Buried Truths

New Year’s Eve. My sister Zoe was admitted to the hospital after a car crash. It was supposed to be a standard surgery for a fractured leg. Two hours later, she was a cold, lifeless body. The surgeon, Dr. Price, claimed she died from massive hemorrhaging, that they couldn’t save her. My wife, a medical examiner, issued a report of accidental death with lightning speed, before I even had a chance to see Zoe one last time. My mother, her face streaked with tears, rushed to have Zoe’s body sent for cremation. I just wanted to arrange a proper farewell, but when I got a glimpse of Zoe’s body, I saw her arms were covered in needle marks and deep bruises. Her whole body was shriveled, like a mummy. Her pupils were discolored, a sickening purple, and her skin was a sallow, jaundiced yellow. My heart sank. In that instant, I knew the truth of my sister’s death had been buried. That night, I strapped her surgeon to an operating table and started a livestream for the whole world to see.

1 “Is this some kind of movie stunt?” “Look at the doctor’s eyes. That’s real, primal fear. You can’t fake that.” “That’s Cole Reed! His sister died in that crash on New Year’s Eve. He was the one who collapsed from grief!” “His poor sister… so young, gone just like that…” I ignored the flood of comments, taping Dr. Aaron Price’s mouth shut before picking up a thick-gauge IV catheter. I stared into the camera and let a cold smile spread across my face. “Anna, my love, I know you’re out there watching. The man who operated on my sister just happens to be your dear senior colleague.” “I’m going to drain him, drop by drop. And I think I’ll start right here.” With swift, brutal precision, I plunged the needle into the vein in Price’s left arm. Blood immediately began to flow into the collection bag. Price’s eyes bulged, a muffled scream tearing through the livestream. He struggled, but a jolt of electricity shot through his spine from the device I’d placed beneath him. The comments section exploded with vitriol. They called me a monster, a sick bastard, a butcher. I just smirked, my hands never pausing. I took the blood-stained needle and slowly dragged its tip up the inside of his trembling thigh. “Tell me, Anna, do you think my sister was in pain when she was being tortured like this?” “When I pulled back the sheet, I saw her. Her eyes were sunken, her skin was yellow, and every vein in her body was collapsed and empty.” I didn’t give Price a moment to react. In the next instant… The tip of my scalpel hovered over his abdomen. My expression turned feral. “Zoe’s abdomen had a suture line that had nothing to do with the crash. And where her kidney should have been… there was nothing.” “Your autopsy report, Anna—the one you wrote—mentioned only massive hemorrhaging from the accident. Not a single word about any other wounds.” “Someone with your skills, making a mistake like that? Who are you kidding? You were covering for the real killer.” I reversed my grip and plunged the knife into the muscle of Price’s right thigh, twisting it, grinding the steel against flesh. He was like an animal on a slaughterhouse floor, helpless, unable to fight back. His muffled screams echoed through the livestream as he babbled incomprehensible pleas for mercy. I leaned close to his ear, gently tapping his cheek with the blood-slicked back of the blade. “Tell me, when you’re just a dried-up corpse, completely drained of blood, do you think anyone will rule your death an ‘accident’?” Suddenly, the operating room doors burst open. My wife, Anna, rushed in, breathless, followed by Captain Miller from the Major Crimes Division. “Cole! Drop the knife!” Miller’s face was grim, the barrel of his gun aimed squarely between my eyes. I ignored his fury, my gaze fixed on Anna, standing behind him. “Anna. Perfect timing.” “Why don’t you explain to the hundreds of thousands of people watching right now…” “Why my sister, Zoe, had her kidney removed after a simple surgery for a broken leg?” Anna’s voice was choked with sobs. “Cole, you’re insane! What are you talking about?” “Zoe died of post-operative hemorrhaging, complicated by acute renal failure!” “Dr. Price was trying to save her life! He had to perform an emergency nephrectomy!” “It’s all documented! In the surgical records and in my autopsy report!” “You’re a doctor yourself, for God’s sake! Can’t you see that?! You’re just… you’re having a psychotic break from