Kyle Frost

Procedure
 

 

“Okay, this time it is going to be… perfect.” Todd said as he gathered together all of his belongings.

 

“This time it is going to be perfect.” He repeated to himself as he began laying out his delicate selection of tools, items, and equipment he would need for the presentation. He had a plan drawn up in his mind with every little detail accounted for. Todd never really was one for writing things down. If they were forgotten, they must not have been very important to begin with.

 

Rising from his hunched position, he stretched his shoulders back and let out a long breath. The fog curled off his lips swirling and dancing through the air before dissipating. Todd slowly rests his hands on the cool, stainless steel table, glancing over the instruments. In the empty room, he lifts one small, sharp tool whose thin edge gleamed in the dim light. After careful examination, he replaces it and moves onto the next tool.

 

Todd examined every piece very meticulously, slowly raising it to his eyes, turning it over in his palm and feeling the grip of it before returning it to its previous position exactly where it had been. He looked over every inch of metal, plastic and rubber before him.

 

Everything he would need was laid out. Todd even placed down additional tools just in case there was something he hadn’t accounted for. He would only have one chance to do this, at least, for a while. He had to get it right; he had to have everything perfect.

 

His steps click against the hard tile floor as he approaches the door to the room, listening for the distinct metallic snapping of the lock to ensure he would not be disturbed. It is his time and he is NOT going to have it ruined by some campus staff or perchance some wandering student.

 

Returning to the table, he opens up his laptop and places it on a metal stand beside the lab table. He carefully set up a webcam for an overhead view of the presentation. Finally he settles himself into position and presses a button on a remote and a small red light on his webcam flicked on. He is not only recording the session, but broadcasting now live; he could afford no mistakes.

 

“Hello class, today we shall be performing a basic dissection. Well, I will… not any of you. You will all be observing.” He pauses for a moment as he anticipates the events soon to follow. An almost menacing grin spreads across his cheeks as he continues, “I will be instructing you in the procedures you should come to expect in basic surgery through this demonstration. So, let us begin.”

 

Todd drew the surgical mask across his face, tying it around the back of his head before he slid on the blue nitrile surgical gloves, making sure each finger filled out the glove properly. He drew the first tool from the silver instrument stand and held it in front of the camera for a moment.

 

“I am about to make the first incision just below the sternum since we will only have time to examine the contents of the lower abdomen. For other procedures you may need a bone saw, I however, am obviously not able to use that myself. So let us continue!” Todd exclaimed with a hint of nervous excitement. The first cut was always the most important. He could risk damaging the tissues just below the skin and muscle which would cut his recording session much shorter than anticipated and immensely undermine the whole point of making the video in the first place. He had to get it just right… complete perfection.

 

The small blade of the scalpel pierced the flesh and slowly drew a straight line down, stopping just shy of the pelvic area. He placed the blade down and wiped away some of the blood rising from the fresh cut. Soon, he reached for the next tool in his arrangement: a long piece of equipment that bore a resemblance to a bear trap.

 

“This, class, is a favorite piece of mine, the abdominal retractor, it simply goes in like so!” Todd said, letting out several muffled grunts as he places the tool at the opening, more blood flowing from the edges of flesh and soft tissue as he forces the piece in. He continued, grunting as he cranked the adjustment knobs on the handles of it, widening the already massive gash in the body. Many of the organs were now visible in the harsh white light of the lab. They carried an almost strange, unreal look to them as if they were props, but they couldn’t be further from it.

 

“Now for the real fun.” Todd said under his breath as he began removing the largest organ at the forefront of the opening. He placed a pin into it with the label “Large Intestine” as he spoke to the class, a slight twinge of pain bothering him as he spoke. “I’m sure most of you already know what all these organs are, but for the sake of reminding you, I’ll be more than glad to label each one of them.”

 

Todd continued removing organs, one by one. His blue gloves reached into the dark, wet and bloody maw, and emerged with a new “tasty specimen” as Todd so often put it.

