When Julia first noticed the strange spots on her cheek, she freaked out completely. She had no idea what could have possibly caused this or how potentially dangerous this was. But she soon learns. She went to the doctor that very afternoon, but when that man took a look at it, the message for Julia was not good. The doctor called the police immediately after determining what was going on…  Julia was just left without any explanation. The doctor had done some tests on her, and after seeing the results, he immediately informed the police and ran out of the room, leaving her behind. Julia was starting to panic now as she felt how serious this probably was… And when she discovered that the doctor had locked the door on her, Julia started to see red. She started banging against the door with her total weight trying to break it open. And with a couple of hits, it gave way. She was now facing the doctors that had locked her in… The doctor was now forced to give Julia an explanation as to what he had discovered, and upon hearing it, Julia collapsed onto the floor… But what had the doctor discovered? What were these spots in Julia’s fingers, and why did the police need to get involved here? Julia didn’t notice anything wrong when she woke up. It seemed like any other morning. She had gotten up and shuffled to the kitchen to make her coffee. She didn’t even notice anything wrong while she was making the coffee. Until she was about to pour it into her cup when she saw it, and she was ready to scream.  32-year-old Julia was a single woman. She had dated in the past, but it had never gone well. She hoped that this time it would be different. She’d spent a lot of time preparing for the date. She wanted it to go well; it would be the first time they’d meet in person. But not everything would go to plan… She’d met the man online and knew it was a long shot, but she met up with him. The date was nothing extraordinary. He didn’t seem that interested, and she wasn’t sure yet if she wanted to see him again, but the following day she was sure he didn’t. After all, what was beyond strange. She didn’t want to pull him into it when she didn’t even know what was happening.  The morning after her date, Julia discovered something strange about her cheek. It ached a bit, but it wasn’t until she looked closely at it that she saw precisely why her cheek was hurting, and it scared the living daylights out of her. What was happening to her? Julia’s cheek was covered in tiny spots. She thought that maybe something had stuck to her cheek, but bringing it closer to her, she saw that the spots were digging into her skin. She pressed on it with her fingers, which hurt a bit more. Something was very clearly wrong, but what? Julia’s thought a bit. Maybe some insect had bitten her or even crawled into her? Maybe it had latched onto her thumb in the night? But she’d never seen a bug do anything like this. Julia searched online and concluded that no bug had done this. It had to be something worse.  The more Julia looked at her cheek, the more confused she became. These weren’t just tiny spots. There was something inside the spots. She couldn’t make it out, but she was sure something else was there. The spots were hard, and whatever inside was too. She needed to do something, and she had just the idea.  Julia decided that she would try and dig out whatever was in her cheek with tweezers. She went to the bathroom and pulled out her tweezers, but she hesitated before she could dig into her cheek. She didn’t really have any idea what she was dealing with. Doing this could make it even worse, but she still had to do something.  Julia didn’t like doctors. She preferred to take care of things by herself. She rarely would go unless something was severely wrong. And as much as she hated going to the doctor, she knew that this wasn’t something she should take care of by herself. So she took the leap and called the doctor.  The doctor’s office set up a semi-emergency appointment for that same afternoon. They told her there would be others ahead of her, but they would definitely see her by the end of the day at the latest. In the meantime, the doctor told Julia he needed to do something for her.  The doctor told Julia that she needed to think about anything different recently that could’ve caused this. Anything out of the ordinary. It would greatly help the doctor figure out what exactly was wrong. Julia agreed to think about it and hung up the phone. What could have done this? She didn’t really know. Julia thought back over the last week. She hadn’t really done anything too out of the ordinary. She went on a hike through the forest a couple days ago. She easily could’ve touched something out there before. Maybe a mushroom or a contaminated piece of moss? That could definitely be an option… possibly? As Julia continued thinking, the hike didn’t make that much sense. Indeed other people had gone hiking on that same trail. It was a popular route. She wouldn’t be the first person to be experiencing this. There’d have to be other signs. She decided to rule it out as an answer, but there had to be something else. It was difficult to think of anything that was out of routine. Julia was an average girl. She didn’t do much except hike occasionally and go to the local coffee shop. She worked from home and didn’t go outside that much. She really was a boring person, but then it hit her. There was something else that was out of the ordinary. Julia had gone on a date the night before. She’d been talking with the man online for a while and had eventually decided to go on a date. Julia had been excited to try out dating again. She still hadn’t found her soulmate and hoped that this date would go well. Things would end up taking an unexpected turn.  