Bea Doctor

It was just me and Mini from now on. My father—or at least his body—remained back home where he could easily be forgotten. That is, after all, the first step to overcoming grief: forgetting.

Part of forgetting was moving. After dad died I decided to sell the house and leave Seraphina behind me for good. My father had left me a substantial amount of money—money that I would've never had if he hadn't died—and in his last letter to me he requested that I go to the same boarding school he had gone to when he was my age. He wrote that he couldn't stand to part with me and that was why he had never sent me to the boarding school when he was alive. Now that he was gone, he wanted me to experience that life. I never thought that I would ever go, but the loneliness of a big house gets to a person.

I slammed the car door shut and began to heave a box of old clothes up the steps to my new home, Sagacious River Estate. It was an overwhelming building that was decorated with gargoyles and mossy statues of naked Roman Goddesses (seemingly) wandering the overgrown gardens of the estate. Sagacious Estate was not the same school my father went to. It was dilapidated. I took a deep breath. It smelled strange in the Town of Sagacious River. I guessed that the water would taste strange too, because new places always have weird smells and tastes. Weird customs, weird people, weird places.

"Want some help?"

I glanced down the side of the stairs to see a man my age glancing back up at me. He had black eyes and black hair. His skin was pale and his hair was styled into a messy Mohawk. "No." I grunted—surprised. I opened the doors and made my way inside, letting the door slam behind me. Once inside, I felt lost. The halls were barren. Each step I took echoed. But before I could get very far, I realized that I had slammed the door of my new home in the face of a potential friend. I felt queasy with the fear that I might end up becoming known as the "stuck-up girl" to everyone at school.

A moment later I exited the building to search for the man I had been rude to earlier. I scanned the yard from the top of the stairs, but he had vanished.

Probably scared him off

I thought.

All he did was offer to help

.

Before I could punish myself a little more, the stranger moved into view carrying one of my boxes.

"I'm Marlowe." He called from the bottom of the stairs. He had an odd sort of accent. "Where'd you move from?" he asked.

"Seraphina." I replied, my cheeks hot.

"You got a name, Love?" He made his way up the stone steps. I opened the door for him and followed him inside, dumbfounded.

"Well...yes." I said.

He stared back at me and set the box down. He took out a long, skinny cigarette and popped it between his lips. He flicked at his lighter until a flame leapt up and licked at the tip of his cig. He inhaled slowly. Then, exhaled. Large billows of smoke spiralled to the high ceiling.

"Are you allowed to smoke in here?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked in reply. He took another drag of his cig and then held it between his fingers. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a scratch came at the door and I remembered that Mini was waiting outside. I gave him an apologetic look—I wasn't sure why—and rushed to the door to let Mini in. She scrambled in as if I was really planning to leave her out in the cold to starve. She licked my knees and then took a seat, her little tail wagging back and forth against the stone tiles.

"Mini." I said dumbly and pointed to my dog. He nodded. I expected him to rush to pet her or say something like 'aw, how cute.' The boys back in Seraphina did it. Everyone flocked to Mini. She had a look about her that was irresistible.

"Ah, Mini. At least I know

her

name."

I smiled, though I felt embarrassed. It wasn't that I didn't want to give him my name, I was just distracted by my new surroundings. "Berlin" I blurted.

"Hm." He took another puff of his smoke and put it out against the wall. The cigarette sizzled in brief protest and died. There was an ugly dark spot on the wall in its place. "Welcome to Sagacious River, Berly. What room number are you in?" He asked. I fumbled in my pocket and found the paper I was looking for. The paper was abused. It had been folded and refolded several million times, mostly because I had a self-diagnosed nervous disorder where I had to repeatedly confirm details. I knew that my room number was 19, but I had to see it (again) to believe it. "19." He said. He was leaning over me, casually peering at my schedule. I felt violated and instinctively held the schedule closer to my breasts.

Suddenly suspicious, I asked, "Where's everyone else? How come you're not in class?"

He shrugged. "I was, but I saw you drive up and I thought to myself, 'why not love thy neighbour.' And you looked like the type of neighbour I could love." he winked at that so that I understood that he was teasing me. He seemed to read my uneasiness and checked himself quickly, "I mean ... I should follow the scriptures and help my neighbour. You looked like you could use a hand with moving."

I nodded, remembering that Sagacious River's population was largely of the bible-fearing variety. The school, too, was a private Christian school. "So, then, you're fairly religious?" I knew it wasn't polite to talk about religion during the first meeting, but he didn't seem to take offense. He simpered at my question and looked as if he was going to laugh.

