Green Light Healing

He awoke to the sounds of voices and he couldn’t understand what they were saying at first. He was disoriented and delirious.

“Get the oxygen, okay easy does it, careful now!”

He saw a bright green light, then all of a sudden everything went black.

The blackness lasted a short while and then he heard voices that he knew, the familiar sound of loving voices.

“John, John can you hear me?” said a lady looking rather concerned, bending over him.

“Ah there he is” said an older lady standing nearby.

“I told you he would make it, he’s back.”

He couldn’t speak, but he recognized the ladies who were speaking to him, he was just battling to focus.

“He doesn’t look like he knows what’s going on though. I wonder if he can see?”

“Give him some time, he has had a traumatic experience, he will take a while to fully understand where he is and what has happened.”

“Mrs. Patterson, let me take a look.” said a man in a white lab coat, as he moved closer.

He held a green light torch and pointed it into John’s eyes. He stared intently and waited for a reaction. John started moving.

“What does that mean doctor? Will he remember who he is? Will he have normal eye sight?”

“I don’t know Mrs. Patterson. I do know that the green light seems to give him energy. I have noticed that the only time he seems to move is when the green light is upon him.”

The last thing John remembered was the green light, before the blackness.

“Excuse me ladies, and Doctor Murphy, please Doctor, can you all vacate the room, this patient is now the property of the government.” A man with a short haircut, wearing a black suit, accompanied by two large muscular men in black suits with shaved heads entered the hospital room.

“But, but he’s my son!” protested Mrs. Patterson, with a quiver in her voice.

“Not anymore Ma’am. Criminals like this one are property of the government.”

“But, But, what do you mean? Criminal? He is no criminal?” said the younger lady.

“Why don’t you tell that to the family of the six waitresses he killed? We have his DNA from the accident, and it matches the DNA found at all of the murder scenes, your son is a serial killer Ma’am. John is the waitress slayer.” said the man looking at the older lady.

“What? He is my husband, and a kind and loving man!” protested the younger lady.

“Ma’am, as from now he is in custody, and a serial killer.” The two large men moved forward as the younger lady moved closer protesting the innocence of her husband.

The ladies, both in tears and the doctor, looking confused, were ushered out of the room by the two larger men.

John was removed from the room and he was placed in a black van that had priority parking in front of the hospital, parking reserved only for diplomats and the president.

The ladies made their way home in deep distress, consoling each other as best they could. That night Susan Patterson, John’s wife and Margery Patterson, John’s mother, watched the news. This would be the only contact they would have with their husband and son. They awaited the headline, the press scrum that would no doubt arrive at their door any minute now. The judgement that they would receive from people who did not know them and those that did know them even more judgement. How could John have done that? Surely this was all just a nightmare, the worst of nightmares. It felt surreal.

After they watched the news, the ladies seemed confused.

“Susan, you would think that news of the arrest of the ‘waitress slayer’ would be headline news?”

“I agree Margery why is everything silent?”

“Maybe there are some legalities that need to be cleared up. I still do not believe that John did what they say he did, this just does not make any sense.”

That night they both stayed up late consoling each other, they watched every news broadcast on every single channel they could find, they went online and read the online news articles, and there was no mention of the waitress slayer killer anywhere.

“Perhaps they need to follow protocols or procedures of government? Perhaps there is a gag order until some procedure is adhered to or something? Perhaps a lawyer has got his greedy little ambitious teeth into the case? Maybe that’s what has happened?”

“I still can’t believe he did it, not my John.” said Susan distraught.

A week later there was a knock on the door and there he was. John was standing there with a blank expression on his face.

“John my darling, you look well! I never thought I would see you again. Margery come and see, come here! Margery!”

Margery came down the stairs to see what the commotion was about.

“Oh John, you are back! How wonderful!”

John was very quiet. He had a note with him, he showed no emotion. He handed the note over to Susan, he stood still and watched her open it, he remained silent.

The note was addressed to Susan and Margery from the government.

