One Incident in the Life of the Clinic — A Three Fingers Companion Volume
CHARITY MEETS VICKY
I looked about me. I was in a concourse of sorts. A large enclosed space with lots of people around. Lots of noise. My hair was in front of my face. I pushed it away with my hand.
‘That’s not right.’
‘Why was it not right?’
I see a policeman approach before the answer comes. He’s armed. This is not Britain then. Where am I?
“Are you OK ma’am?” the policeman asked me. He’s speaking English strangely. He’s aggressive. Definitely not Canadian. He must be American.
‘Is this America?’
‘Why shouldn’t I be OK? Why is he asking?’
He looked behind me. I can hear the click-clack of heels quickly approaching.
“Excuse me,” a voice from behind me said. “I think this is my patient.”
A woman came into view. She’s taller than me.
‘That’s unusual.’
‘Why is that unusual?’
The answer is easy and I hardly have to wait at all.
‘Because I’m tall.’
The policeman shifts his attention to her. “You are a doctor, ma’am?”
The lady digs in her bag and hands him a card. She then looks at me and her eyes go wide but she says nothing.
‘Why did her eyes go wide?
‘Does she recognize me?’
‘Do I recognize her?’
I wait for the answer to come but the policeman speaks before it does and I lose it.
“You are a psychologist and a psychiatrist? I expected a normal doctor.”
She looked at him strangely. “I may take offense at that but I do see what you mean.” She was looking at me again.
“Can you say she is your patient ma’am?”
She digs into her purse and brings out a picture and shows it to him.
“Yes, that’s the same person,” he said. “And you’re her shrink?”
I see her eyes narrow. She stops herself attacking and keeps calm. “Yes. I agreed over the phone as it’s an emergency. I was told she had some sort of accident and it affected her memory a bit. But not like this. I actually talked to her about five hours ago. Something must have happened on the way here.”
The policeman responded and I turned my head to look at him.
“OK ma’am. We’re looking for a terrorist and she fits the bill from a distance. But close up she doesn’t. Good luck with her. She looks pretty far gone.”
She starts talking so I turn my head to look at her.
“Thank you. Come on Vicky. I’d better get you seen to as soon as. My car’s in the car park. It’s close. And fasten your jacket. That’ll help a lot.” I see the policeman who’s walking away nod his head at that.
I continue to look at her until the words have meaning. “OK.”
She starts to walk then stops and looks back at me. “Are you coming? We need to get you off the streets as quickly as possible.”
There’s a lot of words there. I wait for them to have meaning.
One set does. I fasten my jacket while still looking at her.
Another thought comes from nowhere. I put my hand in my jacket pocket and remove a crumpled piece of paper and uncrumple it. I look at it and then at the woman. Eventually recognition comes. The picture is her. There’s writing on it. I wait for it to make sense. It says ‘friend’. This woman is my friend. I wait more, and understanding comes that that is a good thing.
The woman is now next to me, watching and waiting. She is patient.
I understand it is a good thing if it is true. How do I determine if it is true? I wait. An idea comes. I search my pockets and find a pen. I drop to my knees and, using the marbled floor as a desk, I write ‘friend’ next to the word that is already there on the picture. I look at the two words. They are by the same hand. I wrote she is a friend. She is my friend.
“Are you ready now?” she says when I stand up.
I wait for meaning. “Yes.”
She reaches into her purse and brings out a cylinder. She hands it to me. “Drink this,” she orders. “It’ll help.”
I wait for meaning before I take it. I hold it in my hand looking at it.
She takes it back and opens it. “Now drink,” she orders.
I look at it waiting for meaning. When it comes I drink it because she is my friend and my doctor. She takes the pieces back, reassembles them and puts it back in her purse.
This time she takes my arm and walks me away. I let her because she is my friend. We walk to her car.
On the way she says “Why are you bleeding?”
I wait for meaning as we walk. “Am I? How do you know? Do you have a pad or a tampon I can use?”
She responds quickly. Her voice is higher pitched than before. “No, not that. I mean the blood on your tee shirt.”
I wait a few steps for meaning. Then I stop and unzip my jacket and look at my tee shirt. It has nine large spots of blood on it. How did that happen? I wait for an answer but it doesn’t come. So I pull the neck away and look down. Nothing serious. It just needs some attention. That can wait. I rezip my jacket and resume walking. My friend is patient. She says nothing.
She unlocks her car as we approach and I get in. “Other side, Vicky.”
I wait for meaning. When it comes I get out and go round the other side and get in.
“You do understand we drive on the right here? You won’t get freaked out?”
I wait for meaning. “Yes. No.”
She takes a while to understand that. Why?
“Where are we going?” I ask when the question comes.
“To my home, which is also my clinic. I have equipment and room there,” she answers.
I wait for meaning. “No,” I say. “I need a medical supply shop.”
She looks at me and says, “OK”.
We stop at a place. “Here we are,” she says.
I wait for meaning. “Where?”
She points to the sign, Medical Supplies. When the meaning comes I get out. She says something I can’t hear because of the traffic so I ignore. She’s my friend. She won’t leave me.
She finds me as I am leaving the shop.
“I told you I had to park. What did you get?” she asks looking at the bag I now had.
I wait for meaning. “This,” I say holding up the bag.
She looks exasperated but accepts it. We get back in the car. I remember which side to sit in.
We are at her house. I know because she said so.
“Would you be able to find your way here from the station?” she asks.
I wait for meaning. “No,” I reply.
“Why not? It’s a simple route and I was told you are good at such things.”
Lots of words. She pronounces ‘route’ wrong. I wait for meaning. “I didn’t see the route.” I pronounce ‘route’ right. “I saw the start and the medical supply shop and then here. There was nothing in between.”
She looks at me strangely before taking me inside.
“Do you think there should be something in between?”
I wait for meaning. “Yes,” I finally answer.
“Does that bother you?”
I wait for meaning. “No.”
“Why not?”
I wait for meaning, “I don’t know.”
She looks at me questioningly. “Do you know why you don’t know?”
I wait for meaning. “Yes.”
“Will you tell me why you don’t know?”
I wait for meaning. “Yes”
She visibly calms herself down. “Please tell me why you don’t know.”
I wait. “The meaning doesn’t come.”
“Can you expand on that? I don’t know what you mean by that.”
I wait for meaning. Then I wait for the words to answer.
“I think of why I don’t know the route between the stops. But no answer comes. Usually it comes if I wait. But this time nothing comes. Perhaps if I wait more?”
“Not yet. First things first,” she said. “Let’s get that tee shirt off and thrown away. It’s got nine big blood stains on it.”
Meaning comes. I remove the tee shirt and look around for a bin. I don’t see any so I drop it on the floor. She looks at my bare chest. I look at it as well. Her boobs are far bigger. Mine are tiny. Is that normal? A question comes. “Can you sew?”
She looks at me strangely. “Unfortunately, I’m quite terrible in the art of most domestic skills,” she laughed at that. “My sewing has always been atrocious.”
I was disappointed. But if she can’t she can’t. However I know what I want. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Oh,” she said. “I’ll take you there.”
She took my arm and led me there. On the way she asked, “How did you get that cut? And who stitched it? It’s horrible. It looks like a knife cut to me. Is it?”
I stop. Meaning came. “I don’t know.” I looked down at the stitching. Understanding came. “Me,” I answer. I look at the cut again. That’s not a knife wound. What kind of doctor is she? But she is my friend. I decide to ignore that question. I don’t want to offend my friend.
We arrive at the bathroom. Big. Lots of room. Good.
She says, “Before we do anything I want pictures of you and your wounds.” She takes out her cell and starts. I adjust myself to her commands in order to get proper photographs. She finds five puncture wounds on my back and photographs them.
Once finished I open the bag I bought and remove the surgical needle.
“What are you going to do?”
I wait until meaning comes. “Sew myself up again because you are atrocious at it. Do you have scissors?”
She opens a cabinet and removes a pair.
I take them and start to cut the bad stitches out.
“Stop,” she says. Why is her voice rising? “You can’t do that. It’ll hurt.”
I wait. “Good pain,” I say and continue.
“Stop,” she says again. “I’ll do it. I can’t be worse than that. Wait. Wait ‘till I get some surgical gloves.”
“OK, let’s get started,” she says taking the surgical needle from my hand. She steadies herself, puts one hand on my breast and holds the jagged edges together. Then she starts to stitch. She continues slowly. Her tongue sticks out of her mouth as she concentrates. I like that. I want to fuck her.
My eyes start to roll back in my head. My stomach starts to twitch. My breathing gets ragged. My breathing gets heavy. I can feel me self-lubricating.
“It’s finished,” she says. “It’s a lot better than your effort, although it’s still badly done.” She looks at me. “I’ve never seen that reaction to being stitched before. Did you enjoy it?”
