Mike's arrival at the hospital sparked a flurry of activity among the doctors, who were astonished by the unusual nature of his condition.
Medical professionals from various departments gathered to confer on the extraordinary case, baffled by the symptoms and eager to determine the cause of his mysterious illness.
Dr. Scott's eyes widened in astonishment as he removed his glasses to examine the diagram of Mike's eyes more closely.
"This is utterly unbelievable!" he exclaimed. "In my entire medical career, I've never encountered anything remotely like this."
"Where is my son? I must be reunited with him at once!" a visibly distraught Mrs. Smith demanded in the corridor next to the room the doctors were gathered.
"I understand your concern, ma'am, but I must assure you that your son is currently receiving the medical attention he requires," responded a nurse with a calming demeanor. "Please, for his sake, allow us the necessary time and space to thoroughly diagnose and address his condition without any distractions or interruptions."
Dr. Tom, the head doctor, probably in his late 60s, rose up from his seat and approached the door, intent on investigating the commotion outside.
Upon opening it, he was met with a heated exchange between a middle-aged woman with long black hair, and one of the nurses.
"What's the meaning of this?" he said, his gaze fixed sternly on the nurse.
"She was requesting to see her—"
"I must see my son, Mike, right now!" Mrs. Smith interrupted.
With a sympathetic sigh, Dr. Tom nodded and acquiesced, "Very well, let's not keep a concerned mother in suspense any longer."
He beckoned to Mrs. Smith to follow him as he proceeded past the door and down the corridor, his strides purposeful.
Halting in front of a door adorned with his name in bold letters, he pushed it open and stepped aside, inviting Mrs. Smith to enter.
"I daresay, my son is indeed within," Mrs. Smith said as she stepped across the threshold, Dr. Tom following closely behind.
"I've asked you to join me here, Mrs. Smith, not to visit your son in person, but to discuss our concerns and thoroughly inform you about his condition," Dr. Tom explained, motioning for her to take a seat.
He retrieved a photograph from his desk and approached her, now seated.
"This image depicts the anatomy of your son's eyes," he began, using his pen to highlight a specific area. "The optic nerve plays a crucial role in transmitting visual data from the retina to the brain." He paused, his expression tinged with perplexity.
"However, what we're seeing here is quite unusual, and I must admit, I'm struggling to comprehend the implications..."
Mrs. Smith's anxiety grew, prompting her to interrupt, "Please, Doctor, explain it in a way I can understand. You're alarming me." As if she wasn't alarmed all along.
Dr. Tom thought for a moment before standing up from his seat. "Shall we proceed to see your son first?" he suggested, leading the way to the door. He opened it and gestured for Mrs. Smith to exit first.
As they stepped out, they spotted Mr. Smith coming out of the elevator a short distance down the hallway. Catching sight of his wife, he hastened toward her with a look of concern on his face.
"Have you seen him? Is he doing alright?" he asked, his words tumbling out in a frantic rush.
"Actually Mr…err… Smith, we're on our way to his ward now, you should join us too," Dr. Tom said and advanced towards the direction Mr. Smith came.
Mr. Smith put a consoling hand on his wife, telling her all will be fine as they followed Dr. Tom down the corridor.
Dr. Tom finally halted in front of the office from which he had earlier emerged, pushed open the door, and stepped inside.
Mike's parents trailed behind him, entering a spacious room filled with a multitude of doctors, all intently focused on a large screen at the front of the room.
The same diagram of Mike's eyes that Dr. Tom had previously shown Mrs. Smith was now projected on the screen, prompting a panicked whisper from Mrs. Smith: Oh my God!
Dr. Tom's voice cut through the tension, urging Mike's parents to follow him, and they complied, leaving behind the area of the room filled with doctors engrossed in the enigmatic image.
As they proceeded, they approached a door at one corner of the room, leading to another corridor, which featured three doors on each side of the wall, clearly accessing patient wards.
Beside one of the entrances, Rachael and Stefan sat on a long bench, their faces casted downward. Upon seeing Mr. and Mrs. Smith approaching, they rose to their feets.
"Mom, what should we do now? He's completely blind; what are we going to do?" Rachael sobbed , her tears flowing freely.
Mrs. Smith enveloped her in a comforting embrace.
Meanwhile, Dr. Tom made his way to the door beside them, opened it, and waited patiently beside it.
Mr. Smith gently tapped his wife's shoulder, urging her to join Dr. Tom. "Let's go, darling, he's waiting for us," he whispered.
Mrs. Smith reluctantly pulled away from her tearful daughter and followed Dr. Tom through the door he'd held open. Mr. Smith followed, his eyes brimming with unshed tears.
Mike laid in the room before them, his eyes vacant and unseeing.
"Mike!?" Mrs. Smith called out, her voice hoarse. "My son!"
"Mom! Mom, I can't see!" Mike responded with a despairing cry, turning on the bed.
Mr. Smith's words faltered as he struggled to contain his emotions, "But you're staring at us right now, how..."
