Previously Mark Johnson was involved in a traffic accident, was reminiscencing about his love from his childhood and talking to a nurse who was vaguely familiar,but not anyone he recognized. When the doctor told him that he was going to have to wait on his parents to sign the consent forms made him really think, since they had been dead for 18 years.

I want to thank and give a big hug to Stanman for his help in looking over this for me.

After I got over the shock of seeing my parents, and trying to figure out where I was, I wondered why I was never asked: what day it was, the date, the president, my age, or any questions like that. I must have had a very confused look on my face as the doctor looked at me with some concern on his face.
“Is there anything wrong, young man?” he asked.

I responded in a weak voice, “I don’t know, something doesn’t seem right to me. I feel as though I am suffering the most extreme case of deja vu there ever was but, that is not correct, because I have never been in the hospital for a car wreck.”

“Well, it sounds like you have been in a hospital though,” He states softly.

I look around the room and then I peer at him and ask, “My ‘parents’ won’t hear any of this conversation will they?” At this point I just need to get some answers of some type, I didn’t care what type, just some type.

He appears to ponder his answer before responding “The law does not allow me to divulge confidential information, unless I deem you may be a danger to yourself or others.”

“Okay, what if I speak hypothetically?” I ask him.

“I don’t hypothesize, at least not since school. Now, why don’t you tell me what is on your mind and what is making you so nervous when your parents are around,” he replied looking straight at me.

“Doctor, can I tell you some things with out you interrupting me, or thinking I am crazy? Because, right now, I have had one of the worse days I can ever remember having, and I will add and could possibly have,” When I got done speaking, I silently waited for his response.

“I will let you talk some before it's too late as long as you don’t get to excited,” the doctor said.

“Okay, I need to ask a few questions first if you don’t mind: I was involved in a car wreck wasn’t I? Was I was driving a red Saturn? Did I cut my seatbelt to get out? Was I was able to save a little boy who was stuck in a car? I went head to grill with a big truck? If you could just answer these for me then maybe I could start trying to figure out some of what is going on."

The doctor sat looking at me for what seemed like forever when he finally replied, “Well, you were around an accident this morning, we are trying to determine if you were in a vehicle or not. I does not appear that you were driving at all. You cut the seatbelt of a Mark Johnson and helped get him out of his car. You also help rescue an 18 month old boy from his mother’s car. And, yes, you did go against a big truck.”

“Now I answered your first questions can you tell me what is going on?” he asked.

“Well, if you can make sure we won’t be interrupted I will tell you some of what is going on. Do you want me to tell you just about today or about how everything from when I meet Stephie?” I asked looking at him.

“Why don’t you just tell me what you feel I should know,” the doctor said.

“Okay doc, get ready for a wild ride. I think. I am going to hop around a bit, so if you get confused let me know. This morning, when I got up it was Fri the 23rd of Dec. of 2011. I was 47 years old soon to be 48. I went to work and clocked in at 05:15. I clocked out of work at 13:45 as I was going down Mayflower St. as I was coming up to hwy 41, I saw a pick-up slide into my red Saturn. The rest follows the questions that I asked you earlier.

"My next thing I am having trouble with is that I have seen a nurse here who says her name is Stephanie but people call her Stephie. That I can handle, but when I was talking to her and you and my parents came into my room I looked to the door to see who was coming in. When I looked back she was not there but a dark hard twenty something young lady.

"I have seen this Stephie 2 or 3 times, I don’t recall the exact amount of times. It seems like every time I see her I take a header to the floor or at least that what it feels like. I’m sorry, back to the point every time I see her, she talks to me for a moment and then she is gone.

My next big problem is that I remember going to my parent’s funeral. They were attacked and murdered in their house when I was around 30,” I said all this in a low whisper as if I did not want anybody to hear me.

“Well, I can see were you might feel that you have 1 or 2 small problems with all that,” the doctor said as he looked around and then peered at me. “Why don’t you tell me of your life when you where growing up? Maybe this can help up get to the bottom of everything.”