Meaning comes. “Yes.”
“Did you know your face is scraped and bruised?”
Meaning comes. “No.”
“You don’t remember that?”
I wait for meaning. “No.”
She seems exasperated. “I suppose you enjoyed getting that as well though.”
I wait for meaning. She meant the damage on my face. “No. It would hurt.”
She looked at me oddly. “Why would you not like that,” pointing at my face, “but like that?” pointing at my chest. “They would both hurt.”
I wait but lots of words. “Stitching sexy pain. Face isn’t. I should have switched off pain on face if I had the time.”
Again that look.
“You can switch off pain?”
I Wait. Not many words. “No.”
“You just implied that you could.”
After a while she says, “Do you have nothing to say to that?”
I wait. “No.”
“Why not?”
I wait. “You didn’t ask a question.”
She thinks a while then says, “Why did you imply you could switch off pain when you can’t?”
I wait. “I can’t now. I could then.”
“You’ve lost the ability to switch off pain?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Does that bother you?”
I wait. “No.”
“Why not? It would bother me if I lost an ability like that.”
I wait for meaning. No meaning comes. “I don’t know.”
She makes a face then washes my face and attends to the wounds. “They’re not serious,” she says, “But you did bang your head. That might be important.” We walk back to the main room.
Once there she sighed and said, “Do you have any clothes? You can’t go walking round like that.”
I wait. I go to my backpack and look. I pull out a white tee shirt and put it on.
That look again.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty?”
I wait for meaning. “Thirsty.”
She went to get me a drink.
‘Who is she?’ I wondered. I went to her purse and looked inside. I took out a card as she came back. She looked at me. I read the name on the card.
‘Dr. Charity Clearwater, Psychologist and Psychiatrist,’ I read. “Hello Dr. Charity Clearwater,” I said when she approached.
“You only had to ask,” she said, giving me the drink and taking her purse and checking the inside. I drank it all.
THE NEXT DAY
I woke up in bed. Sunlight was streaming in through the window. I sat up. I was wearing a frilly thing that came down to my hips and didn’t cover me up. And frilly knickers. The wound was still there, bright and angry looking. Why wasn’t it healed?
I need to pee so I look for the toilet. I find it easily and pee. Then I wash and go downstairs looking for food. I find the kitchen and look for something to eat because I am hungry.
She enters while I am looking in cupboards.
I look at her. She’s nervous and tired. She has not had much sleep.
“Hello,” she says. “Do you remember me?”
I wait for meaning. “Dr. Charity Clearwater”
“Good,” she answers. She looks at me. “I take it you’re hungry?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“I’ll make your breakfast. Sit down. What do you want?”
I wait. An answer comes. “Bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, black pudding. No beans.”
She looks at me strangely.
“OK. But I don’t know what black pudding is.”
I wait. “Forget that then.”
She makes breakfast. I eat it.
“Do you want something to drink? Coffee, tea, juice?”
I say, “Tea.”
Then I say, “No, coffee.”
She puts the kettle on. “Is there any reason you changed your mind? Did you realize you don’t like tea?”
More difficult. I wait for meaning.
“I drink tea for preference. But this is America. I have tasted American tea. Americans make good coffee.”
She is calmer now. We both drink coffee.
“Do you remember when you tasted American tea?”
I wait. “No.”
“Have you wondered what happened to you last night? Do you wonder why you’re wearing that baby doll nighty?”
I wait. “No. No.”
“Aren’t you curious?”
I wait. “No.”
“Why not?”
I wait. “You are my friend and my doctor. You will tell me if I need to know.”
“Are you always so accepting?”
I wait. “I don’t know.”
“Why not?”
I wait. “I can’t remember before the concourse, just before we met.”
“Nor the journey here,” she adds.
I wait. “No.”
“Do you wonder about that?”
I wait. “No.”
“Do you realize I drugged you last night?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Aren’t you curious why I did that?”
I wait. “No.”
“Why not?”
I wait. “You are my doctor.”
She sighed. “Come through to the sitting room and we’ll talk there. Bring your coffee.”
She went. I followed. We sat down. Me on a couch and Dr. Charity Clearwater in a large armchair. The doorbell rang. She quickly said, “Stay there. I’ll get it.”
She returned with two other women. “Vicky, these are my colleagues, Mary-Anne Zeller and Delphine Callieach.” They both said hello.
I looked at them and waited. “Hello,” I answered.
Delphine Callieach went to the kitchen and came back quickly with two cups. She gave one to Mary-Anne Zeller and kept the other for herself.
“Vicky, I had to ask these two to come over last night when I drugged you. I’m sorry, but it had almost an instantaneous effect on you. I did expect to be able to walk you to bed. Instead, all I could do was to stop your head hitting the floor. I had to get their help to carry you to bed and get you changed. You are very heavy Vicky. Far heavier than you look.”
They all looked at me and waited. There were no questions so I couldn’t answer. Eventually Dr. Charity Clearwater said to her colleagues, “have you read the file yet?”
Mary-Anne Zeller answered, “Yes but I just skimmed it. I didn’t have much time.”
Delphine Callieach concurred.
Dr. Charity Clearwater said to me, “Vicky, I asked Mary-Anne and Delphine here to help me cure you. Do you object to that?”
I wait. “No.”
“OK then. Here’s the situation. Myself, Delphine and Mary-Anne run this clinic which was set up to help people like you. We have an excellent success rate and are well known among certain circles. Enough to keep us in work, which pays our bills. Your friends called me yesterday and asked me to help you. I talked over your case and they sent me most of the information. They wanted you to come alone but I didn’t agree. I then talked to you and you agreed with them. After I talked to you I waived my objection to you traveling alone. You were a bit slow but otherwise lucid and normal. But you’re not that now.”
“Do you agree you’re not behaving normally now?”
I wait. Lots of words but the question is simple. “Yes.”
She looked puzzled. “Yes you agree?”
I wait. “Yes, I agree.”
“Does that worry you?”
I wait. “No.”
“Do you remember your friends?”
I wait. “No.”
“Well, for your information, it’s been a few days since your, well, let’s call it an accident. Your friends helped you a lot. They had several brain scans done and not one of them showed any obvious trauma to your brain. I spent part of last night checking those scans and I agree. I can’t find any obvious trauma in your brain. Do you understand?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“OK. I am going to discuss your case with Mary-Anne and Delphine and get them up to speed. I want you to wait in the play room while we do that. Will you do that?”
I wait. “Yes.”
Dr. Charity Clearwater led me to the play room. “Help yourself to anything you like here,” she told me.
I looked around. There was a computer, a TV, books from the childish to highly advanced in a wide range of subjects, games, magazines, a comfortable couch I could sleep on, comfortable chairs, notepads, pens, crayons, coloring books and other diversions. Drinks, hot and cold, were also available.
“Will you be OK here?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Do you want anything?”
I wait. “No.”
“OK then. I’ll leave you here. Please don’t leave and wander about by yourself. Use the phone and dial zero if you want to leave and I’ll answer. Do you understand?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Good,” she said before leaving.
She didn’t lock me in. I looked around the whole room looking for weaknesses. The hidden cameras were easy to spot. Then I checked out the titles of the books, then of the CDs and then of the games. I then went and sat on the couch.
“Vicky, Catch.” I heard Dr. Charity Clearwater say this as she threw two balls at me. As I caught them Mary-Anne Zeller threw two more at me. I tossed the balls in my hands in the air and caught these two balls. As I did that Delphine Callieach repeated the process. I did the same, tossing the balls in my hand in the air while I caught this new pair. Now the first balls were dropping, so I tossed the pair in my hands up and caught the first pair. I juggled them all until Dr. Charity Clearwater told me to stop.
I stopped juggling. The balls dropped to the floor and rolled around.
“Why did we do that Vicky?”
I wait. “I don’t know.”
“Take a guess.”
I wait. “To test my reflexes?”
“Yes, and other things,” said Dr. Charity Clearwater. “Do you want to know them?”
I wait. “I don’t know.”
They all looked at me strangely. “I’ll tell you anyway. Your friends sent us a dossier on you and your powers. Did you know you have powers?”
I wait. “No.”
“Well, that juggling you just did was an indication. You are a very physical woman. You are expert in various martial arts and you are extremely fit and physically strong. One reason we tried that was to see if you had lost your physical and reflexive abilities. It appears you haven’t, even if you can’t remember how you do it.”
They all sat down on the various chairs. Mary-Anne Zeller said, “Now Vicky, it’s been over two hours since Charity left you here. When she left you, you looked around then you checked the books and CDs and games. You didn’t touch any, just looked. That only took a few minutes. Then you sat down and didn’t move until we came back just now. Do you remember that?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“What were you thinking during the two hours you were just sitting?”