“Dear Margery and Susan Patterson,

John is the waitress slayer, but government protocols via the congress prohibit the death sentence. The prisons are full, so we have sent him back to you.

He has had the ‘green light’ treatment to block his emotions and urges. Look after him he will do what you say. We have rendered him harmless.

Yours in service of the public

General Mc Creedy

(Minister of Defence)”

Margery and Susan read it together and looked at each other not sure what to think. They stared at John who stood there in the doorway expressionless.

“Come inside John, it is so good to see you, you have healed well.”

“The green light heals” said John, with no expression, sounding robotic.

Susan hugged John, he felt cold, like a sack of potatoes with arms, he put his arms around her, but didn’t hug her back, there was no emotion, it was like he just did what he thought was expected of him.

Margery hugged John too and she had the same experience.

They made some tea and coffee, because John likes coffee and they sat and spoke to John asking him questions about what he had experienced.

“I must not say anything bad about the green light, because the green light heals. I was a very bad man, and I did bad things, but I am better now and I am willing to listen to what you say. If you want me to do something you must ask me and I will do it. I cannot do it if it will hurt someone.”

He was so mechanical, so robotic, it sounded like his voice and it looked like his body, but it was not his mind.

“John the lawn is rather long would you mind mowing it after lunch?” asked Susan.

“I will mow the lawn.”

“Also, the garage needs cleaning out and painting.”

“I will clean the garage and paint it.”

“Would you mind punching Frank our neighbour in the face, he was trying to look into my bedroom window the other day, while he was up their tree cutting branches.”

“I will speak to him, but not punch him.”

“I am just joking John, he didn’t do what I said.” said Susan winking, trying to draw out some kind of reaction.

“Ok I will not speak to him.” He said emotionless.

John followed orders, just like the note said he would.

A few days later a gentleman in military uniform knocked on the door.

“Good day Ma’am I am Sergeant Wilson from United States marine corps.”

“Oh hello sergeant” I am Su…”

“I know who you are Ma’am. I am sorry to cut you off, but I want to tell you about your husband, you see I am the coordinator of the green light therapy for the military. Your husband John is not the waitress slayer, that’s why nothing has been said on the news. Do you think the government would miss an opportunity to shout about apprehending the waitress slayer? They would be shouting it from the roof tops.”

“We were wondering about that.”

“He is just the closest resident to the green light lab, whose DNA we had from his Covid test. His accident made him the perfect candidate, because he needed physical healing. He is the prototype. This will now be rolled out to the military, have you noticed that he does whatever you ask?”

“Yes, he does, but he is dead, he has no soul. I hug him and I feel nothing back from him. He has no insights or conversation in him, he has no thoughts. I wish he would argue with me or just converse, not just agree with everything I say. He looks like John and physically is John, but it’s not him.”

“Crushed spirit Ma’am, the greenlight heals, but kills off certain parts of the brain that govern emotions and reasoning. This will be rolled out nationwide after they test it with the military for five years, they are already constructing the green light beacons and towers in the most densely populated suburbs. Welcome to the future.”

“How can the military use this, John is harmless?”

“We merely ‘change the settings’ so to speak Ma’am. Military settings are set for search and destroy.”

“Why are you telling me all this Sergeant?”

“Ma’am. I am not sure? Maybe it’s to relieve my conscience. Some of us in the military would like to expose the truth to the nation, so we were hoping that you could show John to the world?”

“Sergeant I will be happy to show the world what’s about to come upon us, because in removing his soul, they removed mine too.”

After that meeting Susan could not get hold of Sergeant Wilson, she called his number but she was told that he was on a mission in Africa, and could not be reached.

She noticed a large tower being constructed at the end of their road and others a few blocks away.

“You will all be healed of all ailments and you will be happy.” was the slogan on each tower. It was accompanied by a well - funded government campaign in the media on the benefits of the green light healing. Most people were welcoming the switch to the green light districts, in fact everyone was, except Susan, Margery and a small minority of critical thinkers.