The way he said that caused a small alarm bell to go off in the back of my head but it felt nice to be able to get some of this craziness off of my chest, “Well,” I started “I remember when I was around 5 or 6 and this girl moved in down the street. Her name was Stephie, not Stephanie but Stephie. I could tell when I first met her that we were supposed to be together forever, I could just feel it in my heart and when I talked to her for the first time she told me the same thing.

"I was amazing how we liked the same foods, music, movies, shows; she even knew things about me that I didn’t even admit to myself out loud. She knew that I was uncomfortable the way I was and with who I was. One of the biggest shockers was when we were playing and she just called me Marcie like it was my given name that I had always had and it seemed like that was the name I was suppose to have. So after that, when we were together she would use that name since that was my name.

"A few years later, she started to wear more long sleeve shirts and long jeans even in the summer, she didn’t want to go swimming or do anything where she would expose any skin. She was also starting to get distant with everyone. She would still somewhat talk to me, but not near like she use to. In my heart, I could feel she was in pain, so I told her that I would take her pain if she would let me. At that she hugged my very tight and cried for a long time. When she stopped crying, she told me that she had something she had to tell, but she was scared because if her dad found out, he would really hurt her bad.

"It was at this point that she told me what he had been doing to her, and for the first time in my life I felt what true rage was. I think if I had a bat or something, as a 10 year old boy, I would have put some very serious hurt on a full grown adult. I
convinced her that we needed to let an adult out side of her house know what was going on, so we went to my house. After my mom listened to her and took her to her bed room to look at her, my mom called my dad who then called the cops. And you get the picture, only my dad wanted to take care of the problem the way things like that were handled when he was growing up. Stephie’s dad would be gone, see, no more problem.

"Needless to say, he only got 5 years, but was released early for some reason. But while he was gone, we got even closer if that was even possible. I think at this time I was starting to believe we were soul mates. That we were supposed to be together, forever. It was about a week before her dad was released that I told her that I would always be there to take her pain away because I can not stand to see her innocence in pain.

"About 10 days later, I was doing homework and I felt a stabbing sensation in my side. I screamed from the pain and surprise. My mom came running up stairs to see what had happened and when I told her she checked to see if I had a fever and if I still hurt. After that, she calls the doctor to see if I needed to go the ER for my appendix. It turns out the doctor was called out to the hospital because Stephies’ dad stabbed her and her mom before giving himself up. I was taken to the hospital and found to have nothing wrong with me except a mildly inflamed side. I also found out later that when Stephie was stabbed is when I felt the pain in my side, which is where she was stabbed at.

"Doctor, after Stephie's funeral, I stayed by her grave until it started to get dark. I was just talking to her, letting her know how much I loved her, and how much I missed her already; I also told her that I didn’t know if I could go on without her by my side. I also told her that I had one very important thing I had take care of, and then I might come join her if she didn’t mind.

"As I was trying to figuring out how to take care of the important thing I wanted to do, I saw a news report on how some young adults (kids) were visiting prisoners to give them self worth or something. At this point I didn’t care. I got the information on how to get to visit the prisoners to get my plan in motion.

The next day, I signed up to visit someone in the prison where Stephie's dad was. I was going to see if what I heard about the child molesters were treated was true. The man I was introduced to seemed like a fairly decent person, however, he was in prison so that clouded my judgment of him. I sat and talked to him for a bit before I started asking some basic questions, working my way up to what molesters were thought of. He told me what normally happens when they find out that there is one hidden among the general population which they do from time to time. I leaned close to him and told there was a big man here that love to molest girls that were 6 years old and up and then when they got to old at around 13 or so he kills them. I was amazing seeing this hardened criminals face go pale, but he wanted to know the name of the sick coward who did this. I gave him the name and even pointed him out to him.

