The Doctor

Jim awoke, feeling, if he had to define the sensation, almost inebriated, pleasantly woozy. His clothing seemed tight, constraining across his chest, almost a size too small. Pulling himself to his feet, he ran his right hand over his pate, only to discover there was hair there. What the dickens? Bringing his hand down, he paused to inspect it. Gone were the brown liver spots, the swollen knuckles from arthritis. He chuckled to himself, he felt rejuvenated, alive. Stumbling into the kitchen, he caught sight of a reflection in the darkened glass of the window. Letting out a startled yell of surprise, he realized the reflection was actually his own, but not the one he expected. The youthful face peering back at him belonged to the youth he was over a half century earlier. He shook his head in wonder, the movements of the reflection in glass mirroring his own.

“What in the blue blazes is going on here?” he asked, moving closer to the window to get a better look at himself. Full head of unruly chestnut brown hair. Touching his face, he realized he wasn’t wearing his glasses, no longer needing them. He chuckled at the impossibility of what his eyes were telling him. “What have you done to me Anna?” he asked aloud, voice full of disbelief. Somehow, by some miracle, when she did what she did and took away the cancer, she had also made him a young man again, no more than a lad of seventeen or eighteen years of age. He shook his head again. “Can’t be,” he mumbled, grinning from ear to ear.

Turning away from the window, “Anna!” he called out, baritone voice young and rich, full of life.

She did not respond. Walking out of the kitchen, he called her name again. She appeared in the door of her bedroom, completely devoid of clothing, head tilted quizzically to one side, long tresses surrounding her lovely face and hanging back over her shoulders, breasts high and firm, perky. His breath caught in his throat, she was amazingly beautiful, all of the disfiguring scars gone leaving only perfection. Proximity to her hung in the air like an electric current or static charge before a thunderstorm.

He held his hands up before her turning them back and forth, “This is utterly amazing Anna, what on God’s green earth have you done to me?” he asked, euphoria still coursing through him, mind reeling to comprehend the situation.

“I healed you,” she said directly, voice mellifluous, but as if the task were of little effort and minor consequence.

He laughed aloud and snorted, “Of old age?” he inquired with a chuckle in his voice, still astounded by the restoration of his youth and vitality.

She smiled, “Of all your infirmities,” she replied, despite her fatigue the stirring in her igniting like a match to dry tinder and growing like an uncontrollable wildfire of sexual hunger.

He shook his head, “How is that even possible? I mean,” laughing anew, “I don’t know what I mean,” he said, unable to control his mirth. “It’s extraordinary, I just can’t believe it.”

She smiled. He was young and hale, slender, attractive. Looking down at her nakedness and then back at him, she realized the physical need in her was so strong, becoming almost overwhelming, compelling her to take him as she saw fit, to use him to achieve release and sate the raging hunger in her, but not as a woman might with a man, but him as a small thing, as a disposable amusement, consumed in the fires of her ardent need. Raising her hand, she allowed the power to flow into her, fill her, pupils vanishing and eyes beginning to luminesce green. Suddenly she seemed to catch herself at the last possible moment, a tendril of rational control over the storm of emotion within her. The power was so enticing, her want so overriding and nearly all consuming. She moaned with lust, the ache of want inside her. It required every ounce of resolve and control to restrain herself. Turning away, “You should go for now,” she ordered, not sure how long she could curb her hunger, her desire.

“But Anna this is a miracle,” he stated, arms wide, taking a step toward her, swinging his head from side to side.

She turned her head and looked directly into his eyes, hers glowing balefully, “Now!” she insisted, tone brooking no argument, small perfect white teeth bared, her voice like a physical thing pushing him backward a step.

Startled by her appearance and the intensity of her directive, Jim took another couple of steps backward, the hairs on the back of his neck standing at full attention. He knew something had happened to Anna that had given her the ability to do the impossible and cure him, but right now his gut told him if he did not flee from her, he would not survive her. Pivoting on the step, he hastily withdrew from her presence and down the hall. She screamed as he ran, not in pain, but rage and frustration of unfulfilled want. His heart raced as he flew from the house, youthful legs carrying him quickly out and across the lawn. Reaching the car, he paused and turned back to look at the house. He didn’t know what to do. What had happened to her” Had Adam failed? Or was this some variable between failure and success? Anna seemed herself more or less, but now equipped with tremendous abilities. Why had she healed him and then told him to run? So many questions, so few logical answers.

His initial impulse was to rush back into the dwelling, but fear and common sense prevailed, preventing him from taking the steps that he suspected would surely end his life. Swallowing hard, he fumbled in his pocket for the key fob to the car. Unlocking the vehicle, he got in, eyes glued to the house. He would stay close and wait for her to become herself again.