Project 36218 Part 1

The morning sun glittered off the water as Beth Sommers piloted her small sailboat around off the northern coast of Costa Rica. The wind whipped and cracked in the sails, and she tilted her head up to the sky, enjoying the calming feel of the open sea around her. Other than the occasional bird squawking by, it was quiet.
She was hoping the refreshing breeze and beautiful view would erase the memory of her horrible date from the night before. That was the last time she agreed to go out on a blind date, no matter how much her friends begged her. She didn’t need a man to be successful. She proved that every day in the little Costa Rican hospital where she worked.
Although, she admitted only to herself, this 5 year hospital project was an awfully convenient way to avoid the commitment she was avoiding at home. Either way, she had more important things to worry about than the handsome jackass who ruined her night.
Beth turned the sailboat in a tight curve, balancing her weight and holding her breathe as she little boat listed and recovered. She waited for the wind to catch the sails, then sped off towards the cove where she would spend the rest of her morning off enjoying the scenery and maybe even catching up on a few pages of the novel she had tucked in her purse before leaving her apartment.
She made it halfway to the cove before she heard the trilling of her cellphone in her pocket. Groaning, she pulled it out to see who was disturbing her morning. Unless it was an emergency, the staff at the hospital knew not to bother her on her off time. The familiar number of the hospital switchboard flashed on the display. Sighing, she flipped it open and answered.
“Dr. Sommers here. What’s up?”
“Beth, we need you back at the hospital. You know I wouldn’t bother you if it weren’t important.” Dr. Leonard Sharp knew she took her downtime very seriously, so it must be something bad.
“Is it Mr. Pedrego? His blood pressure was dipping last night, but I thought we got it stabilized.”
“No, this is… something else. A family on a fishing charter found a boy on the shore of one of the outer islands. He’s unconscious, but we think he’ll be coming around soon.”
“That’s the emergency? Aren’t there plenty of emergency docs on site? No offense, but this doesn’t really sound that that big of a deal.”
“Listen, I know how it sounds. You need to get here as soon as possible though. Some of the more superstitious doctors are starting to talk. It’s a long story, but I could really use you here. The boy woke up on the way here too, and the family is waiting here to talk to you about it.”
“Okay Leo, I’ll be right in. Give me half an hour to get there. Is he medically stable?”
“He seems to be. Just hurry.”
Beth flipped the [phone shut, and shoved it back in her pocket as she steered the boat back towards the main island. Normally she wouldn't think much about an emergency summons, but something in Dr. Sharp’s voice gave her an uneasy feeling. The usually calm and unflappable doctor had almost sounded… scared.

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“Beth, I’m glad you made it so fast. The boy is in Exam Room 4.” Dr. Leonard Sharp stood out from the crowd milling around the emergency room doors. He was taller than most of the bystanders, with a shock of white hair swirling madly in the breeze. As her mentor in Costa Rica, he had been there for her since the day she arrived. Even though more than half of her 5 year fellowship has passed, she still found herself a little in awe of his commanding demeanor. Though he was soft at heart, he marched around the hospital like a king, and everyone bowed to let him pass. He was not the ruling sort, but his appearance coupled with his drive for perfection seemed to unnerve the people working for him.
Beth pushed through the throng of people into the cool air conditioning of the emergency wing. There were two police officers standing outside the door to the boy’s room. They stopped her as she approached.
“Can we help you?” Dr. Sharp reached around her to flash his hospital ID badge at the officers, who immediately took a step back to let them through.
“Just to warn you, the boy seems to have been through something… tragic. I’m not sure what yet, but I’m hoping you can help us.”
“Of course, though I’m not really sure what I can tell you that you wouldn’t have already figured out.” She stepped around him into the doorway, and pulled back the privacy curtain from around the bed. She gasped at the sight before her.
On the narrow hospital bed laid a small boy, probably about 7 or 8 years old. He appeared to have a broken arm and several cuts and scratches on his torso, but that wasn’t what had caught her attention. It was the burns covering his frail body. From head to toe he was covered in burns, ranging from moderate reddening and peeling to severe areas where the skin was charred black and falling from his body. There seemed to be no pattern to the burns, but from what she could tell, they covered every inch of his body.
Leaning closer to look, his eyelids and the insides of ears were burned as well. She gently prodded his mouth open to find that even his tongue was affected. His hair was singed at the ends, and his eyelashes were completely gone. He looked like he had been hit by lightning, but from every side, covering his entire body.
“What on earth happened to him? Where is his family?” She turned to find the chart hanging at the end of the bed, but there was no personal information filled out.
“We have no idea. The police said he doesn’t match any missing persons, and the only thing on him with any information was a library card. Unfortunately, the card was too melted to get a name off of it.”
“Well couldn’t the police try to track him down that way?”
“Yeah, but here’s the thing. The card is to a library in Long Island. They already checked at all the hotels in the area. Not only are they not finding anyone here missing a kid, but they haven’t even found anyone visiting from New York, period.”
Beth looked back at the poor kid lying in the bed. They had already hooked him up to an IV to deliver antibiotics and pain killers. At Sharp’s wave, the other doctor and a couple of nurses filed in to start dressing the wounds. It would be a close call as to whether the boy regained consciousness again anytime soon. Burns of that magnitude were very serious, and his body was in shock.
“Did you say he talked to the family that found him? What did he say?”
“They are in your office waiting for you. Listen, I know you’re wondering why I called you in on your day off for this, but this one really has us stumped. The island where he was found is nicknames Isla Acallar. It means Island of Silence. I have no clue how he got these injuries. They certainly don’t look like a regular fire gone badly, but there is nothing on that island to do this. In fact, no one goes there at all. We’re not even sure how he got there. Some of the locals say it’s cursed. Now, I know we’re medical professionals, but I saw the way some of the local doctors looked at him when we found out where he was rescues from. I need someone objective to help with this. We can’t help him unless we know what happened. We’re treating them as regular burns, but there’s something weird going on. I want to get to the bottom of it, and find his family while we’re at it.”