"A couple of days later, I was watching the news and there was a brief blurb about a killing at the prison. The sad thing is it didn’t make me feel any better.

"That night, I dreamed of Stephie and she seemed like she was very sad. When I woke up I had a sense of dread or something like that around me. I stopped by the flower shop on my way to the cemetery to visit Stephie's grave and put up fresh flowers. While I was talking to her I was so overwhelmed be sadness that I couldn’t take it. I got in my mom's medicine cabinet and got all the pills that I could find. I stopped by and got a drink on the way to my room, and you can guess the rest. If my mom would have done her normal thing I wouldn’t be here, but she had to check on something that meant a trip to the hospital. And here I am.

"About 6 months later, I had a dream where Stephie appeared to be upset at me. When I asked her if it was something that I had done she nodded. I was crying at that point when I told here how much that I missed her and how my life really had lost its meaning without her in it. She just looked very sad at me.

"Through this whole time, I never had any friends, most people thought I was weird, but I was never concerned with trying to make friends. I also lost the desire to try and be me, all I did is exist. The way I looked at it, if your one true friend who you’re supposed to be with is allowed to be killed why bother with any others? I did try and take some pain from the innocent so I could honor Stephie, I felt that this was the least that I could do.

Basically, I just stumbled through life. Every so often, I would try to kill myself, but I would have a dream of Stephie being sad for me. Until I got to 28, then one day while I was visiting her grave, I felt a peace settle over me like I have never felt before. When I went to sleep that night I had I dream that Stephie came to me and she finally spoke to me. She told me that I had a gift and that I should not waste it or throw it away. I needed to use it to help those that were unable to help themselves. This is the one thing that I could do for her, to help her live on through me, this way she could stay with me in my heart until we could be together. And in doing so I should even think about hurting myself because doing that would hurt her and that is the one thing I could never do.

"So doctor, there is most of my story except that when I see someone or feel that I am needed somewhere that is where I go. And yes, I usually feel the pain meant for others, but that is something you learn to live with. Yes, it still hurts, I didn’t get a pain eraser with this, but taking the pain keeps me close to my love.”

“Well I think you need to stay overnight for observation and we’ll talk in the morning to find out what we are going to do with you.” he said with a slight chuckle. “I think we’ll give you some thing to help you to sleep tonight if you don’t mind.”

I shrugged as if I really have a choice in all this. I started thinking about what has happened since the wreck today, and came to the conclusion that I hit my head a whole lot harder than I thought. I look at my body and it looks almost like I did when I was around 18-20. Man, my head hurts.

As I start to drift off I notice that someone is in the room with me. I glance to my right and I’m not surprised to see the nurse who goes by the name Stephie sitting there. I start to ask a question but she holds her hand up to stop me.

“I will answer your questions in time but first I must ask you a question, and depending on your answer tell you some things that are most important that you must not forget.

"Your question is when you promised ‘your’ Stephie that you were willing to accept the pain of others were you serious, I mean any and all pain some may suffer so that an innocent may stay innocent? Now remember the pain that you have suffered is not even equal to a scratch, but pain that has driven some mad.”

“I promised Stephie that I would help the innocent by taking the pain of the innocent then I don’t even have to think. My promise to her is stronger than anything in this world,” I responded

She nodded, “Very well, I thought that would be your answer. A few things first. I am sorry to say, but your Stephie is gone. You will see her when you move on. In the morning, you will have the information that you need to be able to leave here. Things will be happening to you; unfortunately one of them will be the pain of others.

"The last thing I need to let you know is that in a few weeks, you will undergo a tremendous change this will take some pain from several others. Then following that you will meet the most pain that you can ever imagine. But fear not the knowledge that this is coming will be gone, I do not torture. After all, this pain you will still have minor pains, but you will have the ability to help prevent or stop a lot of innocent people from suffering pain.

"Do you still wish to go through with this?”

I nodded with out a moment’s hesitation.

Find out what kind of pain in part 3