The Visit (fiction/repost)

The Visit

“You may come in.” said the voice behind the door.

Melissa opened the door and walked into the room. The door closed behind her and shut with an odd click. She was now in the doctor’s office. In front of her beyond the chair was a large heavy desk made of oak or possibly walnut, Melissa really had no idea. Seated behind the desk was a man in his 50s, Melissa presumed, with short grey hair and who looked slightly portly. He was wearing a dark suit with a blue tie and was writing something down when she entered. He looked up briefly at her and then continued writing.

“You are Melissa Adamson?” he asked her in his loud authoritative voice.

“Yes I am” Melissa confirmed. He looked up at her again and this time looked her over for sometime as if he was checking for something. “Thanks for seeing me so late.”

“So what brings you here?” he asked her. Melissa sat down on the chair in front of the desk. She didn’t know where to begin. She flicked the dark hair out of her eyes.

“I’ve been feeling out of sorts lately.” she said to him.

“What do you mean by out of sorts?”

“Well I can’t keep any food down, but I feel so hungry all the time. Also, I can’t sleep at night and instead fall asleep during daytime. If I ever go out in the daylight I get very nasty sunburn. My skin is paler than usual. I wonder if I’m anemic” she told him. The doctor nodded his head making hmm noises as he continued writing things down. He then looked up at her.

“How long has this been happening?” he queried.

“About a couple of days.” she replied.

“Did you notice anything before this?”

“Well I did wake up with a nasty pain in the right side of my neck for a few weeks. I seem to have been bitten by something. I think maybe it was bedbugs or maybe something like that, but the odd thing is that I don’t think I’ve been bitten since I fell ill. I did seem to sleep for a few days before I woke up feeling like this.” she told him. He sat back in his leather chair and took a long look at her.

“Have you had any odd cravings lately for any particular food or drink?”

“Well I ended up eating some raw steak yesterday and I…” she didn’t really want to tell him what she had been craving. It was too weird. He thoughtfully nodded his head and began writing something down again on his notepad.

“Any other odd symptoms?” he asked.

“Well all my senses seem to be heightened. I can see a lot better in the dark now, and I can hear people’s hearts beating and hear their blood flowing in their veins and arteries.” When she said the word “blood” she could feel the cravings again, but she quickly continued on… “Also it isn’t a symptom, but dogs seem to be barking at me a lot now and quite viciously, and cats won’t go near me at all. Maybe they can smell something’s wrong with me.” The doctor briefly smiled, but then resumed his thoughtful expression. He got up from his chair and walked round the desk to her.

“I thought I would listen to your heart. Take a deep breath.” he said as he took his stethoscope from around his neck and put on some rubber gloves. When he placed it against her chest it wasn’t as cold as she thought it would be, though she was feeling it through her t-shirt. The doctor went hmm again. He touched her pale arm “You’re very cold.”

“Yes I can’t seem to get warm these days either.” she said laughing nervously. Saying it all out loud made her realise she must really be ill. The doctor grabbed a tongue depressor from his desk and placed it in her open mouth. He peered into her seeming to check her upper teeth at the same time. She could hear his heart beating slow and steady. He then threw the tongue depressor into the bin and walked back around his desk while removing the rubber gloves. He sat down and looked at her.

“I’m afraid you have a case of vampirism.” he said to her.

“Vampirism?” she repeated in an alarmed voice. “Are you serious?”

“Yes vampirism.” he confirmed. “Obviously a vampire was feeding on you the past few weeks, hence the sore neck. Somehow, whether by intent or accident, some of their blood got into you, which would have been around the same time they obviously drained you of enough blood to kill you. Obviously you must have died, but due to having their blood in your system meant that you regained consciousness as an undead entity.” Melissa sat there with her mouth open in shock. She didn’t know what to say. Maybe the doctor was insane?

“So is there anything I can do about it?” she asked slowly.

“Well thankfully there is a cure.” he proclaimed. Melissa gave a sigh of relief. He opened a drawer in his desk and produced a wooden stake. “All I have to do is insert this into your heart with a certain degree of force and then remove your head and you’ll no longer be a vampire.”

“But won’t that kill me?” she asked alarmed. The doctor looked at her blankly.

“Well yes. You are an abomination now. You have to die.” he said as he stood up.

Melissa then also abruptly stood up and quickly ran to the door, only to find that it was locked. She looked around to see the doctor was quickly advancing on her with the stake in his right hand. She was so hungry now and could hear the blood gurgling through his body as his heart-rate increased.

She turned to face him with her fangs out for the first time. This time she would feed and her hunger would finally be sated…

Joanne Fisher

This was the first piece of fiction I ever published on this blog. Up till then I had published articles, poems, and recipes. I remember feeling nervous as hell when I published this, as it was the first fiction I ever had published online and I wasn’t sure if people were going to like it. Thankfully they did 🙂

I did re-edit this piece as it needed some reworking.

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©️2020 Joanne Fisher