Nick's Big Adventure

Normal life took a strange turn last weekend when my dear friend, Nick, disappeared for 4 ½ hours on Friday night. We had gone shopping earlier in the day and made plans to have dinner together at his house on the compound at 4:30 P.M. Around 3:45, he asked if we could change it to 5:00 as he wanted to go for a run first. No problem.

At 5:00, I knocked on his door and got no response and the door was locked. We eat dinner together several times a week and the routine is that he is ALWAYS ready on time with dinner in the oven, and he ALWAYS leaves the door unlocked when he knows I’m coming over. I waited for about 10 minutes, then went back to my house and called him on the phone. No answer. Called & text messaged him from my cell to his cell. No answer. Walked back to the guard gate and asked if they’d seen him. He had left on his run, left his keys at the gate, and hadn’t returned. I took the keys, let myself in the house, saw the oven on at 400 degrees, put the food in the oven, turned off the coffee pot, and thought that just maybe he was running late.

By 5:30, I knew something was wrong…I just knew…but felt a little embarrassed to tell anyone or ask for help because I knew they would think I was over-reacting. I called Ian, another British teacher, and explained the situation and asked if he knew the route Nick ran. He had an idea and offered to drive out to look for him. I went to see Chris & Sarah, other British teachers, and Chris offered to take me out to look as well. We drove up and down the route to the Cornish – the road along the water – and I said to Chris that I was going to feel very foolish if Nick strolled back to the compound and nothing was wrong.

But by 7:00 and then 8:00, it was clear that something was wrong. His cell phone was in his house, so we knew he wasn’t getting any calls. By 6:30, the principal of the British & American school were involved and calling our local staff to start calling the police stations to see if they could look for him. They also called all the hospitals but none had checked him in. At 8:30, nearly every teacher from both the British & American schools gathered outside in the center of the compound with flashlights in hand and divided up into cars to go up & down the streets looking for Nick. It was a beautiful unity of friend & co-workers, ready to do whatever it took to find him.

By 9:30, we didn’t know where else to look and started to head back to the compound. At that point I was seriously scared and thought that the only possibility could be that he was seriously injured, dead, or abducted. My stomach was in knots and I was trying not to panic. I wondered at what point we would have to call his parents, who I know and love, and tell them their son was missing.

And then he showed up. Bloody, teeth missing, bruises on his face and looking very messed up. He didn’t know what happened but suspected that he had passed out while running and woke up in an ambulance. He was at one of the hospitals we called after all and couldn’t remember any phone numbers to call anyone. I was so relieved I went into his bathroom out of sight and cried.

This past week, I did some research and based on what he and his mum have told me, I have diagnosed him with Photosensitive Epilepsy. It’s a condition where flashing or flickering lights can cause a seizure. Anything from a flickering TV screen or dappled light coming through trees or flickering light on the water can cause it. The last thing Nick remembers is seeing dappled light on the sidewalk that was making him feel dizzy. It all fits. When he was around 10, he passed out several times while watching TV. In this case, with the momentum of running and passing out, he must have fallen flat on his face, quite hard, enough to knock out his front teeth.

The picture was taken the next day. He looks much better in this picture than he did when he showed up back at the compound. Nick thinks it's rather unfair that I'm posting a picture of him in this condition since most of you haven't seen what a handsome guy he is yet.