Chapter 7

Last Lunch

[August 23, 12:15PM Detention Center Holding Cell #5]

Derek had been at the detention center for a whole day now. It wasn't a bad cell, all things considered. It had a small bed that was fairly comfortable, a barred window for sunlight, a toilet, a small table and chair, and finally a small sink with a mirror on the wall. It could be a lot worse but Derek sure missed his warm and cozy apartment. He can only hope Mr. Wright will somehow prove his innocence and fix everything. Derek has spent a lot of time thinking about the whole situation. No matter how much he wracked his brain, he truly does not remember ever performing the surgery. And the fingerprints on the scalpel? Who knows how they got on there! The culprit is supposedly shown using the Healing Touch in the operation video. There's only a few select doctors who can do that which leaves a short list of suspects…

Derek was lost in thought when a guard approached his cell. "Grubs on," he said as he opened a little slot and slid a tray of food through. Derek got up to retrieve the tray. He thanked the guard and brought the food over to the table. He sat down and looked at the food before him. One might say it was a step above what you may be served at your average American middle school cafeteria. Today's lunch special is what appeared to be some kind of meat (chicken maybe?), wilty asparagus, off colored mashed potatoes, and a glass of murky water presumably from the tap. My compliments to the chef, thought Derek as he poked at the meat slab trying to determine if it is, in fact, chicken.

As Derek inspected his food, he couldn't help but smell a faint fruity scent from somewhere. There didn't appear to be any fruit on his tray. But then again, you couldn't be sure of anything that was on this tray. Derek tried to make it a habit to refrain from eating food he wasn't sure could be classified as "food" but one mustn't be picky when one is essentially in prison. Also, he needed to keep his strength up. Derek doesn't usually pass out after using the Healing Touch during an operation. Not since his early days of when he first discovered his ability. So Derek thought, to hell with it, and dug into the mashed potatoes. It was probably the one thing on the tray that most resembled a food he recognized. The taste was super bland and the mushy potatoes were way too moist. Derek forced himself to swallow and felt a shiver down his spine as the gross potatoes made their way down his esophagus and dropped into his stomach like a rock. Maybe he'll pass on the potatoes.

He was about to try his luck with the mystery meat when all of a sudden his vision began to go blurry. Everything was going out of focus. He started to feel light headed and sweating profusely. What is going on, he thought as he had begun to cough. He could feel his chest getting tighter. He started going through the backlog of medical data in his mind to determine what was happening to him. Something must have been in those potatoes! No time to determine the cause of his distress, but what should his next plan of attack be? Derek could already feel himself struggling to breathe. Whatever is inside of me, I've got to get it out!

Derek frantically grabbed the knife from the tray. To his surprise, it wasn't a cheap plastic knife like you'd expect they would provide, but a decently sharp steak knife! Maybe that mystery meat was beef after all? Derek also grabbed the fork and spoon. He could feel himself losing feeling in his legs. He limped over to prop himself up on the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. The color was draining fast from his skin, he was practically knocking on heaven's door. Whatever he ingested must be a fast acting poison! Derek did his best to unbutton his shirt and expose his chest. There was no nurse, no medical equipment, no painkillers. Derek had to operate on himself, completely by himself.

He took the knife in his hand and made an incision on his stomach. He grimaced through the pain. He didn't think to grab the mystery meat so he at least had something to bite down on. Too late now, Derek could see his now exposed stomach in the mirror. Once he opens up his stomach, Derek has to work fast and he has to remember his movements are reversed in a mirror. What he wouldn't give for an ultrasound right now. But he was gonna have to find those mashed potatoes the old fashioned way. He made a small slit in his stomach, being careful not to let all his stomach bile leak out. To his surprise, cutting open his stomach without painkillers was actually painless. The poison must by numbing his nervous system. That's not good. It wouldn't be long before Derek can no longer hold his utensils!

He grabbed the spoon and felt around inside his stomach. It was hard to see but Derek only swallowed one glob of those mashed potatoes. He felt it drop into his stomach like a rock so presumably it's still in one piece. Finally he found the fleshy glob! Now to carefully scoop it out. The spoon he was provided was one of those cheap plastic ones so if he wasn't careful, it could snap. On the flip side, the spoon was bendable and Derek was able to get it into the position he needed to scoop the glob. His vision was fading fast. He slowly maneuvered the spoon with the glob of mashed potatoes. He was about to pull the spoon out when suddenly it got stuck! Derek made the incision big enough to fit the spoon in, but not the spoon with the glob of mashed potatoes! Derek cursed his carelessness. He tried wiggling the spoon a bit to try and stretch his stomach. Then his worst fear was realized. The spoon snapped! Derek was left holding the long end of the spoon while the other end was still lodged in the point of incision, potatoes and all. Derek could feel his legs trembling beneath him. He did not have long before the poison took full effect and reduced him to a quivering ball of Jell-O.

Derek tossed aside the broken spoon and grabbed the knife. He only had one chance. If he could make the incision a little bigger, the top half of the spoon should fall right out along with the mashed potatoes. He had to be careful not to let it fall back inside of him… or it was all over. Derek leaned forward over the sink and took the knife toward the point of incision. He carefully cut the slit a little bit bigger. The spoon began to wobble as the hole stretched open. Miraculously, it fell out into the sink. The poison was out of Derek! But he's not out of the woods yet. There's still the small matter of somehow sewing himself back up.

Now that he had regained some of his strength, he ripped off a piece of his shirt. He pulled out a piece of thread and wrapped it around the fork. This fork, albeit also plastic, was made from a harder plastic than the spoon and Derek was fairly confident it shouldn't snap. He used the fork and thread to patch up his stomach as best as he could. Finally, it was all over.

Derek still felt an intense pain in his stomach. Before he knew it, he was violently vomiting into the toilet. He passed out on the toilet at some point.