I wait. “Nothing.”
“OK. Can you remember what you were thinking while you were investigating the room?”
I wait. “Yes.”
Mary-Anne Zeller looked exasperated. Dr. Charity Clearwater sniggered, as did Delphine Callieach.
“What were you thinking while you were investigating the room?”
I wait. “How easy it was for someone to break in. Where the cameras were. How all the stuff there was chosen and positioned deliberately.”
“Er, yes,” said Mary-Anne Zeller.
“Wait,” interjected Delphine Callieach. “You saw the cameras?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“How did you see them? They’re hidden.”
I wait. “They’re where they should be to record everything in the room.”
Delphine Callieach went on to say, “Can you point them out now?”
I wait. “Yes.”
Delphine Callieach sighed and changed the question. “Please point them out now.”
I wait. Then I point out the cameras. They all look at each other.
“It looks like the first option is the way to go,” said Mary-Anne Zeller. The others agreed.
“Vicky,” said Charity Clearwater, “you said the items in the room were deliberately placed there. Will you please tell us why this was so?”
I wait. “Yes.”
She pursed her lips, then amended her question. “Please let us know why the items were placed in the play room.”
I wait. “They are too obviously planted. They are to determine the person put in here. What she chooses or looks at will give an indication of her character and interests.”
They all looked at each other. “Definitely option one,” said Delphine Callieach, who went to the coffee machine and made us all a cup.
While waiting for the coffee, Dr. Charity Clearwater looked at me and said, “Vicky. Please listen. You’ve just demonstrated you understand exactly what’s going on around you. Plus you can react instantly if necessary, juggling those balls proved that. But I wonder if you take it in. I’m not certain I’m explaining it correctly, but let’s go with that for the moment. We have your dossier from your friends. You may not remember them, but they have paid for your treatment in advance and that’s very expensive. Also, and more telling, is the fact they found me and my little team here and then arranged for me to take you on.”
Delphine Callieach arrived with the coffees and put them down on the table in front of us.
“We’re going to tell you what your friends say happened to you Vicky. Do you want to hear that?”
I wait. I wait some more. “I don’t know.”
Dr. Charity Clearwater sighed. “I should have known that would be your answer. Well, here’s what happened anyway.” She sipped her coffee before starting.
“Your group was attacked by another group. I’m keeping this as vague as possible to concentrate on the salient parts. You were captured but your friends rescued you. When they got you back you were unconscious. You had been drugged and a portable mind control helmet had been put on you. It was locked in place and working. They couldn’t get it off for over an hour because you, unfortunately, are the one they turn to with such problems. After that you slept off the drug and woke up a bit sluggish. You have been trained in resisting such things as that helmet and you did, but only to a point. Your friends told us that you being drugged when the helmet was placed on you was the problem. Being drugged, you couldn’t resist the helmet from the start and that let it get a foothold in your brain.
Apparently your brain is caught in some sort of loop. It’s now a standoff between your brain and the program that’s trying to take you over. It’s our job to get you past this hurdle.”
“Your friends also say your contribution to your group lies in the physical. You are being taught how to use your brain for other things. You are progressing, but it’s slow. You automatically link anything you learn to your physical abilities, which is how you are so good at everything you do physically. Don’t take this amiss though. You are teaching your friends how to build up their bodies and train themselves effectively. In other words, you are all teaching each other. Do you understand this? Has it jogged any memory of your friends?”
I wait. “Yes. No.”
“We need your brain to lose this loop it’s found itself in. To that end there are a couple of ideas we want to try out. The aim is to force your brain to attend to the here and now in a normal fashion. Once that happens this loop, whatever it is, will dissolve. The programming already in your head is temporary. Remember it was only a portable programming machine. That means it must, by necessity, be limited. Your friends have told us it was Three Fingers who did this to you. Now we here don’t know the nature of your argument with Three Fingers and we don’t want to know. But understand this. Three Fingers are a professional group of mind controllers. Whatever the program was, it will be tight. That means it will be difficult to remove but there will not be any stray effects after we’ve dealt with it. You won’t find yourself with a fetish on some random things like, er doorknobs a couple of months after we think you’re cured.” Dr. Charity Clearwater looked at me. “Do you understand this?”
I waited. “Yes.”
She sighed. “There are a couple of options open to us, Vicky. We’re saving the painful one as a last resort. It may be the best but none of us wants to do it. So it’s the embarrassing option first. Apparently you’re a tomboy and usually dress in pants and a tee shirt so you have complete freedom of movement. That’s important to you. We’re going to dress you in a more appropriate fashion for a girl. Lots of pink, stockings, stilettoes, a tight pencil skirt, a pretty blouse over a tight corset. Something like that. And we’ll have you wear lots of jewelry. We’ll give you a makeover and dye your hair blonde and paint your nails. They’ll be false and an inch past your finger ends. What do you think of that?”
I wait. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? I can see some immediate problems for you with that agenda. Can you?”
I wait. “No.”
Dr. Charity Clearwater looked at Mary-Anne Zeller and Delphine Callieach. “Interesting,” she said to them.
Looking at Vicky she said, “Do you know why that’s interesting, Vicky?”
I wait. “No.”
“Guess.”
I wait. “I’ve missed something I shouldn’t have?”
“Yes. It appears your brain is holding more of itself back than we thought. Now, do you know why?”
I wait. “No.”
“Let’s not be so literal,” said Mary-Anne Zeller. “Vicky, can you make a guess why that is?”
I wait. “Yes.”
Mary-Anne Zeller pursed her lips and asked, “Vicky, will you please tell us your guess?”
I wait. “I trust my doctor so I do not need to consider such things. My doctor will do that for me.”
They all looked at each other. Dr. Charity Clearwater said, “Somewhere in her head her brain wants more brain power. It’s looking for ways to commandeer more of her brain, presumably to fight off the alien programming. Vicky only has the least her brain deems necessary to operate effectively.” They all nodded solemnly at this.
Mary-Anne Zeller said, “Let’s not waste any more time. We need to go to The Pink Lady.”
THE PINK LADY
“Do you know where we are, Vicky?”
I wait. “No.”
“We’re at The Pink Lady. We’re going to dress you all girly. Are you excited?”
I wait. “No.”
The team take me in and I try on lots of clothes. All of them are very tight. Most of them are pink. I try an item on and one of the team says no and I try something else on. Then Mary-Anne Zeller gets a pair of high stilettoes and gives them to me. “Try them on, Vicky.”
I put them on.
Mary-Anne Zeller looks at the other two. “Can you explain that?” she asks of them.
They both shrug. Mary-Anne Zeller hands me another pair of high heels.
I take them and look at them. “No.”
“OK. Try this on then,” said Delphine Callieach, handing me a pencil skirt.
I take it and look at it. “No.”
Dr. Charity Clearwater hands me a choker. “Try this on, Vicky.”
I take it and look at it. “No.”
Dr. Charity Clearwater hands me a corset. “Try this on, Vicky.”
I take it and look at it. “No.”
“What about a pretty necklace instead?
I wait. “No.”
Mary-Anne Zeller interjected. “Vicky. I don’t understand. I can see why you won’t wear the corset or the pencil skirt or the other things, but a necklace? Why won’t you wear that?”
I wait. There’s an answer there, I know it. So I wait more. Eventually it comes. “Because someone could grab it and choke me.”
“Oh,” said Mary-Anne Zeller. Basically the same reason you won’t wear the clothes.”
I wait. “No.”
“Please explain why you rejected these items.”
I wait. “The necklace and choker can be used as weapons against me. The clothes restrict my movement so I can’t defend myself properly.”
They look at each other. Delphine Callieach says, “We think that’s the same reason but Vicky splits them out. Obviously she has thought about this a lot sometime.”
“Yes. That sounds right.”
“Now Vicky,” said Delphine Callieach, “why did you reject one pair of stilettoes but accept the other?”
I wait. “Because stilettoes are a useful weapon to have. They can be used to stab anywhere on the body if my kicks are adequate. But once I’ve kicked the heel into a body it will stay there. I can’t remove it easily. So I have to be able to get my foot out of the shoe quickly. If a stiletto has straps I can’t do that.”
They all look at me. “Well then Vicky,” said Mary-Anne Zeller. I see you’ve thought about these types of things a lot. I assume you’ve practiced them as well, but I do not want to know any details. So, keep the clothes on your wearing right now and we’ll pay for them then get you a makeover.”
I was wearing a bright pink tank top, a green short floppy skirt, stockings with seams held up by a garter belt and a pair of pink ballet shoes. Underneath the dress I wore a bright pink thong which did not hide my pubic hairs at all. (I was told that everybody at least trims their pubic hair now.) They paid for these and for a few other items in my size. We went to the shop’s salon. People were looking at me and sniggering when we went there.
