Dark Messiah
At the front desk, the nurse called her name, and Ashley made her way to the examination room. She put on the gown the nurse gave her and sat on the bed, still waiting for the doctor to show. The more she looked around, the more unsure she became. The room looked more like a S&M porn set than a legitimate clinic. "I can�t stay here any more," she said, and reached for her clothes. Just then, the door opened and a woman in her mid-thirties strode in, followed by another nurse. Ashley didn�t think she�d ever seen anyone look more pissed off about their job than the doctor. "Looks like we got us another miraculous virgin conception here, Marj," the doctor said. "Looks like," Marj the nurse said back with a sigh.
"I ain�t no virgin," Ashley said, "but I ain�t had sex in three months either. So, yeah, it is a miraculous conception." The doctor gave a bored laugh, while Marj just glared at her. "Honey, I been working here going on twelve years, and I�ve had more girls in here that didn�t know where that baby came from, or how they got pregnant. They swear up and down that they�ve never had sex, but let me tell you, some of them girls were loose enough to drive a truck through," said the doctor. "So lets just get on with this, the quicker you cooperate, the sooner I get my seventy-five dollars out of the clinic." "Seventy-five dollars?" Ashley asked. "What seventy-five dollars?" "Ignorant children," the doctor sighed. "Marj, why do I always get the stupid ones?" Marj just keeps glaring. "You pay two hundred bucks for me to scrape this kid out of you, and I get seventy-five. You didn�t think I do this for free did you?" "But this is a free clinic," Ashley whines. " I don�t have to hundred dollars, why the hell do you think I came here?" Two minutes later Ashley is standing in the parking lot, mouth hanging open staring at the door of the clinic. "Free my ass," she says and heads for her car. "Where the fuck am I supposed to get that kind of cash?"
Later that night, Ashley is in the city with her friend Christina. "I don�t think we should be here this late," Christina says. "You don�t like it, go home. I�m looking for someone," Ashley tells her. " This doesn�t feel right Ash. We need to go home," Christina replies, her logic lost on Ashley. "I went to the clinic Christina. Do you know they wanted two hundred dollars to do it? Why the shit do they call it a free clinic if you have to pay? I know, why don�t I just go ask daddy for they money. �Dad, can I have two hundred dollars to abort my miracle baby? I know we�re Catholic and don�t believe in abortion, but I just don�t want this amazing manifestation growing inside me.� Yeah Chris, that�ll go over real well. Why don�t you just fuck off? I know you don�t believe me either. I don�t need you here, I can do this by myself. My brother�s girlfriend�s sister went to this guy, and she says he only charges twenty bucks. Go home Christina. Whine, whine, whine. God, Chris, why did you even come with me?" "Because," Chris screams at her, " I didn�t want you to do anything stupid, but I don�t know why I bother. You do what you want when you want, no matter who gets fucked in the end. You can�t get an abortion from some guy in a warehouse for twenty bucks!" "Whatever," Ashley sneers and stomps off down the alley, leaving Christina standing under the only working streetlight on the block.
The warehouse looms up ahead. Ashley knows she shouldn�t be here, especially at this time of night, but with Christina�s words fresh in her memory, she is more determined than ever to meet with this guy Fade and get it over with. The sign on the building is mostly gone, but Ashley thinks she can make out the words �packing plant�. The side door is swinging open as she approaches. The chain that connects the door to the brick wall clangs against the metal as she passes through the doorway and Ashley yells out. "Stupid fucking door! Get a grip Ash. It�s just...a door."
It�s dark in the warehouse, but Ashley can see hooks hanging from the ceiling. The floor is dirty, and her shoes stick. "Gross! I just bought these shoes yesterday, and now they have mouse shit and brown goo all over them! Ewww." She thinks about leaving, but her shoes are already ruined and she figures she might as well talk to this guy since she all this way. She notices there are things hanging from the hooks in the center of the room, but since she see�s the doorway she wants on her right, she doesn�t pay it much attention.
This room is just as dirty as she imagined the rest of the warehouse to be, but she can�t tell that right away because the lights are so bright. A few seconds and her eyes adjust. There is a stainless steel table in the middle of the room, it looks just like the one she saw on tv last night in that show about the family who�s funeral home is also their house. The one they used when they embalmed the body. "Guess it must be kinda messy," she says to herself. There is a screen in the far corner, and she can see a figure moving behind it. "Excuse me," she says. A head pops up from behind the screen and a man stares at her. "You must be Fade. You are the guy who does abortions arn�t you? I have the twenty dollars."
Fade watches her for a minute. "Yeah, that�s who they say I am, so I guess that�s who I am. Give me a minute, I�m busy here. Just sit down and shut up. And don�t fuckin touch anything either. I�m tired of you little cunts coming in here and thinking you can look at all my shit." "Christ," Ashley says. " I wasn�t going to touch a damn thing. I might get herpes or something from some of this shit." Fade shakes his head from behind the screen. "Stupid little ho," he mumbles to himself. "She don�t want to get close to any of my shit, but she don�t fucking mind me pokin her with it." And then the light goes out.
At first Ashley is scared, but then she remembers she has his twenty dollars and he isn�t going to let anything happen to her. She wonders where all the colors came from just as her head hits the floor. "Stupid girls," Fade says as he lowers her onto the table.