Sitting upright in the centre of the room is a female patient.
She is awake and staring at the wall in front of her.
Twin probes and clamps are in each of her ears to hold her in place. Her head is shaved and the skin on the back of her head has been cut open and peeled apart. The flaps of skin are held away from the area being worked on by four clamps.
Behind her, and probing with professional skill and coolness into her brain, is Doctor Philip Channard. He is in his late forties, and looks like all the great doctors look-rational, civilized, competent, and powerful. There is an intensity in his eyes and the lines of his face though that suggests something more than normal.
The room has several attentive listeners and observers, but the one nearest to Doctor Channard is his personal student/assistant, Kyle Macrae, young conventionally good-looking, with an open friendly face.
Doctor Channard is holding forth on the secrets of his trade, several times looking away from his patient while still working on her, to make sure his audience understands his points.
"We can bring them back properly, more often than scientific orthodoxy dictates, ladies and gentlemen. And the knife, far from the enemy of analysis, is often its greatest ally in solving the puzzles of psychosis. Analysis pinpoints and corrects...though you've got to know what you're doing, of course..."
Polite laughter from several students.
"Some things are obvious. Here, for example,..." Doctor Channard prods at a specific area. "...are the optical motor nerve control centers."
The patient begins to blink in time with Doctor Channard's prodding. The effect is half comical, half distressing. Doctor Channard carries it on just that half-a-second too long for an innocent demonstration. But the students give impressed murmurs anyway.
"Now. This case. A deeply buried psychosis severe enough to produce frightening frequent hysteria and aggression. Incurable. Say others. Not so. Analysis isolates. The knife exposes. Medication controls."
As Doctor Channard speaks, he injects a syringe directly into the patient's brain. Her face spasms momentarily.
Doctor Channard stands back slightly. His face is serene, calm and confident. He takes a small, motorised drill and sets it to work on the brain.
"And then, ladies and gentlemen, we rebuild. With all the care and knowledge, that our years of training have given us..." He looks around at the students, smiling slightly. "...we bring them back."
The students murmur their approval. Some give him a clap of hands, impressed with his knowledge and working skills.
Suddenly, an intercom on the wall cuts in.
"Doctor Channard, the new patient is awake and appears very distressed."
Doctor Channard steps back briskly and begins to peel his gloves off. He nods at a nearby student.
"My part in this is over. You may tidy up for me. Kyle, you come with me."
Doctor Channard and Kyle leave the room.
YOU ARE READING
Demon Lovers (Pinhead And Chatterer)
HorrorRated:M Frank Cotton nearly killed his daughter on the night he opened the puzzle box. Grace survives,thanks to the Cenobites. Ten years later she moves into the house that she has stayed away from. She tries to face her past and move forward till...
