6
The next day, Oswald is back in my office. I invite him to sit down in the chair in front of my desk but he doesn't want to.
"I rather not," he says.
Of course not. Sitting will hurt his bottom tremendously.
"You don't have a choice in the matter," I tell him.
Reluctantly, Oswald sits down, he flinches as his sore behind hits the seat and stifles a whimper.
Nurse Kim enter the room. Todays she's wearing blue scrubs with little cartoon penguins on them. Oswald looks happy to see her.
"Kim!" he greets her.
"Good morning," Kim replies cheerfully. She's grinning because she doesn't know that I saw them fondle each other last night. She still thinks that's a secret. Oswald grins back at her. He probably thinks the same thing.
I sip my coffee slowly, using the mug to hide my expression from them. They should believe, at least for now, that they are sharing a private joke at my expense. I lower the coffee mug slowly and then place it back down on my desk. My expression is neutral. I greet Kim politely, as a professional should.
"Good morning, Kim," I say.
"Good morning, Doctor," Nurse Kim replies politely.
"Why are you here today, Kim? I did not request an attendant nurse," I say.
"Dr. Crigsaw feels that Oswald would benefit from my supervision," she says. Dr. Crigsaw is my supervisor but I doubt very much that he would instruct one of his nurses to follow Oswald around all day and not do any actual work. I find it more likely that she's trying to trick me into letting her stay.
"Your supervision won't be necessary here, Kim. Oswald is in good hands," I assure her. I hope that she will take the hint that she isn't wanted and leave. I don't want to have to kill this bitch but, so help me god, I will if she gets in my way.
"I'm sorry but Dr. Crigsaw was very insistent upon the matter," she says.
"Once again, your assistance is not needed, Nurse Kim. Why don't you leave and give Oswald his privacy?" I say.
Again, Nurse Kim doesn't leave. She wants to sit here and watch me so that I don't hurt her little criminal boyfriend. How disgusting.
"Oswald, do you mind if I stay?" she asks Oswald.
"Ofcourse not. By all means, stay," says Oswald.
Nurse Kim finds a seat in the corner of the room and sits down in it. She observes us both quietly, folding her hands in her lap.
Oh well. So I'll have to kill the bitch too. It'll be worth it to see the look on his face when I slice her throat open.
I hook Oswald up to the lie detector and attach the electrodes to his head, chest and stomach. Then I strap his arms to the chair and begin my interrelation. I ask him about his childhood. He tells me a boring story about his mother baking cookies. I demand that he tell me something emotionally damaging about his childhood. He refuses. I push the button on my remote control and shock him.
"Aghh!" he yelps involuntarily, squeezing his eyes shut and gridding his teeth against the pain. A pair of tears prick the corners of his eyes.
Nurse Kim rises from her chain and sprints over to him. She puts her arms around him and squeals:
"Oh no, my poor Pengy!"
I push the button on my remote control and shock them both. The girl shrieks and lets go of him. Oswald, cries out in pain. He hyperventilates for a few moments, recovering from the shock, and then his expression shifts form fearful to angry. He doesn't like that I've shocked Nurse Kim.
"Oops. Sorry about that, Kim," I apologize falsely. "You'll have to be more carful around this equipment."
"Why do you have to hurt him like that?" Nurse Kim complains annoyingly.
"I know it might seem harsh, Kim, but a little bit of tough love is good for Oswald. It'll set him strait," I say.
Kim falls silent and returns to her seat at the corner of the room. I shock Oswald again just to enrage her. He squeals pitifully as his body convulses involuntarily with electricity and tears of pain spill from his bulging eyes. After the shock has subsided, he blushes, ashamed of the tears on his face but unable to wipe them off, due to the fact that his arms are restrained.
"Were you bullied as a child, Oswald?" I ask him, my finger hovering threateningly over the shock button on my remote control.
"...Yes," he whimpers reluctantly.
"Tell me about that."
Oswald repeats the story about how his mother dressed him in a tuxedo for a formal event at school and the other kids kicked the crap out of him and called him a penguin, causing him to piss his pants. Predictably, this melts the girl's heart, but I am not amused. I want more embarrassing secrets. New ones.
"Was that the only time it happened?" I ask Oswald.
"...No," he admits reluctantly.
"Tell me about that."
Oswald tells me that he was beat up more than once. He tells me that the kids in his school called him pissy pants penguin until he was fourteen which was around the age when he started brutally beating anyone who said it. He learned to hide his violence when adults were watching; make them think that he was an innocent victim.
"Violence is bad, Oswald," I say, and I push the button on my remote control administering another shock that makes him yelp. The hypocrisy of me having said this is not lost on me but I pretend like it is. Hypocrisy is more fun that way.
"They had it coming," Oswald snarls angrily, staring me down defiantly. I don't much like that crazy look on his face.
"Violence is bad, Oswald," I repeat condescendingly, before administering another shock.
"Ouch!" Oswald yelps as the electricity surges his body.