"No. Not really. Just superstitious."

I wondered what he meant. I furrowed my brows, but I didn't press him any further. He picked up a box and I did the same.

"The girls' bunk is on the west side."

Again, I nodded and followed him upstairs, Mini trailing behind me. Normally the school didn't allow pets of any kind, but I explained to the head mistress that I was grieving my dead father...and after a hefty donation she agreed that Mini should stay.

My room was sizable for a dorm, but aging. The pink wallpaper was peeling and the floors were thick with dust. A window at the end of the room looked out to the gardens. Large, knotty trees were tangled veins clawing up the side of the building. Several branches were so overgrown that they touched the glass of my window. In the garden, past the trees, I could see a girl my age walking the gravel path. She spotted me and eye contact. She waved. I started to wave back, but I felt that her gesture was cold. She didn't smile.

I could feel Marlowe watching me and I turned to look at him. I smiled, he looked away.

"I should go." He said, setting the box down on my floor. I started to say goodbye, but he was shutting the door before I managed to squeak out anything. He was attractive in a weird way. A little abrupt, but attractive.

It was late by the time I finished unpacking.

By the time my head hit the pillow, I was so exhausted that I couldn't even remember falling asleep.

Soft lips brushed against mine. I murmured still half asleep. He grinded his body against mine. I could feel his hardness against my exposed thigh. And suddenly I was very awake.

"What the fuck." I huffed, but a rough hand closed around my mouth before I could scream. I went to bite down—

"Don't bite or scream or I'll rip out your intestines and feed them to your dog." He said almost too comfortably for me to take him seriously.

My eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness of my room and I realized that the stranger was wearing a mask. It looked like leather. His eyes were covered with thick glass and at his nose the leather was shaped into a sort of beak. His mask seemed similar to that of a plague doctor's. He removed his hand from my mouth and pushed his lips against mine. He slipped his tongue between my lips and brushed it against my clenched teeth. I let out a muffled protestation and he took the opportunity to plunge his tongue deeper into my mouth. I began to struggle against him, but be quickly gathered my wrists and held them over my head. He held me still with one hand and began to unbuckle his pants with the other all the while staring at me with his dark glass eyes.

"What do you want?" I moaned. He bit into my lip as if to punish me for asking questions.

"I've been waiting for you." He growled. Before I could make out what was happening, the tree outside my window was slithering into my room. Somehow, the tree had managed to push through the glass of the window and long stringy roots were pouring into my bedroom. They snaked to my bed and, to my horror, began to wrap themselves around my wrists, freeing another hand for the beak doctor.

The beak doctor began unbuttoning my top. He aggressively kissed the newly uncovered skin. A moment later I felt the moistness of his tongue on my nipple. I groaned. He took my hard nipple into his mouth and scraped the sharpness of his teeth against it and suckled. I tried to struggle, horrified at my vulnerable position, but the roots of the tree only tightened. He took a moment to taste each nipple, making sure that they were both fully hard.

"Berlin," He panted "I'm going to make you scream for me." He violently pushed my legs apart and pressed his thumb against my clitoris. I squirmed at his touch. He seemed to enjoy that and grinded his fully erect cock against my hip in a disturbing show of appreciation. He continued to rub the small mound between my legs until I couldn't help but buck and shiver against him. He pressed a finger inside of me while his thumb still massaged my clit. I cried out and he excitedly pushed a second finger inside, then a third. He slid a finger along my slit, dragging my own lubrication to my clit. He was breathing hard into my ear.

"You're so wet. You want me to fuck you, don't you?" He whispered. He slipped his fingers out of me and began to circle my anus. I was sure my eyes were wide, but I didn't know how much of me he could see with his strange mask on.

I was so confused. The mixture of pleasure and vulnerability and shame was bubbling into one. I was so wet...I wanted him to fuck me. My vision blurred and I realized that I was dreaming.

Slowly, my dorm room came into view. The tree was still safely outside of the window. I got to my feet, my legs weak from the erotic nature of my dream. I could feel that my thighs were slippery with my own juices. I wandered to the window. It was still dark--darker than it had ever been back in the city. I narrowed my eyes in an attempt to make out the gardens. I could see the shadow of a man in the distance. In every way the shadow was human except for the beak shaped nose. I shivered and turned away. When I returned my gaze to the gardens, the shadow had disappeared.

Only the ghost of a bad dream

I tried to convince myself.

But I couldn't shake it.