The Liquid

Reasons will never be enough to compensate for the blows against my dignity that Kelly did. It is beyond human understanding- no doubt, and I will never return her actions against me like for like. I don't just get angry, nor do I just get even, I will strip her of everything she boasts of. Enough is enough.

I can endure just as much rudeness she can show me, for you who so well know my nature will not suppose that I can be impatient. Unfortunately, she has arrived to the threshold, but I acted in such a way that would not cause her to doubt my good will.

She prided herself in her mastery of human anatomy and in this case, she doesn't differ from me. We were both medical doctors who established a name for ourselves in our field. Even though she was a popinjay, she would often be invited to symposiums and conferences as a speaker as I once was. She would talk of the possibilities of the subcutaneous fat being a progenitor of insulin or suggest new ways to combat pathogenic organisms in the body.

One day at about dusk, I found her sitting at the cafeteria in the hospital. She seemed lax but I knew she was tense. Kelly has a major operation coming and after years of experience, being taut is a good way to release adrenaline- for a better performance.

I sat next to her while she was sipping her coffee.

"Heart transplant," she began,"son of Senator Mendoza".

"That freakin' bastard who heads the Senate Committee for health?",I said,"who wouldn't forget how he pocketed millions out of the funds supposedly for hospital medications and augmenting research studies?"

"Oh yeah,"she replied,"speaking of research, I am currently exploring the likelihood of the base component of steroids for anesthetic use."

"Yes, I've heard. I don't know if you might find it helpful but I was able synthesize a steroidal liquid out of the findings the professors at the school got."

"Steroidal liquid!"she exclaimed,"how did you do it? Let me see at once!"

"Yes but we have to arrange a date for that."

"No, no, I want to see it now. Besides, I have never been to our medical school for 15 years and your family owns it so you can have access to the laboratory any time you want."

"But you have to prepare for the operation..."

"Oh preparations can wait, I've been doing this forever- but the liquid!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm absolutely certain, now let's go."

"Yes, but first we must go home and tidy ourselves up. Then let's meet at the school by 8 a.m."

"Oh hush, make it 7,"she demanded.

"Alright, 7, that is."I replied.

We parted ways. The sooner, the better.


She didn't bring her car. Good. She arrived 5 minutes before me and we hurried ourselves up to the laboratory. I ushered her to a door that will lead us underground and we changed into our lab suits.

"I never knew this place existed here,"she said,"Have you known this since we were studying here?"

"No,"I lied,"they told me after we graduated."

We entered the first lab and the dim lights greeted us with a sense of eerie. Anatomical models found in every side of the wall and working tables stretch from one side to the other. When I saw her, her mouth was agape. She was looking at a fully preserved human body hanging vertically on the one side of the wall. In an instant, she jumped back.

"I saw his eyes dilate!"she said, astounded.

"How could it? It's dead."

"No, I've never seen anything like this. He looks like he's still alive only that his skin is scraped off him."

"You think?"

I lead her farther to another door- to the room of our destination. It was no different from the other room, only that it is smaller and more corpses lay vertically on the tables. She peeked into the body of a woman sliced open.

"Oh, you got her uterus", and to the body next to her,"You got his eyeballs". And she started laughing.

I motioned for her to sit sown. I considered strangling her from behind the back, but it was beyond my capacity.

"And the liquid?"she asked.

"In a moment." I started toward another door and she stood up to accompany me.

"No, it would be unnecessary to come with me. Just wait here, I'll be back in a minute."

"Alright,"she said, as she raised her lab collar up.

I entered the control room and immediately went to the computer to click the "SYSTEM LOCK". It would lock all the doors and start lowering the temperature of the second room. I adjusted the cold to -5 degrees Celsius.

After a minute, the door started pounding. After thirty minutes, there was none.

Just enough and I started adjusting the temperature of the second room to normal condition.

I waited again and opened the door.

She was lying unconscious just outside the control room. Her skin was white and her lips were pale. I checked her heart. Still beating.

I moved her into the far end corner of the room. I injected a chemical that would inhibit muscle action and started scraping off her epidermis. I started from the skin of her feet working upwards. When I was on the part of her breast, I saw liquid coming from her eyes- tears streaming from her unwinking eyes. When I looked closely, her cornea dilated.

"You are the 100th recipient of the steroidal liquid that works inversely when incorporated in the bloodstream."

More tears.

I considered trefening but that would be too small a hole, so I just sliced off her skull all the same. I cut the vein connecting the hippocampus and the spinal cord and finally scooped it all out of her head.

"Is this the brain she's proud of?"

I looked at her and the tears have already dried. I glanced at her eyes but there was nothing I saw- none but horror.

Adios Doctor.