Category : Stories

Sub Category : Adventure

Chapter Two: The Plot Thickens

The daydream ended, bringing Marsellus back to reality on the New York sidewalk and surrounded by hundreds of people going about their busy lives. It was a momentary reprieve though as he felt the all too familiar fatigue of his treks past creeping up once more. His mind could not help but to go back to his former conditions, as they helped his body to adjust and adapt for better modification. There were perks to his condition, but it certainly did not come without drawbacks in the beginning. 

Marsellus had not been able to sleep too well for a few days after the incident: 


He was racked with headaches and had heard voices where there should not be. 


His vision was spotty around normal lights, and blinding around brighter ones. 


Loud noises were deafening to his ears. 

He could not cope well with these conditions for the first day or so, so he had taken sick days from school, locked in his room with no sound, no lights turned on, simply trying to rest it off. But after that even, the conditions continued to assault him. He was a wreck, and so he had called to schedule an appointment to see a professional about it: A neurologist could perhaps help with the case...

It was almost an ordeal in itself to make the two mile ride in a car to get to the hospital's front doors. Hearing the amplified sounds of the automatic doors as he walked in caused him to wince when entering the reception area. Through his squinting eyes he could see a female behind the counter just a few feet ahead of him, deep in conversation with someone on her headset. He reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a pair of shades to shield his gaze and alleviate some of the glaring light baring down upon him from the bright lights above. 

He tried his best to walk as straight as he could to the woman, feeling his pulse race through his body as he walked up to the counter just dead ahead. Seeing a little easier to notice her nametag said "Ms. Charlotte," he explained that he had scheduled an appointment, afterwards she handed him a clipboard with a smile and motioned him to the seating area just to his left. 

It took him a few minutes with his condition to answer the onslaught of Yes or No checklist in completion before getting up to take it back to Ms. Charlotte. Seeing he was stumbling just a bit, she offered him a bottle of water. 





"You look kinda pale. Need something to keep you hydrated? It looks to be a scorcher out there today. And heatstroke is no laughing matter." 

He nodded and thanked her after taking the bottle and returned to his seat. A few minutes - And one bottle later - he looked up at the double doors which lead to the back that now opened to admit a lady to the front. When she called his name, "Mr. Gustov? Is there a Mr. Gustov here?," It seemed almost like a sumphony. 'Finally, I can get down to the bottom of this.'

He got up and made his way to her slowly,  following her back to the exam rooms. 


About thirty minutes had passed, and he was to get a CAT scan undertaken. Now on to The Waiting Game part of the visit, he was alone in the sterile white examination room. Silence surrounded the room physically, but the whispers were still an assault on his ears, a cacophony that was accompanied by the thrumming pulse of his beating heart and rushing blood in a steady rhythm. The seconds ticked by on the clock on the wall, now reading 12:30 PM. 

Finally, the door to the exam room opened with a slight creak that admitted his doctor, Dr. Bruzel, into the exam area. An elderly man, with slicked back salt and pepper hair, he noticed the wince when coming in and quickly recovered to try and be more quiet to accomodate his patient's condition. 

"Sorry," The Doctor whispered before closing the door almost silently, "We're ready to get your scan done. Think you can get up on your own or do we need to get a wheelchair in here to make it a bit easier for you?" Marsellus turned down the option of the wheelchair and got up with a shaky balance. The look of disapproval on Bruzel's face said he thought it an unwise decision, but nonetheless agreed with it before standing beside Marsellus and leading him a few doors down the hallway. The room was spacious and dark, easier on Marsellus' eyes and allowing him to see better honestly as he made his way to the back left area of the room where the large machine stood for his scan. 

And so began his scan after a few more minutes of delay, strapping him to the bedding area. Now everything was silent once again, giving rise to the whispers with a vengeance. The low UV red lights on the interior of the machine started a whirling a bit, causing Marsellus to close his eyes as the scan started up. His pulse rose, thrumming in his ears even more than before. Forget earlier, this felt as if it were the longest thirty minutes of his life...

After the scan had been done, came another waiting period. Dr. Bruzel returned with an expression that could only be described as complete shock before looking at Marsellus and taking a seat across from him. 

"Mr. Gustov, I have some good news and some bad news." Marsellus could feel his heart skip a beat at the words that he dreaded with a mountain of despair. Hopefully it was nothing too bad, though he prepared for the worst. 

"How long do I have, doctor? What's the damage?" 

This brought a quizzical expression onto the older man's face as he patted Mar's leg with a chuckle. "Nothing that bad, Kiddo. Good news is that it is not life-threatening. No signs that it can honestly kill you. But..." The pause brought on another wave of despair to come over Marsellus. Of course it was not as bad as he thought it was, but it could still be pretty horrendous. 

"The bad news is we cannot say for sure just what could be causing this... Now for the silver lining. There is someone we can try to bring in from New York whom might know a bit better about this matter: A specialist named Dr. Calico. He has a lot more experience dealing with this kind of results. You see, your brainwaves have gone so far off the charts, it is absolutely dumbfounding to me. Never seen anything like it in my 15 years working here." 

This gave Marsellus just a minute relief, if only a smidgen... If a doctor could only tell this much about his condition, then maybe it was a true miracle he was still alive after all that happened. Or perhaps there was something that the doctor didn't exactly want to divulge about this case? His only hope now lied thousands of miles away, just waiting for the call that could perhaps summon them to his aid in this time of need...