Last Friday of the Month

As she had done consistently for over a year, Julie Tran arrived on the last Friday of the month for the last appointment of the day with her podiatrist, Dr. Adriana Soto.

Behind the receptionist counter sat Reshma Narang, an attractive young woman who ran the office. She watched Julie--who was also young and very pretty-- enter the waiting room, sign in, and take a seat against the back wall. Once seated, Julie withdrew her bare feet from her shoes, tucked them up under her legs in the chair, and absorbed herself in her smartphone.

Despite a personal rule not to take any undue interest in Dr. Soto’s patients, Reshma found herself fascinated by Julie.  From her position behind the counter, she could see that Julie had healthy feet, with no sign of any injuries or ailments that would require a podiatrist’s care. And yet, month after month, Julie returned to the office without fail for the same appointment. Why?

Reshma knew that it was none of her business, and she would never say anything about it to either patient or doctor. But that didn’t lessen her curiosity about Julie. Was the girl a foot-based hypochondriac? Did she have some kind of non-professional relationship with Dr. Soto? The idea of any impropriety on the part of Dr. Soto was unconscionable to Reshma, who knew that her employer had absolutely above-board and professional dealings with all her patients. Still, there had to be some reason why beautiful, healthy Julie came back for all of these appointments.

As Reshma pondered the mystery, the previous patient emerged from an examination room and stopped in front of her to finalize his paperwork. Once he was finished and had left the office, she called Julie up to the counter. Leaving her shoes under the chair, Julie stood and walked barefoot over to Reshma.

“Dr. Soto said you’d take care of your co-pay in advance, as usual,” Reshma said.

“Yes, that’s right,” Julie said, handing over a credit card.

Reshma processed the payment, printed the receipt, and handed everything to Julie.

“Okay, you’re all set. You can go on back to Room One. You know the way, of course. Dr. Soto will be with you in a few minutes.”

Julie smiled at her in appreciation, and Reshma returned the pleasantry. Then, Julie walked down the hall to the examination room, as instructed. She’d only been away from the counter for a minute when Dr. Soto entered the receptionist area from the back. Reshma turned to acknowledge her.

“Hi, Doctor. Julie is waiting for you in Room One.”

“Thanks, Reshma,” Dr. Soto said. “Is her paperwork completed?”

“Yes.”

“Great. If you want, you can close up and then leave whenever you’re ready. I’ll let Julie out when we’re finished.”

“Okay. Sounds good.”

“Have a good weekend.”

“You, too.”

When Dr. Soto had left, Reshma began putting files away and going through the office shut-down process. In a few minutes, everything was done. She sat back down and pulled off her sensible flats one at a time, followed by her socks. Reaching into the backpack she always brought with her to work, she pulled out a pair of sexy stiletto heels. They were the kind that Dr. Sotto most definitely wouldn’t approve of (“Those things will ruin your ankles and knees and spine!”), which is why Reshma only wore them outside of the office. She started to put them on, but then she stopped.

An overwhelming curiosity had suddenly bubbled up from the depths of her imagination, where she usually did her best to repress it. But on this particular last Friday of the month, during this particular appointment, right as she was free to leave early to begin her weekend, she found herself unable to let the question of Julie go. She wanted to know what was up with that girl. She needed to know. She had to know.

Dropping the shoes, she stood up and tip-toed out of her workspace. The office was silent, and she wondered if she could make it down the hall and all the way to Room One without alerting Dr. Soto or Julie to her presence. She agonized over the decision for several interminable seconds. But there was no realistic way she could resist the temptation. So she went for it.

Stepping carefully and quietly, she made her way down the hallway. The industrial carpeting worked to her advantage, as did being barefoot. As far as she could tell, she produced no discernible sounds.

She stopped just outside the door to Room One. It was closed, but not all the way. She couldn’t see anything through the minimal crack, and she could just barely hear muffled voices coming through it. Unable to make out the conversation in the room, she couldn’t alleviate her desire to know what was going on. Was it just a normal checkup? Some medical procedure? A friendly chat? Game of cards? Sex? Conspiracy?