the grief! Stop this, please!” Her words set the livestream on fire. “Oh, so it was renal failure. I knew it. No doctor would just steal an organ.” “The poor guy is having a complete breakdown from grief. It’s tragic.” “And he’s a doctor! Supposed to save lives, and here he is, torturing someone on a livestream! He’s a disgrace to medicine. Bastards like him should rot in hell!” I read the comments, the words like acid, and I laughed. “The surgery was barely over, and before I could even properly examine Zoe’s body, you had the cremation forms signed and were rushing them to push her into the incinerator.” “No body, no evidence! What exactly am I supposed to see?” I turned and hoisted Price higher, causing the blood to flow even faster. “At this rate, he has about thirty minutes before he goes into irreversible shock from blood loss.” “Thirty minutes. If one of you tells the truth, I’ll stop.” Captain Miller’s face was ashen. “Cole, I’m telling you for the last time. Put down the knife and release Dr. Price!” “Or I’ll have to put you down right here!” I looked at him, and a strange smile touched my lips. “Captain, have you forgotten? Three years ago, during that drug bust. You took two bullets to the gut, your intestines were spilling out.” “Everyone else had given you up for dead. It was me, Captain. I was the one who pulled you back from the brink.” “And today, you’re going to use that hand to kill the man who saved your life?” The hand holding the gun trembled. Anna’s voice was a raw whisper. “Cole, please, calm down! What you think you saw wasn’t real!” “Zoe’s death… it’s all there, clear as day, in the autopsy report!” I let out a cold laugh and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket. “You mean this one?” “The one you wrote half of before throwing it in the trash!” Under the camera’s glare, the words on the torn report were sharp and clear: Subject: Zoe Reed, F, 24. Body is in good health, with no history of major illness. Anna’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. “Anna, didn’t you just say my sister had acute renal failure?” “Then tell me, why does this initial report, in your own handwriting, state that she had no history of major illness?” She stammered, “That… that was just a draft… I got her full medical history later, and that’s when I…” “Still lying!” I roared, cutting her off. In a flash, I slashed a new gash across Price’s other thigh! Blood sprayed out, flowing several times faster than the IV drip. Price convulsed, a death rattle in his throat. “Cole, stop!” Anna screamed, completely unhinged. She pointed a trembling finger at me, tears streaming down her face. “You’re a monster, Cole! A monster! Have you forgotten the oath you took?” “When Zoe was hurt, why didn’t you operate? Why didn’t you save her yourself?!” “Dr. Price stepped up for you! He tried to save her, and he failed, and now you’re going to murder him for it?!” Why didn’t I operate? I staggered, gripping the operating table to keep from collapsing. For the past six months, my vision has been getting worse. My memory is failing. I’ve been fainting without warning. The night of Zoe’s accident, I had just come out of a ten-hour surgery. I was practically delirious with exhaustion. I couldn’t have held a scalpel, let alone stood on my own two feet. Seeing my anguish, Anna pressed her advantage. “Cole, your grief is making you hallucinate!” “If you don’t trust me, don’t you at least trust your own mother?” “Mom personally selected Dr. Price to be Zoe’s surgeon! Why would she ever do anything to harm her own daughter?!” My head snapped up. It was my mother who had stopped me from examining the body. A bitter laugh, sharp with rage, escaped me. I raised the knife again, and another bloody wound opened on Price’s body. “Fifteen minutes left, Anna.” “And I am deeply unsatisfied with your explanation.” Price’s screams were growing weaker. Anna finally broke. She fell to her knees, slamming her forehead against the floor again and again. “Cole, I’m begging you! Please, let him go!” “It was all my fault! I’m not skilled enough, I made a mistake in my assessment, that’s why the report was wrong!” “Zoe’s death had nothing to do with him, he did everything he could! I swear, he did everything!” She sobbed, her body wracked with grief. Just then, the doors to the OR were thrown open again. A middle-aged woman in a white coat strode in. It was my mother, the vice president