous antique grandfather clock broke up the silence by metronomically marking each second.
“This lawyer makes some tough allegation,” Artemis said. She acted like she was reading her file notes on her iPad. “A lot of dead patients, any ideas where they are heading?”
Loretta looked over at Gene, he waved for her to talk.
“Drugs,” Loretta said. She cupped her ringless fingers together on top of the table. “Terrible affliction, we try to save them all, but it’s these pain medications, and all, not much work up in the coal mines, easy for them to get hooked.”
“To be clear,” Gene said. He wiped his sweating forehead with his chubby fingers. “We don’t get them hooked. But, we have to deal with them, can’t turn them away. You know as the good book says, ‘Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give’.
“Such a godly man,” Loretta said. She admiringly looked over at Gene.
Artemis resisted the urge to vomit in her mouth.
“I’d like to tour your facility,” Artemis said. “The files read like they our textbook, nothing else I should know? I’m just getting started.”
“We’d be happy to take you for a tour,” Loretta said. Her smile looked like a teeth from a stegosaurus. “We take great pride in our risk management, our electronic health records are regarded as the best in the region.”
“I can see, have any insight how we should respond?” Artemis said. She clicked her iPad pen that was fashioned with a recording device that she slipped into her breast pocket.
“Oh, this is a fishing expedition,” Gene said. He waved his hand forward. “Sorry they’ve lost family, I can understand their frustration, but we are above reproach, our records are clean.”
“Yes, they are spotless,” Artemis said. She stared over at Gene, she looked at him long enough to cause him to look away from her. “Anything I should know ahead of time? Nobody messes with the files after the fact, right?”
“Oh lands,” Loretta said. “Never, that would be wrong.”
“And, it would be criminal,” Gene said. “No ma’am, we would not allow this hospital to deal in a fraudulent sewer.”
“I understand,” Artemis said. She fake smiled. “But I had to ask, you understand?”
“Of course,” Gene said. “It’s your job, I’m sure you are quite skilled, the reason you’re here to protect us, right?”
“Well, if we have all the facts,” Artemis said. She pondered Gene’s statement. “We can at least develop a strategy to protect the hospitals interests, and our own, Caduceus Re hired me for a reason.”
“I hope you can just make them go away,” Loretta said.
Artemis retrieved two business cards from her purse. She slipped them across the table.
“Here, some old school cards, if you all come across anything unusual,” Artemis said. “I’d welcome your call, or email, it’s those minor details that might make all the difference. I just wanted to come up, introduce myself, you know.”
Gene rubbed the business card between his thumbs and forefingers like a Japanese business man.
“Lamb,” Gene said. He hummed a church song. “As in Lamb of Christ, such a wholly last name, Artemis.”
“Well, let’s take a walk,” Artemis said. She thought Gene was as honest as a dating site photo. “Always helps for me to visualize the campus while I review the files. Have to start from a basic understanding.”
Gene stuffed the business card into his sport coat pocket.
“Of course,” Gene said. “Loretta I have another important meeting, can you escort Artemis?”
“Why yes,” Loretta said. She got up and waved Artemis toward the tall conference room door. “We’re quite proud of our hospital, it’ll be my pleasure.”
Artemis and Loretta strolled through the busy hospital hallways. Loretta proudly sashayed across the marble floors pointing out the labor and delivery section, the catheter labs, surgical suites, and the all other human services offered by the facility. But as Artemis ignored Loretta’s attempted conversation she noted outside the window, down seven stories at the hospital’s rear loading docks there were numerous active eighteen wheel trucks spewing diesel fumes into the air. Artemis tapped on the windows.
“Loretta,” Artemis said. “You all eat a lot here?”
“What?” Loretta said.
“Down there,” Artemis said. “All those refrigeration trucks, they are seriously at it, in and out. That’s not body parts, right?”
“Oh, not here, nothing I know about,” Loretta said. She looked down at the trucks. And then casually moved away from the windows. “Must be delivery day, I don’t know.”
Artemis noticed as the rear of the truck container was opened, they were empty. And then they were being loaded by sturdy forklifts with stacks of neatly placed boxes on wooden skiffs. She felt Loretta tug at her arm.
“Did I show you are cafeteria?” Loretta asked.
“No-”
“Oh then, come with me,” Loretta said. Her pace quickened over toward elevators. “It’s all brand new, I’m sure you’ll love it.”
“Ah,” Artemis said. She removed Loretta’s tight grip. “Maybe next time, I’ve a plane to catch back to St. Petersburg, but thank you.”

End. #