Bailey Gaus

January 15th, 2024

Rachel had surgery over a year ago and begins dating her surgeon.
However, she soon discovers that he’s not as perfect as he appears to be.

Disclaimer: assault, fear and gore
Read time: 15-20 minutes

Inspiration for this story was from listening to the song Devil Doctor by The Tenants, Destryur, & STRNGR, as well as unbelievable stories from my friend Allison who used to work as a surgical technician for a surgeon who had severe anger issues.

Okay, look. I know it’s not considered normal to date a surgeon who has performed surgery on you, but it had been a little over a year since the surgery had been done, and to be honest, James was the nicest, most caring person I’d ever met.

So while I lay paralyzed on my couch, covered in James’ blood, and we wait for the paramedics to arrive, why don’t I recount everything that led up to this point. I can’t believe I’m even in this situation, and I can’t do anything else but think.

When we first met for the surgery consultation, it was hard to keep eye contact with James without blushing. I knew my cheeks were red, and it was impossible to hide it. Rather than make it awkward, James paused and put his hand on my right forearm and smiled. After a few seconds, he took his hand off of my arm and continued explaining how the surgery would go, addressing all of my concerns, and reminding me that I would be getting the best care in the state.

About six weeks after the surgery, I went in for a checkup. James checked the incision site and said everything looked great, then expressed a hope to see her again, but not in that setting.

A few weeks after that appointment, we ran into each other at a grocery store in the produce aisle. I was busy checking the list on my phone to make sure I’d grabbed everything, when I heard a male voice say my name. I looked up from my phone and saw James holding a bag of apples and a basket of random grocery stuff in the other hand. I immediately felt butterflies in my stomach.

God dammit. That brown hair and those green eyes. Not to mention he was smart. Money wasn’t really ever anything I had looked for in a partner, it was mostly emotional maturity and discipline, among other things. I just wasn’t interested in pursuing anything serious right now.

We had a brief, friendly conversation and then he said he had to get going. But before he said goodbye, he asked for my cell number. I said yes, unlocked my phone and handed it to him. He typed in his number, and after he gave me the phone back, I sent him a text so that he had mine. I was grossly giddy for the rest of the day.

Our texts were pretty innocent for the first week. He asked me out on a date the following weekend since he wasn’t on call for surgeries, and he made reservations at a really nice restaurant in town. It took me hours to decide on an outfit, and I ended up just going shopping for a new outfit with my best friend Melissa.

On the date, James was extremely kind. I did feel slightly out of place at the location because it was way out of my price range, but once we sat down, neither of us stopped talking. I’d never met someone who had so many of the same interests as I did. We both agreed that it felt like a great match.

James walked me to my car after dinner. I unlocked the car with my key fob, but when I reached for the door handle, he grabbed my hand and gently turned me around, pushing my back against the driver side door. He whispered into my ear asking if he could kiss me. I was so nervous that I couldn’t speak and ended up shaking my head yes before leaning forward and meeting my mouth with his for the most incredible and slow kiss I’d ever had in my life.

Fuck. This guy was dreamy and I’d been single for so long that I’d forgotten how nice it felt to have someone else’s skin against my own. I replayed that moment in my head for a few days.

James’ surgery schedule was chaotic at times, so it was common for me to not hear back from him for several hours at a time. He would sometimes send me flowers to apologize for taking so long to reply back to texts. Seriously, the most amazing man I’d ever met. Or so I thought.

There were a few times when I’d run into him at random places. First it was a gas station, then a grocery store, and then another time, he had booked a haircut at the same salon, with the stylist that I use. None of these occurrences felt weird to me until the last one, which was when I was out with a friend at the movies.

My friend Melissa had asked me to go see a movie with her, so we planned a girls night out. We bought tickets and were standing in line for concessions when I noticed James in line in front of us. He grabbed his popcorn and empty soda cup, and had just turned around when I said his name. He looked over to see me and smiled before walking over and introducing himself to Melissa.

Turns out that he was watching the same movie as us. He didn’t want to interrupt our girls night, but Melissa insisted he sit with us because it would’ve been weird if he didn’t.

It was strange to be with both of them at the movies because I didn’t feel like James and I were serious enough for me to start introducing him to my friends, but it was nice enough to sit by them both and spend that time together.

After the movie, we chatted a bit in the lobby but then Melissa and I said we were going to finish our girls night without any men. James started pressing into what a ‘girls night’ consisted of, so I flippantly explained that we would either go out for drinks at our favorite bar. He told us to be safe and said that I could call him if I needed a ride home.

While at the bar, Melissa had started talking with a man, so I started texting James. By that point, I’d had several drinks and was tipsy, nearing drunk. I teased him for ruining girls night, which eventually led to him saying he was on his way to pick me up. Melissa was sitting on another guy’s lap at the bar, and I figured she wouldn’t be upset if I left our girls night early. I texted James back telling him that I’d be out front waiting for him.