"Stop it!" Kim interjects annoyingly. I find myself wishing I could zap her again. "Don't hurt him anymore, can't you see he's had enough!"
Silently, I decide that I will give Oswald an extra zap every time that Kim pisses me off. I push the button on my remote. Oswald convulses with electricity and howls with pain. More tears pour out from his eyes. Then, he hangs his head and begins quietly sniffling.
"This process of reconditioning may seem cruel to you, but I assure you that it is very scientific. If Oswald is to be cured of his criminal psychosis, he must be disciplined. If you care for Oswald, Kim, you should see that this is the best thing for him," I say.
Kim falls silent again. I turn back toward Oswald.
"Now tell me about your father, Oswald," I say.
"Fuck you," Oswald snaps back at me.
I stare Oswald down, and he flinches, now aware that his temporary lapse in politeness was a terrible mistake.
"Alright. That's it. Now its time for a spanking," I say.
I unhook him from the machine and release his arms from the straps binding him to the chair.
"This will be over sooner if you cooperate," I tell him.
Oswald is so broken from his long period of severe abuse that he doesn't argue or resist. He knows the routine. I sip my coffee as he waddles over to a cot on the side of the room and bends over it so that his chubby butt is in the air. He pulls his pants down, exposing the brutalized purple flesh beneath the cloth.
"I'm r-ready," he sniffles.
There's a metal ruler on my desk. I pick it up and walk over to the place where Oswald is bent over, waiting for his punishment. I strike him across the ass with the ruler and he yelps loudly.
Kim is crying now. Apparently she can't bare to watch her precious criminal boyfriend cry his eyes out while he gets his ass beat. Why doesn't she leave?
"Oh...Ossy...," she Sniffles stupidly.
I strike Oswald again. His fat ass giggles and her lets out a pitiful sob. A few angry red welts are raised on his butt cheeks.
SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK!
I spank Oswald's ass hard with the ruler.
"Ow! OW! OWW! OWWW! OWWW!" he whales between sobs.
"Stop it! Stop hitting him!" Kim interjects again.
I acknowledge Kim's annoying comment by striking Oswald as hard as I can on the bloodiest, most heavily welted portion of his ass. This is near were the cheek meets the thy. He cries out in pain. Then, puts his face in his hands and starts loudly weeping.
By this point, I think that Kim has realized that I punish Oswald for her speaking, because she remains silent. No more does she attempt to argue with my methods or offer Oswald comfort.
I smack Oswald again and his breath hitches in his throat momentarily. He quickly resumes his obnoxious weeping. Kim is paged on the intercom. She is needed somewhere else in the hospital. I watch as she rises from her chair and exits the room. As the door slams behind her, I rush over to it and lock it shut. Then, I walk over to my desk, put the ruler back on top of it, and open up one of the drawers.
I withdraw my trusty steel pipe from the drawer. Then I walk back over to Oswald, raise the pipe as high as I can and slap his left butt cheek with it. Oswald yells out in pain. His weeping becomes more rapid and frantic. The pipe has left a bloody gash on his ass. I raise the pipe a second time and smack his right cheek with it, blooding it. He yells again, and puts his hands over his head to comfort himself.
"P-please no more," he begs me, his voice distorted from prolonged weeping. "Don't hit me again, please! I'm s-sorry! I'll tell you a-anything you want to know! I promise I won't be disrespectful again!"
I return the steel pipe to my desk drawer.
"Sit down, Oswald," I say. "I'll hook you up to the machine again."
"P-please, don't make me sit down," he sputters as he straitens up and pulls his pants back on. He winces as the fabric lightly brushes his bottom.
"Sit down or you'll get another spanking," I threaten.
Oswald obeys me. I reattach him to the lie detector and the electrodes. I strap his arms down to the arms of the chair. Its getting late now. The Asylum is quiet. Prisoners have been returned to their cells for bed. Most of the staff has left for the day.
Time to kill him.
"Do you like that girl, Oswald?" I ask him.
"You mean Nurse K-kim?" Oswald stutters in reply.
"Yes."
Oswald nods slowly.
"Why?" I ask.
"She reminds me of my mother," Oswald says. His reply is so creepy that it must be true.
"Tell me something else, Oswald," I say, my finger hovering over the shock button on my remote control.
He looks at me fearfully. He can tell by the tone of my voice that I'm about to ask him something damning.
"Did you kill a woman named Rebecca?" I ask.
Oswald thinks about this for a moment and then replies:
"I don't know."
I push the button on my remote control and he yowls as his body is flooded with electricity.
"Did you kill a woman named Rebecca?" I ask again.
"I don't know!," Oswald answers frantically. "I-I've killed a lot of people! I can't be expected to keep track of them all!"
I narrow my eyes.
"Think hard, Oswald," I say.
The room is quiet for a moment while Oswald thinks this over.
"...No," replies Oswald after awhile. "I don't recall killing any women."
