In Corpore Sano: Prologue

[tekuno]

I realized the other day that I was dreading writing the next part of Footnotes From The Unauthorized Version (not because it has anything bad in it, just a form of laziness and/or writer's block). (It also didn't help that all that insomnia I mentioned earlier this year finally caught up with me and made me too sleepy to actually concentrate.) I fully intend to go back to that and finish it someday, but I have the impression that if I wait until I feel like finishing that, it will be a very, very long time before I post anything again. I'd rather get to work on other stuff.

So what I'm going to do is alternate between Caveman, which is a conventional muscle growth story which ought to appeal to most people, and In Corpore Sano, which is... a genre experiment that some of you won't like, and some of you may like a lot. (It's not the first time anyone has ever tried this particular combination, but it's a rare combination and I'm having fun working out the details.)

Since I already had the prologue done, and I wanted to get part 1 written down, I'm starting with this. I'm going to try to get part 1 of Caveman up within the next couple of days. (No prologue.) I think they ought to be around the same length, although I'm not good at estimating that.

This story will have no incest in it, but will have mild macro elements and may be disturbing for other reasons.

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In Corpore Sano
Prologue

This story has been completed. Content warnings and general description are included with the prologue, general commentary is in the comments following the epilogue.

Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Epilogue

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In 1901, the brothers Omar and Mahmoud Pakhomios returned to their home outside of Aswan from a successful trading journey to Wadi Halfa. This was their fourth major commercial venture in the previous two decades. The two brothers were convinced that the British occupation would greatly strengthen the local tourist trade, and sought to accomodate European travelers who desired "authentic" artifacts without the difficulties involved in venturing into potentially hostile foreign territory.

In 1902, Omar Pakhomios was discovered lying on a cushion in his house. His hands had been cut off, and his mouth was smeared with blood. Although he regained consciousness, he had lost the ability to speak coherently. Over the course of the next three months, he weakened and died. The whereabouts of his brother, alive or dead, were never discovered. Since the Pakhomios brothers were locally notorious hedonists, the British territorial authority put the outrage down to Muslim vigilantes, assumed the death of Mahmoud Pakhomios, and made no further inquiry.

In 1915, in light of recent local unrest and increasing British military commitments elsewhere, Dr. Jonas Brown of the territorial army was dispatched by the British authorities to make a sweep of small towns at the southern end of Egypt to gather any important documents, artifacts, moneys, or information which would likely be lost in the event of a war between the British and the Egyptians.

In 1917, Dr. Jonas Brown died suddenly in the company of two male prostitutes. To preserve the dignity of his position, his companions were dismissed immediately and quietly and his body was sent home for burial to his niece in Guildford. His belongings were summarily packed and shipped with him.

In 1918, the home of William Haversmith of Guildford was entered by burglars while the owner and his wife were abroad. Since Haversmith had made no inventory, police were unable to determine what, if anything, had been stolen. Fourteen months later, it was determined that Haversmith and his wife had died without issue in America in the Spanish Influenza epidemic of the previous year, and so the Public Prosecutor and Chief Constable agreed to shelve any further investigation.

In 1937, a large and incoherent man, name unknown, was transferred to Holloway Sanatorium from a nearby hospital. He had been found alone on a park bench in the early morning by a patrolling police constable. His eyes had been gouged out, his eardrums had been punctured, and his tongue apparently torn out by sheer force. The attending doctors reported that his condition was such that these injuries had in all likelihood taken place within three minutes of his discovery, but no sign of any assailant or even any evidence of violence was ever discovered in the vicinity. When he was brought to the asylum, two large solid-sided suitcases and a small gladstone bag which had been found with him were likewise delivered from the hospital. The next day, when it had been determined that the patient was unable to communicate, a hospital staff member opened the suitcases in hopes of finding means of identification, to discover that they were filled with frozen raw meat of unknown origin, encased in wax paper and surrounded with dry ice and straw. The gladstone bag was not opened because it was no longer present. The patient was put under a combination of restraint and sedation because of the violent screaming fits he would exhibit when touched on the arms or back. He received no visitors during his stay at the asylum, and died in early 1953 of pneumonia.

In 1978, a fire broke out in the cinema of Holloway Sanatorium, which spread throughout the building and damaged it severely. There were no casualties, but the asylum was closed and the patients transferred to other NHS institutions.

In 1980, Phillip Borowitz spent his Junior year of college studying in England.

In 1981, Phillip Borowitz reported to campus police that his roommate, Jacob Meyers, had robbed him of several hundred dollars and a number of personal items. Jacob Meyers did not return to classes, and was never seen again by his family.

In 1993, Phillip Borowitz was convicted of 23 felony counts of smuggling. Borowitz' method of evading customs inspections was both novel and complete, and he was demonstrated to have had assistance in the operation of his ring from no fewer than seven others of various nationalities, including two fellow students from his time in England. Of these 7, only one was ever captured. Prosecutors alleged that the initial trial run had been Borowitz' return from England as a student, but for lack of evidence all charges were dropped which addressed crimes dating from earlier than 1988.

In 2012, an anonymous vagrant was found dead of a combination of venereal disease, exposure, and starvation in a railway underpass near Nemor Sands. A battered and broken piece of luggage found at his side was empty.

Part 1

[nnnrg]

Disturbing, yes. Intriguing beginning too.

[tekuno]

Incidentally, Holloway Sanatorium was (and is, I suppose) a real place. It was an enormous Victorian-era insane asylum with all sorts of internal services and amenities, with both "harmless but deranged" patients and the sort who have to be restrained. And it really did get shut down by a fire which started in the cinema in 1978. It was later remodeled into expensive residential units, although it apparently continued to operate (minus the wards which were damaged) until 1980. It was eventually redeveloped into a gated residential community.

The travel writer Bill Bryson worked there (and met the woman who eventually became his wife there) shortly after moving to England. He says, in his book Notes From A Small Island, that there was a patient who had been admitted around 1950 who had periodically asked if the hospital was going to close in 1980, and the closer it got to the critical date the more often he asked the question and the more generally agitated he became. No idea if Bryson was making that up, or remembering it correctly if it's essentially true -- he got the date of the fire wrong, according to Wikipedia -- but it's a fun notion to speculate about, right?

[lsosuke]

This story sound like it cant be hot boring but i will read 3 parts if i dont like ... Is your worst story XD