The Doctor Is In

by Carl Weber

  Voncile got up from the table and left the restaurant, crossing the street to meet up with Patrice. This was the real reason she had waited to be sure Kasen was long gone before she went to her car. The last thing she wanted was for him to see her meeting with the woman he thought was just a new patient in his practice. In truth, Voncile had hired her friend Patrice to pose as a patient and try to keep Kasen distracted. She figured that the more ways she could utilize to get his mind off of Raine, the better. She was determined to do almost anything to make him forget about a woman who was nowhere near good enough for him. She was sure that once that worthless woman was out of his mind, he would be free to finally act on the lustful feelings Voncile knew he’d always had for her.

  Voncile got in her car, shutting the door behind her. She was a little on edge from the sexual tension of her date with Kasen, so she reached for a cigarette in her purse. She lit the cigarette, taking several puffs and blowing smoke rings into the air. A knock on the passenger’s side window startled her, but she relaxed when she looked over and saw Patrice standing there. She unlocked the door so Patrice could get in the car.

  “Please put that away,” Patrice griped, fanning away the thick smoke. “I’m about to choke.”

  “You haven’t been in here long enough to choke,” Voncile answered, but she opened a window anyway to let the smoke out. “There. Happy? Now tell me how your visit with the doctor was today.”

  Patrice smirked. “First of all, why didn’t you tell me he was so damn hot?”

  Voncile snapped her head to the side, catching an attitude. “Let me repeat myself,” she said with a stern voice. “I’m not paying you to hook up with Kasen. I’m paying you to keep him occupied. Under no circumstances are you to have sex with him, understand? If you feel as if you can’t control yourself, then I will find someone else who is willing to follow the rules. Let me know now if you’re in or out.” She took another deep drag of her cigarette, purposely blowing the smoke in Patrice’s direction.

  Patrice rolled her eyes. “Look, don’t get your panties all in a bunch, okay? I didn’t say I had any plans to fuck the guy. I just meant that he’s easy on the eyes, and this is going to be a lot of fun spending time with him.” Then, because she couldn’t resist jabbing at Voncile, who was obviously in love with this guy, she added, “So much fun that you may not have to pay me. I may have to pay you for hooking me up with him.”

  Voncile started to curse her out. “Bitch, don’t make me—”

  Patrice began to laugh, cutting her off. “Don’t be so feisty, Voncile. I was only kidding. I am well aware that this is business. Speaking of which, I need my first payment.”

  Voncile stubbed out the cigarette into the ashtray, then reached into the glove compartment to retrieve an envelope for Patrice.

  With a grin on her face, Patrice sniffed the envelope. “I love the smell of money. It always excites me.” She opened the envelope, flipping through several hundred-dollar bills. “Thank you. I really needed this. You are always right on time, and I love working with you.”

  “Same here,” Voncile replied. “I’ll let you know when I need you again. Maybe early next week.”

  “Just let me know and I will be there,” Patrice said before leaving the car.

  This wasn’t the first time Voncile and Patrice had worked together to get something they wanted. They had known each other since high school, and there was a trail of schemes, plots, and criminal activity that could send the two of them to jail for a long time. Luckily, neither one was worried about being exposed by the other. Even though they argued from time to time, they had developed a good working relationship, and they trusted each other.

  Voncile drove home to her two-story, three-bedroom house. She parked near the white picket fence and went up onto the porch, standing beside the porch swing as she searched for the key in her purse. She noticed that the grass was in need of a cut, and she would have to call the landscaper to find out where the hell he had been. If only she had a man in her life, he could take care of things like that, she thought.

  Inside, the entire house was as neat as a pin. No dust. No clutter. No noise. The hardwood floors were polished to perfection, and the traditional décor had cost Voncile a fortune. She left her purse and keys on the coffee table in the living room and climbed the stairs up to the second floor, thinking about the day she would finally be walking up those stairs with Kasen. She couldn’t wait for him to share a bed with her, and she looked forward to opening her legs, allowing Kasen to dive right in.