From the moment the date began, Julia felt like something was off about the man. He didn’t really seem interested in her. It was almost like he despised her, but as soon as she started thinking this, he’d do something that showed that he was invested. It was just a strange date, but there was something more.  Thinking back, Julia wasn’t sure why he’d even contacted her in the first place. Looking through her messages with him, she could see more and more that he didn’t really like her. She’d just been a bit desperate and wasn’t thinking clearly. Could he have something to do with all of this? Julia couldn’t see how he’d have anything to do with this. They hadn’t gotten physical at all, and she hadn’t contacted him since last night. He hadn’t messaged her either. If he had done something, wouldn’t he have said something? Julia wasn’t sure, but it was time for her appointment. She had to go. Julia had no clue what was going on with her cheek when she left for her appointment. She continued to think while driving to the doctor’s office, but she came up with nothing. Luckily, the spots on her cheek didn’t seem to be changing too much. They’d grown bigger and were more obvious to the eye now, but it wasn’t that bad. Right? She got to the doctor’s office and sat in her car for a second, trying to find more answers. Julia really couldn’t think of anything else. With a deep breath to calm her nerves, Julia entered the doctor’s office and signed in. She figured she’d have to wait long to see the doctor, but people had different plans. While in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, Julia was getting a ridiculous amount of attention. At this point, the holes in her cheek were very plain, and everyone around her was shocked by what they saw. Julia didn’t notice much until the rest of the people’s curiosity became increasingly obvious. The other people in the office didn’t try to hide their curiosity. The few kids there wanted to look, but their parents held them back. Still, it was as if everyone forgot why they were there with their own medical complaints. Everybody wanted to know what was happening to her. To be fair, so did Julia.  Then, the doctor came out to call in the next patient. Everyone there collectively agreed that Julia should be seen first. None of their problems were severe, but Julia’s clearly was. Julia was a bit put off by this but thanked them nonetheless. It was concerning, but surely she could wait. The doctor disagreed. Once inside his office, the doctor could take a proper look at Julia’s cheek, and he was shocked. He had never seen anything like this. He would remember if he had. Something like this wasn’t something you just forgot. And even more, the doctor hadn’t even heard of anything like this in his medical books. He was clueless.  The doctor knew that this was going to take some time. He made a few calls to have his waiting patients sent to other doctors on call. Julia needed his attention the most, and he was going to make sure that they would find a cure for whatever was going on here. The doctor ordered tests for Julia, and while they waited for the results, he studied Julia’s cheek intensely. The strange thing was that while Julia had felt some pain earlier, she didn’t anymore. Her whole cheek was completely numb. It didn’t even hurt when the doctor pushed on it. This was a bad sign.  The doctor continued investigating Julia’s cheek, and when he got the first results back, he was disappointed. The tests he’d ordered hadn’t found anything yet. He could have done some others, but he needed Julia’s permission. It would take up a lot of Julia’s time. What would she do? Julia agreed to the tests. While waiting for those results, the doctor, who still hadn’t found anything helpful, posted pictures of Julia’s cheek on a medical forum. He was hoping that some other doctor had seen something like this before. It would be a while before they got any response.  Julia decided that she needed some air and went to use the bathroom. While she was gone, the doctor received a private message from the forum. He opened it eagerly, hoping it was the answer he’d sought. And to his luck, it was! But it was also terrible news, and everything would have to change fast.  Another doctor had seen this condition before, and if they didn’t do something soon, it could become a massive problem for everyone, including Julia. The doctor read the message repeatedly and knew that if this other doctor was right that he needed to take quick action.  Julia’s doctor waited for the results, which came in almost immediately after he’d read the message from the forum. This was it. He had the results, and it chilled him to the bone. The other doctor had been right. Julia’s doctor left his office, and soon the whole place was upside down.  