Week 6 Story: The Doctor's Revenge

See revised version in my portfolio

The Doctor's Revenge

It was a dark and stormy night in the streets of downtown Chicago. A young doctor walked on the side walk as cars drove past, the wind whistling between the buildings and the rain falling at a 45 degree angle. The doctor was not normally out walking home this late, but he had just finished his shift at the hospital as he had to stay late to treat the victims of an unusual car wreck where the driver seemed to have been poisoned, just minutes before the car had crashed, killing the driver. Now the doctor specialized in various types of poisons, and loved to keep samples from the various poison cases, such as this, that he worked at the hospital. 

His normal route home was blocked by a steadfast group of protesters who were attempting to stop the demolition of a an old hotel building. "They will never be able to save that rat-infested building," thought the Doctor. And chose a different around to avoid being hassled by the downtrodden group. The route he chose too him to a back alley, filled with litter and unease. He walked quickly, wishing more than anything to home in his armchair by the fire. He had not walked a hundred feet down that alley when four black-clad men jumped from the shadows and grabbed him. 

The next thing the doctor knew, he was in a dark room, illuminated by a single, bare fluorescent bulb hanging from the ceiling. He could make out a fain humming, but the rest was silence. The next thing the doctor know the silence was broken by a loud bang and voices as the door at the end of the room was flung open. Two men in black clothes can in and unlocked his restraints and dragged him out the door. "Where- wait- what are you doing with me?!" Cried the doctor in distress. The men said nothing. 

After a few minutes of the doctor being dragged down the hall screaming and then men's silence, they emerged into a brightly lit room full of more silent men, clad in black clothes. In the center of the room was a golden throne that cast shimmering reflection all around the room. On that throne, sat a man dressed all in white. His long hair as dark as the night and eyes the color of charcoal. 

Even in his distress, the doctor still wondered how a man could be so pretentious as to have a gold throne to sit in. The next moment he was being dragged to the foot of the thrown and made to kneel. 

The man on the throne said in a most menacing voice "hello doctor, I require your assistance, whether it be voluntary is up to you."The doctor looked bewildered at the man on the throne wondering what he could possibly do to help. The man continued "my men have been watching you for weeks. They claim that you been saving those whom we have attempted to remove at your hospital, and for this reason we must kill you."

 "Please wait!" Cried the doctor trembling and breaking out into a sweat. "I can be of use to you! I know where the enemies of yours that I saved live! Please spare me so I can give you this information for I know who you must be. Many of my patients have told me of a man on a golden thrown who calls himself 'King'."

"That is I," said the King smiling broadly. "Give me this information and I will consider sparing you."

"First I need a pen and paper to give you all the information you need."

The King gestured to one of the black clad men who brought forth a pen and paper. The doctor tool the pen and paper, and ever so carefully pulled a small bottle from his coat pocket and transferred some of its contents to the pen and paper, miraculously without being noticed by the King or his men. 

The doctor returned the paper to the King who took it eagerly. After perusing the list for several minutes, the King collapsed and fell to the floor. In all the confusion following the Kings death, the doctor ran for the door and made his escape, a triumphant expression on his face. Less than ten minutes later, the doctor was in his arm chair by the fire, inwardly blessing the cold weather and his decision to wear gloves that day.

Author's Note:

In the original story, the Physician was brought before a Greek king because he believed he was a spy and must be executed. The Physician managed to persuade the king to spare his life long enough to be able to apply a poison to a book after claiming that his head would come back to life and tell him a secret. The King believed him and after killing the Physician, he grabbed the book and tried to read it, and the physicians head celebrated as the king died from the poison that he had put on the book. This part of the story is what really inspired me, I chose to changed details up a little but kept with the same theme of besting a dictator bent on killing the main character.

Story source:  The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). The Physician's Revenge

Image Source: Tears of Lys by Awoiaf Westeros. 2017. Poison.