After a discussion with the beautician, they had my hair dyed platinum blonde, my eyebrows plucked, my body waxed all over, my ears pierced and my face made up. Delphine Callieach made certain I knew exactly what would happen when my pubes were waxed. She said she didn’t want any ‘incident’. The beautician tried to give me long false nails but I refused. My nails were eventually treated and painted the length they were.
“You look so cute,” said Delphine Callieach after it was over. “But one thing,” she added. “You refused the long nails yet your nails are not as short as I thought they would be. Is there a reason for that?”
I wait. “Yes.”
She looked at me in exasperation and took a breath. “Please explain,” she added.
I wait. “My nails are just long enough to scratch but not to restrict punching. Scratching is a useful weapon, especially if you can scratch in the right place, such as an eyeball or the genitalia or in a nerve plexus or inside a hole.”
They all looked at me. “I think we made a sound decision not to go with option 2,” said Dr. Charity Clearwater. The others nodded.
Delphine Callieach added, “Especially as she seems to have all her abilities on call, even if she can’t articulate them properly. I’m assuming they’re still there on automatic. That way she doesn’t have to use any brainpower to think about it. If push comes to shove, she’ll just react and deal with the consequences afterwards.”
“Well, we have to ensure none of us are consequences,” said Mary-Anne Zeller.
We left that establishment and went to a Starbucks. People sniggered at me and stared. Mary-Anne Zeller got the coffees in while we went to a table in the corner. Over drinks they discussed what to do next.
“I think we should stick with the agenda,” said Mary-Anne Zeller.
“Me too,” agreed Dr. Charity Clearwater
“I don’t know,” said Delphine Callieach. Vicky has all her abilities and we were warned they’re formidable. That’s the word they used, ‘formidable’. Do we want her around all the people at the club? If anyone says or does anything wrong there could be deaths. We don’t know exactly what will trigger her defenses.”
“She obviously won’t just kill people randomly,” said Mary-Anne Zeller. “I mean, look what we put her through already. Remember, she’s had a full waxing and she didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, but she’s not in full conscious control of herself and the club could be an extreme test for her. That worries me. And she knew the waxing was going to happen. That might make all the difference.”
Mary-Anne Zeller thought for a while. “I think you’re wrong there. Her automatic defenses are based on her original morality. She won’t do anything stupid at the club. And the clientele there will be more open to what we want to do to her, won’t they?”
Dr. Charity Clearwater agreed saying, “I agree. I can’t see that sort of risk by taking her there. But I can see some embarrassing things happening to her there and that’s what we’re after isn’t it?”
Delphine Callieach thought about it for a while. “OK then, but I’m not as sanguine about this as you two are. And I don’t want to have all that hassle again. I hate dealing with lawyers and spending money on bribes. It’s not right. I want to spend my money on myself. I like this city and I like the club and I want to stay here.”
“Then it’s agreed. Come on Vicky,” said Mary-Anne Zeller while standing.
I wait. “No.”
They looked at each other and sat down again.
“Why Vicky? After all, you let us transform you already. Why are you objecting to the club?”
I wait. “Mary-Anne Zeller is not my friend. She’s one of my doctors. Dr. Charity Clearwater is my friend and she hasn’t told me to go there.”
They all looked at each other.
Dr. Charity Clearwater said quickly, “Vicky, both Delphine and Mary-Anne are your friends. I thought that was obvious, which is my mistake. I know that now. I do apologize.”
I wait, then look at Delphine Callieach and Mary-Anne Zeller. “Are you my friends?”
They both reply, “Yes.”
I look at Dr. Charity Clearwater. “Are they my friends?”
“Yes they are. Are you being cautious?”
I wait. “Yes, of course. Anyone can say she’s my friend and not be my friend. But you vouch for them and you are my friend. I know that. I have that in writing.”
“Right. I’m glad we cleared that up,” replied Dr. Charity Clearwater.
One thing Vicky, said Delphine Callieach. Just now you called Mary-Anne and Charity by their full names. Is there a reason for that?
I wait. “Yes.”
Delphine Callieach screwed up her face. “I’m never going to get used to this,” she said to nobody in particular while the other two sniggered. Then she looked at me and said, “Vicky, what is the reason you call us by our full names?”
I wait. “I call you by your full names because those were the names I was told.”
Delphine Callieach continued. “Vicky, why did you not pick up to call us by our given names when that’s what we call ourselves and when we call you Vicky and leave off the Ketteridge?”
I wait. “That’s an inference I am not qualified to make.”
“Not qualified? Why do you think you are not qualified to make such an assumption?”
I wait. “Because nobody told me I could.”
They all paused, then Delphine Callieach said, “Vicky, will you please call me Delphine?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Vicky, will you please call me Charity?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Vicky, will you please call me Mary-Anne?”
I wait. “Yes.”
Charity made an observation to her colleagues. “Did you notice that Vicky needed instruction there? I think that’s some sort of influence from the new program in her head.”
Both Mary-Anne and Delphine nodded.
AT THE CLUB
Charity leads us out to her car and we all get in. “We’re going to the club,” she says. “Vicky, are you curious about the club?”
I wait. “No.”
We were in a foyer.
“Put this on, Vicky.” Charity was holding up a collar.
I look at it. “No.”
“It’s electric,” she said. “Anyone who tries to grab it will get a shock. Here,” she did something to it, “touch the outside now.”
I wait. Then I touch the outside and am shocked. I jerk back violently.
“Will you put it on now?”
I wait. “Yes.” I let Charity put it on.
“Now Vicky, I need to attach this leash to you. Will you let me?”
I wait. “Is it electrified?”
“Yes. There’s a small metal thread running along the whole length. When it’s attached that thread connects to the main circuit in the collar. My gloves insulate me from the effects.”
I wait. “OK.”
Mary-Anne says to Charity, “where did you learn about that? I’ve never heard of this.”
Charity smiled. “I knew this was here. The last time it was used I was in the collar.”
Delphine’s eyes narrowed as she looked directly at Charity. “That’s a story I want to know.”
Charity smiled. “Perhaps later.”
“Definitely later,” said Mary-Anne.
I was led by Charity as we enter through the foyer and into the main room. It was expensively furnished and people there were either dommes or submissives. They all looked normal for such an establishment. The room was about half full and there was plenty of room for each person. They seemed to be milling around and chatting. I knew it was early in the evening, so I assumed this was just the preliminaries.
Mary-Anne and Delphine went around on their own. They seemed to know people there as they stopped to chat a number of times. Charity wandered about with me towing along behind. I behaved according to Charity’s instructions. I always looked down and knelt down at Charity’s feet whenever she stopped. Charity chatted to a number of people and eventually a bell rang. Charity and the person she was chatting to both turned and led their submissives to a holding area, where our leashes were attached to a series of clamps that hung down from the ceiling. Then the dommes all went off to somewhere. All I knew was that it wasn’t the main room we were in. It looked like all the submissives were here and all the dommes were elsewhere.
“So you’re the weird one Charity brought in.” This was said by a domme. Well, she dressed like one. She was the only one there though. I assume the others are still wherever they went to. “Come here, I’m going to have so much fun.”
She had unhooked my leash and pulled. Why wasn’t she shocked? I didn’t move. The force was applied to the back of my neck and wasn’t much. She looked at me in what she supposed was a scary face. “Well then, I’m just going to have to teach you a lesson.” She removed the crop she had attached to her belt. Now I could see another four dommes approaching.
“Get anything yet Maria?” said one.
“Not yet. But I’ll soon find out why we aren’t supposed to touch this one.” She approached me with the crop and swung it at my ribs.
I caught it and ripped it from her hand.
“Hey you bitch. You’ll pay for that. I was going to go easy on you but not now.” She approached me as she said that and pushed me on both shoulders. I kept my right shoulder where it was and pulled back my left. Then I grabbed her right arm at the elbow and pulled. At the same time I swiveled and put my right foot forward. Then I pulled with my right hand which was now under her armpit. She went over my hip as if we had practiced the manoeuver. I didn’t let her arm go when she crashed to the ground but twisted the hand into a wristlock. That and my foot on her neck immobilized her.
The other four started forward but I just twisted her wrist a little more. She screamed. The others stopped.
The scream must have been heard by the others as they all came running. Heels clicking madly on the wooden floor sounded like heavy rain on a tin roof. Eventually, Charity was in front of me. So far I had steadfastly refused to let my captive go.
“Let her go, Vicky.” she said.
I wait. “She tried to steal me,” I reply. “She should be punished.”
“Why didn’t the collar work?” said Delphine.
“I switched it off when Vicky was locked in place.”
“What did she want Vicky?”
