She smiled and sat her bag down.
“Same position,” he said, fixing himself with a pair of rubber gloves. “Did you remember your pills?”
Ava slapped her forehead. “No. Sorry. Can I take them now or do I come back tomorrow?”
Dr. Van Gould looked annoyed but checked himself reasonably quickly. “Take them. We’ll just wait a minute before issuing the injection.”
She used a plastic cup to fill water from the cooler in his room, and for a few minutes, what could’ve been an awkward silence was eased by him asking filler questions about her day. Then prepared the injection, until he finally asked her to move on the bed.
She lay down and soon felt the familiar sting. But the drowsiness came on much faster than usual, and she hung in that in-between state of waking and sleeping, mumbling the numbers he asked her to count back from. She felt a tingling in her mind, a numbness she hadn’t experienced before. She could feel pressure on her hips from Van Gould’s fingers.
“Dr.—”
He shushed her quietly. “It’s alright,” he whispered.
“I don’t feel... I don’t think...”
“You’re feeling the effects much more quickly now...” he paused then, as if reaching for something. Checking for something to prove his previous statement. “Yes, yes you are. This really is wonderful news.”
“No... I... I don’t feel good.” Ava could sense her eyes rolling in her head. Dr. Van Gould’s image came to her in flashes. Standing over her, looking down. She could see, in her delirium, her hands making a floppy gesture as she tried to wake up. Her legs twitched and shifted, her inner thighs hitting something between her legs. His arm?
“What... what are you doing?”
“Relax Ava. What you’re feeling is perfectly normal for a heterosexual woman. It will take some getting used to, but you’re making amazing progress. You’ll feel some pressure in the lower part of your abdomen soon. Let it happen.”
Ava gagged and jerked on the bed before turning and vomiting onto the floor. It was only Van Gould that kept her from following. Ava coughed and gagged again as Van Gould helped her off the bed and gripped her by the waist as he helped her stand up.
“Nurse Gallagher! Get this young lady to the restroom please.”
She was handed to someone behind her, and half dragged, half carried down the hallway to the toilet. Ava pried herself free of the nurse, trying desperately to get to the bowl. She didn’t know which end the next burst was going to come from. Closing the cubicle door, she managed to pull down her pants and sit. For the longest time, it seemed, she sat there. Head spinning, coughing and dry heaving a touch. But nothing happened. She had lost all she was going to.
When she trusted herself to stand, she got dressed and walked to the sink.
“You OK in there?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She ran her hands under the tap and splashed her face with cool water.
“Was it something you ate?” the nurse asked.
“More like something he gave me. I didn’t know which end was going to explode,” Ava muttered.
“Oh no, come on. Don’t think like that. There’s nothing in that injection that would cause tummy problems, honestly.”
Ava was about to respond with a scoff that she didn’t have tummy problems of that kind, she’d only thought she might have to go to the toilet quickly, when something struck her. She had been so out of it, and still was, but something made its way to the forefront of her mind. Peeling everything back, until she could focus on what was bothering her, she replayed her trip to the bathroom in her mind. When she had come in, all she could think about was sitting on the toilet as fast as she could. Now she realized she had lowered her pants with no hassle at all. The same tights that were cutting into her on the bus ride.
Ava slowly moved both of her hands to her waist and stilled as she felt each drawstring. Loose. No longer in a double knot.No... it can’t be.Ava looked at her own reflection in the mirror, mouth open, blinking fiercely as if trying to clear her mind of the thought. But then, remembering her legs had hit his hand, his words came back to her.What you’re feeling is natural for a straight woman.
“Oh my God,” she whispered through rattled breaths.You’ll feel a pressure soon. He was trying to bring her to orgasm with his fingers.Natural for a straight womanbecause a man was doing it to her. No, not a man. A devil. The devil.
Ava pushed the nurse aside and rushed out to the waiting room and out the door. She didn’t go back for her bag. She never wanted to see him again. Never wanted to step foot there again. She bolted around the corner before digging her phone out of her fitness jacket’s inner pocket, dialling her parents’ number.
“Mum! I need you to come and get me, please!” she cried through quivering lips.
“What happened to your appointment?”
“Fuck the appointment! I’m never going there again!”
“Oh Ava, for the love of—”