Saving Elizabeth Part 1

Only one hour had passed since he arrived. Weak and bleeding from his forehead and legs, David had stumbled into the Emergency Room just before he passed out. How strange it had seemed to him that he was watching everything the doctors and nurses were doing. He could see the nurses rushing around to get a gurney. He watched his body being lifted on to it as doctors began to surround his body. Not only could he see them working on his body... he could hear them.

"He has multiple stab wounds on his head and legs! There is bleeding coming from under his coat! Someone get this damn thing off! I need to see where the blood is coming from!"

"Yes Doctor Gleason, we are trying here."

"Well try harder then! This man is going to bleed to death before we even get him in a room! Any one have a clue who he is?"

"He walked in and collapsed on the floor. He doesn't have any I.D. on him that we know of, Doctor."

David looked down and saw the gapping wound in the center of his chest. Blood flowed out of it as if it were a faucet turned on. He could see the doctor slipping a small suction tube into the gap. Nurses raced back and forth with towels and medical supplies. He was placed on Oxygen and then, David saw himself wince. The scalpel was sharp and cut quickly, but not without bringing with it unbearable pain.

"Why am I seeing all of this/" David murmered. "How can I be there and here at the same time? Aren't I suppose to die or something first?!? Am I dead? Is this what death is? You sit and watch yourself dieing or what-ever it is I am doing right now?'

"Doctor, we found a paper in his coat. This man is David Copeland. He is from Detriot. This is a Union card. He must be dock worker there."

"What the hell is a man from Detriot, doing dieing in my E.R. in Minnesota!? Get me some more towels and get the paddles. This man is going to Code from losing all this blood. I want to save him. I don't know why, but I Have to save his life!"

"David Copeland, of Detroit. Is that who I am? Why don't I know that? What the hell is wrong with me? I should know everything about myself. Why can't I remember?"

Suddenly, David heard the words yelled by the Doctor. "Clear!" He felt the current rush through him. He felt it inside himself, not his body, but there, in the ghostly form he had become. It pushed him backwards, knocking him into a table. The medical equipment on the table fell to the floor. Doctors and nurses turned to see what had happened. The scissors and tape and gauze lay on the floor.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, Doctor Gleason. It is like the table was hit by something but there is nothing there." Gleason stared at the table and then turned back to his patient.

"Let's hit him one more time. He still is not responding. Clear!"

Again David was tossed like a rag doll across the room. The pain burned through him and he screamed. He screamed, but no body heard it. What they did hear was the sound of another table and it's contents, crashing to the floor.

The doctor turned completely around to face the table. "Alright, I want to know what the hell is going on here! Someone call the police and get me a run-down on this guy!"

Nurses scrambled every way as the doctor looked up at the monitor. He watched as the heart beat of the man slowed to one beat a minute. He stitched the wounds while keeping a close eye on the monitor.

"Should we unhook him from the equipment, Doctor."

Panic engulfed Doctor Gleason. It was a feeling of urgency that he had no idea where it came from. He had even less of an idea Why he had the feeling. He looked at David. He was as close to death as a man could be and still be called alive. The Doctor knew, somehow, that he needed to keep David in this state of life. He knew it but he simply did not know why.

David felt himself re-enter his own body. He could sense the pain coming from with in his body. He shuddered and a single tear slid down his face. Doctor Gleason saw it.

"My God, give this man 10 CC's of Morphine. I don't want him in any pain, Nurse."

"Yes, Doctor, we will see to it he stays calm."

As Doctor Gleason touched the mans body, a surge of electricity caused him to scream out in pain and release his touch on David. He saw David's lips move. He leaned in close to hear his words.

Suddenly, David knew exactly who he was. He remembered it all and why he had come to Minnesota. Two people would die if he didn't finish what he had started in Detriot. His own daughter, Sarah and Doctor Gleason's daughter, Elizabeth, brought together by an unseen force, would perish if he didn't save them. But he could not save them from the living side of life. David had to die to save the little girls lives. And Doctor Gleason had to be th one to kill him.