The Devil Child

Chapter Twenty One

Polly gasped for breath, reaching towards the buckles that held her down. She felt pain radiating through every bone in her body, and she couldn't seem to think straight. Her mind spun with delusions and she couldn't seem to hear anything but a constant buzz.

Polly squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to cry, but the tears came hard and fast.

"Ah, my dear Polly, what do you think you're doing?"

Polly's eyes snapped open to look at Doctor Higgins. Her eyesight was blurry and she tried to blink away the tears, but she couldn't. They kept coming, relentless and demanding.

"Why did you have to do this to me? What will this change?" Polly's voice wavered, weak and painful.

"Darling Polly, you know better than I do that your parents just want you to get better. We have to change that mind, don't we? Now, I've been doing research." Doctor Higgins sat on the edge of her bed and patted her thigh. "Research says that if you connect pain to a certain thought or way of thinking, you'll change your view on it. So, if you connect pain to loving girls, then perhaps you'll begin to like boys. It's all part of the process."

Polly didn't think being electrocuted was a part of the process. She felt like a lab rat with no other choice but to sit and take the pain.

"Please don't do this to me. Just let me go-"

Doctor Higgins laughed, cruel and harsh. His hand traveled up her thigh, but didn't go beneath the hem of her dress. He took in her milky thighs, her soft skin, and her pink cheeks. He was over his head, but he couldn't stop. He wanted her, so badly that it hurt. He wanted her so badly that it tainted his thinking.

"Polly, this camp has turned other children. It has fixed other children. And I am certain it'll fix you."

She twisted in the constraints, but it was no use. "You're insane!"

Doctor Higgins let out another laugh. "Darling, you aren't telling me anything I don't already know."

He stood abruptly from his seat on her bed. He turned to his cabinet and ran a hand over the bottles that lined the shelves. He debated for a moment whether or not to sedate her into a state of being that reminded him of a vegetable, but he decided that sedating her wouldn't be nearly as fun. Instead, his hand wrapped around a knife.

Doctor Higgins wasn't violent in nature, but there was something thrilling about seeing others in pain. There was something thrilling about seeing the way blood could spill so easily, and he wanted his dear Polly to love him.

Doctor Higgins was convinced that she would after this. She would leave this camp head over heels for him, this he was sure.

When he turned towards her, knife in hand, Polly let out a screech of fear. "No, please no, Tanner-"

Doctor Higgins felt a mix of anger and pleasure well up in him. Pleasure because she'd called him by name. Anger because she had used it pleadingly, not in a loving way at all.

He dragged the knife down her cheek, light enough to not break skin. "I love that you just called me by my name, darling, but it won't stop me. However, if you call me that from now on, I may be persuaded to let you in on some of the fun."

Polly felt sick to her stomach, and she didn't want to know what some of the fun meant.

Doctor Higgins pressed the knife down on her cheek, hard enough to draw blood. He watched as it beaded up and then dripped down the apples of her cheek, slow and so vibrantly red. It delighted him.