  Voncile’s guest rooms were usually empty, but one of them had been occupied for the past day by someone she would rather not have as a guest. Some things were just necessary, though, to reach her ultimate goal, so she would put up with this guest, at least for a while. The door to the guest room squeaked as she pushed it open. Inside the stuffy, windowless room, she saw Raine and the sight made her want to laugh out loud. Little Miss Perfect was totally helpless now, with her mouth gagged and her hands tied behind her back. She was also hideous, dressed in a raggedy cotton pajama top that cut right above her knees, with her hair matted, nappy, and tangled. Smudged mascara stained her face where tears had run from her swollen eyes.

  Raine was still in total shock that she had been snatched up from Kasen’s place and brought here. Voncile had lied, telling her that there was an emergency and something horrific had happened to Kasen. The next thing Raine knew, she had been knocked over the head, and when she woke up, she was in this room. She didn’t understand why, until she was forced to write a letter to Kasen, telling him that he was a cheater and she was leaving him for another man. Nothing in the letter was true, but here she was, and there was nothing that she could do about it.

  With a wicked smile on her face, Voncile walked up to Raine. She lifted her chin, forcing Raine to look at her. “What is that horrible smell in here?” Voncile asked, wincing. “Did you shit on yourself? If you had to use the bathroom, that’s all you had to say. Damn, stinky woman.”

  Raine moaned, knowing that Voncile couldn’t understand her with a piece of cloth tied around her mouth. She kept turning her head in circles, hoping that Voncile would remove the cloth so she could speak.

  “You know what?” Voncile said. “I really don’t want to hear anything you have to say right now. Let me go take a shower, get me a bite to eat, and then I’ll be back so we can chat. Okay?”

  Raine nodded like a bobblehead doll. She was trying her best to cooperate with Voncile in the hopes that she would rethink this whole thing and let her go. She never would have guessed that Voncile was this evil. This crazy woman was nothing like the woman Raine had seen at Kasen’s office. Kasen had nothing but nice things to say about Voncile, and even though Raine didn’t know her personally, she had still viewed her as a decent person—or at least a normal one. Raine had even felt that Voncile was beneficial to Kasen and his practice, so this situation left her totally in awe. She hadn’t stopped crying all day.

  She wondered if or when Kasen would start looking for her. The phony letter had told him not to bother, so all she could do was hope he would ignore what the letter said. Their relationship was strong and loving. He had to know that she wouldn’t just walk away from him, she thought, but then she realized that her behavior the day before might have actually given him reason to doubt her.

  She was worried now that her uncomfortable response to his proposal might actually be enough for him to believe all the things Voncile had made her write in the letter. The truth was that she had just wanted a little more time to talk though her trust issues before she committed herself fully to the idea of marriage. Also, she had been keeping a secret from Kasen for a while, and she didn’t want to get married before she cleared the air about Omar.

  Omar had been trying to push up on Raine for years, and she had never told Kasen about it. That was his best friend, and she figured as long as she kept Omar in check, there was no need to hurt Kasen’s feelings by telling him. But Omar had become
more aggressive lately. He begged her to be with him, and when that didn’t work, he started making threats. He also kept insisting that Kasen was being unfaithful to her, and said he had photographic proof of Kasen’s ongoing affairs. Raine was smart enough to be skeptical, but a small part of her wondered if it could be true, so she held off telling Kasen about it until she was sure Omar was lying.

  When Kasen had proposed, she was taken by surprise, and she felt a little stuck. She wasn’t sure how to address the issue of his possible cheating with Kasen. After having kept it a secret for so long, she didn’t feel like she could just blurt out in that moment that Omar was stirring up so much trouble behind the scenes. She needed some time to clear her head and process the whole thing, so that she could decide how she wanted to break the news to Kasen. When she got home, she poured herself a glass of wine and looked through old pictures of her and Kasen together. Each picture reminded her of a beautiful and loving time they’d had together, and the more she saw, the more she realized that this man truly loved her. She finally realized that Omar had been lying, and when Kasen came home, she was going to tell him everything. Then they could go forward with their wedding plans, and she could become Mrs. Kasen Phillips. Instead, she had ended up in this house, on the brink of losing her mind. She hadn’t seen Omar yet, but she was sure that he was someway or somehow involved in this too.

