"Okay, just hold still." I tried my best to wrap some duct tape around Shannon's neck to keep her head attached to her body.

It turns out that when I went back to my house to get the duct tape, I found my car crushed underneath a fallen tree in my backyard. Driving Shannon to the hospital was no longer an option. It looked increasingly likely that we were going to have to walk there.

"Colin, hurry up! I can't bear this much longer!" Shannon had the look of excruciating pain on her face, despite the fact she wasn't bleeding anywhere. (And who wouldn't be in that much pain, especially with having your head severed and a large board sticking out of your belly?)

"That should do it. Now, try and stand up."

She had some difficulty standing up, but managed to keep her balance. The main concern wasn't the board, but whether the tape would hold. Her still-severed head did wobble a bit when she stood up. Fortunately that hurdle was passed and we were about to start heading off.

Just then, I heard an ambulance siren making its way up the street. I thought to myself, "This is our chance!" I sped off to try and flag the ambulance down, and fortunately Shannon didn't fall when I did so, and the people driving the ambulance graciously stopped for me.

There were two people with the ambulance. One of them was a nice lady with brown hair, and the other one was a black-haired guy who looked like he was only there for the driver's job. Both of them were speechless when I showed Shannon to them.

The lady quickly ushered us into the ambulance and we took off down the street.

The first minute or so was nothing but dead silence. Shannon was resting on a stretcher, with the lady examining her.

"Your friend here is very lucky to be alive."

"Yeah, I think we both already know that." I didn't say that out loud because I didn't want to seem rude.

The lady continued. "What astonishes me most is how clean she looks. Not a single drop of blood anywhere. It's almost as if this was set up."

"Please, I assure you that this is not a set up. The lack of blood thing shocked me too."

"But what's with all this duct tape around her neck?" The lady started to unwrap the tape.

"Uhhh...I wouldn't do that until we get to the hospital."

She stopped as I said that, and she saw the cut that still had Shannon's head detached from the rest of her body. "Yeah this might best be left for the doctor to handle."

It was silent for another minute or so before the kind lady broke the silence again.

"So what exactly happened?"

I tried my best to answer her. "Well, I wasn't there to see it, but when I came across her that board was sticking out of her stomach and her head was...eeeeeehhhhh..."

"What about her head?"

Now I had to come clean. "Okay, you're not gonna believe me, but her head was actually severed clean off her body."

"Is that why that cut on her neck is there?"

"Yes, and somehow, as if by an act of God, she is still alive."

"Regardless, this is one of the most unique cases I've ever seen." We slowed down as we pulled into the hospital.

The hospital didn't look really special, from the outside it looked like a generic brick-clad ten-story building. It really blends in with the downtown setting.

The lady rushed Shannon into the emergency room with me following close behind. The nature of her condition garnered the attention of everyone there.

Dr. Williamson was another one of my good friends. He was rather tall and wore a set of glasses (similar to my own), and a deep voice reminding me of my 9th-grade science teacher. He sounded like someone who completely knew what he was doing, but even he was stunned to see Shannon in this condition.

Collecting himself, he began laying out his strategy.

"First, we get this board out of your stomach. Does it hurt at all?"

"I'm not sure, what do you think?" The painful tone in Shannon's voice as she spoke made her sarcasm seem a lot more funny to me, although that seemed quite inappropriate at the time.

"Ooh, a wise guy eh?" Dr. Williamson chuckled, and then he noticed the ring of tape around Shannon's neck. "What have we got here?"

I chipped in as soon as I could. "Uh, maybe you should focus on removing the board first? You know, since that seems to be causing the pain?"

"Don't tell me how to do my job." He raised his eyebrow at me. "HAH, I'm just messing with you. Anyway, yeah, the board has to go."

Dr. Williamson readied himself to pull the board. "Now, you might feel a little sting." He gave Shannon a cloth to bite into to soak in the pain. She gave him a visibly concerned look.

He successfully pulled the board out of Shannon's stomach, and it became clear she was relieved of the pain. However, Williamson noticed something that really stood out to him.

There should have been a hole in Shannon's stomach where the board was, and although there was a hole in her green T-shirt, it seemed as if her skin had sealed shut, leaving a large scar on her belly. We all stood there aghast.

"Remarkable. I've never seen something like this before. I have read about it though."