"I just followed the direction of your voices, I really can't see anything." Mike cried.
Mrs. Smith enveloped him in a warm, comforting embrace, her own tears flowing. "Don't worry, my love, everything will be fine soon. All the doctors are working tirelessly to find a solution to your sight loss."
Dr. Tom's gentle voice interrupted the emotional moment, "Can I have a word with you, Mr. Smith?"
Mike's father nodded, and Dr. Tom motioned for him to follow as he made for the door.
"I'm going as well, I need to know everything about my son," Mrs. Smith declared. "I'll be right back my love," she said to Mike, kissed him on his forehead and followed Dr. Tom and her husband out.
"Stay with your brother and keep him company till we come back," Mrs. Smith instructed Rachael as they exited the room.
Rachael nodded, and once her parents were gone, she entered Mike's ward.
"Tell me exactly what happened last night," she demanded. "Did something happen to you that we're unaware of?"
Mike's brow furrowed in concentration as he struggled to recall the events of the previous night. However, his efforts were futile.
"All I remembered was reading a book in the box and I fell down and…"
"There's nothing written in the book. It was lying down beside you, empty when we found you," Stefan interrupted. "Something doesn't seem right. Maybe there's another book we missed."
"No no no - the book has an interesting story inside, I read it for some time and…"
"And what?" both Stefan and Rachael asked in tandem.
"I can't remember," Mike admitted, visibly frustrated.
Rachael's gaze drifted to the floor as she sat down beside him on the bed. "The only book we found was empty, not a single mark or dot of ink."
Mike closed his eyes and raised his head thoughtfully. "Does the book have a woody cover and a strange, inexplicable smell?"
Rachael's eyes widened, and she nodded frantically. "Dammit, that's right! That's the book!"
"This is getting insane. How could the book be empty now when you read it last night?" He paused, his eyes locked on some distant point. "A book whose contents disappear when it is read, and with it a sight-loss encounter. There's something mysterious at play here, something we need to uncover."
"Yes, it's really beyond imagination," Rachael said, her expression grim. Mike's claim had sparked a trail of questions, each one leading to more bafflement.
Just then, Dr. Tom entered with three other doctors, interrupting the trio's conversation. "You'll need to excuse us, guys," he requested, his tone polite but firm.
Rachael and Stefan reluctantly rose from their seats, making their way to the exit.
When they stepped outside, they spotted Mr. and Mrs. Smith sitting on a bench beside the entrance, Mrs. Smith's head resting on her husband's shoulder.
Perhaps, like them, they had been asked to wait outside while Mike underwent further observation.
—-
Following an unfruitful period of observation, the doctors recoiled, perplexed.
"This defies all logic!" Dr. Kent exclaimed.
Just then, the nurse who had earlier engaged in a hushed conversation with Mrs. Smith poked her head into the room.
"Dr. Philip has arrived!" she announced.
Her words sparked a ripple of murmurs among the doctors, with some voicing their surprise at Dr. Philip's unexpected presence.
"What brings him here?"
"Of all people, Dr. Philip?!"
"He is a medical professional, after all," Dr. Tom intervened, attempting to defuse the murmur.
"Yes, a veterinarian." Dr. Stiles snorted.
Dr. Tom's expression remained resolute.
"Admit him. We require all the expertise we can garner." he said to the nurse, who pulled back and closed the door.
Few seconds later the door creaked open, and a tall man entered. His hair was brown, with few gray that could hardly be noticed. His eyes scanned the room as he greeted the assembled doctors.
He approached Mike's bedside, his gaze fixed intently on the young patient's eyes.
Producing a small torch, he began a meticulous examination, his movements deliberate and precise.
After a brief pause, Dr. Philip exhaled a sigh which might be considered a gasp. "This is utterly unfathomable," he whispered. "These eyes are not humans; they're more akin to those of an animal."
"That's absurd! Animal eyes in a human head? How can that be?" Dr. Kent frowned.
"Please, Dr. Philip, clarify your statement. Help us understand," Dr. Tom implored.
"The retinas are indeed human's, but the optic nerve, responsible for transmitting visual information to the brain, is animalistic in nature," Dr. Philip elaborated.
"I knew this would be a debacle. An animal doctor examining a human? It's preposterous!" Dr. Stiles sneered.
Dr. Philip attempted to reason with the doctors, "I understand this is unprecedented, even for me, a veterinarian with years of experience. But I assure you, I've never witnessed anything like this either." However, his words were met with an outbreak of murmurs and gasps.
"SILENCE!"
Dr. Tom's authoritative voice cut through the commotion. He turned to Dr. Philip, his expression solemn. "Are you certain about this? Animal optic nerves merged with human eyes?"
Dr. Philip nodded resolutely. "Yes. Similar nerves are found in animals like vermins and—"
"Better don't say this to his parents, or we're all going to be in hot soup," Dr. Walsh said, leading again into an uproar.