He was very careful not to sever any of the main fleshy attachments between the organs. Preserving the condition of them would be key to making the video a complete success and then maybe he would finally be recognized in this school. They wouldn’t forget his accomplishments for years after he had left for good.

 

Regaling in this thought, Todd became so elated that his movements became more fluid and swift. His slicing became faster and more frequent than before, he was so engrossed in his work that he nearly forgot to continue commentating. He removed each organ, labeled them and raised them up in plain view of the camera, as a child might hold some small drawing or creation in hopes of seeking approval. Then he placed them down beside him and continued. He soon grew tired from all his excitement and working. His breathing grew heavier and echoed back to him off of the walls of cadaver storage and metal shelves. He nearly struggled for air as he neared the end of his project. Blood thoroughly coated his surgical gown and gloves; he could feel it over nearly all of him.

 

The frigid temperature of the lab was finally beginning to set in as Todd took a deep breath. He placed yet another tool down on his instrument stand as he closed his eyes. The fluorescent lights had started to give him a headache or a migraine, he couldn’t really tell anymore. He couldn’t focus. He let his hands rest on the table a moment, “That concludes today’s lesson.”

 

His voice trailed off as the recording light continued to glow a bright, ominous red.

 

“OPEN UP! POLICE” yelled the officer as his leather-bound fists pounded away at the steel door to no avail. It budged no more than a mountain might have in this situation. The officer continued trying to force his way inside, even throwing a shoulder or two into it.

 

“Todd! Are you in there?! We just want to talk to you!” cried a mother standing behind the officer with her husband who could only shake his head and look down at the tile floor while another officer joined in the barrage.

 

“What could your son possibly be doing in here, Mrs. Butcher?” asked one officer; his voice rang with an utterly perplexed tone.

 

“I-I don’t know…” she said, looking down, “He left a note saying he was doing a project here, but… he was expelled from school several months ago...” She felt ashamed to admit it, but after all the hard work he had done and all the pushing she did for him, her son was expelled from the foremost medical school in the state.

 

As the banging continued to echo throughout the hallway, finally a member of the school cleaning staff approached the small cluster of people surrounding the door. They didn’t have time to waste for an administrator or any major school representatives to arrive, it was midnight and Todd hadn’t been seen for nearly 4 hours. The first officer snatched the key from the man and without hesitation unlocked room and burst through the doorway, hand resting on his firearm just to be safe, but it would not be needed.

 

The group were laying eyes on a sight more horrific than anything they had ever seen before.

 

Under a single white light in the room sat Todd.

 

On a sleek, steel examination table.

 

His body was slumped forward, propped up by some make-shift seat he must have crafted to keep his torso straight.

Surrounding him were multiple organs and other visceral pieces… his own. Dark blood matted his hair, face and hands. Shiny metal clamps and forceps hung from veins and arteries inside his torso, almost floating in the black and red abyss of his chest cavity.

 

Shocked, the officer froze in place as he took in the entire scene and slowly processed what exactly sat before him. Then he heard a scream.

 

Behind him he could see the mortified expressions of the parents. He would never forget the expression of the mother. Her eyes gleamed with silver from the fluorescent light as tears rushed down the sides of her cheeks. Her mouth was open, bearing her teeth in a fit of both anger and sorrow at what had occurred. The worst of it though, the worst of it was her cries; the shrill scream followed by cries of anguish with only loud gasps for air to break up the sobbing.

 

He called for an ambulance while his partner rushed the parents out of the room, blocking their views as much as he could with his stocky frame.

 

The officer could not help but stare at the scene as he called it in. The young boy’s body shined as a pale figure in the light with thin, dark shadows cutting across the contours of his physique. The blood was dark, dry, and coagulated. Despite the disturbing nature of the scene, looking at it as a whole, nothing stood out to the officer. Everything seemed so gray and empty.

 

Nothing stood out except a single light, glowing with a devilish red tint at the edge of the tragedy.

 

 

Kyle Frost currently resides in South-Eastern Pennsylvania. He was first published by his college's publication, The York Review, in 2014. He is studying Professional Writing and Psychology at York College of Pennsylvania where he will graduate from in 2016.