The Silver Remedy

The smell...the smell...the smell.

“Miss Porter, are you ok?”

“Hm...It’s...just Porter,” I smiled through my mask and then realized he couldn’t see it, “Marv, I’m going to take a break.”

“Perhaps you’re allergic to something?”

“Yeah, maybe.” I rushed to the door. The normally bleached smelling hallway was like spring air as I pulled down my mask.

It felt like I was in middle school again without my ADHD medication. I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t get any work done, and I hated the feeling. But there had to be a reason that someone was turning so many people and then killing them and there had to be a reason so many people were naive and willing to ingest this concoction.

I was startled by a gurney coming through the doors. It was covered and didn’t smell. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was something I could do for the rest of the day-- get away the poison.

Straightening out my lab coat I strutted back in avoiding the examination room and going to my office.Through the glass I could see Dr. Marvin was consoling the ambulance driver in the morgue. It must be horrible being the one who can’t save the person, I wouldn’t know, I just examine the aftermath.

“Oh Porter!” I heard him faintly through the glass as clapped his hands together. Dr. Marvin motioned for me to come in. The EMT ducked his head and left the room.

“New arrival.” I walked over and looked over the roller, “She’s older, natural causes?”

“Most likely. Her grandchild called it in.” Dr. Marvin yawned, took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

“Why don’t you grab lunch? I’ll do this.”

“I think I’d call that a plan.” He smiled and patted my shoulder. He seemed startled by the muscle and awkwardly retracted his hand, “Hm...well.”

We stood for a moment and he departed after dropping off his coat in his half of the office. I glanced around and then went back to the body. The locker doors to each body were sealed tightly, but the smell very vaguely lingered in the air. It was tolerable though. I lifted Grandma Doe onto a rolling examination table and rolled her to the examination room. The basic procedures were done. I sent in tests, even if I already knew that everything would come back normal, and I opened the chest. It was an easy autopsy. Afterwards I sat in my office.

It was bland, but I was slowly decorating it, although I wasn’t planning on staying long. There was the picture of my dream car with my dad and I working on it. It had been sitting in a shed for the last two years I’d checked. There was one of my sister and I from homecoming, she was wearing a black dress and bright red lipstick...I on the other hand wasn’t near as poised as her. Otherwise there was one inspirational quote.

Well, there was one more. I slid open the narrow desk drawer. There were staples, pens, and highlighters, and on the side tucked carefully and upside down was the photograph.

It was glossy under my fingers. I was in the middle Derek and Laura flanking both sides of me in front of the Hale house. We were all smiling. The sun was shining in the background, we were on a picnic table, some of their family members were in the background. It was a one of the seasonal gatherings. I left before sunset.

“Dr. Marvin?” A deep, but croaky voice called.

I quickly shoved the photo back into my desk drawer and got up.

“Hello?” He sighed and then became very still.

I knew him and he knew me...My footsteps became more rapid. We were finally face to face. We both sucked in a rapid breath and he held up a hand with a finger in a lazy point.

“You--”

My eyebrows scrunched and my nostrils flared. His shoulders tensed more and he shifted on his feet.

“What can I do for you? Officer.”

“I was wondering what the reports on the bodies were?”

“Yes, the um--”

“Officer McCall!” Dr. Marvin happily greeted his in unusually loud way. It was filled with joy and complete bliss. He was really content with life, something I couldn’t figure out, but liked anyways, “Porter!”

“Hello,” I bowed my head and smiled, “Grandma Doe seemed pretty normal.”

“Oh good!”

“I’ll present the files to the family and leave you two.”

“Are you sure? We-we should discuss this together.” Officer McCall jumped in.

“No, it’s fine. We need to keep the little things moving too.” I smiled as big as possible.

I walked to the main level of the hospital to drop the files off. On the way back down I ran into Melissa, she was talking with a scrawny man with clippered hair. He was leaning casually against the wall and she looked slightly annoyed as she flipped through a chart.

We waved and kept going-- until I heard the man trying to talk to Melissa about the bodies. She was agreeing nor disagreeing that it could be something out of the ordinary. I halted around the corner. It was more crowed and louder, but that didn’t bother me.

She walked by oblivious that I was pressed against the wall. The man groaned and paced around the corner. Footsteps were approaching him and then stopped. They both sighed in unison.

“Do you have anything?”

“No, Marvin didn’t why have any evidence other than what we already know.” Officer McCall said in a low voice.

“So did you get a look at the bodies?”

“No! Why would I, that’s not my job. They wouldn’t let me!”

“Well did you even try?”

“Why would I try? It was gross in there and...It’s-it’s not like I can just walk into places and-and--”

“Ok, I get it. I get it. Look,” He sighed again. I heard his hand run over his stubbly hair, “I’ll do it.”

“What?!”

“I’ll go in--”

“But Stiles!”

“I’ll go in and take a look at everything. See if there’s some magical thing that Marv wouldn’t know about...you know, like fairy dust or hobbit feet or something.”

“And what if someone is in there? The new girl is-- different.”

“Like hot model different?”

“No! Seriously-- she gives me the creeps man.” I was slightly offended.

“Seriously though, I’ll...I’ll say that I’m doing my job.”

“Huh?...Ok.”

"Eh! Ok!" There was a second as he muffled a fake victory chuckle, "Why does it always come down to this?” Stiles asked himself.

I didn’t know if I could trust him...I didn’t know if he was actually what I thought he was. I had no clue and I knew that might say or hint at too much. I just needed to find Derek.