of City Center Hospital, Dr. Evelyn Reed. “Cole. Zoe’s death was an accident.” “I personally examined her body. I reviewed all the surgical records and the autopsy report.” “The conclusion is clear. It was complications from the car crash. Massive hemorrhaging. They couldn’t save her.” “As for the removed kidney, it was a standard emergency procedure, completely in line with medical protocol.” “There was no organ theft.” Evelyn looked at me, her eyes filled with pain and disappointment. “Son, stop this. Don’t disturb your sister’s peace.” “What you’re doing is a crime. You are disgracing this entire family!” I looked at her, this woman I had admired my entire life, and felt a chill seep into my bones. Could I really be wrong? If Price had nothing to do with it, why did Anna destroy the first report? Why were they in such a hurry to cremate my sister’s body? “Mom. Make her finish that report. Right here, in front of everyone.” I hit a button, increasing the speed of the blood pump. The clear bag was rapidly filling with crimson. Price’s body arched in a final, agonizing spasm. “Fine! I’ll write it!” Anna snatched a pen, her hand shaking violently. “You want the truth? Fine, I’ll give you the truth.” “But the truth is, we were all just trying to protect you.” The livestream comments exploded with question marks. “Protect him? He’s torturing a man to death, and they’re protecting him?” “I don’t understand this plot twist at all.” I sneered. “Protect me? By sacrificing my sister’s life?” My mother’s voice was like iron. “Yes.” “Zoe was already gone by the time she got to the hospital.” “It was a catastrophic accident.” “And the person driving the car… was you.” Me? I was driving? Impossible. I was at the hospital that night. I had just finished surgery. How could I have been driving? Anna got to her feet, tears carving paths down her face. “It’s true, Cole. Your vision has been failing for months. You’ve been having blackouts, episodes of confusion.” “That night, after your surgery, you took a phone call and left. We thought you were going home to rest.” “But you got in your car. And on the road…” Her voice broke. “You blacked out right after it happened. You don’t remember any of it! We brought you home and told everyone you were resting at the hospital.” “We couldn’t let you go to prison! We couldn’t let you live with the guilt of killing your own sister!” “So…” My mother finished the sentence, her voice heavy with sorrow. “So we created this story.” “We had Dr. Price perform the ‘surgery’ and declared it an accident.” “That kidney wasn’t stolen. It was ruptured so severely in the crash that it had to be removed!” “We had Zoe cremated to destroy the evidence, to protect you, so you could have a life!” “Son, we were trying to save you! How could you be so blind?!” Tears streamed down my mother’s face as she looked at me, her heart breaking. The livestream chat went insane. “HOLY SHIT! PLOT TWIST! HE KILLED HIS OWN SISTER!” “So he’s the real murderer? And because of amnesia, he tortured the doctor and his family who were trying to protect him?” “This is… this is beyond monstrous. He’s an animal!” “My god, his wife and mother are saints. They went through all of that to protect that psycho.” I stood there, stunned. I clutched my head, the world spinning around me. Seeing my collapse, Anna’s eyes filled with a flicker of pity, but she still reached into her pocket and pulled out a USB drive. “Cole, I know you don’t believe us.” “See for yourself.” She plugged the drive into the monitor in the operating room. “This is from your car’s dashcam. I made a copy.” The screen lit up. A video began to play. A familiar dashboard. The interior of my car. Then, my own voice, weary and strained, came from the speakers. “Zoe, I just got out of surgery. Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.” On the other end, my sister’s bright, cheerful voice replied, “No way, big brother, you stay put. It’s freezing out. I bought you your favorite soup, I’m almost at the hospital entrance. Just wait for me.” “Okay.” The call ended. The car moved slowly. My heart was in my throat. I stared at the screen, desperately searching for a flaw, a glitch, anything. There was nothing. It was my car. My voice. In the video, the car suddenly swerved, then accelerated violently. Caught in the high beams was my sister, Zoe, holding a thermal container. She was still smiling. Then my car slammed into her.