Doctor See-Through

The kitchen was white and untouched, with an out-of-place table right in the center of the tiles, glowing under the window’s light. The only natural wood color in the place, surrounded by my wife’s kitchen design, halfway finished, and covered in primer. Opened mail caught my eye as I walked through the front door, bills I got yesterday were moved. I chanced a glance at our bedroom-out of luck. She probably already took her meds today. Blessed by the devil with a heart condition, bedridden most days, and can barely move when she is coherent. Fatigue. Guilt hit me like I am sure it did her. I should have hidden the mail, the fact that I assumed she could not have gotten out of bed this morning felt like a concession. As if I have already given her up or resigned to the life I live now. I had just chucked a glossy-looking ad for a local pharmacy and a magazine away when suddenly I felt the start of a tremor. 

Wood clattered to the ground. I could hear some of our appliances shake. Doors slammed-bouncing off walls. I bolted into the hallway towards our bedroom. The shaking had not woken her up. The heart monitor continued to beep calmly at me as the shaking subsided. A constant reassurance to me that everything was going to be ok. I stood there letting it whisper sweet nothings into my ear until I could bear to leave her again. An earthquake on top of everything else. I walked back down the hall and into the kitchen again, the garbage had been knocked over and I started to pick up the fallen papers. The pharmacy ad reflected the light almost perfectly. I closed my eyes and sighed, “Honey.” It felt like the world was on top of me at that moment. I wrote one text to my brother, Sam, that told him I would be robbing a pharmacy today. Jail time for my wife’s life seemed like a no-brainer to me. If the Lord did not expect me to try, then why did he send the earthquake? 

My bike was thankfully untouched other than being knocked to the ground of the garage. If I still had my jeep, it would make me feel better about moving in the wake of an earthquake. The threat of an aftershock throwing me off my bike worried me, but the thought of a few extra years with her made me pastoral. It made me feel invincible. Imagining her happier and hopeful killed my anxious feelings the further I moved down the street. As I approached the corner, I took in the damage to the little town. A car had smashed into a telephone pole and police officers were down the street evacuating people around the electrical wires that were in front of the Walmart. It had been a bad one here. There was a fire somewhere because I could see smoke overhead past the crowd in the distance and I could hear a fire truck honking. I took the opportunity to slip around the side, away from the collection of people down the street and to the pharmacy parking lot. 

It was deserted. It would have been creepy if I had not heard constant noises from the people behind me. I crept through the broken glass door carefully. No noise was coming from the store, I thought that maybe this was the first place evacuated. Aisles had knocked over debris everywhere. As I moved more toward the center, my phone chirped at me, and it illuminated the area like it was the only thing alive in the entire store. It was a text message from Sam. I quickly tucked my phone away as I plunged deeper into the depths until I was in the exact middle. White light was coming from the back somewhere and the rows of drugs were like landmines. If I were not careful, a pill bottle could make me trip or some liquid on the ground could ruin my shoes or worse, place me here as evidence. The police around the corner popped into my head. Would I have to do something if someone were back here? Or has someone else come in already? 

Then I found myself in front of the door. I opened it like a man possessed, as if I were not in my body anymore and instead was some sort of puppet. I took one step in and froze. My breath caught itself in my lungs, almost forcing me to cough, but I resisted with all the strength I had left. I was sure my eyes were wrong, staring at the thing before me, stock still and unnerving. I felt as though I could not believe it even though I could see what it was. I lost my mind and in that moment of slow sweat and sharp breaths, I could only whisper to myself that this was all a bad dream. The hope that this was not real was the only thing keeping me awake and watching it. Of course, no normal person would ever look away. 

