My head is hurting again, the pounding, so excruciating. I wake up gasping for air again. My focus is normal and then everything turns blurry. I’m not sure what’s happening I can’t recall anything similar ever happening before. I’m feeling so out of it that I took time off and canceled anything pressing that Matt has. I thought rest is the best thing for me since I’ve been running Matt’s body ragged with my search. I normally just follow the path of my host's life to avoid arising suspicion. This time I was given too many clues to finding my body so I could not ignore looking further into each of these clues.
As I’m sitting down to eat something, I feel the cloak quickly enclose me, but something is different this time. I know I crossed a different plane, but I don’t get the normal feeling of confusion or fogginess. There’s no nausea, nothing negative, coming here was as simple as blinking. Eset is here in the process of healing a young woman that was crying so hard she kept wheezing and holding her chest. She looked like she was pregnant, I wondered what made her cry so much. Eset also looks more distraught than I’m used to seeing. Whatever happened to this lady must’ve been something very painful. Eset places her palm on the woman's lower stomach area.
“With the warmth of love and the cocoon of safety, a child grows.” Eset chants.
Again, the lady cries but it’s different, there’s a radiant smile on her face and she’s caressing her belly lovingly. Eset turns to the woman, and they talk quietly, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. Where once there was clarity, everything’s muffled now. I don’t understand why implication for the first time I don’t hear what the people around me are saying. I stay completely still and concentrate on the noise around me.
Eternal lord, Leader of justice, the Resurrected king we call to you.
What was that it was so clear, but who is speaking? I look around and find nothing. I’m curious about those words and why there’s a familiarity to them. I contemplate what the statement means, but I know there’s an implication to what I’m researching. I look around and notice I never moved, I’m still in the same room with the bloody sheets on the twin mattress laying in the corner. On the other side of the room, Eset is standing over there in front of the lady who looked lost in pain and breathing heavily. Even though she was yelling and Eset was attempting to calm her, I still stopped hearing anything. No matter how hard I try to listen in.
Lord of the underworld, Judge of the dead, our Resurrected king, we invoke you.
All I hear is this peculiar call, but I have no clue what it means or where it’s coming from, but the message is insistent.
The resurrected king, Spirit of death, Our eternal lord here my call.
Resurrected king, did these signifiers describe me, just who the hell am I to be called judge of the dead or lord of the underworld? I don’t understand, but oddly it makes some sense. I was jumping from one body to the next the whole time. So it wasn’t that far of a reach that in my past I was something like a spirit of death, but I wonder why justice and the dead? Well, contemplating what’s happening around me. I glance up and catch Eset staring right at me. I did not realize she could see me; I tilted my head and sweetly smile at her. She’s saved someone again, this time, she brought an unborn infant back to life, healed its mother, and assisted in the child’s birth. I stare in awe of her power, strength, and grace. Eset truly is a goddess, no other title would be fitting. When she opens her mouth to speak, the mother of the child turns to me and screams hysterically.
“No, you can’t take my child. The goddess saved him, he is no longer at death's door!” She rambles.
With a dumbfounded look, I’m frozen in surprise. I can’t believe she’s freaking out so much. I silently wait till she stops screaming.
“I don’t know if you can hear me, but I am not going to take your child. I promise.” I insist.
I think she hears me since she calms down. I turn my head towards Eset, I am not sure what is happening, but I can feel myself being separated, tell me Eset what you have done? I think to myself. She blinks and steps near me. She opens her mouth, but I can’t hear what’s she saying when I feel a woosh, it covers my ears and then my vision goes hazy.
“Eset!” I scream! “Can you hear me, please grab my hand if you can hear me?” I plead.
The abrupt silence was pleasant for a second, but then I worry about why everything has gone silent and where it’s coming from. I guess I returned to the high rise, I reach beneath me expecting to touch the silky black sheets, but what I feel instead is a firmness. I think about what in Matt’s apartment is firm like the heavy flat thing beneath me. When I can’t recall anything, I slowly open my eyes. The scene before me is not what I expected. I am sitting inside a sterile bland white room, there is a mirror, a sink, and a cot that I am sitting on, but not much else. I’m not sure who lives here. I rise ready to move to the mirror setting myself up for a new person to be looking back at me, but the door jerks open, a man and woman walk through talking to each other. Both stop once they notice me. The woman approaches.
