EPISODE 1 – DYING TO LEARNA medical student with a passion for life meets an untimely demise, becoming a classroom cadaver for her peers. In the process, suspensions arise regarding her cause of death.
A medical student with a passion for life meets an untimely demise, becoming a classroom cadaver for her peers. In the process, suspensions arise regarding her cause of death.
⚠️ This mystery describes campus death, which may trouble some readers. Continue with discernment.
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Physical Connections
After three years of grueling classes, real education begins for a group of medical students. As they endeavor to learn everything possible about human anatomy, they begin gravitating towards a medical specialty.
Samuel wants to become either a medical examiner or a forensic pathologist. As the class begins dissection, Miley demonstrates her interest in the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, and intestines. Another student examines the cardiovascular system, while Samuel has an interest in contusions and causes of death.
Miley originally chose immunology as her specialty. Later she expressed to Samuel her fascination with the digestive system, so few realize her shifting interest to gastroenterology.
With respect for life, several, including Miley, choose the option to dedicate their bodies to science upon their death—hopefully many decades in the future. But they don’t have to wait that long because the school provides cadavers for exploration.
In their lifetimes, they will see many corpses. However, the education they receive here will allow them to help others delay that eventuality for their patients. Holding someone’s internal organs in your hands is a visceral experience, unlike viewing anatomy in textbooks or on printed posters.
The instructor has professional connections that enable him to acquire cadavers with special anomalies. They may feature an enlarged organ or prior surgical implants. One had the rare condition of a heart within the right side of the chest.
Although the students average over 12 hours per day studying and interning, they enjoy periodic recreation. Miley plays volleyball; Samuel is a marathon runner; others swim or play tennis. This keeps their bodies in peak condition.
With an attraction to Miley, Samuel did kiss her a few times after attending sporting events together. However, serious relationships are a distraction to their education, so they remain platonic friends.
Mysterious Absence
In the morning after a cold evening of howling winds, the news of a campus suicide jolts the nerves of all the students and parents. As they await details, people try to comprehend what might drive someone to the depths of such a finality. During the roll call, several students are missing. It is difficult to quell speculation, but the professor suggests some may be away interning.
After 24 hours of suspense, the news reports that Miley is the one whose life ended abruptly. The fondness Samuel had for her makes the news particularly heartbreaking. He lets out an audible groan that triggers a chain reaction of outcries and classroom embraces. Along with other close friends, Samuel takes a week off from all classes to reflect.
When the students return, Professor Ryan has a new cadaver beneath a sheet. Before unveiling it, he lectures at length about the emotional connection physicians may develop with patients. “At times, this can make you better doctors. In other instances, it can be a distraction to objectivity.”
All this leads up to him announcing that the body beneath the sheet is Miley. “I realize this may be difficult for some of you. I will understand if you prefer to excuse yourself, but this connection will add weight to your dissections.”
There are gasps when they pull back the sheet, exposing her perfectly fit physique with bruising on her neck and contusions on her arms.
Samuel runs his finger gently over her form. With the absence of any torso sutures, he remarks, “They didn’t perform an autopsy?”
Suspicious Circumstances
“Because of the suicide note and her wish to have her body donated to science, the medical examiner deferred the cadaver to us. If you’re up to it we can perform an autopsy together.”
“How? How did she do it?” Samuel pauses before continuing, “Take her life, I mean.”
“The cause of deaths is self-inflicted strangulation from a noose.”
“Take a look here, professor. There are other impressions along with the rope burns.”
Upon closer examination, they resemble large hand prints, as though someone manually strangled her. Her own hands don’t match up, and what looks like defensive wounds are on Miley’s arms. While voicing such concerns, students take high-resolution photographs.
Samuel asks, “Can we see the suicide note?”
“That’s in police custody,” the professor replies. “But according to a transcript, she lamented how difficult her classes were and that she became disillusioned with the complexities of immunology.”
Samuel shakes his head in disbelief. “There are all sorts of irregularities with that note. First, she wasn’t exhibiting any signs of depression, like negative comments or withdrawal. She was an outgoing athlete.”
A classmate named Victoria with an interest in pharmacology agrees. “She loved volleyball and was preparing to silence a rival in a major competition next month.”
While scratching his head, Samuel states his next observations. “Miley was getting some of the best grades in the class. But the most glaring conflict is that she was planned to major in gastroenterology, not immunology.”
Professor Ryan halts the controversial classroom dissection and covers the body back up, indicating that he will communicate their observations to the authorities. The coroner then promptly retrieves the body for autopsy.
Thereafter, the medical examiner revises the cause of death to homicidal strangulation. With this new information, Detective Megan Anthony begins questioning students and expanding the crime scene.
The suspicion that a student could be the murderer transforms the campus, and indeed the classroom, into a fearful three-dimensional board game of Clue. With its fixed number of potential murderers, weapons, and locations, the game offers 324 different murder permutations.
Did the pharmacist drug the roommate in the conservatory or did the boyfriend choke her with a noose in the study? The search for a suspect is underway.
Continued…
Return twice weekly for miniseries. Any relation to actual persons or events is coincidental. Login provides the most immersive experience. About 2300 total words. Story includes one or more generative AI images to help readers visualize scenes.