From the depths of the darkened pharmacy, it stood partially slouched. The corner of the room buzzed from the machine still trying to power the fluorescent lights that had gone out in the back. It rang in my head with white noise, and it felt like it grew louder with every second that passed. I silently hoped that the lights would go out so I would not have to look at this thing and prayed that they would stay on forever so I could make sure it never left my sight. What would be a normal man, this figure was some sort of flesh. A pale red color covered what would be his skin. Like it started as a shape of one of us, but it was altered by many surgeries. A poor imitation of God’s design of man. This made me confident to say it was not human even though something told me that this was not necessarily true. It was naked and skinny, but what ungodly feature I could not miss was the blood bag of a stomach it had protruding out like it was many months pregnant. The skin was stretched and nearly transparent, showing off more solidly colored organs within the body. 

It was as if it had a massive blood blister where its stomach should be and floating inside, slithering around, were intestines. Just like the ones on the white slab counter it had laid out. It was fleshy and dark purple like it had no heart to circulate the flow of blood. But I knew it had one, because I could see it twitch and squirm in its body from the sheer force of the beat. Did this thing not have bones? It faced the wall so I could only see half of its face and form. The seconds that passed could have been years, either way, I would not have been able to tell you how many went by. I was so taken aback that I almost missed a small amount of movement from the otherwise completely still creature. A small little bump on its temple rose a bit. Sudden understanding welled up within me, the movement was the thing’s eyes moving to look at me. Now I understand, just as I could see its organs through the rough skin-through its own flesh-it could see me through its own skull even with its back partially turned to me. 

The man…The Thing… did not move, however. The only movement was the twitching that it was doing from the impact of the beating heart inside it. All of my being wanted me to slam the door shut, but a small sliver of logic told me that if I moved, it would chase after me. A glance at the pure white cabinets above and a look at the tools sitting right next to the creature on a metal tray made something eat away at my brain. It reminded me of my kitchen, at home, my wife in bed laying down. Completely unaware of a creature like this, peaceful, and happy. The healed cuts on the man, the hospital blades and utensils, and the gentle grip of the scalpel in its hands reminded me of a doctor. 

Drawing confidence from who knows where, I slowly took one step back and immediately the movement did not go unnoticed. A dark pupil glanced down at me through limpid skin, and it seemed to judge me, like it was deciding on what I was to it or what it could take from me. It still had not moved, so I quickly took a few more steps back and the nonreaction gave me all I needed to finally turn around. I closed the door hard and held it there with as much force as I could. That’s when I heard the most heart dropping sound-metal hitting the floor. I turned and rushed to the other aisle and ducked below it. The sun was setting low now, so the shattered glass door was slowly losing color. I heard the door creak open and then glass being crunched down from someone’s foot. 

I got a sinking feeling when I heard the footsteps stop, it made me question why I wanted to rob this store in the first place. The silence felt thick and more devastating than when the outside looked like it was right now. After a few seconds, I heard a few pill bottles being kicked around on the other side of the row and I crawled towards a fallen aisle just in front of me. I slid as softly as I could manage-clang-fuck. I had hit something. I looked up underneath the shelf and a pair of bare feet stood two rows down facing me. 

Step-Fuck. Step-No. Step-Please God. I could not control my breath anymore. I clattered up onto my feet and stood to face the thing. Standing at least a foot taller than me and rubbing the extended belly full of organs was the man. I bolted. I jumped. I skirted my way through the shattered door. Sirens. I heard sirens and I ran to them as fast as I could manage. A police officer had halted me, calm as could be. I chanced a glance behind me, and I felt as though my luck had finally pulled through. The monster was not there, “if you could join these fellows here,” the police officer said to me, seeming to think I was just one of the people he was clearing out. Paranoia crept into my skin like a parasite, and it made me ache for my bike. 

“My bike is back there, will you please come with me to get it?” I felt like a child asking my parents to check the closet for the Boogieman. The kind lady who must have been the wife of one of the guys behind her looked at me. She turned to them and thankfully agreed to follow while they waited. They must have had a car damaged by the wreck or that’s what I assumed. I grabbed my bike off the side of one of the cement street lamps. “Thank you.” 