“Hey Husani, is this where you’ve been hiding well everyone else was doing their rounds?” The woman asks.
Husani, who the hell is that what happened to Matt? I look down at my hand and notice the rich mahogany skin instead of Matt's buttery complexion. There on this dark-skinned hand is the amethyst ring. I don’t understand if I’m this Husani guy, why do I remember everything that has happened so far, why I am aware of who I was before and who I am now? These people are staring at me waiting for an answer.
“Sorry guys, I am not feeling like myself right now. I was just taking a quick break.” I retort.
Both smile at me sincerely and although they look exhausted both nod in understanding.
“We get it, man, I’ve been on a 15-hour rotation and all I want to do is greet my pillow.” The man cajoles.
A rotation, what does Husani do, since I couldn’t examine him in the mirror I glance down at myself and find a dark blue scrub set, with a badge clipped to the bottom of the shirt, I flip it over and there I see a picture of a dark-skinned man with dark facial hair staring back at me, he has dark eyes, and a closer complexion to my own. His name is Husani Khalifa, a resident at Jefferson Medical. Ok, guess I’m a doctor in training now. Husani, huh that’s an Egyptian name.
“Hey man we are going to get going, I’m on the last hour of my rotation and Silia, has to sort meds before her shift ends. We’ll see you around, yeah.” The man explains.
Both pick up their stuff and walk to the door, with a last quick nod they’re gone. At the click of the door, I’m out of my chair and rushing to the mirror.
“Weird, this is the first time I’m an Egyptian guy. I didn’t see this coming, I thought Matt was my permanent stop. Wonder why Husani is my new host? Well, time to follow the same steps. Find out all I can about Husani and then continue with the main objective to find me. I start rummaging through Husani’s pockets and from now on I am sitting in what looks like a break room. I sort through his locker, and find an ID, home address, house key, and cell phone, I open the cell phone and check his applications, contacts, and social medial pages. Husani has mostly only been focused on his career, so no girlfriend or wife that I need to worry about. That’s a good start, I continue to peruse anything I can gleam about Husani. Once I have all my breadcrumbs, I can start putting a picture together of Husani’s life. Uncover who he is, what he’s done, and what he knows. The phone vibrates, I glimpse the screen. An alarm, huh, oh, it seems my break is over. Guess it's time to see just how hectic this job is, according to what I found Husani spends most of his time at work. The shift was gruesome, I feel like falling over, as I gather Husani’s stuff and make my way out of there, I bump into an older man and a young woman. The man is important to Husani, so I stop to give my respects.
“Good morning, Dr. Lee, are you supervising today?” I schmooze.
He laughs and watches me,
“Ah, Husani my boy, you never cease to amaze me. How are rounds, you’re on a double shift today right?” he inquires.
Dr. Lee is a renowned chief surgeon and if he was one of your instructors, you were set, but he was difficult to impress so it was surprising if he chose you for one of his programs. Husani worked harder than most since being a doctor meant everything to him. This paid off as Dr. Lee saw the same tenacity in himself in Husani and offered a coveted mentorship position to Husani. That is why it’s important for Husani to always acknowledge Dr. Lee.
“Yes, sir I was, and the rounds went well. Just about to head home as I will be returning later this evening. Will you still be here when I return?” I question.
Dr. Lee shakes his head and pushes his companion forward.
“I will not, but I wanted to introduce you to Eset Kadar, an old colleague and student of mine, who will be returning to medicine soon. I would like to ask you to let her join your rotation and if you will keep an eye on her as well.” He presses.
My heart stops! What did he just say Eset… Holy shit! Did he just say Kadar as in Seth Kadar? I glance up for a second just to see her and yes, I recognize her, this was Seth’s wife from the magazine photo. Her name’s Eset! This really is becoming a small world!
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