Restaurant 1 “Feeding”
An incident occurred at the local twenty-four-hour restaurant, near the old theater. Though it is assumed that the man's actions were performed under significant psychological duress, it is unknown what the punishment for his actions should be. This is mostly due to the uncommon nature of his crime, and the fact the majority of his actions were focused on himself and not others. The owner of the restaurant claims he will reopen his business soon, and is simply waiting for the cleaners to finish taking care of the mess.
Three days ago the man in question walked into the restaurant and was seated soon thereafter. He ordered a small salad and a coffee, then waited or his food to arrive. The waitress noticed that he continued to flex his hands and would tremble as people approached. After a short time, his food was brought out and little attention was paid to him after that point. It wasn't until one of the female patrons began screaming that his actions were noticed. The owner quickly ran over to the booth, only to be nearly knocked over by the escaping woman.
It seemed that the man had removed several patches of flesh from his body. The tissue on the top of his left hand had already been pulled away, and his top right shoulder was shaking badly near a section where a large chunk had been taken. It was later determined that several tendons had been damaged or severed, and the trembling in the shoulder has increased since then. At first all the pieces of flesh that were missing could not be accounted for, but as the man chewed it became increasingly apparent that he had ingested them.
The owner immediately had one of the waitresses call 911 while he grabbed a first aid kit and began to stuff the wounds with gauze. Surprisingly, the man did not fight the owner as he did this, nor did he continue to harm himself. Within minutes an ambulance had arrived, and it was not long before he was taken to the hospital and treated for his wounds. His stomach was pumped, and it was discovered that the man had swallowed many of the pieces whole. He had lost a good amount of blood, but since he lacked any identification it could not be determined what his blood-type was. Thankfully, one of the servicing doctors recognized the man as a local shop owner. After that point, further actions could be taken on his behalf
It is known that days before the incident at the restaurant the man had been violently assaulted at his store. Nothing was stolen, but the man had taken several blows to the head. Although he was released the same day with mild contusions, MRI's of his skull after his actions at the restaurant showed moderate swelling in his brain. This required several small treatments, including medicine and an oxygen tube, both of which were used to help reduce the swelling and the buildup of carbon dioxide.
Though it was at first thought that perhaps some severe brain damage had occurred, doctors say that they had managed to reduce the swelling in time. Further, it was stated that the injuries that had occurred to his head wouldn't cause such a huge shift in behavior. The trauma of the experience certainly could have a psychological component, but that level of self-mutilation has never been attributed to victims of assaults, at least ones that aren't prolonged. Therefore, the assault has been ruled out as the root cause.
At this time, he remains under psychological evaluation, and has required no further restraints. Several doctors have been in to see him, but none have been able to come up with a secure diagnosis. The dominant theory is Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. This is characterized by involuntary muscle movement, increased reflexes, and most importantly the propensity to self-harm, specifically targeting the fingertips and the lips. He does show many of the symptoms, but the actions he has taken are far more extreme than any other recorded case. Also, his family history does not show cases of this rare genetic disorder.
More recently, interviews have been conducted with the man to discuss the occurrences of the previous week. He has not harmed himself since the restaurant, and has been very cooperative. During the interviews, the man was questioned on several subjects, specifically the restaurant and the attack at his store. On the subject of the restaurant, he seemed oddly detached, willingly describing in serious detail what happened, but lacking any emotional attachment or concern as to why things happened the way they did.
When asked about his attacker at his store, he was far more reactive. He seemed to struggle to describe the assailant, which was consistent with the account he had given the police. Unlike his previous testimony however, he seemed completely unaware of being struck. Instead, he said that the person “hurt to look at” and the person had said something to him, but when he tries to remember, it feels like static. These thoughts have been explained away as being simply a reaction to the attack that night.
There remains no solid diagnosis for the man, and it remains unclear as to what caused his actions. Though he still has not hurt himself since, heavy sedatives are required to make him sleep. When he does, he is placed in a room apart from the rest, where his screams would be less likely to affect the other patients.
