Doctor Whitlock's Experiment

Chapter 1

The girl gazed out into the gray day as raindrops streamed down the window. Her blue eyes were tearful and with one hand she twisted a lock of her long golden hair around her pale, skinny finger, so tightly it began to cut off circulation. Sitting in the back seat, she felt like she might choke on her tears. Trembling, she watched as her house, the only safe place she knew, got smaller and smaller as the car drove farther and farther from home. She stared at her parents standing on the lawn and heard their words repeat in her head.

"This is what's best for you, Sera," her father told her, though his voice seemed to waver in her imagination. "Dr. Whitlock will help you..."

Her mother smiled. "It'll be like a vacation. It'll be fun." The tight smile may have wavered. She'd put on a veil of excitement, but Seraphina's mounting feeling of dread convinced her this was all it was: A veil. Behind it, fear. So much fear. But, that was only her imagination. Right?

On top of that, there was the momentous doctor's appointment. At that appointment, they had drawn her blood. Seraphina, who was extremely squeamish, had hid her face in her father's shoulder while her mother held her hand and stroked her hair. Then, Dr. Whitlock showed up with serious news; if lies could be called news.

Dr. Whitlock had an attitude of mastery and self-confidence that was beyond his thirty-five years. Two ever-present lines between his eyebrows were proof that he was often angry or deeply concentrated, perhaps both at once. Paired with his icy, blue eyes they gave him an unsettling air of intensity. He had incredible, almost-white, blond hair. His eyebrows were the same color making them next to invisible on his pale face. It made him look like a ghost.

Dr. Whitlock told her parents that Seraphina had a rare blood disease that only he knew how to heal and they bought it. Whitlock was her fathers best friend. Her father trusted Whitlock with his life. And with the life of his daughter.

Seraphina stood up suddenly, furious. "There's nothing wrong with me!" she shouted. "I'm fine!"

"Dear, it seems I've upset you; however, there is no cause for panic for I can help you," Dr. Whitlock remarked with a sad smile. His voice was smooth like oil. It was not unlikely that someone would slip on it.

This man made her feel as though a snake were slithering through her intestines, but Seraphina found the courage to glare at him. "I don't need your help!" she retorted.

Then, her father was at her side. He put his arm around her shoulder. Her resolve crumpled, and she pressed against his side, a child hiding from a stranger. Her father spoke in a gentle tone. "In all the time that I've known him, Whitlock has never been wrong. I trust him, and I think you should too."

Worse yet, Dr. Whitlock had convinced them that it would be best for her to come with him. And so, that was that.

Now, Seraphina sat in the back of Dr. Whitlock's car, leaving her parent's standing in front of the house. And, they were waving. Waving but Seraphina didn't wave back. Waving was far too cheerful. She felt betrayed. Betrayed by their blind trust. Betrayed by their ignorance.