Same Old Surprise

S.O.S.

***

Claire is seated outside the manager's room, flipping through the pages of 'The Daily Affairs'. She's already read the day's edition, but having nothing particularly better to do, she decided to give it a re-read. She's not much of a 'politics' enthusiast, nor is she into 'sports'. The national and international affairs are the only sections that catch her eye. Now, the newspaper isn't a 'happy' read, so Claire wasn't expecting it to be all rainbows or sunshine. Still, she felt the shivers caress her as she read the increasing number of med. student suicides; most of them occuring due to research failures.

She has always considered herself to be among the lucky ones, since she, once upon a time, wished to enter the research field herself. Luckily, just one month into it, she'd decided it was too much, and too unbalanced, for her liking. Thus, each new 'research failure' added more fear into her mind, because they always made her think,

"That could've been me."

As she neared the end, once again, the door to the manager's room opened, and Mr. Reyes welcomed her in.

As far as first days go, this one's been quite nice so far. The staff at LiveCorp hospital has been really cheerful and enthusiastic, and my superiors are all super friendly. I arrived here a few hours back, and now I'm having a word with the manager here. One of the senior nurses told me that Mr. Reyes gives all new interns "the talk", and apparently, this is it.

He'd spent the first few minutes of our conversation asking me about my family, where I stay, why I decided to enter this stream, what I liked doing in my spare time, or what kind of food I preferred. Then, he told me a bit about himself, followed by an advice list, including some general procedures and strategies implemented by the hospital. I'd read most of them earlier while I was scrolling through their website, but the last few points felt newer.

"Oh also, one more thing; in case someone comes through that door and-"

Mr. Reyes' talk is interrupted as a young man bursts into the room with a briefcase in his hand, and a corked test tube in another. The test tube is filled halfway with a clear liquid, bubbled near the top. Not long after he's in the room, panting, the floor guard follows him in, and apologizes to Mr. Reyes.

"I'm so sorry, Sir. I tried my best to stop him from barging in, but the young chap just wouldn't listen."

The guard wipes beads of sweat off his forehead, and says to the man, "There, you have your moment now."

The man practically yells what he says next, "Mr. Reyes! I did it! It's done! Look!" He raises the test tube in Mr. Reyes' direction, and starts waving it excitedly.

"I think I'll leave now..." I mutter, but I'm promptly interrupted by the frowning manager.

"No...that won't be necessary...this won't take long anyway." Then he turns to the man and says, with a hint of disappointment, "Brian, this is no way to behave. You should've waited outside! Where are your manners?"

Brian, however, doesn't seem like he heard a single word. "Mr. Reyes! Don't you get it! I DID IT!"

The guard sighs, and closes the door when he leaves. Given the sudden appearance of the young man, I wasn't too sure, but I felt like I heard him lock the door from the inside, before he'd left.

"I don't care what you did, this type of behaviour won't be tolerated in the future. Etiquettes, always, please." Then he stares at the test tube in Brian's hand, and says, "Well, what did you do?"

"The CURE!" yells Brian. "Neoplasms! Cancer! I made it!"

The manager has a surprisingly unsurprised look on his face, on the contrary to my puzzled expression. 

There's silence in the room, until Brian breaks it, "Mr. Reyes! I did what you said...It was stress! Stress was the culprit, and I figured it out!"

What Mr. Reyes says next shocks me and Brian equally. 

"Brian...we get this all the time. You can't do this sort of thing overnight. Scientists have been at it for decades...and you really think you, a college senior, have done it?"

"But...can we at least test it?"

"Not until you tell me exactly what you've mixed in that tube...we can't risk exacerbating any subject's condition."

Then he turns to me, "I was just about to tell you about this kind of thing. We have students like this every month, who apparently have the 'cure' to neoplasms." He shakes his head, and then walks to his desk. 

Brian immediately begins telling us his procedure and rationale. "Well, last year, Professor Richard and you had that session on stress, and how it leads to an increase in cell decay..."

He went on to tell us that he figured out how to target the stress-affected organs, and how his contraption acted as a counter-reinforcement, or an antidote. He claimed that the fluid was able to halt cell degeneration, while simultaneously inducing growth. As he continued to tell us his exact process, Mr. Reyes began looking through his desk drawers in an attempt to find something.

