The Denise Jefferson Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Center laid nestled into the idyllic mountain side of the Ozarks. It had been founded only five years ago and was a very exclusive clinic for only the very affluent. The founder, Jonas Jefferson, was a renowned neurosurgeon that had named the clinic after his mother who had spent most her life in a wheel chair due to a car accident.
The clinic had actually only 20 beds. Each patient had his own suite, consisting of a bedroom, a living room and a state of the art handicapped adapted bathroom with a whirlpool tub and a walk in shower. The staff consisted of the very best physicians, nurses, dieticians and therapists, all hand picked by him personally to ensure the best possible care for his patients. Care was coordinated between all branches and twice a week all teams would meet for care conferences on all there patients.
Today was Thursday, the day for the second conference of the week. Usually this was the easier one of the week. It seemed that all major problems accumulated on the weekend and could be solved during the Monday conference. This one didn't seem any different, at least not until Dr. Jefferson opened the last chart.
"Okay, let's talk about Gabriel Jones!"
He looked around in the room, seeing the uncomfortable looks on most faces.
"I guess, this means he is still not making any progress?" he concluded.
There was a short silence before Dr. Gibson, the staff psychologist, took the word, "I think we need to cut through the crap here. We all know that Gabriel 'Jones' is Senator Patterson's son. All the secrecy doesn't benefit him at all. We need to allow him to acknowledge who he really is."
Here he was cut of by Dr. Jefferson, "I understand your point but I have strict orders from his father not to mention his real name. The fact that everyone here knows it doesn't change this. So let's try to help him any other way we can!"
They went over the reports from all teams, finding that their problem patient continued to refuse physical and occupational therapy, participated in none of the scheduled activities and seemed to eat only the very minimum amount required to keep him afloat. He spent most the day in his room, either sitting in his wheelchair or in his bed and starring out the window. Not even Dr. Gibson had been able to get him out of his shell.
After discussing the "case" for about 30 minutes it was decided to wait for Senator Patterson's next visit, which was scheduled for the coming Sunday before attempting a different approach.
Dr. Jefferson left the meeting very dissatisfied he was used to success stories. On most occasions even the most depressed patients would come around within the first few weeks.
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He was dreaming. He was sitting in his wheel chair like every day but this time was different, this time he was not in the luxurious but somewhat sterile room of the clinic. He was in his cabin on the 'Vast Explorer' his lab top was on the desk in front of him. Looking up from his work, he could see Mac and Judson on his left watching him work. There was a smile on there faces.
"I promised you we would remodel the ship!" Judson smiled even more.
"We would have never come to France without you!" Mac assured him.
Ready to respond, he felt himself suddenly swept out of the chair. Looking over his shoulder he could see a giant shadowy figure that wore the face of the Senator. Frantically he tried to reach for Mac and Judson, at the same time he could see them reaching for him, calling out his name. Yet, the more he tried, the more he was torn away from them. Lifted further into the air he felt himself flying into the direction of the wall when it disappeared and made way to open air without warning. He could feel a hand pulling him behind as they flew across a seemingly endless blue ocean until they reached land. All the while he still could recognize the desperate looks on the faces of his friends now standing on the deck of the 'Explorer'. He continued to reach for them until they finally vanished from his sight.
Being set down on the ground he found himself back in his room at the clinic, the figure now towering above him. The Senator's face wore an evil grin and the words from his mouth sounded like thunder, "You are mine, Gabriel, mine forever!"
"Never" he screamed at the man that pretended to be his father.
"You can't resist me anymore, I own you now!" The voice got even louder, the stature bigger than before until it seemed to fill the whole room. Unexpectedly the mouth opened only it was no longer a mouth, it was more like a huge dark hole into which he found himself sucked. Desperately trying to hold on to anything available, he found it useless. Unable to use his lower body, his arms were too weak to hold on against the strong suction. Deeper and deeper he was being pulled into the darkness until finally the last light evaporated.
"Nooooo……!"
Still screaming Gabe woke up. His body was sweat soaked; his mind hazy and it took him a moment before the nightmare released him enough so he could become aware of his surroundings. He was still at the clinic, still paralyzed, nothing had changed. The frightful memory of his dream continued to haunt him, making it impossible to go back to sleep. Again and again he relived the look on his friend's faces, the fear he felt being torn away from them, his incredible weakness and inability to hold on and to finally be sucked in by the monster with the Senator's face.
The longer he thought about it, the more he realized how much reality his nightmare actually contained. Senator Patterson was getting exactly what he wanted. And suddenly he understood that this didn't have to happen. He had the power to change it. His determination grew with every passing minute; no longer would he allow the Senator to control him.
+++++
Mary Sue and Mac had been working frantically on finding new clues on Gabe's whereabouts. Yet they still continued to run into dead ends. Desperate for results Mac had finally suggested checking out the medical records. She knew they would be filed away by now and so it ended up being a not quite legal operation that was taking place after the last record clerk had left for the evening.
It didn't take Mac very long to pick the lock and after getting in they immediately started to look for Gabe's records. It didn't take Mary Sue very long to find the right record and as she pulled it out of the file she let out a triumphant, "Got it!"
Mac was right behind her and together the started to look through the pages, reading everything very carefully as to not miss anything. Mary Sue explained some of the medical terms that were too specialist for Mac to understand. Unexpectedly she stopped in the middle of a sentence, her face taking on a terrified expression. Unable to continue to read on, she just looked at Mac.
"What is it?" Mac's voice sounded worried.
"I…, I never seen anything so low in my whole life!" Without another word she handed the papers to Mac.
Reading the passage Mary Sue had pointed out, two words immediately started to almost scream at her. Also they were not bigger and almost hidden within all the other words they looked like they were printed in big bold letters in the middle of an empty page.
REVERSABLE CONDITION
Again and again Mac read the report until she finally allowed herself to acknowledge the terrible truth behind these words.
"He let Gabe think his paralysis is irreversible all the while it would just take another operation to make him walk again!" The disgust that Mac felt against one Senator Patterson was clearly audible in her voice, "I never thought he would sink this low!"
It was then that another thought hit her with all might, "Oh God, Gabe is out there somewhere, thinking he never will walk again, without us and probably totally discouraged!"
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Two days earlier Mac would have been very right about her estimate of Gabe's emotional state but at this point she couldn't have been more wrong. The staff at the Denise Jefferson Center was more amazed than anyone else about the sudden change in their problem patient's attitude. It seemed like Gabriel Jones had made a 180 degree turn. He had started physical and occupational therapy and was very eagerly participating. During his free time he spent hours wheeling himself around in the park or the hallways of the center. The only thing that hadn't changed was the fact that he still stayed mostly to himself. He avoided the other patients and was still not willing to talk to the staff psychologist. But due to his 'progress' in the other areas Dr Gibson had decided not to press him. He was sure that he would very soon come around by himself.
Gabe was determined not to let his 'father' win. Although the knowledge that he would never walk again weight heavy on his mind, he was determined not to give up. Everything he did was getting him closer to his goal – to get out of this place as fast as possible. He would return to his friends and with their help would find out who he was. Nothing in this world, not even one Senator Patterson was going to keep him from his objective.