Kyron the Rescuer is out now.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSXDQPFD

The following morning, he felt almost back to normal, apart from a level of weakness commensurate with five days in a coma. He had no trouble hopping out of bed to use the toilet and was sitting up watching the television after scarfing the meager breakfast when the doctor next visited.

“Well,” The doctor said, walking over to the bed. “You are looking much better.”

He quickly studied the records, did a few tests of Jason’s vital signs, and then nodded at Jason.

“Hmm. Interesting. If I didn’t know better, I would say there is nothing wrong with you.” The Doctor offered at the end of the process.

“I do feel a lot better today,” Jason commented, smiling sweetly at the doctor.

“Yes. All your vitals are normal. It is so abrupt it is almost scary. The last blood test was still odd. It is possible your catheter got contaminated somehow, so I am going to have a new one inserted this morning and do a new blood test.” The doctor didn’t sound so much upset as puzzled.

“So, I’m not getting out of here just yet?” Jason asked.

The doctor frowned and shook his head. “Not yet. You’re still rather debilitated, and I want to keep you under observation for another day, at least anyway. I am probably being overcautious, but if anything, you have recovered too quickly from whatever it was, and I am wary of a relapse. That liquid you drank certainly did not agree with you!”

“You don’t know what it was I drank?”

Jason thought he had said a tea of cannabis leaves the first time he had seen Jason once Jason had woken up.

“Didn’t you do a stomach pump or whatever? I thought you knew?”

The doctor shook his head. “Yes, of course, we did, but there was nothing unusual apart from some odd organic remains commensurate with a hemp plant, the leaves of which you had apparently boiled and then drank. We couldn’t identify anything else that would be the cause of the metabolic shutdown you experienced.” He paused. “Drinking a tea made from the hemp leaves should not have caused the symptoms you exhibited. I doubt it would even get you high. Do you remember what you ate or drank before the episode?”

Jason tried to look like he was struggling to remember. “Nothing substantial. I had some herbal tea I picked up in a shop on Crete, which I brought with me. That is the only thing I remember after I got back from the cruise around the island that I went on during the day. Other than the tea, there was nothing else apart from the hemp leaves. Someone told me that boiling the leaves made a drink that was less harmful than smoking that stuff. I was just trying to relax a bit before I was to meet with a couple of colleagues for lunch, and then I suddenly felt strange and had trouble breathing which was when I managed to call reception before passing out.” He paused and decided to play down the tea bit. “I had been drinking the herbal tea on Crete for a couple of days, so I doubt it was that, and I don’t remember eating anything during the afternoon.”

Some indeterminate time passed by after the nurse’s visit, during which he semi-dozed while the strange nerve twinges gradually waned, thankfully. Eventually, the door opened, and a small, dark-haired man wearing the traditional white coat came in and looked him over.

“So, you tried drinking boiled marijuana leaves. Interesting way of hospitalizing yourself.” He said in flawless English.

This observation was accompanied by a shaken head and a frown on the part of the doctor. Jason went to deny it but then realized that it was probably a better explanation than the real one. The doctor pursed his lips and nodded at Jason’s aborted attempt to speak.

 “Yes, Weak and disorientated, aren’t you?”

Jason nodded.

“How long?” Jason managed to croak through dry lips.

“Five days, young man. You died twice in the first two days from cardiac arrest. You were very lucky. I hope you have learned your lesson?”

The doctor looked like he wasn’t all that impressed with his patient’s intelligence, which Jason decided was understandable in the circumstances. The circumstances certainly looked pretty stupid from the doctor’s viewpoint. Then the full import of what the doctor had said struck home. Died twice! Jason thought in surprise. Oh. And yet, he was still here. Ah, the marvels of modern medical knowledge. I wonder if… He broke off that thought and smiled at the doctor.

“Yes, sir.” He muttered, finding it surprisingly hard to speak.

His throat and mouth felt like someone had taken sandpaper to them. Dry, harsh, and nothing seemed to want to work properly. The doctor nodded at him.