"Brian...your description makes it seem like you're on the right track...but aren't y'all always? We cannot risk human trials without being absolutely certain that you've created something safe. Now, does anyone else know about this?"

Upon seeing Brian shaking his head, he asked, "Good...and does anyone know that you're here, or that you've finished this sample?"

"No, sir...I came here as soon as I finished the sample. I decided to not waste any time, and so I didn't get the opportunity to tell anyone either." He takes a deep breath, and says, "No one knows, yet."

Mr. Reyes gingerly plucks the test tube out of Brian's hand, and inserts it into a device that beeps upon entry. For a second, there's complete silence in the room, until two things happen at once:

For one, the device glows pale green, and for another, Mr. Reyes' eyes widen as he groans with shock.

"Oh...." He says softly. I'm new here, and seeing him like this already feels out of character. I imagine how Brian must feel, given that he's well acquainted with the man. But before I can come to my imaginative conclusion, Brian's excited voice says, "See? It's correct! I'd used Professor Richard's journal and-"

There's a loud bang, and I'm not sure if I'm more shaken because of the sound, or because of the visual information my brain just processed. Mr. Reyes is holding a smoking pistol, his hand outstretched, but he's not shivering.

On the other hand, Brian is no longer standing...in fact, he looks quite dead, given the fresh bullet wound in the side of his head, and his dark red blood spilling out of there onto the floor.

I'm a completely different story, because I'm sure I'm shaking harder than ever. But, Mr. Reyes doesn't seem to have noticed, because what he tells me next brings me closer to Brian's state.

"Sorry about that, Claire. I was just going to tell you about the exact procedure we follow when this sort of thing happens." He stares at Brian, or what was Brian, for a while, then turns back to his desk, and locks the pistol drawer. Then, after wiping the pistol, he places it carefully into Brian's hand.

He pulls the test tube out of the device, puts the device back into another desk drawer, but puts the test tube into one of his coat pockets. Then, looking me dead in the eyes, he says, "What? Don't just stand there...he said he figured it out, but he didn't figure it out, did he?" He chuckles, and a shiver goes down my spine.

The door is locked for sure, as I now confirm.

"Listen, Claire. Here's your first assignment: find Gretchen at this floor's help desk, and get the media department's number. Then, give them tomorrow's paper's headline: "Med. Student Takes Extreme Step Over Research Fiasco"...hmmm...or "Another Med. Student Takes Extreme Step-"

He pauses for a moment, and then exclaims, "Or wait! How about..."Same Old Surprise...Med. Student Takes Extreme Step.""

Mr. Reyes then unlocks the door and leaves the room, muttering, "Yes...that last one was good...had a ring to it."

***

Hey there, readers!

This one was pretty much self explanatory...an extension of one of the most popular conspiracy theories of this world; "are the doctors evil?"

Nowadays, the number of suicides in the medical field, and in general, is pretty high. I decided to add a sinister twist behind their existence, 

I'm not saying that's necessarily true. But it's a topic worth exploring from a creative point of view. 

And so I did.

Explanation:

The title is an oxymoron, since a surprise is usually something unexpected or new, but it's used along with 'same' and 'old', which give off the opposite meaning. Additionally, 'Same Old Surprise' can be shortened to 'S.O.S.', which foreshadows the end of the story.

In this story, and in this particular hospital, students who supposedly figure out how to cure chronic illnesses are killed in an attempt to preserve the hospital's business for the future. The hospital profits off of ill patients, and eliminating the illness forever wouldn't be good for business now, would it?

Needless to say, this is just an exploration of a fictitious idea, and is not based on any true incidents, nor is it targeted at any party(ies) in particular.

To all the doctors reading this, on a serious note, thank you for everything you've done, and everything you continue to do for the betterment of the people. Your efforts are not mocked or ridiculed in this story, and it only serves to be a source of entertainment. And, to all struggling students, please remember that failures are just as, if not more, important than success. And ending your own life is never the right choice.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave any thoughts, suggestions or feedback in the comments section below....I'd love to read your views or constructive critiques!

Thank you, once more, and keep reading!

- Armaan Kothare