I push the button my remote control, electrocuting him again.
"Aaagh!" he yells.
"She was a very mannish woman," I growl.
I approach the place where Oswald sits, and as I do, the expressionless mask of professionalism melts away from my face. He must see the rage in my eyes clearly now, because he starts hyperventilating. His hands grip the arms of the chair. His eyes grow wide.
"She was my world, Oswald, did you know that?" I hiss threateningly "When I lost her, my world was broken. My mind was broken. I lost my grip...on everything.
I retrieve the serrated knife from my desk drawer and hold it aloft. Oswald eyes the knife fearfully. He struggles against the straps which bind his arms to the chair. A look of mortal terror creeps over his pale face.
"Please! Don't do this!" he begs pitifully. "I'm sorry for your loss! Really I am! But killing me won't bring her back!"
I ignore Oswald's plea for his life and continue my monologue.
"I lost my grip...on everything...so much so that I might have belonged in this asylum. Did you know that, Oswald? Could you tell? You did that to me. You made me this crazy mother-fucker."
"...P-please don't kill me...I'll give you anything...money, do you want money? L-let me go now...I'll...I'll h-happily write you a check..." Oswald stutters, attempting to muster what he can of his old charm; attempting to win me over with this empty, false bribe.
I advance on him and he presses himself against the back of the chair. I resume my monologue as though I hadn't been interrupted.
"I was a blithering raving loon after I lost her, Oswald," I say. "So much so that they might have thrown me in this god forsaken nuthouse, but I was smarter, you see. I was smarter than all of those retarded morons. You know why? Because I have a doctorate in clinical phycology. When I have theories with hypothesizes that need testing, the institution is more than willing to accommodate me. I have seniority. People respect me. They don't question my methods. They applaud them. With reverence. Unfortunately, however, I no longer care for this sham of a life, whether or not people respect me is no longer relevant. It brings me no happiness, Oswald. I do not wish to continue this miserable existence without my precious Rebecca. I will meet her tonight in the next world...but before I do that-"
I press the tip of my knife to Oswald's quivering throat.
"-I'm sending you strait to hell," I growl menacingly.
The door to my office flies open and Kim rushes into the room.
"Don't you touch him!" she shrieks. I catch a glimpse of blond hair and cartoon penguin scrubs, before she tackles me, knocking the knife out of my hand. I push her off of me and lunge for the knife.
"You're not the only one who can bug a room, you know!" Kim shouts, grabbing one of my ankles as I craw toward the knife.
I smash my foot backward into her face and she releases me, gripping a broken bloody nose. My hand is inches away from the fallen knife, when she jumps back up and tackles me again, her tiny body pinning mine to the ground.
"You'll go to jail for a long time after the authorities see what you were planning!" she shouts. Is that the bitch's way of telling me that she's wearing a wire? How did she manage to break through that door?
I turn around and elbow her in the face, easily knocking her off of me again. My hands close around the handle of the knife and I stand up. My hair is disheveled; my glasses skewed. The girl screams and charges at me. I hold the knife out in front of me and Kim screams as she rushes forward, accidentally impaling herself on the sharp blade.
"Kim! NO!" Oswald shouts.
Her body convulses and dark rivulets of blood gush from her open mouth, I remove the blade from her chest and she falls, hitting the ground with a hollow thud.
I turn toward Oswald. Tears are streaming from his blood shot eyes, but his expression has otherwise changed. His face, once broken; flaccid; condemned to an endless humiliating torture which he was powerless to escape-is now contorted by a frightening rage.
"How dare you." he hisses dangerously, standing up. Some way or another, he has managed to wriggle free from his restraints. Perhaps I did not fasten them securely enough. Perhaps he had been hiding some kind of a sharp prison shank up his sleeve, which he used to saw through his restraints while I was distracted. I don't have much time to think about it. Oswald staggers toward me, wrestles the knife out of my hand and pushes me to the ground. Despite being crippled, he is much stronger than the girl was. I jump back up and try to wrench the knife out of his hand. He over powers me, easily pushing me back to the ground.
"How dare you," he says again. His voice is trembles as does the knife, which is still wet with Nurse Kim's blood. I jump back to my feet and run toward the door. He grabs me by the back my shirt and pulls me back toward him. I spin around and his eyes lock on mine, the expression there is cold; pitiless.
"Now you have to die," Oswald whispers coldly, and then he draws his hand back, quickly stabbing me in the chest with the knife.
I scream. He pulls the knife out and blood pours out over my white lab coat. I fall to the ground. He cackles insanely and jumps on top of me, stabbing me in the chest again and again. I'm screaming. I see red everywhere. It splatters his grinning face and clothes. He's still cackling. I'm still screaming. I grow faint from blood loss. He's saying something about the future. About Gotham. About himself. About the world. Something that I assume he must think is deep. I don't hear much of it, his voice is drowned out by my screams...and then by my mindless gargling.
My vision fades. The world goes dark.
And silent.