The Doctors Office

A horror/psychological thriller/suspense, An ordinary old man visiting the doctors, but little did he know he was actually entering...the dusk area. Read more at

The day was especially sunny. The old man stepped out of his Oldsmobile in a stiff and painful manor and started walking toward the door to the doctor's office. He had just recently celebrated his 93 birthday. It wasn't an unhappy event. His son had brought the kids over to his house and they had cake. it was simple and pleasant. But as time crept forward more his mind filled with the thought of passing from this world to the next. He thought more and more on that subject. What really does happen to our consciousness after our bodies fail? Being a religious man he told his self that there was sanctuary  waiting for him. A bright and open world, the plains laden with clouds and bright warm sun all around. Where the ones he had loved in life would be waiting for him to spend an eternity in bliss.

But as his aching bones had grown more and more sore, as his flesh began to sink and prune up, as his mind became more and more blurred and unreliable he began to become more and more skeptical of his awaited paradise. Could his life end and what followed was an eternity of darkness, an eternity of non-existence? A faded memory to be forgotten by the world in due time. This thought haunted him always, and even still as his stiff legs stepped slowly toward the door of the doctor's office.

As he edged close to the door it opened on its own to let him in with ease. A kind gesture of the automated door, so polite, welcoming him into this place of healing. But this brought a thought to his faded mind as well. Is the door guiding him into a place of healing? Or is it leading him into a place of misfortune? Where the most horrible news of all news has been given to so many people in the past, including him. It had been sixty years since his wife had passed. it was this very doctors office that had delivered his wife and him to complete and utter sorrow for so many years.

 He stepped into the office. The air smelt of artificial lilac and plastic. The carpet was rough and matted under his feet. He slowly looked from side to side, the walls were an uncomforting dark yellow, like the shade of a coffee stain on a napkin. He had been here uncountable times before, yet somehow it seemed new to him, like he had never seen it in such a rough state. The welcome desk was on the far side of the room, a dying potted plant sat on it and an old lamp with a dry paper lamp shade, a lighter color of yellow then the walls. A middle aged women sat behind it, fat and uninterested typing something on an out of date type writer. It had been years since he had seen one of those in use. He started walking toward her, each step he took was slower than the last. He felt as if something was holding him back, or as if the room had gotten longer with every stride he took. The walls were lined with chairs, wooden with just enough padding on the seat to soften the blow as you sat down, but other than that feeling like cloth on hard wood. Beside every other seat was an end table, with all the necessary out of date magazines. He peered towards one and read it as a sears catalogue.

The woman behind the desk coughs a loud and obvious cough to get his attention. he had just realized he was standing still over the table looking down at the catalogue.

"Are you okay sir?" she says in a ragged smokers voice.

"w-why yes, miss, why do u ask?" the old man stutters as he slowly looks up to make eye contact.

"Sir, you've been standing over that table for half an hour now, how can I help you? Do you have an appointment?" she says in an uninterested and slightly annoyed manner.

"Yes, I am here to see doctor Liverstein this morning"

"Okay, have you been a patient here before sir?"

"yes...I mean no... I think..."

the woman sighed and opened a drawer to the desk pulling out a piece of paper with some writing on it.

"sir, you're going to have to fill out this paperwork  with all your information before the doctor can see you." she says as she hands him the paper and a pencil.

"Just let me know if you need any help, okay?" she says with forced politeness.  

He nods to her and takes the paper and pencil in his shaking hands and slowly walks toward the closest chair. He takes a seat. He had just realized he was the only patient in the office today. He takes a deep breath, the air was stale and dry, it made his throat hurt as it went through his nose. He looks down at the paper, holding  the pencil clumsily in his shaking hands. He couldn't stop them from shaking now-a-days, no matter how hard he concentrated. He began to write his name, the lead line on the paper was bumpy and staggered. He couldn't finish writing like this. He brings his head up to ask the woman, if she would mind to write for him, since he was unable. But as soon as his eyes reached the desk he saw she was missing.

"Miss?" he said aloud, looking around the room.

 He had not heard any door open and close while he was looking down at his paper. Where could she have gone? He got himself up as steadily as he could and looked behind the desk. she wasn't under it. The room was darker then it had been before, which made his old eyes hurt as he looked around. The lamp on the desk gave off such little light it barely reached past the desk. He slowly walked toward the door to the back where the doctors were known to be, but the door would not budge. He peered through a small window in the door, but only saw a single pale light in the back of a hallway.

"miss?" he called out again, this time louder.

But there was no answer again. He had no choice but to leave and come again another time. He started walking for the door. But as he came nearer to the automated door that welcomed him in, he noticed it had changed. No longer has it the modern, sensor detected sliding door but a heavy wooden one with an iron knob. He grasped the knob and turned it. The knob made a deep grinding noise and stayed shut indefinitely.

"Damn it." he said angrily as he puts all his effort into opening the door. He started to panic, his breaths got heavier and heavier. He delivers a weak kick to the door with no avail to make it budge. His vision began to blur in and out, the room began to spin eternally from side to side, up to down, in every direction possible. He clenched the collar of his shirt with his shaking hand as he became so light headed that loud screech could be heard from inside his ears. His legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground. he huddled up in the fetal position as he drifted into unconsciousness.

His eyes open slowly as he awakens. Lifting up his head he sees he is still alone and trapped in the dark yellow waiting room. All the light has dissolved from the room except the dim lamp light on the desk.  He crawls to the nearest chair from the door to help himself up. He grabs the arms of the chair and lifts himself into it with great difficulty. His breath is heavy after the endeavor as he sits in the chair looking up at the dark ceiling. The room is silent, so silent he could almost hear the slow thumps of his failing heart. He looks down beside him to see the dark outline of the Sears catalogue.