Blind supposition wouldn’t do at all. She had to know. Had to! She’d come this far; she had to take it all the way. She had to go inside the room.

Without thinking on it any more, and so suddenly that she actually surprised herself, Reshma rapped twice with her knuckles on the door. Then she opened it and stepped into the doorway.

“I’m so sorry to bother you, Doctor, but I--”

She couldn’t finish the sentence, and her mouth hung open in mid-thought, as if to punctuate her inability.

Inside the room, Dr. Soto sat on waist-high stool on wheels. It was her normal examination stool, which let her move around the room without getting up. Beside her, Julie sat half-reclined in the examination chair, with her feet up on a padded support. The chair looked not dissimilar to a dentist’s chair, except that it had more settings to allow a patient to sit in various positions from fully upright to fully reclined.

The scene would have appeared as entirely normal to Reshma, except that an odd device she had never seen before hung down slightly above Julie’s head. The device hummed softly and shone a pale green light onto the patient’s face. The light pulsed rhythmically, and Julie stared into it passively with wide eyes. In a quiet but steady voice, she spoke to Dr. Soto.

Upon Reshma’s intrusion, Dr. Soto turned towards her receptionist. A fleeting glance of annoyance crossed her face, but it quickly vanished. Julie continued talking, oblivious to Reshma’s presence and the lack of her doctor’s attention.

“Yes, Reshma, what can I do for you?” Dr. Soto said.

“Oh, well, I, uh...”

“Please, come in and shut the door behind you.”

The request caught Reshma off guard, as much as the weird scene before her. But she was used to following the doctor’s instructions, so she complied. And this was, after all, what she wanted: to find out what these repeated appointments of Julie’s were all about.

“Julie,” Dr. Soto said, turning back to her patient, “please stop for now.”

Julie stopped talking in mid-sentence, much as Reshma had done a moment before. She continued staring up at the pulsing green light.

“Doctor, what is this?” Reshma said. “What’s going on? I’ve never seen a machine like that used in podiatry. I mean, I know I shouldn’t have interrupted your appointment with a patient, but I--”

“It’s okay, Reshma. Don’t worry about it. Julie can wait a couple of minutes while I explain everything to you.”

“Really?”

An intense feeling of relief washed over Reshma, as she realized that she wasn’t in trouble for her stupid failed spying game.

“Yes, of course,” Dr. Soto said. “So, you’re correct. This machine has nothing to do with podiatry. Nor do Julie’s appointments with me. I have a second profession unrelated to my medical practice. It has to do with the brokering of information. Julie works for me, after a fashion. She procures information for me and relays it to me here once a month.”

“I...I don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry about the details. Just know that I use Julie to gather information and bring it to me. When she is here, I use this device to retrieve the information from her.”

“She seems like she’s...hypnotized or something.”

“Yes, she is in a state resembling hypnosis. The machine induces it, and while under its influence, she has no will of her own and no capacity for independent thought. She is completely docile, subservient, and obedient to a degree that few people can ever be, even when hypnotized. Furthermore, after she wakes up, she will infallibly carry out any and all suggestions I gave her while she was in this state.”

“But why do you do this to her?”

“Because she is unaware that she works for me. And she must remain so in order to obtain the information I need without compromising herself or my position. When you came in just now, she was telling me about the latest data she had obtained. Once she was finished, I would have given her new instructions, blanked her memory of this session, implanted new memories correlating to a podiatry appointment, and then released her to go home. As soon as you and I are finished discussing this, I’ll do just that.”

“I don’t...that is, you can’t...”

“I understand,” Dr. Soto said. “It’s a lot to take in. But it’s all right. You won’t remember any of it after today.”

“What?”

Even as Reshma said it, she knew exactly what. And just as the feeling of relief had washed over her before, now a sense of impending dread gripped her insides.

“No,” she said, then with more conviction, “No! You can’t hypnotize me against my will! You can’t just take away my memory!”