  Voncile came back into the room, wearing a comfortable housecoat and smelling like fresh peaches from taking a shower. She pinched her nose as she entered the room then looked at Raine, who was still in the corner, trying to free her hands from the tight rope.

  “Girl, forget it,” Voncile said. “You’re wasting your time. Those ropes aren’t going anywhere, and even if you do manage to get them off, there is no way in hell that I’m gonna allow you to leave here.”

  In an attempt to intimidate Raine, Voncile sat directly in front of her with her legs crossed yoga-style. She untied the cloth from around Raine’s mouth, watching Raine as she moved her stiff mouth in circles.

  “What do you want from me?” Raine asked tearfully. “How long are you planning on keeping me here like this?”

  Voncile shrugged. “Hopefully not too much longer, but we’ll see. Are you hungry?”

  Raine didn’t answer as she narrowed her eyes and silently cursed Voncile in her head. That look cost Raine a hard slap across the face. Her head jerked to the side, and her hair shifted into another style from the force of the blow. Voncile pointed her finger at the tip of Raine’s nose, speaking through clenched teeth.

  “Don’t you dare look at me like that. And when I ask you a question, you need to answer. So, let me try this again. Are you hungry?”

  Raine’s head remained lowered. She had no idea that Voncile was capable of doing something like this. She wondered how far Voncile was willing to go.

  “Yes,” Raine said in a soft tone. “Yes, I am hungry.”

  “It’s late, but I’m thinking about cooking me some good ol’ buttermilk pancakes, cheese eggs, and sausage. I don’t have time to make anything like that for you, but I’ll think of something. Meanwhile, what about going to the bathroom? You really need to clean yourself up. The last thing I want is you walking around my house smelling like a garbage truck. Do you smell this way around Kasen?”

  The one thing Raine could attest to today was that this bitch was crazy. She didn’t want to say or do anything else to set Voncile off. Raine knew that she had to be careful with her words.

  “I don’t smell like this around Kasen. And as for using the bathroom and getting something to eat, I would love to.”

  Voncile got up and left the room without another word, locking the door behind her. Feeling good about the way her plan was progressing, she danced her way to the kitchen to make breakfast. While flipping pancakes and scrambling eggs, she listened to jazz music, the same kind that Kasen sometimes listened to in his office. It made her think of him and their amazing dinner that night. Those lips were on her mind. She wondered if he was thinking about her as well, or if he was at home trying to cope with losing Raine. She considered calling to check on him, but she didn’t want to be too obvious. They weren’t really friends outside of the office like that. If she called out of the blue, asking a bunch of questions, he might suspect something. Instead, she planned to act as clueless as she could about the situation, in hopes that Kasen would eventually tell her about his tragic loss. Whenever he decided to spill the beans, she would offer her support to him. She would make herself available, and let him know that if he needed a strong shoulder to cry on, and a place to lay his burdens, she was there for him.

  Voncile stacked three pancakes on a plate, along with minimal scrambled eggs and two sausages. She grabbed a little something from the pantry for Raine, and also reached for a big aluminum pot. She could barely climb the stairs with so much stuff in her arms, and when she unlocked the door and stepped into the guest room, she was out of breath. She put the plate on the floor, then the pot.

  “You should try carrying all of this upstairs like I did,” she said to Raine. “That stuff was heavy, especially that pot. Feel free to use it as a toilet. I’ll get you some toilet paper before I go to sleep. And as for something to eat, you’re going to love this. I used to have a cat named Daisy. This was her favorite dish. She couldn’t get enough of it.”

