It wasn't worth the pain

The Nightwatcher

The doctor had gotten a lot...stranger over the past few days. I keep hearing noises at night, screams. Shouts for help, despite all I hear I put it down to my imagination. I still had the image of what I had seen in the doctor's secret room burned into my brain.I couldn't help but feel something was wrong. One night, the date was the twenty-eighth of September to be exact, I was looking out of the window where I had heard a sound. A howling noise and I had spotted a small horse-like animal with the head of a wolf, the front of a horse and back of a tiger. It was completely made of shadows with two flame-red eyes that burned in the darkness. Every night since then I have heard a whispering voice, each time it getting louder. Tonight I was about to go to sleep when I felt hot breath against my ear, I looked up and saw the shadow creature hovering around me '...doctor...test....victim...' were the three things it said in a low, husky tone before it then disappeared into thin air. Sitting in shock I tried to make sense of what it had said."Doctor test victim...?"I murmured to myself, deciding I should sleep on it and see if the doctor would take me anywhere tomorrow.

When I awoke the next morning my nose caught the scent of food cooking in the kitchen. Reluctantly dragging myself from bed I made my way down the stairs and sat down at the table."We are going to the apothecary today."Fritz told me and I just nodded mutely, eating hungrily as a bowl of porridge was put in front of me. When I had finished I licked any remaining drops of food from my lips before standing up from my seat, giving a slightly suspicious glance when Fritz picked up a bucket with a lid on and walked to the door holding it by the handle.We walked in silence to the apothecary and I watched as Fritz vanished into the back room with the apothecary woman. Creeping to the door I peered in carefully,. I saw the old apothecary woman lift a human arm from the bucket and my eyes widened in fear when her shadow grew and sprouted black wings and soon her body assumed a hugely demonic form, I let out a muffled noise of terror as I saw her begin to eat each of the limbs in the bucket with terrifying pace. The blood was splashed around her muzzle-like face and she then proceeded to clean the drying red liquid with a long, forked tongue and the way she was standing gave me a clear view of large razor-sharp claws on her fingertips and huge, crushing fangs in her mouth.I quickly backed away from the door presumably from fear and then almost knocked over some of the shelves with my clumsy steps. Soon the apothecary woman came out with a potion and back to normal with Fritz following her. On our way home with the potions Fritz kept giving me odd glances which unnerved me quite a bit.

When I was cleaning around 6pm at night, I felt hands on my shoulders and my eyes opened as wide as possible as a cloth soaked in a liquid which made my eyes begin to droop came to my face. Each time I inhaled I felt my eyes closing more and more.When finally the stench overcame me I only felt numbness. I found myself feeling restricted when my eyes opened, realization soon came to me, I was strapped to a metal table and the doctor was in the corner, fiddling with various items. When he turned I could see a crazed look in his eyes. He approached menacingly, revving a chainsaw he had clasped tightly in his hands. A gurgling scream escaped my throat as the blade began to rip into the flesh of my shoulder, making quick work of the muscle and bone and soon I lost feeling in my left shoulder. Tears streamed from my eyes as I then felt the blade beginning to rip through the flesh of my chest and stomach. By the time the bloodstained blade had finished up tearing open my skin I felt numb, the fingers on my remaining arm clenched and unclenched slowly as I then felt something being torn out of me, as I looked through my tears of pain I saw that Fritz was holding my intestines and bladder in his palms and he began to stretch them around before throwing them to the floor. He then hurried to grab something from the side which he then began to connect it back to me. Next, he grabbed my liver and I heard a sickening squelching sound as it was crushed in his grip.He then replaced my liver with a small device which looked like a machine part. It was actually a miracle I was still alive. He then dug a needle into my leg and soon sleep came over me.

When I awoke I found myself in my own bed, I looked down at myself, I had thick layers of bandage wrapped around me and I could hear a faint ticking noise coming from my chest. The most noticeable thing that had changed, was the fact the arm that had been torn off in the bloodbath in the secret room had been replaced by a robotic replica, the joints were painted a rosy apple red and the hand was simple, a grabber that would be used on childrens' toys. Tears welling up in my eyes, I began to gather up my belongings as fast as I could, I was terrified to stay in this place any longer. What would he do next? Maybe he would kill me? I was not staying around for an answer, as quick as possible I left the house, running as fast as my feet could carry me. I knew that around this time of day Fritz would be in his secret room, too caught up in his work to notice me leaving. As I ran down the path to the town I suddenly came to a stop when I saw young children sitting and begging on the streets, some were lucky enough to be able to perform something in return for a coin or two. Ducking into a small hole in an abandoned building I put my bag down and picked up an old hat I had found, deciding I would start trying to get a bit of money. Sitting against the wall in front of the small room I had discovered and rubbed some mud into my face and hand and on my metal arm, trying to convince prople I was a bit more unfortunate. Using a knife I had in my bag I made some cuts in my clothes before then moving so a different location close to my home, holding up the hat as people passed."Please spare some change..."My voice came out as a whisper as I shook the hat slightly. As a single coin was dropped into the hat I immediately dashed back into my home to put it into the small tool box I had stolen from Fritz to keep any money in. I found the light switch for the room and flicked it before bricking up the hole I had used to get into my home and curled up on my blanket and fell asleep, maybe this wasn't so hard...