I wait. “She wanted to see why I had special treatment,” I answered.
“Well, she found out,” said Charity. “What sort of punishment did you have in mind, Vicky?”
I wait. “I don’t know. That depends on the house rules and on how guilty she is and whether or not she takes the punishment for all five of them or just for herself. Shall I just break her wrist while you think about this? She won’t move far and if she does I’ll just break her leg as well.”
There was a gasp from the audience, which was substantial by now. Someone shouted, “Hey Charity, get your bitch off of her.”
Charity ignored that. From the look on her face I could tell she was enjoying this. I concluded there had already been words between them.
“Now Vicky, I don’t want her hurt. But I also want to know what she was doing. Not you Vicky,” she added quickly as I started to think. “I’m talking about her. What were you trying to do Maria? I did warn everybody here about Vicky, didn’t I?” That last question was addressed to the crowd, which murmured a ‘yes’ in response.
“Get her off of me,” said Maria in response.
“Now that’s not nice. She was only protecting my property from thieves. What did you want to achieve?”
“Piss off bitch,” answered Maria.
I twisted her wrist a bit more and Maria screamed.
“Stop it,” cried one of Maria’s acolytes. “She only wanted to see what was so special about this one. You’re always so full of yourself aren’t you?” she sneered. “She just wanted to show everybody what a fraud you are.”
“And do you think I’m a fraud now?” answered Charity.
“Let her go you bitch.” This was shouted at Charity.
I immediately let Maria go and punched her in her solar plexus. That would stop her doing anything for a while. Then I went after that one who called my friend a bitch. Within seconds she was on her knees before me in serious pain, trying not to cry.
She failed.
“Don’t kneel for me. Face your mistress Charity,” I instructed her. She didn’t move, so I added to her pain with a nerve pinch. “Kneel before your mistress,” I ordered again.” She turned, while still kneeling and crying and making weird noises, to face Charity.
“Where are the others with Maria?” I ordered the crowd, which parted leaving three on their own facing me. “Kneel before your mistress,” I ordered them.
They stared and didn’t move, so I encouraged the nearest one, who knelt before Charity. I looked at the other two and they knelt without any more orders. “What do you want me to do with them?” I asked Charity. “How much pain should I give them? Or do you want me to break a few bones? Which bones?” I asked, with a smile on my face now. “It’s always funny when they can’t use their arms or legs. Watching them squirm and beg is hilarious. You should record it.”
I thought while the crowd looked on silently.
“In fact record this now,” I ordered the crowd in general. Nobody moved so I looked at them. All of them immediately took out their cells and started recording the scene. Delphine and Mary-Anne were already recording, I noticed.
I looked at Charity. She was smiling and enjoying herself.
“Do you want any more pain, Maria?” she said.
“Maria blurted out, “No.”
I gave her more pain and she screamed. When that had died down I said to Maria, “Address your mistress properly.”
“No, mistress.”
“Now Maria, do you want anything broken?”
“No mistress.” Maria was blushing bright red even while suffering.
Charity turned to the other four. “And what about you four? Do you want any more pain or breakages?”
“No, mistress,” they chorused while blushing.
“Well then,” said Charity with a smile on her face. “You will need to do penance. You will serve this club as submissives for six months starting from now. You will be subject to all appropriate punishments by the resident dommes as and when they decree it.”
“Do you all formerly agree to this?”
Maria squirmed and I added to her pain. “Yes,” she gasped. There was a chorus of four yesses from the others.
I added to Maria’s pain. “Answer your mistress properly,” I told them.
“Yes mistress,” they chorused.
“Let her go Vicky,” said Charity. “Michelle, perhaps you would be so good as to get these five into more appropriate costumes?”
Michelle smiled and said, “Certainly Charity.”
“Come on,” said Michelle to her new recruits. “Actually, get out of those outfits now. They’re not appropriate.”
“What? I’m not doing that,” exclaimed Maria.
I added to her pain, but this time I made it more permanent. Maria obeyed then. The others followed suit.
I thought a bit and said to Michelle, “It would be good if you had the followers in charge of Maria. And the followers able to punish Maria. But make all the followers suffer your punishments if any of them, including Maria, get anything wrong.”
Michelle thought for a bit. “You know, I wouldn’t have thought of that. Thank you Vicky. I’ll do it. And don’t worry, they won’t be let off. Maria has made herself disliked here over the past few months. She will learn or be evicted once her time is up.” She watched as they undressed then led them away.
After that the people went back to their evening. Their meeting, or whatever, seemed to be over. Or perhaps it was abandoned.
Charity took me to a quiet spot and asked, “Would you really have broken their bones?”
I wait. “No. They’re not a threat. They just needed encouraging. It seemed to be the right thing to say at the time.”
“Look. I’m sorry about the collar and leash. I thought it was more dangerous to leave it on while you were there.”
I wait. “OK,” I answer while noting that friends and doctors can get things wrong.
Charity then took me by the electrified leash again and led me around as she mingled. Mary-Anne and Delphine also mingled. Delphine particularly seemed to be fond of stroking the subs there. She would absent mindedly stroke someone’s sub while she chatted to her mistress.
Nobody did that to me while Charity was leading me around.
Eventually it was time to go and we all got into the car.
“How do you feel about that, Vicky? Did you enjoy yourself?”
I wait. “Nothing. No.”
Charity sighed. “I did have some hopes of that little episode at least altering Vicky’s present perspective on the world,” she said to the other two. “It wasn’t what we planned but we dare not do anything else after Vicky’s little demonstration.”
“Do you remember the journey back here, Vicky?”
I wait. “No.”
We enter and Delphine makes hot chocolate for each of us.
Mary-Anne asked of me, “Are you aware of time passing when you are travelling Vicky?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“So, what do you feel during those times?”
I wait. “Nothing.”
Delphine piped in here. “I don’t understand, Vicky. If you don’t feel those time periods, how can you know time has passed?”
I wait. “Various things. The shadows from one moment to the next are wrong. A clock on the wall. My location. Anything like that tells me time has passed.”
“So you just switch off and come back when there’s something to come back for?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Can you stop switching off if you want?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Why don’t you?”
I wait. “There’s no need. Staying awake is tiring. During the times you’re talking about me or when there’s nothing to do there’s no need to stay awake.”
“Are you saying you find being awake to be tiring?”
I wait. “Yes.”
They had all finished their drinks by now and were looking tired. “We’re too tired for this,” said Charity. “Let’s discuss what to do in the morning,” She didn’t wait for consensus but rose and went to bed, saying as she went, “You do know where your bed is Vicky?”
She waited at the door while I waited for the answer. “Yes.” She nodded then went off to bed.
I was woken by Charity the next morning.
“Wake up Vicky,” she said, from a distance. I opened my eyes and got out of bed.
“Naked eh? Didn’t you fancy the baby-doll nighty again?”
I wait. “I wasn’t told to wear it.”
“So, left to your own choice you sleep naked.”
“Do you have anything to say to that, Vicky?”
I answer immediately. “No.”
She looked interested. “You answered immediately there, Vicky. Why was that?”
I wait. “I had already thought about it when I considered your comment.”
She looked puzzled. “What comment?”
I wait. “So, left to your own choice you sleep naked.”
“Oh,” she said. She continued, “Well then, would you have normally slept naked before all this?”
I wait. She means my brain anomaly. “I don’t know.”
She nods. “I’ll get breakfast. Get dressed and whatever else you need then come down.”
Delphine and Mary-Anne are at the breakfast table when I arrive. Charity gives me a plate full of bacon, eggs and mushrooms.
Delphine looks at it and says, “Are you really going to eat all that?”
I wait. “Yes.” I then fill my fork.
“But don’t you think that is unhealthy? I mean, there’s so much of it and it’s been proven that vegan, or even vegetarian, is far better for you?”
I wait, fork halfway to my mouth. “No. No.”
“What do you mean, no?” added Mary-Anne. “All the evidence points to it.”
I wait. The fork is still half-way to my mouth. “Animal products are high density calories, so, as such, they are highly efficient. Also, animal products are generally less beneficial than vegetarian products for most people. Exercise and the use of proper animal products negate this effect though.”
“What do you mean, proper animal products? And what has exercise got to do with it? Exercise is good for you but that’s nothing to do with food.”
I wait, fork halfway to my mouth. “Animal products that haven’t been processed. Exercise is an integral part of health and the amount of exercise you do alters the body’s ability to process such foods more efficiently.”
“You do know bacon is processed?”
I wait, fork halfway to my mouth. “Yes.”
“Well then, you’re not eating what you think is appropriate are you?”
I wait, fork halfway to my mouth. “Yes.”
“You think that,” pointing to my food, “is appropriate after what you just said?”
I wait, fork halfway to my mouth. “Yes.”
