The Doctor

Chapter 8

"Doctor Smok has sent me here to inform you that all the examinations he had performed on you are complete and that he will be operating on you in a week and three days – " said the dark-skinned nurse dully.

"Wait what?" asked Albina.

"Stop interrupting!" she shouted "I am already sick of this 'I didn't know the doctor will be operating on me' crap from other patients!"

"...All right"

"Now, the examinations and tests are done and Dr. Smok will be operating on you in one and a half week." she breathed heavily "You will not be getting your test results back and no one will tell you what the test results are. Any questions?"

"Why do I have to wait a week?"

"The doctor has other patients to attend to...and operating without anesthesia takes longer than a regular operation."

"......Why doesn't the doctor give anesthesia?"

"Goodbye," the nurse said as she turned around and walked towards the door "have a nice – "

"Wait!" Albina exclaimed "Let me talk to the doctor!"

The woman stopped in her tracks and did not say anything for a couple moments but Albina patiently waited for a response. Both of them gave the impression that time has been frozen.

"What?" the nurse asked as she finally craned her neck towards the "patient".

"I said," Albina spoke with rising courage "'let me see the doctor' "

"Aren't you a brave one?" she replied with a cynical smile "I will get him for you" The white-clad nurse continued to the doors and shut them. The moment she left, everything seemed much quieter than before; Albina's mind was blank and patience once again filled her mind. Albina just realized it – once one stops thinking, everything is much quieter and one can listen to the background sounds. Of course! Her brain has been so noisy with thoughts that her surroundings are muffled – what a surprise! Our thoughts so often hold us hostage in our minds that instead of living in the outdoors of reality, we end up using our eyes as glass windows.

It was not long before the nurse came back with the same cynical smile on her face.

"The doctor will see you after his operation is done," she said "he seems to be very interested in what you have to say to him." Albina nodded but as the nurse left, her face, still did not change – it was as if she was wearing a sinister mask. This "hospital" was so abnormal but the teen knew that something was wrong about this prison from the start. Why was this hospital in run-down? Why would a doctor scar his own patient and find pleasure in it? Was it necessary for a doctor to intimidate his own patients and remind them that they were heading for grave danger? The teenager wanted to explore more about this prison-like hospital but her conscience was warning her not to. The fear for her own safety and the temptation to find out more about the hospital was struggling for dominance like a pack of wolves.

She must not go unless she wants to take a bigger blow from Smok; she might not get a punishment equivalent to her facial scar this time but an execution. Does she really want to spend her head for a satisfaction of knowledge? This was mad! But if she won't find out what's going on in this place, she will never learn how to survive; she needs to try to get into her foe's mind. But what if she won't get into her executioner's mind? Then she will know how this place works and how to survive. There is no way she was going to survive this place, it would be better to stay put and live a little longer. Going out or staying put will both give her a slow death – Doctor Smok is not a merciful man!

Albina got up from the bed and moved across the room. Being a sitting duck was not going to solve anything, she was not going to be weak by doing nothing; besides, bravery does not reside in the ones who do nothing. The safety side was quickly losing the battle. She must know what is going on in this place, Albina greatly feared torture and slow death but maybe if she moved quietly, no one will notice her. The scar meant she was a tool, at the mercy of Dr. Smok and that there was no future for her – what if that's true? What if all was lost? Of course, she was a nobody all her life and all her life, the bright future slowly dimmed each and every day. A great burden weighed down in her heart. This was it, she was at the near the end of the dark path and there is nothing for her. But....she had to try to survive and find a way out of here; she had to try to understand why the doctor was like this. She just had to fulfill these final tasks to get some final meanings of life. She opened the door slightly and noiselessly.