“It’s no problem sweetheart, you seem much more phased by this quake than us right now, you just go on home Hun.” She gave me a toothy grin and joined the pair of men now arguing. The ground shook again. I fell to a knee on the ground, it started to make me nauseous. Eventually it died down, I could hear the exasperations of some of the people and started my way back. I made it home empty-handed and more afraid than ever. The news flashed open on the mounted T.V with the anchor stating a selection of mysterious serial murders in a local pharmacy and I had to shut the screen off to stop myself from shaking. My wife, still fatigued and foreign to the sudden despair, made me feel sick. I glossed over more and more of our mail at her bedside when I noticed a letter addressed to me sitting on a small table away from the rest of the mail. I opened it and found a neatly written letter awaiting me. 

Dear Oliver, 

I am so sorry you were displeased with our last visit today at 5:07 pm exactly. I can imagine the emotional stress that must have been pumping through those veins of yours. Oh yes, you had some very nice veins. I offer my aid to you, I think, and this is with great concern for your future well-being of course, that it is best that you come to visit me again in one of my offices. I am sure we can compromise at any of the locations closest to you. 

-See you soon, Dr. See-Through 

Shock suddenly seized my body. This thing, this monster, could write. It knew where I lived, and it knew where I was. Rage washed over me in waves, I started to close all the curtains and locked all the windows. I even went into the garage and started to board up the house. Anywhere it could get in, I made a makeshift wooden latch for the door. I would not allow it to come in and hurt my wife. Not knowing where it was or what it wanted started to scratch away at my confidence until daylight had suddenly started to fade and die. I heard a pounding at my door. I suddenly heard a string of noises coming from my pocket. My heart seized, did this thing have a phone? I closed the door to our bedroom and locked it. I pulled out my phone only to see Sam’s name pop up. 

“Open up dude!” I heard him shout, “are you alive? Hello?” He slammed on the door. Relief washed over me. I headed toward the kitchen again and toward the boarded door. 

“I’m coming, hold your horses.” I creaked the door open only to have it stopped by the chain I had forgotten to undo. Sam looked at me like I was ridiculous. 

“What is going on with you? You did not answer my text. Did you see the news? That wasn’t you right? You didn’t kill those people in that pharmacy?” He looked worried, shifty, like he wanted to tell anyone who had heard that I was there at the pharmacy. 

“No, I didn’t,” I said a little hurt that he would think I could have done that. “Listen, Sam, now is not a good time,” I said giving a wary eye behind and around him. My paranoia took him aback a little, I could tell. It felt like he could sense something was wrong or off too, because he opened his mouth and closed it. Trying to think of something to say to break the ice, “I think you should go home and lock up. Tightly.” I blurted out because I could not keep it down any longer. The urgency in my voice had jostled him enough to nod.  

“Call me when you’re acting less insane, please,” he said a little offended, storming off to his car. I heard the engine start and I turned around and headed back into my room. I let my wife’s heart monitor calm me down again when for the third time today, rumbling began again, and it shook the house more this time. Like God’s anger at me for not doing more for her. Was I not giving enough to her? It felt more sickening than ever to be this powerless. I took a few deep breaths in time with my wife’s monitor. It was almost therapeutic. More knocks sounded at the door; Sam probably hit something. I got up a little sore. Remembering to undo the chain this time, I started to pry open the door when a glossy card caught my eye. Slowly I opened it. 

Dear Oliver, 

Our last visit had me worried, so I showed up at your home just to make sure you were all right. Now, I see you are housing an ill patient. Her heart condition is rather drastic, but thankfully you can trust her in our care. I will personally make sure she lives, but I have to say that she will need a replacement. 

Sincerely, Dr. See-Through 

This was it, God’s test. My chance to give her more like he intended me too. It was this or let her go. I felt my voice quiver in my throat, bubbling, “We don’t share a blood type.” I felt my hand on the door become cold as I heard a rustling sound coming from behind it. Another note. 

It doesn’t matter. 

Confidence welled up in me, like a dam after rain. I felt like I needed to make sure God knew I was serious about this, that I can confidently open this door and walk outside and greet our doctor. My hands shook like they were the house, unbuckling the door latch with a little popping sound. I opened the door.