A Real Flexible Girl
by The Preve
Part One
"Cough! Huh? What? What happened?! Where am I?!"
The woman woke, naked and confused. Her last memory, a smell of roses in her yoga studio. She was in her plank pose, the rose scent filled the air, followed by a great feeling of drowsiness.
She couldn't move. She was strapped to a gurney; florescent lights glowed overhead. The room was large and otherwise low lit. The woman looked around. The room seemed industrial; large wooden crates placed against dark gray walls, insulated water pipes on the ceiling.
Am I in a warehouse?
The place did not look like a hospital.
Was I in an accident? Who brought me here?
She took stock of herself. She was nude. That didn't bother her; she practiced nude yoga, as well as home nudity. Tubes and wires were connected to her body. Two I.V.'s connected to the veins on her right arm, one connected to her left.
One of the right I.V bags contained a transparent red fluid, the other, a transparent blue. The left bag contained a silvery liquid, like mercury.
A final line led to a blood pump which, in turn, displayed lines leading back to the I.V bags.
Pads on her chest connected to a heart monitor, showing a slightly elevated heartbeat.
The woman felt no fear, only mild confusion.
This is not a hospital; I've been kidnapped!
The first chill at that realization, crept down her spine. Stories of young people, right out of "Touristas," kidnapped for body organs, prowled through her brain. She was strapped down and hooked up.
For lethal injection?
The woman went over the drugs, she heard were used in executions. The colored liquids could be sodium pentothal and potassium cyanide, but the silvery fluid.
Why would they put mercury in me? Won't that damage my organs?
Panic had not yet set in. Yoga and meditation training calmed her.
I have to be rational, calm, so I can figure a way out of this.
Footsteps echoed in the corridor, not hard, not soft, slightly squeaky, indicating rubber soles on new shoes. The woman turned her head to the open corridor. Bright, florescent light illuminated the hallway.
The footsteps grew louder, stopped. A man's silhouette appeared at the entrance.
"Who are...?" she began.
The silhouette resolved into a tall, thin man. Thin described everything about him. His hair was a glossy black, shaggy carpet, set over a large head with a thin, sallow face.
His pale blue-gray eyes, topped with bushy eyebrows, were bespectacled with horn-rims. His long, thin nose jutted blade straight between high cheekbones.
A line-thin mouth slashed across his jaw. Finally, a whippet chin pointed like an arrowhead to the floor.
Two large Dumbo-sized ears stood out from his head like a pair of bat wings. A bobbing Adam's apple curved from his chicken neck. He wore a medium brown and khaki shirt; a variety of pens overstuffed the left pocket.
A simple brown leather belt served as a dividing line at the waist. Below, he wore a pair of faded blue jeans. His shoes were classic tennis, gray colored. A long white lab coat completed his ensemble.
The man looked familiar to the woman. She couldn't place where they met. She worked at an art gallery, where college students met often, but he looked too old.
One of the college professors?
A name popped in her head, "Mortimer..."
"Hamish," he answered.
She remembered now. She'd never spoken to him personally, not so much as his being beneath her standards, as his creepy demeanor.
She would see him at the gallery, occasionally. He'd look at her, or others, and take notes in a black book. If she didn't know better, he almost seemed a stalker.
A friend told her he was conducting some sort of research, no specifics. The woman filed him away, more concerned with preparing the gallery for an upcoming Picasso exhibit. Now, her suspicions of stalking seemed confirmed.
"Mister Hamish, what are you doing? And why am I here?" she asked calmly, masking her inner panic.
Oh God! He's kidnapped me!
Mortimer Hamish ignored her. He took a small recorder from his pocket, looking at her as an insect, right before sticking the pin into its thorax.
He glanced upward, at an object the woman was unable to see, pressed record, and spoke.
"Sarah McEnnis Swenson, age 27. Hair, light blonde, shoulder length. Eyes, green. Height, 5'7". Weight, 135 lbs. Measurements, 32C-25-33. Occupation, assistant curator, art appraiser, Carnegie Museum. Degrees, MA Art History, acquired at 26."
Sarah listened with growing horror. Mortimer rolled out details of her life, as if reading a resume. It spoke to the ease of which he acquired this information, some of it common, some private. He continued, his information becoming more intimate.
"Second generation Norwegian-American. Daughter of Albert, an engineer, and Martha, a teacher."
"Who gave you my info?!"
Mortimer continued, "Graduate of Theodore Roosevelt high school, attended William and Mary. Romantic relations included two boyfriends. The first moved across the country to pursue a job opportunity, the second turned out to be considerably less than faithful," he glanced at her, "Pity, a waste on his part."
"How did you know that?! Who do you think you are?!"
"Avid practitioner of yoga since fifteen, embraced nude yoga at nineteen. Athleticism indicated in her physical appearance, slender body, excellent muscle tone, obviously flexible. Absence of body hair confirms laser removal treatment. Skin tone is light tan, no lines. Described by friends, colleagues as friendly, outgoing, generous, adventurous, and open-minded. Observation of personal habits indicates penchant for nudity, with some exhibitionist tendencies."
Sarah, at this stage, was red-faced, not from so much from embarrassment as anger. This creep had peeled open her life like an orange. The information he presented meant he somehow gained access to her resume. The other information, not common knowledge, was a different matter.
Sure she liked nude yoga, and home nudity, plus an occasional skinny dip, but those activities were confined to close friends.
He had help! A stalker, I've been kidnapped by a stalker! Who helped this freak?!
She forced herself to remain outwardly calm as Mortimer continued.
"Lives at 405 Redfield Lane, a beach front property. Conducts yoga classes for extra income. Subject first came to my attention through one of my lab assistants, Michael Barnes."
What?! Mike Barnes?! My ex worked for him?!
"Subsequent inquiries of Barnes, while not flattering by his answers, presented Miss Swenson as a viable candidate for my Pygmalion project."
Pygmalion project?
"Surveillance, research, and further questioning of Barnes, along with others in her social circle, confirmed my assumptions as to her viability."
The chill racing up Sarah's spine lowered another ten degrees.
Surveillance?! Research?! Oh God, how long did he stalk me?!
Mortimer continued, answering her unspoken question, "Examination of the subject confirms near perfect health, promising great results for this three year project."
"Three... years...?"
"Note to myself: reminder to extend thanks to Boris Chavorov for supplying the knockout gas, to keep the subject docile during the surveillance and acquisition periods."
Knockout gas?
Sarah thought back over the past three years: her occasional headaches after waking from unusually sound nights' sleeps.
He pumped gas into my room while I was in bed!
The thought of this... man, going through her computer, her things, her life! Horror and outrage filled her to a level, years of yoga and meditation proved unable to contain.
"You! You! You bastard! I'll kill you, you son of a bitch! I'll tell the fucking cops! You are so fucked, you freak!"
Sarah strained against the straps holding her to the gurney. The red-faced, teeth gritting, spitting young woman unleashed a stream of profanity, uncharacteristic of her relatively demure nature.
"Tsk,tsk," Mortimer clucked. He reached into his lab coat and pulled out a syringe.
"What are you doing? Get that away from me you sick fuck!"
Mortimer plunged the needle into her left arm. The clear fluid within flowed into her blood stream. Euphoria quickly spread to Sarah's brain and throughout her body. Her angry thrashings subsided. She lay quiet, detached and numb as Mortimer continued.