  Voncile removed a can of gourmet cat food from her pocket, cracking it open. She put in on the floor in front of Raine, ordering her to dive in. Raine stared at the food in awe. She was too afraid to comment, but the one thing that she was sure of was that she wasn’t going to eat a pinch of the cat food. She would starve to death before diving in, as Voncile had suggested.

  Voncile got on the floor, sitting in front of Raine again. The maple syrup aroma from her plate roamed underneath Raine’s nostrils. Raine’s stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten since the day before, but she would never be hungry enough to eat cat food.

  “This is really good,” Voncile said with a forkful of eggs in her mouth. “I wish there was enough for you, but unfortunately not. I’m hungry because your ex ate up my steak tonight. We had fun during dinner, celebrating his breakup with you. He seems so happy that you left him, and the names he called you—girl! I didn’t know he could talk like that. Did you know his mouth was that foul?”

  “No,” Raine said softly, feeling tears welling up in her eyes again. “And I don’t believe he’s celebrating.”

  “Then you’re a fool, because he is.” She pointed to the cat food with her fork. “Eat up. There’s no telling when you’ll get something else to eat again, so you’d better start chowing down.”

  This time, Raine couldn’t hold back. This was ridiculous. “I’ve never had cat food before, and I’m not going to start eating it today. I do thank you for bringing me something, but no thanks to that.”

  Voncile shot her an evil gaze. After she swallowed the mouthful of eggs, she let Raine have it. “Just as I thought, you’re a little ungrateful bitch. You don’t appreciate anyone doing something nice for you, and I went out of my way to carry all of this shit up here for you. But you know what?” Voncile stood, raking the rest of her food on the floor. “I will not bring you anything else. If you get real hungry, eat that. I’m also taking my stink pot back downstairs. You won’t get it back until you’ve earned it.” Voncile stormed toward the door. She slapped her hand against the light switch, turning the room pitch black.

  Raine heard the click as Voncile locked the door again. She was sick to her stomach and she felt like crying, but she knew she had to hold it together. She had to think of some way to get Voncile to release her, because after another day of this, she wouldn’t be able to bite her tongue, and she just might lose her mind.

  * * *

  The next morning, Raine was slumped over on the floor with her arms still tied behind her back. She had been trying to free herself for most of the night, but to no avail. Her whole body felt weak, and her arms were severely sore.

 
Voncile was determined not to let her get any rest. She unlocked the door then strutted into the room. “Rise and shine,” she said loudly. “It’s time to wake up. You can forget about getting any more beauty sleep, because the Wicked Witch of the West is here.”

  Raine’s eyes fluttered. Her vision was blurred, and she strained to look at Voncile. As her eyes began to focus, she noticed Voncile was wearing one of her fitted dresses and a pair of peep-toe heels that Kasen had given her for her last birthday. Then she noticed that Voncile was carrying a large pot with her. At first she thought it might be the same pot she had brought in last night for Raine to use as a toilet. But then Voncile stepped closer and dumped the pot full of ice cold water over her head.

  “At the car wash,” Voncile sang out and danced around Raine. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, workin’ at the car wash, girl.”

  “Pleeeease,” Raine cried out. “Stop doing this! What did I . . . do to you, to make you do this to me?”

  Voncile didn’t respond. A crooked smile washed across her face, as she looked down at the puddle of water surrounding Raine.

  “Can I please have a towel?” Raine barked with anger in her voice. She couldn’t help it. There was no way for her to tolerate this. “Something . . . anything to wipe myself off.” Raine’s pajama top was clinging to her, and she was dying to remove her panties, which had a horrible stench coming from them at this point.

  Voncile stepped up to Raine, laughing. Her heels sank in the soggy carpet as she squatted to Raine’s level.

  “Girl, you look a mess. If Kasen could see you like this, he would be disgusted, wouldn’t he? I’ll go get you a towel, but let me warn you again. Watch your tone with me. If not, your days here are going to get a whole lot worse. Trust me on that.”