The Brothel Ch. 05

"The sacrifice room." His voice was quiet, but harsh as he continued. "Do you want to see what is in the drawers?"

Gwen shook her head. She hoped she wouldn't vomit. "You've seen someone killed here?" When he didn't speak she looked at him. He was standing with his head down. His stance was wide and his fists were clenched. He sighed again and nodded. "Then let's get you out of here."

He led her into the next room again and turned the lights to the sacrifice room off before pulling the door closed behind them. The room they were in was pitch black. Gwen found his hand again as he backed into the wall. She heard his strangled sob and squeezed his hand in silence. She moved closer standing with her cheek touching his for a moment before he pulled her into his arms and broke down sobbing. She just held him until he quieted and turned the lights on.

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand without looking at her. She turned to see a large incinerator that covered one wall. "The crematory."

They went through a series of rooms next. The adjacent room held a smaller incinerator Joseph explained was for burning trash. The next was a dock with a truck ramp leading to an exterior entrance. It smelled of garbage and there was a large bin at the bottom of the ramp on one side. "One truck comes to deliver supplies and one truck comes to pick up trash. Both are driven by the man who brought you here. There are a dozen drivers who know where the complex is located. They all work for the mob.

"There are two garage doors," he gestured to multiple cameras around the room. "The room is checked and the doors sealed magnetically before the garage door can open."

The next door led into a large storage room filled with tall industrial shelving and countless supplies. He studied his hand on the next doorknob for a moment. He seemed to be gathering himself and sighed again before he led her through to the back of the kitchen. No trace of sadness showed on his face as he introduced her to the people working there. Two were females in their sixties and two were males in their fifties. They were all fully clothed and happy to see Joseph, though surprised to see him enter through the back door.

He greeted one of the females, named Edith, familiarly and hugged her. Despite her embarrassment Gwen noticed as his façade slipped for an instant and saw that Edith could tell just from the nature of the hug that he was upset. Edith backed him away, holding him by the biceps, but he just smiled again and said they were famished.

He led Gwen quickly toward the front of the kitchen and around a partition into a dining area. It was full of people and Gwen backed quickly behind the partition again. Her nerves were so frayed from the continual shame and the emotional trauma of the last few days that she thought she might break down in tears again. She pled with her eyes not to have to enter the room as Joseph turned and returned to her. He simply nodded, "Maybe Edith won't mind if we eat in the office." Gwen nodded gratefully. A flower among the stones.

She sat on a napkin. She ate a little, but not much, Joseph the same, and neither talked. He looked at a clock on the wall and told her it was time for them to head to the infirmary.

Again she followed him through a labyrinth of hallways. He sat with her in a waiting room after checking with an elderly receptionist. There was another man in his fifties reading a magazine next to the door. The look he exchanged with Joseph let her know that his presence was for a purpose. Gwen was taken into the back quickly with Joseph at her side as she submitted to a female in her late forties in a lab coat who weighed her and took her temperature, pulse and blood pressure. She filled a cup with urine at a commode in full view and then the woman took her measurements with a tape measure and took a full-body picture of her front and back with a digital camera. She entered all the information in a computer in relative silence as Gwen filled out medical history forms on a clipboard the woman had handed her. She had no medical history other than the abortion and she left it off the chart. Gwen was the first to speak when the woman took out a rubber tourniquet and set up tubes and a packaged needle for taking her blood.

"What kind of training do you have to be doing this?"

The woman smiled. "Better than a phlebotomist. I am a drug addict." She pulled back her lab coat from her arm to reveal a line of faded scars in her anicube. "I can hit the tiniest and deepest vein you want." She took Gwen's arm and put the tourniquet in place. "Don't worry. I'll be gentle."

Next Gwen was led to a dental chair and the same woman covered her with a lead apron, took x-rays and cleaned her teeth. When that was done she and Joseph were left in an exam room. He gestured and she took a seat on the table.

"More efficient than any doctor's office I've ever been to."

Joseph looked up at her. He had been lost in his thoughts. "I guess. I don't remember."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-seven."

"You are favored here."

"I am cooperative. I am responsible. I am trustworthy."

"Should I trust you?"

"If you want to."

"Do you like me?"

He thought for a moment. "I think you have spunk. I think you have talent. I think you have courage. I admire those qualities. I appreciated your comfort. I am looking forward to getting to know you better."

"You said before that I was beautiful. Do you want to have sex with me?"

He didn't answer and she couldn't read his face. They both turned as a man in a lab coat entered. He carried a clipboard and had a stethoscope around his neck.

"I'm Jordan. I'm an internist. A general practice medical doctor for adults. When was the last time you had a medical exam?"

"I don't know. Probably when I was fourteen or so. I feel fine."

"Have you had a pap smear?"

Gwen lied, "No."

"Stand up for me."

Gwen stood.

"Turn around slowly." He spoke as she complied. "When was your last period?"

"It's due to start in the next day or two."

"Do you have any problems with your period?"

"No."

"You look healthy enough."

She sat as he gestured. He approached and she had to force herself to sit still as he shown a light in her eyes and then picked up an instrument and looked in her ears and up her nose. He had her open her mouth and checked her throat before palpating her lymph nodes and the back of her neck. He laid her down and did a breast exam and palpated her upper and lower abdomen. He felt the length of her arms and rotated the joints and then did the same to her legs. He looked at Joseph and then back to her as he pulled out stirrups from the bottom of the exam table.

Gwen rolled her eyes and sighed in dismay as he placed her feet in the stirrups. He pulled on her thighs. "I need you to slide your hips toward me." She gritted her teeth and complied. She felt the speculum enter her vaginal canal and the soft pinch as he took a sample. He entered her with his fingers and palpated her uterus and ovaries and then entered her rectum and did the same. When he was done he sat looking at her with her legs spread until Joseph cleared his throat. The doctor patted her knee and helped her to sit up.

Joseph walked her to her room in silence. When they arrived she was grateful to see that the vinyl mattress had been replaced with a full box spring and mattress with sheets, pillow and blanket.

He pulled the book out of his pocket and handed it to her and then sat on the edge of the bed next to her.

"It is what I would have recommended for you to read also." Gwen nodded and set it next to her on the bed.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I know." He leaned back on his hands and shrugged. "I thought about my answer though. I can't explain it all to you, and I don't want you to misunderstand, but I don't want to 'use' you." He shrugged again. "I think you are beautiful. And in case you're wondering I would choose to be heterosexual if I had a choice. But the next few weeks won't be easy for you and what I want most of all is for you to not lose your humanity. That smile you gave John in the library was beautiful. The hug you gave me in the crematory. I want you to know that I see more than that nineteen-year-old female you described to me while we were eating in the bathroom. I hope you won't blame me for the things you will go through. I would understand if you do though. I just want to do whatever I can to help you get through it. I am your friend if you will have me." Gwen watched him in silence. "Do you believe me?"

"I don't know."

Joseph smiled, "At least you're honest." He pulled her up as he stood and pulled her covers back for her. She just watched him as he tucked her in and sat down next to her. He leaned over her with his hands on either side of her balancing himself. "Today wasn't all bad, was it?" Gwen shook her head. "Good then." He kissed her on the temple and left her.