“Explain that better Vicky.”
I wait, fork halfway to my mouth…
“Stop,” said Charity. “Let Vicky eat her breakfast. She doesn’t appear to be able to eat and answer your questions at the same time.”
Mary-Anne and Delphine both said sorry.
I lifted my fork to my mouth only to discover the food had dropped off, so I started again.
After I had eaten my food I said, “Bacon is processed but there is nothing more natural available here. My friend and doctor Charity has surprisingly unhealthy food available for me to choose from. People can take unhealthy food and benefit from it if that is not a normal part of their diet. All the unhealthy additives are excreted efficiently from a healthy body if they are not constantly replenished.”
Nobody added to that. Charity then ushered us to her work area and we all sat down.
“Yesterday was, well, interesting,” she said. “Vicky was a great hit at the club. But are we any further forward?”
“We must be,” said Mary-Anne, “but I can’t see it.”
“Neither can I,” said Delphine.
Charity sighed and looked at me. “What about you, Vicky. Do you know how you can be cured?”
I wait. “Yes.”
They go quiet and look at me. Charity eventually said, “Please explain, Vicky.”
I wait. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” This from an exasperated Delphine.
I wait. “I don’t know.”
“Wait,” said Charity. “Do we want to use method 2? I certainly don’t. Not after yesterday’s performance. Who knows what Vicky will do?”
Delphine and Mary-Anne shook their heads. “Just thinking about it makes me shudder,” said Mary-Anne. “We’ve seen Vicky under mild pressure and look what happened. If we subject her to the De Sade treatment we envisaged at the start I don’t think we’d survive.”
“And we wouldn’t have cured our patient,” added Delphine.
“I don’t know about you, Delphine, but that’s secondary to me surviving the event,” said Mary-Anne. “So, how do we proceed from here? Vicky thinks she knows how she can be cured but can’t say how, for whatever reason. Does anyone know how to rearrange the question? I can’t see it just now.”
Charity asked me, “Vicky, do you understand what we are saying?”
I wait. “Yes.”
“Then, is there any way you can let us know how to cure you?”
I wait. “No.”
“Can you expand on that?”
I wait. “No.”
She thinks for a while. “Is there anything we can do that will help you to a cure? We don’t have to understand it.”
I wait. “Yes.”
Charity looks at the other two.
“Well then Vicky, what do we have to do to help you to a cure?”
I wait. “Order me to cure myself.”
“Wait,” said Delphine. “Let’s not be hasty. I’m all for this if we don’t get killed in the process. But Vicky has a habit of being very literal. Are there any, well, unfortunate consequences if Vicky heals herself?”
They look at me. Charity said, “Will you please answer that question Vicky?”
I wait. “No.”
Do you mean we will not suffer any consequences of you healing yourself?”
I wait. “No.”
Mary-Anne makes a noise. She’s frustrated.
Charity goes on, “Please expand on your answer, Vicky.”
I wait. “There will probably be no consequences directly from me curing myself. But, apparently, I was in some sort of altercation with some powerful group. They might come after you if they discover you’ve helped me. Or some other group that doesn’t want me alive could do something similar. If they’re mind control groups you could all end up as sex-slaves. I don’t know if that counts as a bad consequence.”
Mary-Anne almost screamed, “Of course it counts as a bad consequence. Why would you think otherwise?”
I wait. “Because your brains would be changed to like being a slave. You would not want to change back because you would want the fuckety-fuck all the time.”
“She has a point,” said Charity. “Although I would never have thought of it that way.”
“Shall we do it then?” said Charity.
Two heads nodded.
“OK. Let’s do it now.” She looked directly at me. “Vicky. I order you to cure yourself.”
I wait. Then I get up and go to the kitchen. The three follow warily.
I still don’t know the layout properly so I search everything to see what’s available. It’s OK. There’s enough here to get started. I start.
Mary-Anne was the first to comment. “Why are you making more food? Wasn’t your breakfast enough? You ate a lot?”
I wait. “Using the brain takes more energy than most people think. And my body has more muscle than most and that also needs energy. If I’m going to use my brain I mustn’t run out of energy. I’ll need about 6,000 calories and I’ve got about 1,500 calories in my body now from breakfast. So I need more.”
Charity said, “That sort of makes sense. But let’s not pass this wisdom on to others.”
“If it is wisdom,” replied Delphine. “Why are you going for meat products again Vicky?”
I wait. “Meat is dense energy. It’s one of the main reasons we evolved as we are. I can’t eat that many calories in one sitting as a vegetarian or as a vegan. Only meat can do this.” Remembering our previous discussion about food I go on to add, “This meat is not exactly pure. I’ll be putting a lot of unwanted products in my body. But I can deal with those later, once I have my will back.”
Delphine said, “And what happens then, Vicky? Will you remember all this? Or will you, well, come to and discover us as if for the first time?”
I wait. “I don’t know. Perhaps you had better leave.” I think more. “If you leave, leave a note to let me know what happened.”
I continue cooking the food. The others look at each other.
“I’m staying,” said Charity. “You can leave if you want to though.”
Mary-Anne said, “I’m staying as well.”
Delphine said the same. She went and set up the home’s surveillance cameras to record events.
I eat. The others look on wide eyed at the amount.
I then walked through to the main office, remove my pants and shoes then sit down in the lotus position. In classic meditation pose I close my eyes, take a deep breath right down in my diaphragm and let it out slowly. Once my breath was out I was in deep meditation.
I open my eyes and look around. It’s the middle of the night. I’m still in the same place but there are electrodes on my head and around my body, which now is naked. A pile of towels are close by and Charity is at her desk working. My chest has finally healed.
“Hi, Charity,” I say.
Charity jumps. “Vicky, you’re back.”
I stand slowly. My legs are stiff. “Yes I am. Thanks for the assist.”
“You’re welcome. How are you feeling? Are you back to normal?”
“Yes, I’m back,” I reply. I stop as I become aware of my feelings. “Sorry. Need the loo,” I say as I race to the loo.
I make it in time. It doesn’t take long. It was ready to release and there was a lot of it. I return to Charity.
“Sorry about that. A lot of backup to deal with. And I’m hungry. Is there any food around?”
“In the kitchen. I’ll come with you,” Charity said.
Once in the kitchen I prepared my food after asking permission. “Where are the other two?”
“They’re asleep. We’ve been looking after you while you’ve been out of it.”
“Yes I know. The towels and me being naked are a bit of a giveaway. I must have sweated a lot.” I smile when I say that. I haven’t bothered to dress yet. “By the way, do I have any proper clothes left? Not the pink freaky thing and the other stuff you had me wear.”
She laughs. “Yes, we still have your rucksack and there’s a couple of white tees there and panties.”
I look down at myself. “I suppose I can wear thongs now that I’m naked all over.” A thought strikes. “Hey, you didn’t tell them what I look like now did you? I’ll never hear the end of it if you did. And please say you didn’t take pics.”
Charity looks at me. “Well, they have been in contact while you’ve been out of it, but all I’ve said was that it’s looking good.”
“Good.”
“But…”
I look up. “You’ve taken pics?”
“Well yes. But they’re just for our files. We do need evidence of procedures that work and those that don’t. That’s standard just about anywhere.”
“Your files are on your computer?”
“Yes, and backed up.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Well, you’ve been out for three days. We started taking pics when we realized something important was happening. And, if you remember, a number of people took videos on your instructions at the club.”
I groaned. “That’s it sorted then. I’m taking a holiday until they’ve got other things on their minds.” I sigh. “No. They’ll never forget this. I’m just going to have to suffer. You used the electrodes to check my brain while I was healing myself?”
“Yes. Can you answer me a couple of questions, Vicky?”
“I don’t know. What are they?”
“What happened on your journey here to make you the way you were? Do you know?”
“No. I’ve been trying to remember that myself. I remember getting on the train then being on your station platform after I must have gotten off. I can’t remember anything in between.”
“Pity. Now why did your friends let you travel here on your own? I would never have done that. I only agreed when you yourself insisted.”
My face reddened. “Well, it’s embarrassing, but as you’re my doctor and this will go no further—it was a little test. You see they are training me to resist things like that. They wanted to see if I could do it on my own. When I only improved so much, they decided to try you out. To see if I could do it independently from them. I thought I was good enough. After all, I have learned some things well and I’m progressing. I just overestimated my progress.”
Charity nodded. I raised my voice a bit. “You can come in now. I’m not going to hurt anyone.”
They entered. “When did you know?” said Delphine.
“When you got out of your beds. You do need to practice being silent. No, you need to learn how to be silent.”
“How are you now?” said Mary-Anne, who was making us all a drink.
“Back to normal, thanks,” I reply as I take my food to the table.
Delphine said, “It’s 3-30 am and look what she’s eating.”
