Help Me

Chapter 10

The door to her cell opened agonizingly slow. Suzie peeked over the edge of her blanket at the square of white light that fell across her floor, trying to make out any familiar shapes. Footsteps echoed throughout her room as the intruder stepped inside. When the door shut, he flipped the light switch on. Dr. Thomas stared at her with his piercing green eyes. She shivered. The way he was looking at her was the way Scott had looked at her when the beatings began. He was fascinated by her, but in the way that a boy sets ants on fire to see how long they will burn. Dr. Thomas took another step into the center of the room and drew his hands out from behind his back. To Suzie’s surprise, they were empty.

“I have nothing for you, Suzie,” he said quietly, “I only wish to explain what is happening to you.”

Suzie glared at him, the way she always did. Ignoring her, he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. She drew her legs up to her chest and balled her hands into fists in her lap. 

“When I first met my wife, she was a normal woman. Beautiful, smart, charming. I had no idea that she was cursed with a disease that took over her mind and made her try to destroy the very things she loved. Not until Elizabeth was born did I realize the full extent of my Sundari’s problems. She had not begun her changes until then, when her hormone levels were the most erratic. She was what some would call a ‘dormant wolf’, but once awakened she was a formidable force. She would disappear for days with no sign of returning. When I found her, she was usually walking around the woods naked with no memory of what had happened. She began to forget things, such as whether she had turned the stove off or what day of the week it was. Then, she forgot our names. When Elizabeth was six, Sundari tried to kill her. That was when I knew it had to stop.”

He wiped his eyes, “I took her into the woods and shot her. I had bought some special bullets from a man I knew that were designed to kill people such as my wife. I never told Elizabeth what had happened. When Elizabeth was nine, I realized she, too, would be like her mother. I wanted to stop it, so I began trying to activate the gene that turned her into a wolf. If I could control it, then I thought I could stop her from going insane like her mother. I realized I was wrong, however, when she first changed six months ago. By then I had already experimented on another girl, Sara, and had just begun with the young man.”

“What happened?” Suzie asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“She tried to kill a small child. I stopped her just in time, but her animosity had escalated to a level far beyond what her mother reached. I did my best to keep her contained, but in October she escaped me and I have not seen her since. I sent Sara to retrieve you, after starting your first dose of drugs that day you came into the clinic. Not long after that, she was found dead. Someone shot her.”

He cleared his throat, “You are the opposite. No sickness, no anger. I was told you experienced some muscle spasms, but I am assuming they are not severe. In a few years time, you will begin to change as well. I increased the dosage I gave you, so there will be no more injections except for your monthly shots.”

“She’s dead,” Suzie whispered. 

“What?” the doctor demanded.

Suzie’s face fell and the tears returned. Only, now she knew why she was crying. He had told her that her instincts drew her towards the others that were like her, and right now her instincts were telling her that she was all alone. She looked at Dr. Thomas through tear-filled eyes and said, “She’s dead. Elizabeth is dead. They killed her.”

Dr. Thomas looked shocked. He stared at Suzie in silence, his expression slowly twisting into rage, “Elizabeth… You are wrong! She can not be dead!” He lunged at Suzie, fingers wrapping around her throat, “Tell me you are lying, girl! Tell me the truth.”