The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Chapter 8

Without hesitating a second longer, he picked up the phone again and dialed a number. Levin waited as five dial tone's burped into his ears.

"Yes, this is Doctor Jeremiah Levin. I am partnered through the Ashlandview Psychiatric Center. I was wondering if I could speak with a Doctor Morgan Shields, please."

Levin waited for at least five of the longest minutes of his life for the anticipated doctor to answer while listening to Barry Manilow's, 'I Write The Songs', over the line.

"This is Doctor Shields. To whom am I speaking?" The man seriously spoke.

"Yes," Levin coughed, "this is Doctor Jeri Levin. How are you today, sir?"

"Quite well, sir." He heavily exhaled, sounding as though his time were being wasted. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I am here looking over a patient's x-rays, and if I'm not mistaken, you were the presiding physician when this young man was brought into your emergency room three months ago."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be a bit more specific than that, Doctor Levin. Would this patient happen to have a name?"

"Yes, sir, it's Isaac Mercer. He was the young, black male that was brought in following the animal attack on Thanksgiving."

At first there was a breathing pause over the phone, until Doctor Shields woke up and said, "Now I remember. Yes, quite a bizarre tragedy if I recall. You don't exactly forget something like that, Doctor."

"I can imagine. But you see, sir, I'm looking at Mr. Mercer's x-rays as we speak, and it seems as though there are some...abnormalities, concerning his bone structure." Levin gulped. "Doctor, if I may ask, was

Isaac beaten before he was rushed in that morning? I'm seeing multiple bone fractures from head to toe. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear it looks as though his entire jaw was...stretched outwards? As ludicrous as that may sound."

"Yes, Doctor Levin, this young man was quite a puzzle to us all that morning. We all believed that he too was attacked by this so called animal, but there were absolutely no scars, or even a scratch on him. He was soaking in blood from head to toe. And yes, his bones had seemingly been broken."

"Had been," Levin questioned. "Can you elaborate?"

"It's still a mystery to myself, but it seems as though this young man's entire bone structure had been...reconfigured, and then restored all over again. If you notice in the x-rays that I took that morning, certain joints seemed to have, pardon my illiteracy, come apart. His muscles also went through a tremendous amount of trauma as well. It looked as if he had lifted weights for a whole week straight, non-stop. You could actually feel the soreness in them. He kept on crying that he needed Ben-Gay to rub all over himself." Doctor Shields flippantly carried on.

Levin sank himself into a long, drawn out trance the deeper he gazed at the three x-rays. If Doctor Shields had no clear cut explanation, then he too was completely dumbfounded.

"Are you still there, Doctor?" Shields asked.

"Yes, I'm still here, sir." Levin coughed himself back. "I apologize; I guess I got a little confused for a moment or two."

"Is Mr. Mercer alright?"

"Physically, yes," Jeremiah stated.

"I am forced to confess that I've never seen anything like it before in all my years. Most scientists could write novels on this kid. He's a modern marvel. Bones re-fusing themselves. Honestly, I was shocked just to see him walk out of this hospital at all."

"Yes, Doctor, it is a miracle." Levin muttered in a perturbed tone. "Well, sir, I do appreciate your time."

"The pleasure is all mine, Doctor. Good day."

Levin slowly hung up the phone and took out the previous x-ray of Isaac's once deformed skull. The slightly protruded jaw bone startled the man enough to where he had to push aside the image as though he were thoroughly repulsed by the very sight altogether.

He had to take a breath, just to clear his mind. The last thing he wanted was to drive himself mad before his patient arrived.

Right then, three knocks at the door interrupted Levin's irrational ramblings. As if he were trying to escape, he hastily shoved each of the x-rays into one folder before saying out loud, "Come in!"

From behind the door appeared Isaac.