A Doctor In Training - A Halloween Story

Once upon a time there was a man named William Jame. He was an ordinary young man of 23, with short, dark brown hair and matching eyes. A very bright young man he was, having already passed the first level of college required for becoming such a doctor.

One day William was assisting a man names Doctor Wile. Now, Doctor Wile was a wise old man, and William nearly worshiped him. Doctor Wile told William to watch over the patient, Meredith Norwen, while he went to retrieve some equipment. He immediately snatched at the chance to impress Doctor Wile, even by the doing the smallest thing, and stood resolutely next to the Miss Norwen. Her light red hair was strewn around her head. Her pale blue eyes opened, startling William greatly. He gasped at the sight of his patient being awake. What would Doctor Wile say? Surely he would be disappointed that William couldn't even make sure the patient stayed properly anesthetized!

"What are you doing awake, Miss Norwen?" he said quickly, his voice muffled by the mask he had on his face. He tried to recover his previous cool.

She gave no answer; nor, in fact, did she give any sign that she had heard him. Her eyes stared blankly at a spot in the ceiling.

"Miss Norwen?" William asked again, leaning towards her. "Are you all right?"

Again, she gave no recognition of him. William realized with shock that she did not appear to be breathing.

"Miss - "

A hand on his throat cut William off. He made a gagging noise. "Do not do this," Miss Norwen whispered in a strange voice. "Do not. I am warning you. You will regret ignoring me."

The hand released his throat. Massaging his neck, William looked down to discover Miss Norwen's body in the exact same position. Before she could move to search for any sign that his previous experience had been real, Doctor Wile strode into the room. William straightened up at once, trying to hide any emotion on his face.

"Well, Mister Jame," Doctor Wile said, looking up at William. "Are you prepared?"

William nodded hastily, moving closer to the body. He was about to take out this woman's kidney; she was willingly giving it up for her sickly sister. The medical instrument he would be using was in Doctor Wile's waiting hands.

Should he take it? What about the warning the patient had given? 'You will regret ignoring me.'

'Don't be silly,' he told himself. 'She is under a very strong medicine. You were just hallucinating. It's not what you think it was...'

Upon convincing himself there was no danger, William grabbed the tool from Doctor Wile and began the operation.

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As he arrived back at his apartment, William was still thrilled from the congratulations Doctor Wile had given him on his successful operation. Little did he know that he would soon be thrilled in quite a different way.

"William," he heard a girls voice say. He looked up from his pantry and glanced around the room.

"Penelope?" he called, naming his girlfriend of five months. "Is that you?"

No reply. "It was probably just the wind," he said aloud to himself, but somehow he knew it wasn't.

"William." The whisper came from right beside him now, though nothing was there - visibly. "I warned you, William. Now you've made Him angry."

"What?" William said. "Who are you? Who is 'Him?' How have I made 'Him' angry?" For some unknown reason, he was growing worried. To his surprise, however, he found that hearing this voice did not seem to disturb him as greatly as the prospect of an angry 'Him' did.

To his dismay, the voice did not answer. Confused, he looked once more around the room before looking back to his pantry for food.

A sudden burst of wind knocked the box of cereal out of Williams hands. Startled, he spun towards the direction the wind had come from to find himself face-to-face with the most hideous creature he had ever seen.

Was it a man? A demon? William did not know. All he knew was that this was 'Him' - and He looked very angry.

"Wh-what do you w-want?" William stuttered, attempting to back up but finding himself unable to move.

This creature's frame was similar to that of a human being. It had two arms, two legs, a head, and a torso. Its skin, however, was black as asphalt, its eyes bright red with no pupil. His fingernails were sharpened to a point, and they reached about an inch after his fingertips. They, like his eyes, were bright red. He had what appeared to be robes on; they were various shades of grey and black, swirling around him body as if they were alive.

His mouth twisted up into what William assumed was a smile.

"William," he thing said. Its voice was deep, and there was an air of power and fear radiating from it. How his voice radiated fear, William did not know, but he could feel it. "I'm afraid that you have disobeyed me. Do not ask what you have done," he said severely, cutting off whatever William had been about to say. "You know very well. You have gone against a direct warning from a Light Angel. You know that whenever one of them contacts us, it is important."

William suddenly stood up completely straight. A Light Angel? Why hadn't he noticed? And that warning hadn't been so cryptic, wither. But why would a Light Angel be contacting him directly? He was of no importance. William knew he was just a pawn in the plan.

"Why would she warn me?" William asked the Devil.

"She was a spy for us," the Devil answered, staring at William cruelly. "Why on earth would a real Light Angel contact you? The only time we interact with that side is when we are killing each other. You should know better than to ignore a direct warning. This particular woman had important information to tell us; information about an enemy attack. You foolish boy."

William shrunk back as much as the invisible bonds holding him allowed him to. He knew that he would no longer be allowed to live. He knew what was coming.

"You have failed me, boy," the Devil said. "I've no use for someone who can't even recognize one of his own."

Knowing what was coming next, William closed his eyes. The Devil opened his hand, and there appeared a scythe, a pole with a wicked, foot-long, extra-sharpened blade on the end. Grinning, the Devil brought it down on William's hand, cutting it cleanly. William screamed out in pain, his eyes opening, his left hand grabbing the stump that used to be his right.

"You will find out what happens to those who cannot please me," the Devil snarled, once again bringing the scythe down.

As Willaim's left hand was cut off, he dropped to his knees, sobbing in agony. His wrists were bleeding terribly, and the wounds were excruciatingly painful.

"Get up, boy," the Devil said. He snapped his fingers and William was dragged up by an invisible hand. His left foot soon came off, and William dropped onto his back, writhing in pain. The amount of blood on the floor of his apartment was nauseating, and William was about to faint. As his right foot met the floor, detached from his leg, he did.

"This should teach you," the Devil said. He laughed before disappearing, leaving William to his slow, painful death - one of his specialties.





A mere few minutes after the Devil disappeared, William died. He was sentenced upon arriving at Hell (or the Underworld, if you prefer) to an eternity of servitude for disobeying his Master. Though utterly unfair to William, he accepted his punishment, knowing that he had failed in his duties.





Nobody ever found out what had really happened to William. The news had spread quickly, of course, about the handles, footless man found dead in his apartment, and everyone in the town was spooked for quite a while. No one ever suspected the Devil.

Why would they?




Did you like it? Tell me what you think! It probably sucked, but hey, it was an on-the-spot thing. Comment, please?
~Ang