Polly gasped for breath, reaching towards the buckles that held her down. She felt pain radiating through every bone in her body, and she couldn't seem to think straight. Her mind spun with delusions and she couldn't seem to hear anything but a constant buzz.

Polly squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to cry, but the tears came hard and fast.

"Ah, my dear Polly, what do you think you're doing?"

Polly's eyes snapped open to look at Doctor Higgins. Her eyesight was blurry and she tried to blink away the tears, but she couldn't. They kept coming, relentless and demanding.

"Why did you have to do this to me? What will this change?" Polly's voice wavered, weak and painful.

"Darling Polly, you know better than I do that your parents just want you to get better. We have to change that mind, don't we? Now, I've been doing research." Doctor Higgins sat on the edge of her bed and patted her thigh. "Research says that if you connect pain to a certain thought or way of thinking, you'll change your view on it. So, if you connect pain to loving girls, then perhaps you'll begin to like boys. It's all part of the process."

Polly didn't think being electrocuted was a part of the process. She felt like a lab rat with no other choice but to sit and take the pain.

"Please don't do this to me. Just let me go-"

Doctor Higgins laughed, cruel and harsh. His hand traveled up her thigh, but didn't go beneath the hem of her dress. He took in her milky thighs, her soft skin, and her pink cheeks. He was over his head, but he couldn't stop. He wanted her, so badly that it hurt. He wanted her so badly that it tainted his thinking.

"Polly, this camp has turned other children. It has fixed other children. And I am certain it'll fix you."

She twisted in the constraints, but it was no use. "You're insane!"

Doctor Higgins let out another laugh. "Darling, you aren't telling me anything I don't already know."

He stood abruptly from his seat on her bed. He turned to his cabinet and ran a hand over the bottles that lined the shelves. He debated for a moment whether or not to sedate her into a state of being that reminded him of a vegetable, but he decided that sedating her wouldn't be nearly as fun. Instead, his hand wrapped around a knife.

Doctor Higgins wasn't violent in nature, but there was something thrilling about seeing others in pain. There was something thrilling about seeing the way blood could spill so easily, and he wanted his dear Polly to love him.

Doctor Higgins was convinced that she would after this. She would leave this camp head over heels for him, this he was sure.

When he turned towards her, knife in hand, Polly let out a screech of fear. "No, please no, Tanner-"

Doctor Higgins felt a mix of anger and pleasure well up in him. Pleasure because she'd called him by name. Anger because she had used it pleadingly, not in a loving way at all.

He dragged the knife down her cheek, light enough to not break skin. "I love that you just called me by my name, darling, but it won't stop me. However, if you call me that from now on, I may be persuaded to let you in on some of the fun."

Polly felt sick to her stomach, and she didn't want to know what some of the fun meant.

Doctor Higgins pressed the knife down on her cheek, hard enough to draw blood. He watched as it beaded up and then dripped down the apples of her cheek, slow and so vibrantly red. It delighted him.

Polly was too afraid to scream, so she just shut her eyes. There was no stopping him. No convincing this monster that she should be let go.

Doctor Higgins moved from her cheek to the swell of her breasts. In the dress she wore, they were pushed up, a delightful view. He sliced the skin of her breasts that were pushed out of the dress, still modest, but a tad revealing. While Doctor Higgins liked the dress on her, he'd never let her in public wearing it, where other men could feast their eyes.

He watched as the blood welled up and leaked out of the cut. He swiped his finger through the blood, and then looked at her face.

"Open your eyes, Polly," he demanded, and she listened. Tears were in her eyes, but there was also a look of defiance that made Doctor Higgins' feel thrilled. The fight in her was still there, and it delighted him.

"I've decided you need some face paint, hmm?" and then he swiped the blood onto her forehead, and then sloped down the bridge of her nose. She looked beautiful with her pale white skin and bold red blood.

Doctor Higgins smiled. Then, he leaned in close enough to kiss her.

"Do you love women, Polly?" The way he asked the question was sweet and calm, like he wasn't angry at her for being gay, or like her answer didn't matter. He was smiling at her, and it came to him naturally. He had the sort of face that was made for smiling.

"Yes," Polly whispered, afraid that it would come out as a sob if she spoke any louder.

When the answer came out of her mouth, Doctor Higgins stabbed her in the thigh, harsh and brutal. Unlike the slices that were gentle and almost careful, the stab made Polly yell out in pain, and the wound was deep enough for stitches.

Her eyes were wide with pain as Doctor Higgins brushed his lips over hers. "Wrong answer, Darling."

Then, without actually kissing her, he leaned back and smiled, leaving the knife in her thigh. "Now, let's clean that up."

Doctor Higgins wasn't a doctor, nor had he ever gone through medical training, but he knew how to stitch a wound. He'd been in this game far too long to not know how.

The threaded the needle through the jagged skin of her thigh, after taking out the knife, and stitched her back up. Polly was distraught with pain, which was so unbearable her vision was beginning to go black. She gasped for air and tried to stay awake.

Sleeping would have been so much easier, but Polly knew there would be consequences.

Doctor Tanner cared for her wound like a concerned lover, taking care to wash it after he was done stitching. He put a gauze over it, then wrapped it up. Pleased with his work, he looked at her, and pain radiated through his chest. He hated hurting her like that, but he needed this to work. He needed her to love him.

He wanted to take it slow. He wanted to sit her down to dinner and talk to her for hours on end, learning everything about her. He wanted to be her best friend, then worm himself into her heart and become her boyfriend.

He wanted to treat her like a girl should be treated.

He didn't have the time. Her parents were dangling a time line over his head, and his father had suddenly taken interest in her. He didn't have time to take things slow and make her fall in love with him. He needed to pray that his techniques would work.

He didn't like it, though. He wasn't heartless.

He was doing this to save her from Hell. He was doing this because he loved her.

"Now Polly, what have we learned from this?" His voice was patient and kind. The smile he wore was genuine.

Polly was shaking and crying. She didn't want to answer him. "That you're a cruel person!"

Doctor Higgins felt disappointed. "I don't want to hurt you. Please don't make me hurt you." He begged, his hand cupping her face on the cheek that wasn't cut. "I'm doing this for you. For your own good. Please don't make me hurt you."

Polly didn't believe him. She believed that he wanted to hurt her and perhaps even kill her. She didn't believe that he loved her at all.

"Then why do you hurt me?"

Doctor Higgins stood up, fearing if he continued this game, he'd actually let her go. He couldn't let her go. He needed her.

"Your parents pay me to fix you. This is how I fix people."

Polly felt defeated. She felt ill and and dizzy with pain. "You're sick."

Doctor Higgins agreed. He was sick. He was sick in love.

* * *

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