Juliet stepped through the rectangular doorway crossing to the other side where the light was and where her doctor stood standing over a teenaged girl who was also being restrained by a male nurse. The girl was screaming as she kicked tried desperately to free herself from the nurse’s control.
The doctor, Juliet recalled his name – Dr. Brady – held his left gloved hand over the teen’s mouth, while his right hand held a needle that was trying to find a landing on the girl’s upper body.
Juliet stood frozen trying to make sense of the scene before her. She looked around the room for… something.. but saw nothing of consequence at first. Then her eyes settled on a single object on the chair in the corner of the sterile room: A small purse.
The purse was small and made to look like Minnie Mouse in her pink and white polka-dot dress. It had a long black strap to which was affixed ten small neon colorful clips of the type a young teenage girl would affix to such a purse.
And the type that Juliet had affixed to her own Minnie Mouse purse when she was the age of the girl still screaming and kicking.
The unreal presence of the purse shocked Juliet causing her to recognize the scene before her for what it was: Juliet’s own abuse at the hands of the doctor and nurse when she was a teenager.
Juliet slowly turned her head to look towards the screaming girl, her eyes settling on her crying and distressed face. Juliet saw the girl’s full face, finally, for the first time.
Juliet inhaled upon seeing her younger self being forcefully held down by the nurse while the doctor finally penetrated her – the girl’s – chest with the needle then slowly pushed down, dispensing the drug that caused the girl’s kicking to stop and her screaming to fade.
The narcotics began working and the girl’s body was almost fully still.
Juliet had not exhaled.
The girl’s head was turned towards Juliet and Juliet saw the anguish, shame, and pain on the girl’s – her younger self’s face.
Juliet had not exhaled.
The girl’s eyes fought open and her lips partially parted, with spit connecting upper and lower lip. Her left eye focused on Juliet just as she mouthed a single word: Help.
Juliet exhaled.
And as she did the sound of her exhalation was a frightening high pitched scream-wailing which caused the men to fall back against the wall, with the doctor then falling to the floor.
Juliet exhaled.
Then she walked toward the men, slowly, deliberately, crossing the room and then standing in front of the doctor who remained on the floor, his arms in a defensive position, and his hand still holding the needle he had just used to drug the younger Juliet.
Juliet exhaled.
Then she bent down and grabbed the doctor’s hand that held the drug and she tossed it across the room where it stuck into the neck of the nurse. Then Juliet grabbed the doctor’s face and forced his mouth open. The doctor squirmed and tried to move but Juliet ignored his physical protestations.
Juliet was now on one knee and suddenly she now held the glass of poison she had poured into the old lady’s screaming mouth-opening.
Juliet hadn’t realized she still held the glass until that very moment.
Then Juliet caught her reflection in the glass of water. But it wasn’t her face that looked back at her and it wasn’t her face that continued screaming-wailing; it was the old woman’s face.
She was the old woman.
Juliet turned her attention back to the doctor who remained still despite trying to get out of her grasp. Still screaming, Juliet poured a small amount of the poison into the doctor’s mouth. In an instant the doctor began convulsing, thick grey bubbles escaped his lips and eyes. Then his torso twisted left then right, before settling leftward and jerking one last time before his stomach distended then burst, expelling more thick grey bubbles down his shirt and onto the floor.
Juliet turned to the nurse who had remained on the floor just below the table where the younger Juliet remained still. He was holding his neck where the needle Juliet had tossed now protruded.
His face reflected the horror of the moment but as soon as Juliet motioned toward him, he gathered himself and tried to stand but the drug had deadened his muscles so his movements were jerky.
He tried using the table for leverage to stand but as soon as his hand grasped the table, the young Juliet, who remained in a drug-induced state, grabbed his wrist and twisted it quickly causing the bone to snap. The nurse screamed and fell back to the floor.
As he hit the floor, Juliet stood over him still screaming. She leaned down and grabbed his head and slowly turned it to the left.
Juliet placed her slot-mouth on his ear and let all of the power of her scream funnel directly into his ear.
Juliet exhaled her fury at being held down by this doctor and nurse when she was just a girl and they insisted on drugging her before they abused her. Her screams were never answered then and no one believed her.
She had buried many of the feelings but not the memory of those sessions that lasted for just a couple of years but which caused a lifetime of therapy and difficult relationships and friendships.
The nurse was now fully insane and his bloody ears and eyes showed the physical insanity he forever live with.
Juliet stood and looked down at the girl – her younger self.
But the girl was no longer a younger Juliet. She was now a different girl who Juliet realized was now free from her own nightmare.
Juliet turned back to the room’s entry and started to walk towards it, her screaming now silenced, and the room completely silent. She looked back into the room one more time and surveyed the aftermath of a horrible scene that she had contributed to. The girl lay still but her eyes were now open as the drug started wearing off.
The girl saw Juliet and mouthed the words: “Thank you,” before closing her eyes again.
Juliet walked down the dark tunnel and emerged on the other side.
“It’s good to see you. I am glad you returned.” The older woman said softly.
“What… what the fuck was that?” Juliet fumed, her senses having returned but still unable to fully process what she had just experienced.
“I’d call it justice. You?” The older woman turned away from Juliet and moved toward the long row of tables. There was a chair behind each table and the tables continued past the horizon.
Juliet instinctively followed the older woman and arrived at the next table. As she did, the first table, chair, and apparition faded.
Juliet turned to the older woman. “So, I am dead and haunting people? Is that it?”
“You saved that girl, Juliet. Let’s go back to the market.
“This isn’t a market. This is a horror market.” Juliet protested.
“Next table, child.” The woman said ignoring Juliet’s questions and statement.
Juliet looked at the table, upon which rested a single pencil.
Behind the table, standing in front of the chair was another apparition. Just as Juliet looked at the creature and it’s slotted mouth, it began screaming. But unlike the other creature from before, this one’s scream was…music.
But it was just as painful.
“Fuck! Is all Juliet could muster as she began the task of picking of the pencil.
The last thing she heard was the older woman’s voice saying “In the eye.”
To be continued…
© 2020 by Myron J. Clifton. All Rights Reserved.
Dear Dean 