There once was a mad doctor who lived in an old castle on a mountain overlooking a small town. Nobody had ever seen the doctor, and no one had been inside the castle for many years. Most people of the town believed the doctor had died or left the mountain a long time ago. However, once or twice a year adventurous teens would wait until it was very dark and sneak up the old road leading to the castle gates and come back with terrifying, wild tales about the noises they heard. They had to wait until night because the road was visible from the castle and from the town; they didn’t want the doctor waiting for them and the adults of the town would punish them for making the dangerous trek, for many people had disappeared over the years. These unsolved disappearances were blamed on the mad doctor, though police could never find signs of the missing or their supposed abductor.
In fact, the sheriff said there wasn’t anyone in the castle at all. He believed the kidnapper was a stranger who came into the town secretly and lured his prey away quickly and stealthily. Over time this led to rather gruff treatment of any strangers who passed through the town. Police harassed them, storeowners were rude and suspicious of them, and all the citizens avoided them, often by locking themselves up in their homes until they felt safe enough to come out again.
While strangers had become a rarity for the town, they did come around every once in a while. One summer day a young man pulled into town. He needed directions, and when he saw a girl walking along the road, he stopped to talk to her.
Jessica was walking home from the city pool. She spent every day at the pool swimming and sun bathing, enjoying her last summer before she left for college in the fall. She was eager to get away from Kirksville and the freaked-out, superstitious people who lived there. At the same time, she was sad that she would be leaving the friends she’d known since childhood.
As she was walking home, however, she wasn’t dreaming about her future nor reminiscing about the good times; she was bored out of her skull and melting under the sun. It was hot and humid. She was sweating. It was nearly a mile from the pool to her house, which was just outside of town. Normally, her boyfriend would have given her a ride, but she no longer had a boyfriend. They had dated for over a year and after she finally gave her virginity to him a month ago, he dumped her.
She stopped walking and took off her backpack to get her water bottle out. She had her towel around her waist and was wearing a T-shirt with her bikini on underneath. Her shirt was soaking with sweat, and stuck to her warm body and since she was more than halfway home she decided to take it off for the rest of her walk.
She slung her backpack over her shoulder and started off for home again. Her thumb was hooked under the backpack’s strap that was resting next to the string of her bikini top and she was rolling the string between her thumb and forefinger and started humming to herself as she walked. The breeze felt nice against her skin.
A car was coming toward her and as it slowed down, she became very nervous. Memories of all the stories she had heard about strangers and kidnappings came rushing back to her. She started walking faster, hoping the car would keep going. The car stopped and she glanced over as the window came down. A young man stuck his head out the window and said, “Hey there.” She froze, terrified and silent, staring at the ground in front of her. The hairs on the back of her neck tingled and goosebumps popped up all over her body and her nipples became erect. “Hello,” said the man a little louder. His voice made her jump and her arm jerked. Her backpack fell to the ground and the bikini string, which was hooked under her thumb, broke with the sudden movement. Her tit flopped out.
She quickly covered herself with the palm of her hand. The man smiled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you okay?” She nodded silently and they looked at each other, waiting for whatever would happen next. After what seemed to be an eternal silence, the man spoke again.
“Umm, I’m afraid I’m lost. I’m a reporter and I’m looking for the castle of Doctor Whitaker.” She looked back over her shoulder at the mountain and the man followed her gaze. “Of course, that must be it, but I was wondering if you could tell me how to get up there.” Again she was silent, trying to determine if he was a threat. “Really, I’m sorry if I scared you, but I’m kind of in a hurry. I’d like to get up there before the sun goes down so I can take some pictures.”
He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, and she realized that he was probably too young to be the kidnapper considering that people had been disappearing for the past 30 years. He was actually kind of cute and was being friendly enough. She was acting ridiculous and she blushed with embarrassment, sending goosebumps over body again.
“You can’t drive up there anymore,” she said. “The road is full of rocks and boulders from landslides. You have to hike up to it." It suddenly occurred to her that she was still cupping her breast and she quickly grabbed her shirt from her backpack with her free hand. “Could you…?”
