Mark didn’t notice anything wrong when he woke up. It seemed like any other morning he had gotten up and shuffled to the kitchen to make his coffee. He didn’t even notice anything wrong while he made the coffee until he was about to pour it into his cup when he saw it and he was ready to scream.
40 year old Mark was a single man he had dated in the past, but it had just never gone well. He hoped that this time it would be different. He’d spent a lot of time preparing for the date. He really wanted it to go well and it would be the first time they’d meet in person. But not everything would go to plan. He’d met the woman online and knew it was a long shot, but he met up with her. The date was nothing extraordinary. She really didn’t seem that interested, and he wasn’t sure yet if he wanted to see her again. But the next morning, he was sure he didn’t.
After all, what was beyond strange? He didn’t want to pull her into it when he didn’t even know what was going on. Mark discovered that there was something strange about his thumb. It ate a bit, but it wasn’t until he looked closely at it that he saw exactly why his thumb was hurting and it scared the living daylights out of him. What was happening to him? Mark’s thumb was covered in tiny holes. He thought that maybe something had stuck to his thumb, but bringing it closer to him, he saw that the holes were digging into his skin. He pressed on it with his other fingers, and it hurt a bit more. Something was very clearly wrong. But what?
Marks thought a bit. Maybe some insect had bitten him or even crawled into him. Maybe it had latched onto his thumb in the night. But he’d never seen a bug do anything like this. Mark searched online and came to the conclusion that no bug had done this. It had to be something worse. The more Mark looked at his thumb, the more confused he became. These weren’t just tiny holes. There was something inside the holes. He couldn’t make it out, but he was sure there was something else there. The holes were hard, and whatever inside was too. He needed to do something, and he had just the idea.
Mark decided that he was going to try and dig out whatever it was in his thumb with Tweezers. He went to the bathroom and pulled out his Tweezers. But before he could dig into his thumb, he hesitated. He didn’t really have any idea what he was dealing with.
Doing this could make it even worse. But he still had to do something. Mark didn’t like doctors. He preferred to take care of things by himself. He rarely would go unless something was severely bad. And as much as he hated the idea of going to the doctor, he knew that this wasn’t something he should take care of by himself. So he took the leap and called the doctor.
The doctor’s office set up a semi-emergency appointment for that same afternoon. They told him that there would be others ahead of him, but they would definitely see him by the end of the day at the latest.
In the meantime, the doctor told Mark that he needed to do something for him. The doctor told Peter that he needed to think about anything that was different recently that could have caused this. Anything out of the ordinary. It would greatly help the doctor figure out what exactly was wrong. Mark agreed to think about it and hung up the phone. What could have done this? He didn’t really know.
Mark thought back over the last week. He hadn’t really done anything too out of the ordinary. He went on a hike through the forest a couple days ago. He easily could have touched something out there before. Maybe a mushroom or a contaminated piece of moss. That could definitely be an option. Maybe. As Mark continued thinking the hike didn’t make that much sense. Surely other people had gone hiking on that same trail. It was a popular route. He wouldn’t be the first person to be experiencing this.
There’d have to be other signs. He decided to rule it out as an answer. But there had to be something else. It was difficult to think of anything that was out of routine. Mark was an average guy. He didn’t do much except hike occasionally and go to the local coffee shop. He worked from home and didn’t go outside that much.
He really was a boring person. But then it hit him there was something else that was out of the ordinary. Mark had gone on the date the night before. He’d been talking with the woman online for a while and had eventually decided to go on a date. Mark had been excited to try out dating again. He still hadn’t found his soul mate and was hoping that this date would go well.
Things would end up taking an unexpected turn. From the moment the date began, peter felt like something was off about the woman. She didn’t really seem interested in him. It was almost like she despised him. But as soon as he would start thinking that she’d do something, that showed that she was invested.
It was just a strange date. But there was something more. Thinking back, Mark wasn’t sure why she’d even contacted him in the first place. Looking through his messages with her, he could see more and more that she didn’t really like him. He’d just been a bit desperate and wasn’t thinking clearly. Could she have something to do with all of this? Mark couldn’t see how she’d have anything to do with this.
They hadn’t gotten physical at all and he hadn’t contacted her since last night. She had not messaged him either. If she had done something, wouldn’t she have said something? Mark was not sure, but it was time for his appointment. He had to go. Mark had no clue what was going on with his thumb when he left for his appointment. He continued to think while driving to the doctor’s office, but he came up with nothing. Luckily, the holes on his thumb didn’t seem to be changing too much. They’d grown a bit bigger and were more obvious to the eye now. But it wasn’t that bad, right?
He got to the doctor’s office and sat in his car for a second, trying to come up with any more answers. Mark really couldn’t think of anything else. With a deep breath to calm his nerves, Mark walked into the doctor’s office and signed in. He figured he’d have to wait a long time to see the doctor. But people had different plans. While in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, Mark was getting a ridiculous amount of attention.