As I stood outside waiting for James, a man walked up behind my shoulder and asked if I’d like to go home with him. I politely told him I had other plans, but he didn’t like that. He grabbed my waist and pulled me into his chest, and wrapped both arms around me tightly. I still remember that sinking feeling when he put his mouth up to my ear and whispered, “Now why don’t you be a good girl and come home with me. I’ll be nice as long as you do as I say.”

I had closed my eyes at that point so I didn’t see what happened. I just felt something make impact with this stranger, and it forced him to let go of me, and I almost fell back when he let go. I opened my eyes to catch myself and saw James, who had already grabbed my hand and pulled me into a run to his car on the other side of the street. We drove to my apartment in silence and I ended up falling asleep in his car.

The next morning I woke up and found a Gatorade and a granola bar sitting on my nightstand. I thought maybe Melissa had left it for me since she’s the only other person with a key to my apartment, but then I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

To my surprise, James walked into the room. When I asked him how he got in, he explained what happened last night and said that he only stayed because I had asked him to. He didn’t feel right staying in the bedroom with me, so he slept on the couch with Sima, my cat.

I wasn’t completely bothered by this, but felt slightly uneasy. Mostly because again, we hadn’t been talking long enough for me to invite him to my place, and I also had not cleaned anything up because I wasn’t expecting company.

He left about 20 minutes after we talked, and I was a bit hungover, so I decided to shower and got settled into some comfy clothes. After lunch, I grabbed my phone to text James, and I went through our texts. I almost didn’t because I didn’t want to know if I’d embarrassed myself, but decided to anyway.

I had made a few typos and was overly flirty, but James had grown a little impatient and blunt as the conversation went on. Was he just tired from work, or possibly just worried about something bad happening to me? In his defense, I had been grabbed by that weird man… But I also realized something that was a bit unnerving.

I had never told James where I was. He never called me to talk, so it was all through text messages, and I had not shared my location with him. So how did he know which bar to pick me up from? I couldn’t have even told him where Melissa and I were going when we ran into him at the movies because we hadn’t even decided yet! Maybe it was nothing… but it absolutely made me feel weird.

Are you tired of this story yet? Because this is where things start to get pretty fucking weird. And also, why are the paramedics not here yet?

Fast forward a couple of weeks, James and I were eating lunch at a restaurant when James randomly mentioned moving in together. I laughed and then realized he was being serious. Considering we’d only been dating for a few months, I told him that I thought it was moving too fast. James disagreed and explained that he really felt a connection with me and wanted to start a future together. I ended up saying that I felt we needed to take a break and left. I felt an immense amount of pressure from him and something just wasn’t feeling right.

As I walked to my car and sat in the driver’s seat, I heard a knock on the window. I looked over and recognized the girl, remembering her as one of the receptionists in James’ office. I rolled down my window and said, “Can I help you?”

She pushed her hair behind her ear, and looked at the ground before saying, “Do you remember me?” I shook my head yes.

“Okay good. I need you to listen to me. I uh… I am no longer working for Dr. Plyer because I found some files that had some extremely weird information on them that led me to report him for malpractice.” I think she could see the confused look on my face.

“There’s no easy way to say this, but at least three women have had issues with their incision sites after Dr. Plyer performed surgery on them. At least that’s all that we know about. When they all left to get a second opinion, and one ended up in the ER, they discovered a small pill shaped object under the incision. And those objects appeared to be some sort of microchip or tracking device.”

“What the fuck?!” I gasped.

“Exactly. Dr. Plyer is under investigation by the state licensing board and legal action will most definitely be taken against him. I just happened to be shopping across the street and saw you and… wanted to let you know.” She pursed her lips before saying, “Because you had the same type of surgery as the other women.”

I shook my head in disbelief and looked back at the woman. “Thank you for letting me know. I think I’m going now.” I rolled up my window and she turned to walk away. As I pulled out of the parking spot, I saw James sitting in his car… and I know he had been watching us. We made eye contact, but I kept driving.

I drove back to my apartment in complete silence, still trying to process what I had been told about James. Had he put a microchip in me when he performed my surgery? Was any of this real? Maybe I was being pranked? I began to think back to when he picked me up from the bar that one night with Melissa, and how he had somehow known where I was, even though I hadn’t told him. I guess it would make sense if he had been tracking me somehow… and every time I’d happen to run into him at random places… Well, maybe those weren’t coincidences at all.

I basically jogged up to my apartment, making sure to lock the door behind me. I sat my purse down on the kitchen counter and grabbed a glass of water before walking to the living room and sitting on the couch. I took my phone out of my back pocket and set it on the coffee table in front of me, and rubbed my hands up and down on my thighs. My eyes were closed and I was focusing on my breath. I need to calm myself before deciding how to move forward with any of this.

In and out. Breathe in for five seconds, hold for five seconds, and then exhale for five seconds. I heard something behind me and assumed it was my cat, but then I felt hands over my eyes and something over my nose and mouth.

