The ear shattering scream cut through the crowded restaurant instantly silencing everyone from their conversations. The patrons and staff all turned to look in the direction of the noise.
A 30-something woman was the source. Her hands were on either side of her head as she screamed and screamed with her head thrown back, her face twisted in distress.
The screams stopped as quickly as they had begun. There was a moment of complete silence before the women started weeping uncontrollably. The frozen faces of the rest of the people in the restaurant began to soften and gradually turn back to their tables and softly talk among themselves. Her husband or date or friend or whoever she was dining with stood up, visibly shaking. Two waitresses quickly made their way to the table to help him lift the women from her seat.
She continued to cry and sob loudly as they gradually made their way out the restaurant. The man gently stroked her back as they walked. His face and body tense. The look of shock and surprise on his face.
This was the second time this week I had been in the same location as someone having an ‘episode’ – the term everyone now uses to refer to these meltdowns.
The ‘episodes’ had started about six months ago. At first it seemed like a one off. People having these meltdowns in public here or there. People even suspected it was copycat cases at first. But then the frequency began to pick up. More and more people were being inflicted and it didn’t seem to discriminate.
They think the first ‘episodes’ started in the USA or Europe, but some say there were early cases in Asia and South America too. Wherever they started, they are all over the world now, and getting more frequent.
For the past six months scientists and doctors have been collecting data and running statistics, but there seems to be no pattern that anyone can see. The victims don’t need to know each other or come in contact. It doesn’t matter what age (although most children seem to be exempt). It’s pretty equal between men and women. No race or culture seems to be more infected. They don’t share blood types and no situation or pathogen are shared between the cases.
People have speculated on various causes. Some suspect the increase in cellular activity. Others blame all the processed food. Many think it’s that we are too detached from one another or too inactive or there is too much pollution or too many bright lights, or too little religion, or too much violence and uncertainty, but in reality, none of us know why this is happening.
It’s completely and totally random. The only thing that isn’t is the steady increase in cases.
At first people stayed in and tried to limit their time outside, but it quickly became clear that it didn’t matter if you stayed in or not.
Each ‘episode’ basically has the same run of symptoms. It starts with the screaming. The screaming never lasts long. It’s random. There are no signs leading up to screaming. Some people are in mid-sentence. Others are silently reading a book. Some have been meditating. Even the President of Ghana broke into screams a third of the way through a speech. There is nothing to indicate that someone is about to start screaming. They scream, and scream, but never for more than a minute.
As soon as they’re done screaming. They start weeping and crying uncontrollably. They won’t respond to anything. Won’t answer you if you talk to them. Won’t look at anything they are shown. They just cry and sob, but they can be moved somewhat easily. Occasionally people won’t budge, but for the most part they can be gently led around. Much the same as the woman in the restaurant.
After crying for an hour to two hours, they mostly just lay and stare – nearly comatose, for up to a week. Occasionally they will sip a drink or roll to a different side.
They used to keep people in the hospital on IVs during this time, but now they just have nurses come and hook up an IV at the patient’s house. It keeps the hospital beds free as there’s no reason for the patient to be in the hospital.
After about a week, they blink a couple times, stand up, and restart their lives again.
They remember nothing about the ‘episode’. There doesn’t seem to be any long term issues other than a week of lost time.
Sure there have been a couple unfortunate issues. A couple car crashes while people have been driving. There was that one case at the abattoir that ended tragically. Lifeguards have had to jump in and save swimmers. But in general, people have reacted quickly and worked together to get the patients to a safe place. Now that we know what to look for we’re all quick to respond.
We’ve learned to live with it.
After they took the woman out of the restaurant, I turned back to my two friends I was dining with. I mentioned that was the second ‘episode’ I’d witnessed this week. One of the friends I was dining with had an ‘episode’ two months ago. They both nod in general acknowledgement and we started talking about the eggplant chips that we ordered and the show we’re seeing after dinner.
I wonder when I will have an ‘episode’.