“I’m hungry. I’ve been overloading my brain for the past few days and it takes a lot of energy. Didn’t you know that?”
“Well yes, but only in theory. I’ve never had the opportunity of seeing it in action like this.”
“Do you deal with mind controllers often?”
“We’ve dealt with a couple,” said Charity carefully.
“That means yes. So, you’ll know, or you should know, that they eat more than normal. Or they snack all through the day if they eat normal meals.”
Charity and Mary-Anne and Delphine looked at each other. “I think she’s right,” said Mary-Anne. “At least that’s the impression I’m remembering.”
“We’ll have to check that,” said Delphine.
They stay quiet and finish their drinks as I finish my meal. I then drink my drink in one go as it was nearly cold by then.
“What now Vicky?” said Charity.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “How much did they pay you? Is there cash for me to stay on a few days? I feel like a holiday.” I remember something and smile. “Actually, I feel like revisiting that club you took me to. There could be some fun to be had there. I’d like to borrow Maria and her bitches for a week or two for one. Then see what else happens there. They all look so serious and pedestrian. I wonder what would happen if I joined in their games I could liven things up so it wouldn’t be boring again.”
Charity looked alarmed. “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” she said. “I want to stay there and it was touch and go the other day.”
Delphine looked excited at the prospect. “Hey yes. That’s a great idea. What did you have in mind Vicky?”
“Well, do you have any subs so far?”
Delphine answered. “Yes we all do. But they’re part time because they all have work and families. We get to play with our subs occasionally though.”
“Well then,” I reply, “What about two or three permanent subs. It’s obvious you’ve all got the ability to make some for yourselves.” I look around. “This place clearly needs regular cleaning. Why not get yourselves a couple of permanent subs from the club to do all that for you? Just pick your targets, arrange their lives so they can live with you permanently and take them. Then you can get your orgasms anytime you want. You won’t have to go out and go through all the usual crap to get laid. They’ll be there whenever you feel in the mood. They’ll even feed themselves and do anything else that needs doing.”
Charity came back with, “I think we’ll have more to do than that, Vicky. Anyway, there’s something else you need to know.”
I look at her. She looks serious. “What’s that?”
I got a call from someone called Sonia Watkins late yesterday evening. She’s looking for someone and she thinks that the event in the club could be significant for her. She already knows you were with me, although she doesn’t know who you are. She’s calling tomorrow, I mean, later today to discuss it. She’s offering cash for our help.”
“Do you know who she represents?”
“No. I asked but she wouldn’t say.”
“Tell her the truth when she comes. Don’t even try to hide anything.” I get up and start for the stairs.
“Where are you going?”
“To get my things. I’m leaving. People don’t just ring up like that when people like me are involved. I’m off.” I take the stairs two at a time.
Dr. Charity Clearwater
I’ll have to take over here because Vicky just disappeared. After a while we went up to see what was happening because she didn’t come down again. In fact we didn’t even hear her walking around very soon after she went to her room.
“What the hell?” said Mary-Anne after we had searched the whole upstairs.
“Let’s check downstairs,” said Delphine. We did. Vicky wasn’t there.
“Is she in trouble do you think?” I asked.
“I think we had better call the clients,” said Mary-Anne after a bit of thought. Delphine agreed and so did I. So I called the number I had and set it on speakerphone.
“Oui,” said the voice.
I was taken aback. “Er, do you speak English?” I asked.
“Oh yes,” she replied. “Is this Doctor Clearwater?”
“Yes. I’m calling about Vicky. She seems to have done a runner,” I said. Mary-Anne made a face at my phrasing but the Frenchwoman understood.
“What happened?” she asked.
I told her.
“So you say she is cured?” she asked.
“It looks like it,” I replied. “But we haven’t run any tests so we can’t be certain. We can’t leave it like this.”
“From what you say, Vicky sounds like she is back to what she was. So just tidy up whatever you need to and leave it at that unless one of us gets back to you. OK?”
“If that’s what you want. But we don’t like it.”
“If it’s any consolation, this sounds typical of Vicky. However, she is correct at her estimation of the danger. You’ll probably be OK but even so, perhaps you need to take precautions. Some of these people are very persuasive.”
We left it at that. Then we had an early breakfast and finished off the paperwork after deciding to get protection as soon as their office opened at nine. It cost an arm and a leg to get hold of them out of office hours.
It was about 8am when there was a knock at the door. I answered. It was Sonia Watkins. I invited her in to the living area. There was nothing else I could do. She refused all attempts at refreshment and got straight to the point.
Looking at us all, she said, “I’m Sonia Watkins. And you are…?”
“Dr. Charity Clearwater.”
“Dr. Delphine Callieach”
“Dr. Mary-Anne Zeller”
Sonia Watkins looked questioningly at the seat in the corner. After a short while she said, “And you are…?”
“What are you doing? There’s no-one there,” I said. The other two looked puzzled.
“You mean you can’t see her?” said Sonia Watkins.
“There’s nobody there,” I said. Delphine and Mary-Anne nodded while looking analytically at Sonia Watkins, who smiled.
“Well, you see,” said Sonia Watkins eventually, while shifting around in her chair, “one of the reasons I have this job is I am totally immune to mind control. So when I see someone sitting right there as plain as day and you can’t see her, I assume you’re the ones being controlled and she,” she nodded at the chair, “is the one I’ve been sent to arrest.” With that her right hand reached across her body to draw out the gun that everybody could now see clearly.
She just managed to draw her gun from its holster when a knife suddenly hammered into her arm, forcing her to drop the gun.
Mary-Anne gave a little scream. Delphine and myself looked on shocked.
“Pity,” said Vicky. “I was hoping to just bluff my way through that. But she’s too good.”
Myself, Delphine and Mary-Anne looked round quickly. Vicky was standing in front of that chair where nobody was.
“Vicky. You were here all along?” I said.
“Yes,” answered Vicky. “She,” Vicky nodded at Sonia Watkins, “was outside when she called you. She was hoping for some sort of panic escape attempt to get me away from here and then into her clutches. I couldn’t get into her brain from that distance, but I assumed I could when she was only a couple of meters away. Obviously I was wrong. But, I’m not very good at this.” Vicky strode over to Sonia while she said this. Sonia was shaking, obviously in shock
“Careful. She’s in shock,” I said.
“Maybe,” said Vicky without compassion or conviction. She grabbed Sonia Watkins’ hair and violently pulled her down to the ground, face first. “Or maybe she’s bluffing. She did say she’s immune to mind control. She may also be immune to shock.” Vicky then produced another knife from nowhere and proceeded to cut off her clothes. Sonia Watkins was turned over and her remaining clothes removed. She was lying naked on her back on the floor. She had recovered some of her faculties by now.
“What were you going to do to me?” said Vicky.
“Take you in for questioning.”
“Why?”
“Because we are afraid of you and your group.”
Vicky looked at her. “You are refreshingly honest,” she said. “How are you resistant to magick?”
Sonia Watkins looked puzzled. “I’m resistant to mind control. Magic is stupid and childish. What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Sorry. My bad. I’m a bit excited. I’ve just been freed from that helmet thing your lot put on me and I’m still a bit groggy,” Vicky lied, trying to recover from her mistake. Yes, I noticed that, but I said nothing. Later I discovered Delphine and Mary-Anne had noted the same thing.
“So,” continued Vicky quickly, obviously trying to take this Sonia’s mind off what she said. “What will you do now? Specifically, what will happen to my friends here?”
“Nothing. They provide a service to the whole community and they have immunity. No-one will dare do anything to them. They are impartial.”
“In that case, why did you come here? Did you expect them to tell you all about me?”
“No, of course not. I hoped they had taken you on as a case and you were still be with them. If so, the idea was to spook you into leaving. I would have taken you then. Once that didn’t happen, I had to come here and at least go through the motions of interviewing them. And when you were just sitting there I thought I could claim I was protecting them.”
Vicky laughed. “And I told them to tell you anything you wanted to know. You might have been pleasantly surprised when you got all that.” Vicky looked at me. “I withdraw that instruction,” she said. “I want the anonymity you provide.”
I nodded.
“What about you, Charity?” Vicky asked me. “Do you accept what she says?”
“Oh yes,” I reply. “That describes the status quo as it was and I’m certain it’ll stay that way for a long time yet.
Vicky then took Sonia Watkins’ bag and went through it. She went out with the car keys and returned later. “Your car’s immobilized,” she said to Sonia Watkins, “and I’ve destroyed your change of clothes as well as well as those interesting weapons you had. Now, Charity. You’re a medical doctor as well as your other qualifications. Are any of the others?”
“Yes, they both are,” I answer.
“Good,” said Vicky who grabbed Mary-Anne before she could object and proceeded to cut her clothes off her back. Mary-Anne squealed at this indignity.
