The Devil Child

Chapter Two

Doctor Higgins looked at her. His dark eyes cut into her own, but they didn't match the smile on his face. They looked mad, callous, ruthless. As did his smile, but his smile was something Polly knew how to deal with.

Doctor Higgins smiled a lot. Never really to show happiness, but rather a tool to show friendliness. A friendliness that did not match his personality. Polly had suspected him from the beginning that he was no good, that he had ulterior plans.

She met Doctor Higgins when her family first moved. Her parents were strong believers in going to church - this much was true. It was the single most reliable truth Polly had ever known. She couldn't remember a time when she didn't go to church on Sunday's.

Doctor Higgins had frightened her from the beginning. Even when she was a preschooler, which she was when they first moved. She was gaining on five years old, but she couldn't join kindergarden just yet, because of her birthday.

Doctor Higgins had introduced himself to her family. It was one of the earliest memories Polly had, and the man had frightened her even then. He had been nearly fourteen years young then, but his face had always looked aged, like his ability to tell the story of God was taxing on his youth.

Polly could remember him bending down and looking her in the eyes. She held onto her mother's leg for dear life, looking into the eyes of a sadistic man. He smiled at her, a wide welcoming smile.

"Hello, my dear Polly. Aren't you the sweetest little thing," he said as he patted Polly's head. "You'll be coming with me."

"Mommy, no!" She had buried her head into her mother's dress, and her mother laughed.

"Don't worry, Doctor Higgins. She's always like this."

Polly could remember the way his hands grabbed her, picked her up, and took her away from her own parents. Of course, it was to play with the other children, but even then, there was something wrong. Polly sensed it, more than anything else. It was something undeniably true, but she couldn't prove it.

And now, as Polly sat in the chair of Doctor Higgins office, with his face inches from hers, she knew that all along he had been a sadistic man. Even then, when he had carried her to the other children.

She had always known.

"You're awfully quiet tonight, Polly." Doctor Higgins tapped her nose, and she hated it. Hated it more than anything, but she was trapped. She knew this, but it didn't stop the hatred from pouring out of her seams.

She hated him. She hated him so much.

"Makes me think something is up. Why don't you tell me about the girl in this book, hmm?"

Polly tried to breathe normally. She tried not to get angry when he showed her the picture of the girl she liked.

"You already know her," Polly spat, turning her head away. Doctor Higgins had other plans as he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. She could see the stubble on his chin, the way his face sagged with old age and the way he reminded her of a grandfather reprimanding his granddaughter.

"Yes, but I would like to know why she is in here. In this book. Won't you tell me, dear Polly?"

She wanted to spit at him, and she had a perfect opportunity. But she had to refrain.

"Because I like to draw."

Doctor Higgins laughed, but she knew he didn't find her answer amusing. "If you aren't going to do this the easy way Polly, you're going to regret it. Now, answer me. Why did you draw her?"

"Because I'm satan's spawn and I like girls. There, happy?"

Doctor Higgins was not happy. He looked at the girl with disgust. Pure disgust. "And this is why you're here. I'm going to fix you. I'm going to make you brand new and perfect again, Polly. You know that liking someone of the same sex is bad, don't you? It's a sin. And you will be punished for your feelings and actions."

She pulled her chin out of his grasp. "That's only one way of thinking," she shook her head with anger. "You don't get to dictate what I like."

"Oh, but I do. That's why you're here. And I have a few tests for you, Polly."

She was already strapped to the chair. She was already trapped in this horrible game. So, she couldn't stop him when he hooks wires up to her and pressed the button that made her scream out in pain. Again and again, she felt the tremors of electricity run through her body. Each time, Doctor Higgins yelled at her.

"You're filthy for liking girls!"

"You're a child of the devil!"

"You deserve to rot in Hell!"

"Gay people are an abomination to this planet!"

She felt weak. Trampled. But she refused, for now, to let Doctor Higgins ruin her. She knew liking girls was considered bad. She knew her parents hated her, the church hated her, and everyone she knew hated her.

But still. Polly tried to hold onto the belief that there wasn't something wrong with her. But that was hard when she was strapped up to a chair, being electrocuted for something like admiring the same sex.

She felt tears run down her cheeks. She felt the pain become numbing, to the point where she was sure she had died because all feeling in her body had been zapped away.

Doctor Higgins grabbed her chin. "Do you like that? Do you like being tortured? No, didn't think so. So tomorrow morning, I want to see you putting an effort into this, you understand? Pauline, once you're done here, you'll never want to look at another girl again because they disgust you. Once I'm done with you, you'll worship the ground us males walk upon. And there will be no fights, you understand me?"

She understood him perfectly. However, she didn't want to give in. She didn't want to give Doctor Higgins the satisfaction of being right.

The worst part about this, about all of this, was that it could have been avoided. She could have kept things a secret. She shouldn't have told her parents. She shouldn't have been so open when drawing the girl she liked. And most of all, she shouldn't have taken it lightly.

But now, because of her carelessness and the part of her that preferred girls to guys, she was trapped here. Had been for almost a month, now. And she wasn't changing. She wasn't being 'fixed'. No, she was being tortured.

She felt defeated. Like she didn't matter.

Her parents didn't even have the decency to try and understand her. They didn't even pretend that they cared about her well being.

To them, she was a broken toy that needed to be fixed. And the more Polly sat in this chair, she wondered too if being fixed would make everything better. Of course, she didn't want to be. She didn't see anything wrong with her. But, the more time she spent here, in Doctor Higgins' chamber, she felt like her rights weren't worth fighting for.

If pretending to be straight got her out of this mess, Polly knew she'd give it serious thought. Because pretending was better than suffering.

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