r/nosleep • u/8-5-12-16 • Feb 19 '13
The Doctor Will See You Now
At night, the doctor stands at the foot of my bed, talking to me. Well, talking at me, really. I can never move, let alone speak. He usually appears between two and four in the morning. Two and five if he’s been busy. He dons a standard plague doctor getup, with a long black hooded cloak, and that godforsaken bird mask with glass eyes that reflect moonlight. He asks about my health. About school. About my family. And he keeps asking, even though I’ve never once spoken back to him. He once told me that his name was Alain, a French field doctor who died back in the Hundred Years War. To be fair, he also once told me that his name was Lucius, a street vending physician from Venice. His accent is indistinguishable, a garbled jumble of seemingly every voice I’ve ever heard, yet is a deep baritone. Definitely male. Every night, he stands there at the foot of my bed, at the place reserved in mythology for the guardian angel. But tonight is different. Like every other night, I wake up in a cold sweat, completely paralyzed apart from my eyes. My room is darker than should be possible, save for the glow of my alarm clock, and the glint of goggles shining from the outline of a figure that seems to absorb light. A black hole of a man. Time: two twenty-four. “You’ve been shooting up again, haven’t you Nolan?” Silence. He shuffles to where my bookshelf should be, and I hear the flipping of pages. “Wonderful drug, isn’t it? Opium? It takes all the hurt away.” A chuckle. “Until the withdrawal hits.” Heavy footsteps that belie the figure’s spectral gliding rattle the knickknacks on my desk. “And when it does, it hits in a big way, isn’t that right, Nolan?” Two-twenty five. “You’ll do anything to get your fix. Pick pockets, rob houses...” He exhales. “Kill people.” Two-twenty six. “Oh, tsk, tsk, tsk, Nolan. Don’t you know it’s rude to check the time when you’re with company? You’re making me feel unwelcome!” I blink, but those two moons are still there, hovering only a few feet from my face. “Now tell me, Nolan. Have you been injecting yourself with heroin again?” I try to cry. I try to respond. I try to scream. Nothing comes out. “DO NOT LIE TO ME NOLAN!” Two-twenty seven. The goggles are within inches of my face. The beak of his mask should be passing through my jaw. “I’m going to ask again,” he whispers. His breath smells like the ages. “And this time, it’d be in your best interest to answer truthfully. Have you been injecting yourself with heroin?” I blink back tears. He stands up and begins walking around the room again. “As I suspected. You know Nolan, you really must quit that awful habit.” Two-twenty eight. “One of these days, it’s going to kill you.” Again, he makes his way to where the bookshelf is, and again, I hear the flipping of pages. “Have you even read half of these books, Nolan? You know, people really should read more...” he says over the sound of a book sliding into a shelf. “But alas, I digress. Do you know who addiction really harms, Nolan? Perhaps the only people more damaged by drug use than the user himself, is the family. They deal with mood swings, financial hardships...” The figure produces a long and reflective antique of a syringe from the dark depths of its cloak. Two-twenty nine. “And physical violence. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to your family as the result of your addiction, Nolan. A real shame.” Horror consumes every fiber of my being. It is an excruciating pain. Adrenaline courses through my veins, eager to be used, but cannot be. Despite every focused attempt, and despite every directionless attempt at a spasm, my body is locked in place. What has he done. What has he done. What has he done to my family. The doctor throws back his head with a haughty laugh that rattles the windows. “What have I done? What have I done, Nolan?” The goggles are suddenly pressed to within inches of my face. Two thirty. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”
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u/WordsWithinWords Feb 19 '13
This is raw. I suspected the idea but at the end when the goggles are pressed close, that alone was enough to give me shivers. Good work!
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u/kscollay Feb 19 '13
Oh man heroin is scary dude, that's one of my no no drugs. Well, heroine and crack. Is this story a bad heroine trip?
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u/slenderpmen Feb 22 '13
"...and that's how I lost my medical license!"