I looked at Williamson with even more shock. Shannon was still looking at her belly, her eyes wide open at her suddenly healed wound.

"Really? Well then what is it?"

"I need to test something out first to be sure. Please forgive me for this."

He took a pair of scissors and stabbed Shannon in the arm, retracting it as quickly as he could. She yelped in pain.

"Owwww...what was that for?" She looked down at her arm, but her attention became focused on the scar which formed at the spot where she was stabbed. No blood, no anything. Just a white mark on her skin.

Williamson responded. "Just as I thought. There's not really a name for this because it's so rare the medics haven't studied it hard enough. But I call it Deadpool syndrome."

time suddenly stops, going unnoticed by everyone else as Shannon turns toward the reader

"Deadpool, eh?" *winks*

Shannon returns to position and the scene continues as normal

"Deadpool syndrome? What does that mean?" I was intrigued.

"So basically 'Deadpool syndrome' is when the skin heals itself at an incredibly fast rate after being punctured or torn, making it impossible to draw blood. I read somewhere that the odds of having it are so low you're more likely to win the Powerball jackpot twice. Do you know what this means?"

Shannon sat up with interest. "That I'm a real-life superhero?"

Dr. Williamson laughed for a bit before continuing. "No, but you are one of the most incredible individuals who ever lived. I heard there were only five recorded cases over the last fifty years, though there of course is the chance that more people could have it but have not stepped forward."

Shannon seemed slightly downhearted at not being a superhero, but her face lit up at the "most incredible individual" part. Then everyone's attention turned to the inevitable: the tape around her neck.

Williamson noted my strange behavior when he noticed the tape earlier. "So, is there anything you would like to say first?"

"If you thought the board stunned you, then what you are about to see will blow whatever's left of your mind away."

When he completed removing the tape, he stood back in shock as Shannon's head tumbled off her neck and into her lap. "There's...there's no way..."

"I know, that was my reaction when I first saw it too."

"And, she's still alive? Oh my god, this is even more incredible!"

Shannon chimed in. "That's great and all, but can you figure out a way to reattach my head? I'm not gonna be able to get used to being like this all the time!"

"Look, miss. I'm not a magician so I can't help you that much." Her disembodied head glared at Dr. Williamson. "Okay, okay, looks like my humor is wearing thin. But seriously, right now you look primed for a magic act. Hell, you could even get a spot on that one reality show that FOX 43 has on its lineup."

While Shannon seemed deeply interested, I despised reality shows. Now's not the time for me to go into a big rant about this.

"Now, I could stitch it back on, but I have another idea."

This "other idea" was rather unprofessional in the medical industry, instead something that actually seemed fit for a magic act. He grabbed Shannon's head and pressed it down onto her neck, holding it in place for a few seconds. I watched as her head and body joined together as one again, the cut on her neck replaced with a thin white line.

Dr. Williamson was ecstatic at the resolution, but both Shannon and I were irritated at how this simple tactic was overlooked.

"Really, it was that easy?"

Williamson nodded.

Shannon sat shaking her noggin. "If only we had known this would work this would've saved us a lot of time."

"It surely would've. Now get out of here! I've got plenty more patients to see!" He then pulled me aside. "And since you're my friend, I'll make this free of charge."

Shannon and I waved goodbye to Dr. Williamson and started walking home.

Or in Shannon's case, whatever was left. The ordeal at the hospital made her forget the fact that her house was destroyed. Nothing was left save for a pile of rubble and other assorted junk. Her mood soured as soon as she saw it. Everything she worked for was gone. She broke down in tears.

I saw this and could not help but pity her. Her entire life changed in a matter of seconds, and she couldn't help but take a backseat for the ride. It was then that I made the boldest decision I ever made, although I couldn't help but feel awkward doing it.

"Shannon?"

She tried to control her sobs so she could listen to me.

"Would you like to, uh, you know, stay with me until this whole thing blows over? No pun intended, but..."

"*sniff* Really? You'd do that for me? But *sniff* wouldn't it feel odd having your best friend living at your place?"

"Hey, you're my best friend and I'd do anything for you. Do you really think I'd just abandon you like this, with nowhere to go and no idea what to do? We've been through thick and thin, so why stop here?"

"*sniff* You're right." She stood up, her mood changing. "And with that, let's do this!"

"And do it we shall."

The two of us climbed the steps to my house, or should I say our house now, ready to face the road ahead.