“Well, you seem to be on the road to recovery. Your body is getting back to normal, and now that you are conscious, that is one more thing I can cross off my list. I will be back to check on you this evening. In the meantime, please stay in bed today and rest up. Your body is debilitated and behaving very strangely even though it appears to be recovering now. You had a bizarre reaction to whatever you drank. Almost like an epileptic fit in some ways. Very odd. Anyway, you will be staying here for the moment while we wait for the latest round of blood tests.” He paused and nodded at the catheter in Jason’s wrist. “We took more blood earlier while you were still in a coma. The first blood test came back with some very strange results, which is why we are retesting. Drink lots of water. Call for help with any bodily needs, yes?”

Jason reluctantly nodded. Yuk, he means bedpans. Jason semi-dozed some more and drank all the water left on the mobile table next to the bed. When he used the help button, he was surprised to find the nurse was quite willing to help him into the bathroom and then wait outside. A damn sight better than using a bedpan! By the time the doctor returned in the afternoon, he was feeling considerably more alive and sitting up. A quick check of his vital signs and he was allowed a light dinner which caused his stomach to churn a little at first and give him the feeling that he was going to throw up initially, but his stomach settled down, and Jason was feeling much better by the time he fell asleep.

Well, there was only one way to find out, he thought to himself. But he still hesitated for another few minutes before steeling himself to take the glass, and with eyes closed, he drank the liquid. Which sort of tasted like licorice, or what he imagined liquid licorice would taste like. I hope all this means it was not just a type of licorice plant, he thought to himself. He could feel the liquid run down inside him, and seemingly nothing happened. He sighed in exasperation and relaxed as he started packing things up. Then his guts suddenly twisted and not so much hurt as he began to feel really strange. He saw stars and sat down on the bed, where he quickly found himself struggling to breathe. His vision started tunneling as his chest labored, and he leaned over the bed to the house phone, managed to press zero to get reception, and as he felt himself fading away, he heard a voice say in Greek. “Reception. How may I help you?”

“Medical emergency, room three oh four.” He sputtered out in Greek, and then everything went all black on him.

Chapter 7

Huh! Not dead yet!

Jason opened his eyes into darkness and experienced a moment of panic but then realized he was in a dark room where the features were unclear due to the gloom. His body felt heavy and lethargic, while the act of raising his head to look around left him feeling exhausted and rather nauseous. His waking up must have done something somewhere because a few moments later, what had seemed to be a solid wall over to his right proved to have a door.

The door opened to admit a lot of light, and a female in a uniform he decided had to be that of a nurse came bustling into the room. She gave him a slight smile and said hello in Greek, after which her conversational skills seemed to be limited to very simple phrases. She took his blood pressure and temperature before updating a clipboard at the end of the bed. During this operation, she said little beyond occasionally muttering a few placating words in his direction, which he gathered were designed to calm him more by the tone than the actual content. It was possible she didn’t realize he could speak Greek if she knew he was an American. The nurse finished with her tasks and told him to stay in bed till the doctor came and accompanied these words with suitable hand motions that confirmed his earlier suspicion. As he didn’t even feel the need to attend the bathroom, he was happy to oblige her request, given how strange his body felt. He had aches and pains throughout his body, he had discovered as he woke up fully, but they were only dull aches and pains, as if he’d been run over by a truck, say a month ago or something. Very odd.

He was getting small nerve twinges all over his body as well. They were only mild, small sudden twitches or jerks, but it felt really strange like he was a puppet and someone was not so much as pulling on the strings but rather just jerking them a little. It was also a bit like pins and needles but sharper, if not as painful, and not so generalized. Instead, it was like little pins being shoved into him here, there, and everywhere. Mostly on the inside rather than on the outside, as happened with pins and needles. He lay there hurting, twitching, and trying to remember what had happened. Ahh. His mental blankness regarding how he got here was suddenly full of memories of making the liquid concoction. What the hell had he been thinking?