“The fact is, I can. And I will. But don’t worry, it’s not an unpleasant experience. In fact, I can make it very pleasurable.”

“Screw that!”

Reshma turned back to the door and twisted the handle. It moved but didn’t open.

“The door locked as soon as you closed it,” Dr. Soto said. “You’re not leaving here until I let you.”

“I will scream! I will cut you! I have a pocket knife!”

“Julie,” Dr. Soto said calmly. “Please get up and bring Reshma over to the chair. Use minimal force. I don’t want her hurt.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

In a relaxed but fluid motion, Julie sat up in the chair. She swung her legs around to the side and stepped down to the floor. With the impassive face of one asleep, she walked over to Reshma.

“Don’t touch me!” Reshma screamed.

Julie ignored her and reached out to grab the receptionist’s wrist with unexpected speed. Reshma failed to pull away in time and found herself caught in an unyielding grip. An instant later, she winced, as Julie pressed into a pressure point between bones.

“Go with her, Reshma,” Dr. Soto said. “Otherwise, she can make it worse.”

Julie tugged, and Reshma reluctantly followed her captor to the chair. Without further prodding, she climbed into it. But she didn’t sit back.

“This isn’t right,” she said. “You can’t do this to people. You can’t do it to me!”

“Sit back in the chair, under the light,” Dr. Soto said.

“Do you get off on this? On hypnotizing women? On brainwashing them and turning them into unquestioning slaves? I bet you do!”

“Julie, please make Reshma sit back in the chair.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Reshma cried out as Julie applied more force to the pressure point. Then, glaring venomously at Dr. Soto, she sat back in the chair.

The pale green light immediately shone onto her face. She squeezed her eyes shut against it, until Julie pressed even harder into her wrist. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, she opened her eyes.

Although utterly fearful of what was about to happen, Reshma quickly felt herself relaxing as she looked up into the steadily pulsing light. It was neither bright, nor harsh. It drew in and held her gaze, soothing away all of her stress and anxiety. For a brief moment, she fought against the effect, remembering that its hypnotic power was meant to sap her will and allow Dr. Soto to brainwash her. But despite this knowledge, she couldn’t help feeling comfortable, sated, and drowsy.

“Julie, you can let her go,” Reshma heard Dr. Soto say. “She’s not going anywhere now.”

Then she heard Julie say, “Okay, Doctor.”

Distantly, Reshma felt a release of pressure at her wrist. But it only barely registered. All of her focus was on the pulsing light. She could see and feel nothing else. She began blinking in time with its rhythm. Soon, her eyes remained closed longer and longer with each blink.

“Reshma, can you hear me?”

“Yes.”

A last, tiny part of Reshma that was not quite asleep heard the voices from far, far away. She vaguely knew that they belonged to Dr. Soto and herself.

“Reshma, you’re going to do whatever I tell you. You’re going to obey me wholly and completely. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

It was the last thing she heard and knew, as she slipped into a deep, blissful slumber.

“Reshma. Reshma.”

In response to hearing her name, Reshma opened her eyes. She immediately saw that she sat reclined in an examination chair. Dr. Soto was carefully handling her bare feet.

“Are you okay, Reshma?”

“Um...”

It was all a blank. She couldn’t remember anything. Why was she here? Why was Dr. Soto examining her?

And then it all came flooding back: Julie Tran had just left the office after her usual last-Friday-of-the-month appointment. Reshma had taken the opportunity to ask Dr. Soto for a quick consultation about some foot pain she’d been experiencing. So here they were, in the middle of the examination. She must have zoned out for a moment.

“Everything should be fine now,” Dr. Soto said, letting go of Reshma’s feet. “You won’t experience any more pain. Even so, get rid of those high heels!”

The doctor smiled, and Reshma followed suit. The reassurance and jovial scolding from a compassionate expert were exactly what she needed to feel better.

“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll throw them out as soon as we go up front.”

“Excellent. And to make sure no further problems arise with your feet, I think I should examine you regularly for a while. Let’s schedule something at this same time, on the last Friday of the month, right after Julie Tran’s appointment....”