THE DOCTOR THAT KILLS

Chapter 1

He opened his eyes slowly, squinting as the bright ceiling light stabbed into them, making him blink in pain.

Where was he?

He tried lifting himself, but his body didn’t respond. His limbs were heavy, lifeless. Nothing made sense.

He couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe properly.

He couldn't understand what was happening to him

The door opened, and a woman dressed like a nurse walked in, not realizing he was awake.

“W...where am I?” he croaked. His voice sounded cracked, like it hadn’t been used in years.

The nurse turned abruptly, her eyes wide in shock. The tray in her hands slipped, crashing loudly to the floor. Injections, medication vials, and syringes scattered everywhere.

“Y-you’re awake! HE’S AWAKE!” she shouted, bolting out of the room without picking up the mess.

Adrian lay there, stunned. Her reaction only added to the chaos swirling in his mind.

The beeping sound from the monitor beside him, the electrocardiogram snatched his attention. His head turned with difficulty. He saw the green waves pulsing across the screen. An IV line trailed from his hand.

That was when he realized that he was in an hospital

But why?

For how long has he been asleep?

Hours? Weeks? Months?

He remembered, seating in his office, a nurse coming to give him water to drink, him drinking it

And that was the last thing he remembered

He couldn't even remember the face of the nurse who gave him the glass of water to drink

His wife, where is she? He tried to lift himself up again but his body still did not give in

Why is this happening?

What was his diagnosis? Different questions flooded his mind

Then the door slammed open again.

The nurse rushed in, picking up the fallen tray in haste. Behind her, heels clicked sharply against the tiled floor.

A woman entered.

She wore a fitted brown gown, her black heels precise and proud. The scent of expensive perfume followed her. Her presence radiated command.

Adrian’s heart clenched.

It was her.

Arial. His wife.

The woman he had loved with every broken, bleeding piece of himself.

He remembered one rainy evening in 2014. She sat beside his hospital bed, drenched and trembling after rushing from work when she heard he collapsed.

“You’re not allowed to die on me, Adrian,” she whispered, her eyes red from crying. “Not when we haven’t even taken our honeymoon.”

She had held his hand all night, refusing to sleep. “You’re the best doctor I know. You're going to save lives someday. And I’ll be right there beside you.”

He believed her. He had to.

Because back then, she loved him.

And now she was standing right in front of him, the joy in his heart knew no bound, knowing that she didn't give up on him, at least that was what he thought

Before he could call her name, she spoke.

“You’re finally awake, Adrian.”

Her voice held no joy, no relief, no tears.

Just coldness, arrogance and indifference.

Adrian blinked in disbelief. Her voice, it wasn’t the soft melody he remembered. It was hollow.

Before he could ask why she sounded so different, he saw it

Something that he wasn't suppose to see

Something that was impossible to see

And something that shouldn't be seen

He could see her heart, how it pumped blood, he could see her organs, her kidney, her liver he saw all of it

He saw that her heart was becoming weak

He short his eyes close, cleaning his eyes to make it stop

He opened it once again, but it didn't stop

He looked at the nurse and he could see her skeleton

"No!!!" He shouted making everyone shocked

"Don't be dramatic"

she said dropping a folder on his chest before he could say anything

“Divorce papers,” she said flatly. “Sign them.”

Adrian blinked. “What?”

She folded her arms. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

“I… what year is it?”

Arial snorted. “2025.”

His stomach dropped. “That can’t be right... I—” He tried to rise, but his limbs shook like wires. Pain flared across his spine.

Arial leaned against the bed’s edge, her voice clipped and sharp.

“You’ve been in a coma for ten years, Adrian. I waited at first. But hope doesn’t pay hospital bills.”

Tears burned behind his eyes, but she just kept going.

“I’ve moved on. I own this hospital now. You’re breathing air I paid for.”

He stared at her. His heart cracked. “Arial… you were my wife.”

“And you were a failure,” she snapped. “A rookie doctor with big dreams and no legacy. I wasted enough time being the loyal wife of a vegetable.”

She pulled out another sheet and tossed it at him. It was a bill of twenty seven million dollars

“For your treatment,” she said with a smirk. “Every drip. Every oxygen refill. Every nurse. You’ll pay it back, in full.”

Adrian’s pulse thundered in his ears. His wife, gone. His life, gone. His body, broken. And now... this thing in his eyes... this curse.

His breathing quickened. His throat tightened. And then

He screamed.

He screamed until his voice cracked, until spit flew, until the machines next to him beeped like alarms.

Arial took a step back, startled. “What the hell?”

“Get it out of my head!” Adrian shouted, clawing at his temples. “I can see, I can see through you! Your heart! Your spine!”

Nurses rushed in, trying to hold him down, but he thrashed like a man possessed.

Arial flinched, her bravado cracking for the first time. “He’s gone mad.”

“I can’t stop seeing it!” he yelled. “Everything! Your weaknesses, your diseases, your DEATH!”

He shoved a nurse away with surprising force. His eyes locked on Ariel again and for a moment, his voice went eerily calm.

“You’ve got a scar on your left lung,” he whispered, chest heaving. “From that infection you lied about years ago. I begged you to go for a scan. You said it was nothing.”

Her mouth parted. She touched her chest instinctively.

“And your liver?” Adrian continued, voice colder now. “It’s failing. You drink too

Much.”

Silence fell like a hammer.

Ariel took one slow step back. A part of her was afraid of how he knew “Sedate him.”

Adrian laughed. It was cracked. Unstable.

“I woke up from a decade of darkness… to this?” He looked at his trembling hand. “To this freak show ability that I don't understand?”

“Put him back to sleep!” Arial barked.

But Adrian wasn’t done.

“You think I’m still that rookie who needed your approval? Who begged for scraps of affection? You’re wrong, Ariel” He smiled now, a twisted, chilling smile.

“I’m awake.”

The glow under his skin flared. Just for a second, and he felt strengthened, it was as though all the organs in his body was repaired"

He wasn't sick, not anymore

Arial's eyes narrowed. She knew something changed about him but she couldn't place a finger to it “Enjoy your second chance, Adrian. It won’t last.”

She turned sharply and stormed out.

Adrian collapsed back on the bed, chest still heaving, eyes bloodshot.

But the fear was gone.

In its place… something new.

A hunger.

A promise.

"They buried me for ten years," he muttered to himself.

“They should have buried me deeper.”