Raw Winter

Chapter 9: Bigger Master

When she woke up, she was sitting in a cold metal chair. She could feel the sharp metal against her skin. It wasn't cutting into her, but the cuffs of metal around her wrists were tight. It was the first thing she felt. There were cushions attached to it, but she could feel the metal underneath through the flimsy cloth and the ones under her butt and back were hard like stone. Only the one under her head resembled anything soft, and she relaxed her head against it as she tried to take in the room.

When she first woke up, nothing was in focus, and though she knew she was awake, it didn't feel like it. It was all just a nonsensical blur, and she couldn't manage any coherent thoughts. Thought returned, and things focused, though she was sure she had fallen back to sleep sometime between the time she was awake, and when she could actually acknowledge it.

She shivered, realizing she was freezing, and this seemed to gain Dr. Tirenen's attention. He turned and smiled at her with his many various teeth and walked over to her. He took her jaw in his hand and turned her face back and forth as he said, "A nice healing salve ought to clear those scratches I left. I hope there are no hard feelings. You did a very naughty thing, and I should have known better than to let you just walk out without taking proper care of you the first time you were here."

She gave a muffled response, but any words she intended to use were stifled by the disgusting, dry gauze wrapped tightly around her mouth so she couldn't speak through it. Her tongue tried to negotiate with it, move it around in her mouth so she could muster some spit or anything at all to ease the dryness, but whatever she tried just made it worse. She tried her best to ignore it after that, but couldn't. He didn't seem to notice, but at least placed a blanket over her lap.

"I have something important to show you. I think you'll really enjoy this. You're a smart girl, aren't you? You read, and you can speak two languages well. I think you'll find this as fascinating as I do," he said as he walked over to a nearby display case. It was a tank, and she could see figures moving around inside it.

Her imagination went wild as she imagined people dwelling inside that tank, shrunken down or naturally small, and the doctor made or found them. She imagined them spending each day living like mice, running desperately on their wheels and drinking from bottles, and sleeping on wood shavings at the bottom of their cage. She wondered if they would remember they were people, or if they were born and created to live that way, or maybe they had lived that way so long they couldn't remember what it was like to live anywhere else now.

She imagined them cowering and hiding as his claw-like hand delved into the tank and seized one of them, and felt almost surprised when she heard actual screaming, her brain on fire as she imagined him lifting a little man by the back of his shirt, or maybe he had a collar just like hers. She didn't realize how quickly she was breathing and how panicked she felt as she leaned forward as far as she could to see for herself until she realized what he was holding was a squealing, shrieking rat and not a person at all. She felt her face grow hotter. What would make her think that?

Despite knowing it was a rat, she cried out when she saw him take out a syringe and stick it with a needle. He emptied the contents into it slowly and watched as it struggled desperately until it didn't move at all. It had tried desperately to bite his hand, but thick gloves covered his hands specifically for this. He reached over to pick up a metal tray and walked over to her, the rat firmly in his hand. He placed the metal tray in her lap and smiled at her. It felt weird because it didn't only make him appear cruel, but as if he was genuinely happy to have her there to share this with. She imagined if he were the sort of man to have a family, this would be how he would look at a favored niece who voluntarily came to visit him from time to time.

Only this wasn't voluntary, and his smile was for an act of cruelty he was intent on exposing her to. He placed the metal tray on her lap with a bit of force, so it stung her legs. He bent down, so he was on his knees and using her legs to support the tray as a table. He laughed at her expression. He could see how screwed up her mouth was and the way she trembled almost spastically.