“During your surgery we replaced your burned skin with an artificial skin product. It will help your body regenerate skin tissue, but for now we have to keep it tight against the underlying tissue so it will bond.”
“And my face?”
The doctor glanced over at a nurse and nodded. She picked up a mirror and held it so Guang Xi could see. He quickly drew in a breath. This can’t be! His face was shiny bright red and boney in appearance. The artificial skin extended up over the top of his scalp. Where are my ears? His right ear was gone with only a small knobby protrusion remaining of his left ear. He felt nauseated by the sight of his own features. How is Meili going to react? He reached up and touched his face. He couldn’t feel the contact of his fingers, nor could he sense anything on his face.
“I can’t feel anything,” Guang Xi stated anxiously.
“I know,” the doctor replied. “You won’t have any nerves in the new skin that grows. Nerves won’t regenerate themselves.”
“How am I going to live like this? This is horrible!”
The doctor paused, breathed out slowly and continued, “We can start to rebuild the outer ears after six months to a year. You’re going to need a lot of medical care over the next two to three years, so we’re going to see a lot of each other. In order for this to work, we must base our communications on truth and trust. Rebuilding the damaged parts of your body is a long, slow ordeal. I’ve taken other severe burn patients through this same process. I will be completely honest with you during every step, but you have to trust me that in the end, you can have a reasonably normal life.”
Guang Xi’s mind was racing; jumping from one thought to another at hyper-speed. He couldn’t focus. His breathing was fast and shallow. A nurse checked his pulse and blood pressure.
She looked at the doctor. “High, but not dangerous.”
The doctor reached over and took ahold of Guang Xi’s shoulder. “Breathe deeply. Slow down. You’re alive, and you’re going to recover.”
Guang Xi took several deep breaths and tried to get his mind to focus. As he did so, his foot started to hurt. He looked down at the thin blanket that covered his body. He could see the pointed rise in the blanket where his left foot was, but on the right, the blanket fell flat to the bed below his knee. “What happened to my foot?”
“Gangrene,” the doctor replied. “There was nothing else we could do.”
Guang Xi fell back on the bed, tears flowing from his eyes, only he couldn’t feel them on his face. He realized he never would. He would never feel Meili’s gentle touch against his cheek, the feel of her against his chest or her stroking his arms. All of that was gone; gone forever.
“Why?” Guang Xi screamed. “Why me?”
The doctor and the nurses remained silent, staring at the floor instead of meeting his gaze. He looked frantically around the room, suddenly feeling as though he had become invisible.
“Why me?” he screamed again, as he fell into uncontrollable weeping.
The doctor immediately left the room, as did all but one nurse, who had to finish re-bandaging his face. Then, just as quietly, she left him as well. She returned within two minutes and injected something into his IV line. A few seconds later he felt warm and relaxed again.
“What happened at the fault?” Dr. Huang asked.
“The earthquake?” Guang Xi asked.
“Yes,” Dr. Huang replied. “What exactly did you see?”
Guang Xi felt spacey, but his mind seemed to be somewhat lucid. “This curtain of light formed over the fault. It was afternoon and the sun was out, but this curtain of light was brighter than the sunlight.”
“It was right over the fault?” Dr. Huang asked.
“Yes,” Guang Xi confirmed. “It was directly over the fault.”
“And it appeared before the earthquake?”
“Yes, about ten seconds before the quake erupted.”
Dr. Huang leaned back in his chair. “That’s exactly what the instruments showed. I expected something in the electromagnetic spectrum, but this was too high to measure. Every electromagnetic sensor was at maximum intensity. The signals went from zero to maximum, stayed there for exactly ninety seconds, and then dropped suddenly back to zero. The quake started, as you noted, ten seconds after the electromagnetic sensors hit maximum, and continued for eighty seconds, after which the quake began to diminish. By the time the quake had spread out and traveled through the rock strata, the total time of the quake was around two minutes.”
“What magnitude?” Guang Xi asked, the clinical portion of his mind taking over.
“Initial analysis indicates a 7.9, but it looks more like an 8.0 to me.”
Guang Xi breathed out quickly. “That’s massive. How extensive was the damage?”
“Still gathering data, but from the aerial survey, it looks like we’re in the range of 12 million buildings damaged or destroyed. The army has been working to clear landslides from the roads 24 hours a day, but with all of the damage to the roads and infrastructure, we’re two to three weeks from reaching the outer sections of the provinces.”
“How many dead?” Guang Xi asked.
Dr. Huang lowered his head and paused. “We don’t know. Based on what we have found so far, we’re guessing at 50,000 to 100,000 dead, 200,000 to 400,000 injured.”
“I’m lucky to be alive.”
“Yes, you are,” Dr. Huang replied. “And that’s exactly what I want you to concentrate on. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Meili?”
“I have spoken to her. She was visiting her family in Yantai. She will be here tomorrow.”
Guang Xi stared off into the corner of the room, his mind drifting deeper into the dream state.
“You need to rest,” Dr. Huang said. “I’ll be back to visit later.”
Guang Xi closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
The next day Guang Xi saw Dr. Huang waiting as the nurses removed the bandages from his face and arms. Once all of the bandages were gone the attending doctor bent forward and examined Guang Xi intently.
“So far, so good,” the doctor said. “No sign of infection.”
Guang Xi looked up. Meili stood in the doorway staring at him. Shock and horror firmly etched in her face.
“Meili?” Guang Xi said.
She turned and bolted down the hall.
“Meili,” he shouted. “Meili, come back! Meili!”
Dr. Huang immediately got up and ran after Meili. Ten minutes later he returned — alone. The look on Dr. Huang’s face told Guang Xi everything he needed to know. Meili was gone, and she wouldn’t be coming back. Guang Xi stared down at the bed and his missing right leg.
“Look,” Dr. Huang said quietly. “This was a great shock for her. She’s going to need time to adjust. Right now the artificial skin doesn’t look very good, but in a year, it’ll look just like normal skin. You’ll see. Your life will get better, much better. Then she may reconsider.”
Guang Xi looked at him and shook his head. “No, she won’t. She’s very social. She can’t be seen with someone like I am now. A year or two years will not change what she wants. It’s over. She’s gone, just like the rest of my life.” He returned to staring at his missing right leg.
“You’re a very smart and very valuable person, Guang Xi. Your position at the University is secure. Your life will be good again, I promise.” Guang Xi didn’t look at anything other than his missing leg. After half an hour of Guang Xi’s continued silence and lack of eye contact, Dr. Huang stood up. “Perhaps tomorrow will be better,” he said from the doorway, and then he left.