The Inner Eye
by Dempsey Wilson
Seated in a wheelchair and facing his bedroom window, Carlton stared out at the leaves tumbling across the yard, pushed along by a light, autumn breeze. He suddenly winced in pain, as he did more and more these days, thanks to the two golf ball sized tumors in his brain.
Though he was alone in the room, he began to speak out loud, as if having a conversation with an unseen friend.
"The pain, it torments me so."
"Yes, I see the source of your pain. I have watched it grow. And, I feel it, too."
"Can you help me, then?"
"I cannot."
"Why?"
"Because, I am but an observer, ill-equipped to act."
"But you speak to me. You are real. You have a name!"
"Yes, I am real. And, I am Charles, because you named me so."
"You have, all my life, pointed me in the right direction. Kept me from making mistakes. You have
helped me countless times. Why can you not help me now? The pain is so insistent.”
"I have told you why, Carl."
"But, I don't understand.”
"I know."
"You say you can see the source of my pain, my cancer, so why can you not remove it?"
"Because, I have no hands with which to grasp it."
"Then you will let me die?"
"I can do nothing to help you. And, it is we who will die. I am a part of you, have you forgotten this?"
"If you are truly a part of me, then why will you not try to help?"
"I have told you already, I cannot help. I am unable to help. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand. But, the pain...it's getting worse."
"I know. Your time...our time is almost up."
"I'm scared."
"Don't be. Your pain is coming to an end."
"Will I see you in heaven?"
"I don't know."
# # # # # #
EXCERPT FROM SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MAGAZINE, JULY ISSUE, 2008.
Last month, nineteen year-old Carlton Brisk of Washington State, lost his four-year battle with brain cancer. Mr. Brisk suffered from Glioblastoma Multiforme, the most aggressive malignant glioma, which in itself, isn't so rare. It was what Dr. Ian Rawlston, the Coroner who conducted the autopsy, found when he opened up Mr. Brisk's cranium that has the scientific community talking.
As Dr. Rawlston cut into the anterior two-thirds of the Cerebral Hemispheres to remove the tumors, he found a fully formed, emerald-green eyeball, which happened to be the same color as Mr. Brisk’s eyes, and part of a malformed orbital socket. Mr. Brisk was originally thought to have two tumors, yet one turned out to be something else entirely.
"I've read about the assimilation or absorption, if you will, of one twin by the other, while still in the early stages of formation inside the mother's womb," said Dr. Rawston. "But, the odd thing about this case is the eyeball seemed functional. In addition, I’d like to note that the pupil was fixed and dilated, as if it had once been alive. In the few other cases of absorbed twins, the eye or mouth or whatever survived the absorption was ill formed. In one case, doctors found one milky eyeball, and even a few rotted teeth set in a partial lower gum socket, but they were all dysfunctional. The eye found in Mr. Brisk's brain seemed completely normal...completely functional.”
Though Dr. Rawlston admits to being fascinated with this discovery, he says the most intriguing thing of all was the location of the eyeball. “The eye was placed directly across from the tumor, just a few millimeters away, as though it was looking right at it.”
When the parents of Mr. Brisk were informed of this anomaly, they were shocked, but not completely surprised. Both parents say they remember hearing Carlton speak to what they thought was an imaginary friend, whom he often referred to as “Charles.”
Share