Julia returned from the bathroom. Her cheek was not looking good. The spots were starting to spread to the rest of her hand. She was getting terrified now, but she knew she had to show the doctor. There was just one problem. The doctor wasn’t in his office when Julia got back. So what was she to do? Julia was just deciding what to do when she heard something happen behind her. The door she’d just come through had been locked from the outside! She had been trapped in here. And to make things even worse, she could hear the doctor telling others that he had called the police. What was happening?! Julia begged for an explanation through the door, but no one was talking to her. All the nurses and doctors were frantically talking to each other, and nobody answered her questions. She was told that she needed to stay calm until the police arrived. But this was good enough for Julia.  Nervous and scared, the staff’s reaction to her cheek was really starting to worry her. What was so wrong? Was she going to die? A million thoughts were running through her head. She tried to stay calm, but that was becoming impossible. Julia did not want to die! Soon enough, those fears were turned into anger. Why was nobody talking to her? With no other idea, Julia began to kick at the door. She was desperate to get out. The doctors on the other side were yelling at her to stop, but Julia couldn’t hear them over her own banging. She was determined to get out.  After a few kicks, the door lock broke, and the door swung wide open. The people on the other side started screaming, and Julia’s doctor stood back. Julia stood there panting hard. It hadn’t been easy to kick the door open, but she needed answers, and someone had to tell her what was happening. Julia’s doctor ordered everyone else to get away and told Julia to stay back. She shouldn’t get close to anyone right now. The fear on her doctor’s face told Julia everything she needed to know about her fate, but Julia was determined. She told them that she wouldn’t stay back unless they gave her answers.  Before her doctor could speak, 3 armed officers came into the building and spotted Julia. The doctor pointed at Julia and started screaming, “It’s HER!”. All three officers took out their pistols and aimed them carefully at Julia, who was feeling faint now. What the heck was going on?! Julia quickly threw her hands into the air as the police turned their attention to her. She almost had tears in her eyes, begging them to just tell her what was happening. Seeing that the spots on Julia’s cheek had taken up almost half of her face, the police told her to stay back.  One of the officers calmly explained to Julia that they would tell her everything, but she needed to be isolated immediately. Julia agreed to the terms but firmly told them that she wouldn’t hesitate to break open another door to get answers. She was terrified, and no one was telling her anything.  Julia returned to the doctor’s office, and the door was closed after her. Julia could see the staff coming in with heavy cleaning materials, and they started cleaning everything, the floors, the walls, the door, you name it. Finally, the doctor came to the door to tell Julia what was happening.  Her doctor first apologized for not telling Julia what was happening. He’d been scared. It wasn’t every day that a person with an awful flesh-eating virus came in, and he had to follow procedures that he’d never had to do before. He felt horrible, but there was more.  He discussed with Julia what she’d been doing the day before. Julia had taken a hike and then had gone on a date that night. Luckily for Julia, the lousy date hadn’t been the cause of all of this. Instead, it was more likely that she’d touched some infected plant while out on her hike. But which one? Julia wasn’t sure what to tell them. She told the police and her doctor which route she’d taken and what she’d seen that might be helpful. She didn’t know what else she could do. She was focused more on what the treatment plan was. Could they even treat her? Or would this virus eat her face off?  Luckily for Julia, the hospital had the medication they needed, but she’d have to be in isolation for a while. The police had gotten involved because they had needed to talk to Julia about her hike, but when they’d seen her out of the isolated room, they had panicked because her doctor had panicked. It was a big mess, but there was more.  They also had to make sure that no one else would get infected. Julia was transported safely to a better hospital where she could be in isolation and get treatment for the virus, eating one side of her face away. Fortunately, the medication paused the virus from spreading, and within a few days, it started reversing the problem. But what about the plant? After some heavy searching, the officers kept everyone off the trail and found a plant that wasn’t native to the area. It was tested and found to be the cause of Julia’s problem. It was uprooted and disposed of. There haven’t been any cases since, and Julia was better and ready to go on dates again within a month.