He grabs it, gets up and slowly walks for the desk. The only place with sufficient light for him to read. He reaches for the office chair and sits down. This chair is significantly more comfortable than the ones for the guests to sit in. He sets the catalogue on the desk and leans over it to see better, moving the lamp closer to his field of vision.

He slowly looks up and down the front page, the border was red and bold! something designed to catch the eye and show off all the wears it had to offer. All around the cover where pictures of all the nifty things you could purchase back in the day. Cameras, guitars, pipes, shovels, anvils, dresses, furniture, guns, tea kettles, everything and anything someone could want. The Big bold letters of the name where the center piece of the cover! "Sears Roebuck & Co Catalogue" so many night him and his siblings would spend sifting through the pages looking at all the splendor this magazine of wonder had to offer.

He Stopped his brief memory of childhood happiness in an instant. His eyes went unblinking as he looked loathingly and horrified at the date of the magazine. The year of his wife's death, was stamped on the front, right beside the title. He dropped the book and threw it to the side, tears welling up in his wrinkled old eyes. He looked up and he finally recognized the room he was sitting in. This was what the room looked like 60 years ago. The day she left him to see the eternal darkness. He stared blankly into the darkness, his elbows on the table as he held his head up. The tears dripping from his nose as he silently sobbed.

The Doctors office door slowly opened  a crack with a long and drown out creek. He looked toward it and heard the sound of footsteps.

"Miss?!" he yelled as he got up and moved as fast as he could toward the door, not think of what could be behind it. He grabbed the door and swung it open.

The hall way was dark except for the lonely light at the end. He saw a shadow pass by it, without hesitation he walked as swiftly as he could toward the light. He needed some answers he needed this to be over. He reached the corner and turned to see the other side.

Down the hall, was an opened door, and light spewed from it. He could also see two shadows facing each other. They appeared to be talking, but no sound could be heard down the hallway. He could see the one suddenly hold his hands to his face. Other comforted it by putting a hand on his shoulder. The crying one pushed it away. Something was wrong. It was angry, it started moving violently, pointing to the shadow, its hands in fists. Not a word could be heard but he knew he was yelling. accusing. The other backed away with his hands in the air.  The angry one jolted towards it, the shadows no longer cast. But as soon as the disappeared he heard chaotic crashes. The sound of desks being flipped lights being broken. Metal pieces of medical equipment clanging against the tiled floor. He moved as fast  as he could towards the door. Somehow this all felt familiar, he needed to stop it. It was a mistake. He couldn't help it, he lost control. But It wasn't the doctors fault, but he was the only one that could be blamed for giving him these gut wrenching feelings of utter hopelessness and despair. Just as he reaches the door way, in an instant, the light flickers off. He feels a breath of cool air against his face as he stands in the darkness.

"Who's there?" he says in the complete darkness. He smells the scent of cherry blossom, a scent he's missed for so long. The light flickers back on, and in front of him stands his wife looking into his eyes silently. Pristine and in her youth, as if from a picture taken long ago. Her long dark brown hair flowed down to her waist. Her skin soft and flawless. Her lips dark red with her favorite shade of lipstick and smiling as if she hadn't seen him in years. Her large brown eyes looked up at him the same way they did at their wedding day.  Just as she looked before the illness struck. She was beautiful in every way, body and soul.

He was speechless. he had so much to say, so much to tell her, his soul filled with bright and strong energy. He felt young again. He opened his mouth to tell her how much he loved her, how much he's missed her, how sorry he is for all his mistakes, how much he forgave her for hers. He could have talked forever of their children, of his life, of the world, of what she's missed and how happy he was she was back. But as he opened his mouth, the light flicked off.

He moved his arms to where she stood and felt nothing. The scent of her perfume disappeared. He couldn't feel her presence anymore. He felt like an old man again. His heart filled with an unrelenting sorrow he had never felt before. The sorrow you feel when you've obtained something long lost, just to have it taken away from you again. The lights flicker on again, and he sees the room has turned into a familiar doctors office, and in front of him he sees his younger self, clenching the hand of his dying wife so tight as if to hold onto her soul as it left her body to keep it in. She was bald, her skin was sickly, her eyes pale, and her lips dry and flaky. Her breath was short and quick. A doctor walks into the room and tells him that he must leave so they can do the procedure.

"No!" says the old man. But no one can hear him.

The younger man gives a polite smile and says "alright", unknowing of the end, or pretending to himself that the end isn't there. he grips her hand tight and kisses her, then her forehead. He looks her in the eyes and says "I'll be here when you wake up"

She says "I love you"

"I love you too" the younger man and old man say together.

The lights flicker off again.

The old man. Doesn't move. He doesn't say anything. All he does is weep.

And then. The lights come back on and he's back in the waiting room looking at the sears catalogue. But its changed. it's no longer sears but an obscure fishing magazine with a picture of a large mouthed bass. He looks up and the waiting room walls are colored bright blue. The room itself is full of people sitting, reading, children crying and playing. He wipes the tears from his eyes and looks toward the welcome desk. He walks up to it. The lady at the desk is the same middle aged hag of a woman but, looks up from her computer and smiles.

"oh, hello! Your right on time! The doctor is waiting for you."

She gets up, and opens the doctor's office door for him. He is calm, as calm as he's ever been. He walks through the door, his hands have stopped shaking. 

Reviews

[brlockwood]

Seems like he's ready to meet his end now. Good stuff. I think the beginning was a little heavy on descriptions but it worked well when you brought it full circle and we ended up back in the waiting room. Nice work.