At this point. The holes in his thumb were very plain to see and everyone around him was shocked by what they were seeing. Mark did not notice too much until the rest of the people’s curiosity became increasingly obvious.
The other people in the office did not try to hide their curiosity. The few kids there wanted to go look, but their parents held them back still. It was as if everyone forgot why they were there with their own medical complaints. Everybody wanted to know what was happening with him. To be fair, so did Mark. It was then that the doctor came out to call in the next patient.
Everyone there collectively agreed that Mark should be seen first. None of their problems were serious, but Marks clearly was. Mark was a bit put off by this, but thanked them nonetheless. It was concerning, but surely he could wait. The doctor did not agree.
Once inside his office, the doctor was able to take a proper look at Mark’s thumb and he was shocked. He had never seen anything like this. He would remember if he had. Something like this was not something you just forgot. In addition, even more, the doctor hadn’t even heard of anything like this in his medical books.
He was clueless. The doctor knew that this was going to take some time. He made a few calls to have his waiting patients sent to other doctors on call. Mark needed his attention the most and he was going to make sure that they were going to find a cure for whatever was going on here. The doctor ordered tests for Mark and while they waited for the results, he studied Mark’s thumb intensely.
The strange thing was that while earlier Mark had felt some pain, he did not anymore. His whole thumb was completely numb. It did not even hurt when the doctor pushed on it. This was a bad sign. The doctor continued to investigate Peter’s thumb and when he got the first results back, he was disappointed.
The tests he had ordered had not found anything yet. There were still some others he could have done, but he needed Mark’s permission. It would take up a lot of Mark’s time. What would he do? Mark agreed to the tests, and while they waited for those results, the doctor, who still had not found anything helpful, posted a few pictures of Mark’s thumb on a medical forum. He was hoping that some other doctor had seen something like this before. It would be a while before they got any response.
Mark decided that he needed some air and went to use the bathroom. While he was gone, the doctor received a private message from the forum. He opened it eagerly, hoping that it was the answer he had been seeking. In addition, to his luck, it was. But it was also terrible, terrible news, and everything would have to change fast. Another doctor had indeed seen this condition before and if they did not do something soon, it could turn into a very big problem for everyone, including Mark.
The doctor read the message again and again and knew that if this other doctor was right, that he needed to take quick action. Mark’s doctor waited for the results, which came in almost immediately after he’d read the message from the forum. This was it. He had the results and it chilled him to the bone. The other doctor had been right. Mark’s doctor left his office and soon the whole place was upside down.
Mark returned from the bathroom. His thumb was not looking good. The holes were starting to spread to the rest of his hand. He was getting really scared. Now. What the heck was going on? Mark quickly threw his hands up into the air as the police turned their attention to him. He almost had tears in his eyes and he begged them all to just tell him what was going on. Seeing that the holes on Mark’s thumb had taken up almost half of his hand now, the police told him to stay back. One of the officers calmly explained to Mark that they would tell him everything, but he needed to be isolated immediately.
Mark agreed to the terms, but firmly told them that he wouldn’t hesitate to break open another door to get answers. He was terrified and no one was telling him anything. Mark went back into the doctor’s office and the door was closed after him. Mark could see the staff coming in with heavy cleaning materials and they started cleaning everything.
The floors, the walls, the door, you name it. Finally, the doctor came to the door to tell Mark what was going on. His doctor firstly apologized for not telling Mark what was happening. He’d been scared. It wasn’t every day that a person with an awful flesh eating virus came in and he had to follow procedures that he’d never had to do before. He felt awful. But there was more.
He discussed with Mark what he’d been doing the day before. Mark had taken a hike and then had gone on a date that night. Luckily for Mark, the bad date hadn’t been the cause of all of this. Instead, it was more likely that he touched some infected plant while out on his hike. But which one? Mark wasn’t sure what to tell them.
He told the police and his doctor which route he’d taken and what he’d seen that might be helpful. He didn’t know what else he could do. He was focused more on what the treatment plan was. Could they even treat him? Or would this virus eat his hand off? Luckily for Mark, the hospital had the medication they needed.
But he’d have to be in isolation for a while. The police had gotten involved because they had needed to talk to Mark about his height. But when they’d seen him out of the isolated room, they had panicked because his doctor had panicked. It was a big mess, but there was more. They also had to make sure that no one else would get infected.
Mark was transported safely to a better hospital, where he could be in isolation and get treatment for the virus eating his hand away. Fortunately, the medication paused the virus from spreading and within a few days, it started reversing the problem.
But what about the plant? The officers had kept everyone off of the trail and after some heavy searching, had found a plant that wasn’t native to the area. It was tested and found to be the cause of Peter’s problem. It was uprooted and disposed of.
