The Unthinkable Happens

Caitlin froze. It was as if she had seen a ghost. She went as pale as a sheet of paper as she stared at the doctor. Then she began to tremble the next instant, with her mouth mumbling things that no one could hear or understand.

Mark stopped all he was doing and rushed to Caitlin. "Miss Caitlin? Caitlin?" he asked as he cradled her head and began to check her eyes which were rolling backward. He noticed that her temperature was rising so fast and that was unusual. He had only asked some questions. She had been answering and conversing smoothly until he'd asked about her husband or her children. That had sent her into psychosis.

Doctor Mark paged the nurses and in seconds, they were inside the room. "We need to calm her down," Mark said as he wrapped up the drip that had been for rehydration.

* * *

Hours passed and Nurse Janessa, the one that had first attended to Caitlin when Carl brought her in, came in for her shift. She went straight to Doctor Mark's office because she had received a message from him telling her to come to his office once she reports to the hospital.

"Good morning, Doctor," Janessa said as she walked into his office.

The doctor had been reading a large book with his reading glasses which he didn't always wear. He removed it and intertwined his fingers in front of his face and under his nose. He was disturbed by something and it was apparent.

"Janessa…" Mark said. "Welcome. Please sit."

Janessa nodded and sat down on one of the chairs that faced the doctor's desk. She had always had eyes for the man but he was going through a rough divorce and Janessa didn't know how to tell him about how she felt.

"Miss Caitlin broke again…" Mark said.

Janessa's eyes widened. "I was of the thought that I'd come in and hear some good news."

"There was progress, I'd say…" Mark started. "We had a conversation and she was replying normally until…"

"Until?" Janessa asked almost impatient to hear what Mark had to say. She leaned forward and she waited.

"Until I asked her of her children and her husband."

Janessa frowned and appeared to be deep in thought for a moment.

"Did you ask about Mr. Carl? The person that brought her into the hospital…"

Mark nodded and sat back in his chair. "She doesn't know who he is…I wonder the role Mr. Carl has to play in all this."

"What do we do, Doctor?"

"I planned to take her for a CT Scan but that has to change to an MRI," Mark said. "We have to bring in a psychologist into the case as there's some PTSD that I guess has to do with her children or a husband…"

"Did you check the wounds on her body that I wrote about?" Janessa said as she nodded at the information that Mark was dishing out.

"Yes, I did…Definitely from a fight or something of that nature…"

"So she's under right now…" Janessa said more than asked. "And you, Doctor Mark…" she trailed off as she watched Mark's eyes on her. The expression on his face became more serious and that caused Janessa's heart to flutter in her chest.

"Are you fine?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Mark asked as he picked up his glasses and slid them unto his face.

Janessa didn't say anything and just kept looking at Mark. His face was so handsome and those beards of his made him look exotic to her. How could his wife treat him badly? Janessa would often wonder. If she was the one that had been married to Mark, there was nothing in the world that would make her leave him. Janessa would often catch herself daydreaming about how Mark would be without clothes and she'd blush so hard that her cheeks would burn.

Then she smiled. "I'm sure you are…" Janessa said as she stood up from the chair and adjusted her gown in a sultry way. However, by the time she was doing that, Mark's attention had returned to the book that he'd been reading before she came. Janessa felt a little disappointed and turned around to walk out of the office.

"You will assist me on the case that I'm building up for her…" Mark said without looking up. "I want to help this woman… she doesn't seem to have anyone."

Janessa nodded and opened the door. She knew that Mark was compassionate towards people but there was something that made him particularly concerned about this but Janessa couldn't tell what it was -- yet.

When she got to her station, Janessa took out her cell phone and opened one of her desk drawers. She took the paper that Carl had scribbled his number and dialed it on her phone. The phone rang many times but there was no answer – it kept going to voicemail. Janessa dialed again, yet she got the same voice saying to record the message she had and when Carl got to his phone, he'd give her a call back. Janessa cut the line and dropped her cell phone back into her drawer. She picked up the files that were on her desk and got into the work that was set out for the day.

* * *

Carl could hear his phone ringing but it sounded like it was coming from a mile away. His mind was not present at all as he and his wife were arguing about something. Their voices were raised and all the doors in the house were opened.

Days had passed after he'd helped that strange woman off the road which caused an issue with Michelle because of the time he'd spent outside. The next day, Michelle had gone to the park with the girls, after getting them from school without informing Carl about it. He'd come back from work and had not met anyone at home. Carl didn't think much of it as he knew that Michelle was handling their pickup from school that day.

However, his wife had returned with her face swollen, her eyes reddened almost to the point of being bloodshot, and without Kim and Kendra.