Vicky looked at Delphine, who gave a great theatrical sigh and removed her clothes voluntarily. Vicky took them and cut them up.
“What type of knife is that?” I ask, trying not to think about what was happening. The handle’s far too short.
Vicky ignored this but Sonia Watkins answered. ”It’s a throwing knife, especially made, probably by Vicky herself.”
Vicky looked annoyed at Sonia Watkins knowing her name. Then she shrugged.
“Yes,” Vicky said simply.
“But, where did you get it?” I asked. “You didn’t have it when we met and you haven’t had a chance since.”
Vicky looked at me. “Read Poe,” she said.
I looked puzzled.
“She must mean ‘The Purloined Letter,’” said Sonia Watkins, looking at me. She realized I needed more information. “She means she had them all the time and they were in plain sight, just arranged so you would assume they were something else.”
“Oh,” I said, just half getting it.
Vicky moved quickly now. She took all our bags and made certain they included all our cells. Then she cut the telephone cables and left the house incommunicado.
Vicky then ran upstairs and returned a while later. “I’ve destroyed all the clothes up there,” she said. “Sorry, but I need you incommunicado for a little while. ‘Till Charity gets back with more clothes to be precise.”
Next she approached Sonia Watkins and quickly pulled the knife from her arm. Sonia gasped in pain and her arm began to bleed in earnest. Vicky wiped the knife clean using the new pile of rags that had appeared on the floor.
“You’d better deal with that now,” Vicky told Delphine and Mary-Anne, while she took me by my arm to my car. “I need a lift to the center,” she said.
While driving there Vicky busied herself with removing all the sims from the cells and dumping them all on the back seat, with the bags.
“Is everything paid up to date?” she asked.
“Yes. The finances are all in order,” I reply, still dazed at all this bustle.
Once at the center she kissed me on the cheek and left, leaving me in the middle of traffic on Main Street. I blinked and she was gone.
THE CLINIC RETURNS TO NORMAL
Mary-Anne opened her laptop, navigated to the emails and groaned. “It’s only been a few days and look at all this,” she wailed.
Delphine said, while checking the same list, “And look at this. Chrystal Wynd’s done it again. He’s demanding an urgent appointment.”
“It’s his sexuality again, isn’t it,” said Mary-Anne. “Just get him to get a pair of enormous boobies and he’ll be fine, the best of both worlds.” She looked at her colleagues. “Come on, it’s obviously his name that’s causing all this and he won’t change that. So let’s just go with the flow.”
Charity made a note. “We’ll discuss that option later. Is there anything so urgent we need to deal with it now?”
“Hey, this is new,” remarked Delphine. “It’s someone called Softi. Does anyone know him?”
“He writes for EMCSA,” answered Mary-Anne, their EMCSA expert. “I’ve been expecting him to contact us for a while now. He’s in a bad way. He’s one with the fairies, except his is personal and she’s called Tatiana.”
“He’s not a Shakespeare buff, is he?” said Charity.
“I don’t know,” answered Mary-Anne. “But we’d better book him in asap. Does anyone know his credit limit?”
“He’s loaded, don’t worry,” said Charity, who had just checked him out.
Charity kept a close eye on all their finances.
“Oh, here’s another new one. Someone called Merry Brooks,” said Mary-Anne, looking closely at her screen. “I know of her. She posts at EMCSA. Apparently she thinks she’s a robot. No,” she corrected, “She wants to be a robot. Does anyone know how to do that?”
“I do. It’s easy,” said Delphine.
“That’s cool. Will you teach me how to do that?” said Mary-Anne.
“Not a problem. Why don’t you just sit in when I convert this Merry person?”
Mary-Anne smiled. “I’d like that. Thanks.”
“Anyway, add her to the list soonest.” Said Delphine.
“I’ve got her stats and pics,” said Mary-Anne, “and she says she has no money.”
They all checked out the stats and pics. Charity next checked the finances. (It has been known that very rich people sometimes claimed pauperdom in order to play on the heartstrings and get stuff for free. Charity did not have any heartstrings, which was why she insisted on being the financial director.) This one took a few minutes but she eventually came back with confirmation that Merry Brooks was after a freebie. “Put her in the rejects,” she said.
“Shiri wants another visit. No doubt she’s going to try and hypnotize me on the fly again,” said Charity. “Add her in, Mary-Anne. Shiri’ll never understand what she’s doing wrong, but she does have spare cash she doesn’t know what to do with. So let’s help her again by transferring another large chunk away from her.”
“Anyone heard of Sally Blair?” asked Delphine.
“Yes,” said Mary-Anne. She’s written one or two stories for EMCSA.”
“Well I haven’t heard of her,” said Charity. “What about her?”
“Wow,” said Delphine when she quickly read the rather long email. “She has very serious problems if this is to be believed. She says she has no money though.”
It took Charity ten minutes to verify this and get a few photos and some stats after Delphine gave her the details.
“We’ll still take her,” said Charity, after looking over the photo and stats. “Mary-Anne, you do it on her first visit. Make it good and quick and tight so she’ll go straight to Carmen without argument for six months or so. Carmen will work her eighteen hours a day and more on weekends but she’ll pay the appropriate wage. This Sally Blair will have enough money then and will be desperate to get back to what she was. That’s when we cure her of what Carmen will do to her. Then she’ll need to earn the money to cure her original problems and we send her to Carmen to earn it. If we do it right we can send her to Carmen until her looks go. Say another twenty years or so of regular fees.”
They all laughed at this almost free money that was coming their way.
Mary-Anne, still half laughing remarked, “Here’s a couple I recognize. Betsy Leohtar and HB5211.”
“What about them? Are they good prospects? Are they together?”
Charity interjected with, “Send me their details, will you?” Mary-Anne did. She told Delphine to go over Betsy Leohtar’s details while she went over HB5211’s.
“They’re not a couple although there have been rumors.”
“We’ll treat them together if appropriate, for practical and financial efficiency. But we’ll bill them separately. We can’t increase the bureaucracy around here by giving joint discounts. It’s crippling as it is.”
“This HB5211 is female and has a problem we can help her with,” Mary-Anne said eventually.
“What is it?”
“Well, apparently, she can’t stop collecting people as mind controlled fuckpuppets and as art. Her main problem is they are taking up too much of her time and it still takes money to deal with them all and to house them. Basically she’s one of those extreme hoarders you see on TV.”
“That’s easy,” said Charity. “We’ll just make her get rid of some and all will be well. We’ll also help when she has a relapse further down the line.” She looked at her colleagues and saw no dissent. “Book her in then. With a problem like that I expect she’ll be the bossy type. Mary-Anne had better deal with her, at least initially. She’ll have some proper manners after her first session. And, I’ve checked. She can pay, especially if she downsizes substantially, so that’s the aim of the session. But don’t cure her too well. Remember, we want repeat customers.”
“Now, what about this Betsy Leohtar? She can afford it, but it’s on the borderline. We should reject her unless we can somehow change this paradigm. We need her to be able to make more money more quickly to be a viable patient. What about Carmen? Can she take her?”
“Is her kink useful? Let’s see her pics.” They all checked the pics. “Carmen won’t use her,” said Delphine. She wrinkled her nose after studying her kinks. “Does anyone want to deal with that?”
“Think of the smell.”
“The cleaning firm will demand an increase.”
Charity observed, “We’re overloaded as it is. We may have to do a three day week for the next couple of weeks.”
Both Mary-Anne and Delphine looked at Charity in horror. Delphine said what they were all thinking, “Put her in the rejects then.”
“Hey, this one’s from Carmen,” said Delphine, they all looked at her reading her screen. “She has a new market and it’s lucrative, apparently. She desperately wants average looking women in their fifties and sixties for specific six month contracts.”
Charity e-scrabbled in the out folder. “What was her name again?” she asked generally.
“Berry,” answered Mary-Anne. “Berry Brooms”.
“Can’t find her,” despaired Charity. Charity always despaired at losing easy money.
But Delphine found her. “It’s Merry Brooks silly,” she said, pulling the email back into the active list.
“Include her in with Sally Blair and we’ll treat them both the same. Can you do them both, Delphine.”
“Easy,” answered Delphine, delighted at duplicate work. She needn’t hurt her brain by thinking of anything new for these two.
Mary-Anne detailed a long list of potential clients. “What about this lot? We don’t know any of them and, anyway, they’re not very interesting.”
Charity looked at the list and eventually said, “Put them all in the rejects folder and send it to Penny Propofol. Her procedures, if that’s the right word,” Charity pulled a face as she said this, “are always requiring more people. She does quantity, not quality.” Charity performed the difficult feat of sniffing as she said this.
And so, life returned to normal at the Clinic.