I tried to scream, but realized that some type of tape had been placed over my mouth, and since my eyes were still covered, I couldn’t see anything. I moved my hands up to my face to take off whatever was on my face, but someone grabbed both of my wrists and quickly tied them together tightly.

I screamed, but it was muffled. Too muffled for any neighbor to be able to hear me. I still couldn’t see and I tried to think of what was covering my eyes and then felt someone tie a knot on the back of my head. I started kicking my feet, but the person pushed me back onto the couch before rolling me over with my face pressed into the couch. I felt my heartrate increase and I started to panic, and my breaths became faster and shorter.

I felt a head on the back of my head push it into the couch. My right sleeve was rolled up and a sharp pinch in my bicep. I tried screaming for help but it was just muffled. I squirmed around but my face was pressed harder into the couch. With my mouth covered, I could only breathe through my nose and I began to worry about suffocating. If this person was going to do this when I moved, then I should stop moving if I want to live.

And then…

I felt my breathing slow and my heart rate declined. I started to get a bit dizzy, and it sounded like I was underwater. I felt like I was floating, but then I realized that I was being rolled over from my stomach to my back, still on the couch. The blindfold was untied and removed, and a pillow was placed under my head.

I opened my eyes and could see a person, but it took a few seconds to adjust, and then a few more seconds to process who it was.

James. Why the hell was James doing this to me?! What the fuck?!

I tried to scream but I couldn’t. I tried moving my arms but they wouldn’t move either. And that’s when I realized I couldn’t move anything. I was paralyzed. He had clearly injected me with some paralytic substance. I could only move my eyes, not my head. I heard rustling and something thump onto the coffee table, but it was just out of sight.

James took a deep breath before saying, “You know, Rachel. This could’ve gone a lot easier if you would’ve just let me move in with you. I could’ve done this while you slept and you would’ve never known.” I could hear clinking of something metal on the coffee table. “But you decided to be difficult and pull away from me when I mentioned moving in together.” He stepped out of view again and I heard footsteps go into the kitchen and then running water.

I stared at the ceiling tiles trying to think of what was going to happen to me. How did he get into my apartment? Did he get here before me? He doesn’t have a key so did he break in? What is going to happen to me? Am I going to die?

I heard footsteps enter the living room and James laughed, “You’re smart, Rachel, and I’m sure you’re wondering how I got in here.”

He walked over to the couch and stood over me so I could see him. “Well, you leave a house key in a lock box under your car, along with a spare car key. I took them both out and had copies made, but put them back before you noticed they were gone.” He pushed his hair to the side. “Rachel, I chose you out of the other women because your incision site never had issues. You don’t complain. You thanked me for doing such a great job. You praised me. You’re beautiful and smart. I like that about you. But you also genuinely like me. Maybe I should use past tense now… but I hope you don’t take this personal. I hope you still like me. I did this before I got to know you, but now that I’ve been found out, I need to take away the evidence.”

He sat down on the coffee table and grabbed something off of it and held it up so that I could see: a scalpel.

“Rachel, I’m going to have to take something out of you that I put in there. I shouldn’t have done that, and I’m sorry. But I want you to know that if we keep this between us, you can have the most luxurious life you’ve ever dreamed of. And of course, I will be the best spouse that you could ever want.”

He pushed up my shirt, revealing the incision site in my abdomen, and then I felt him pushed down my pants an underwear to reveal the other two incision sites near my pubic bone. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and fall into my ear. My breathing was still slowed and I was silent, but I was screaming inside.

James took his finger and pushed hair behind my ear. “Oh Rachel. Don’t be so scared. I’m doing this because I have to, not because I want to. And besides, you’re on some really great pain meds and won’t feel a thing. I’m one of the best surgeon’s in the state. You don’t have to worry about a thing.” He paused and then looked in my eye and said, “But I am sorry you have to be awake for this.”

I stared up at the ceiling as more tears fell from my eyes. I didn’t want to see what he was doing, even out of the corner of my eye.

He reached over to the table and put on latex gloves before picking up the scalpel again. Just as he turned back over to me, we heard a knock at the door.

“Hello?! Rachel, are you there?!”

Melissa! I forgot we were going to watch a movie at my place tonight.

“FUCK!” James yelled in a whisper. He jumped up and grabbed a decorative cement bust that was sitting on a side table, and then I heard footsteps quietly move out of sight and then stop.

Melissa unlocked the front door and I heard her set stuff down on the kitchen counter. “Rachel?! I see your purse here so I know you’re here. I’m coming into your bedroom! I hope you aren’t using your vibrator!” I heard the bedroom door creak and more footsteps around that area of the house. “Why the fuck haven’t you answered my calls?!”

“Rachel, if you’re here, this isn’t fucking funny anymore!” I heard footsteps go through the kitchen and into the living room, and then a loud gasp.

“RACHEL! What the hell?!” She ran over to the couch and knelt down on the floor beside me. She was talking and asking me questions, but I wasn’t listening. My eyes were focused on James who had quietly made his way over to Melissa. He was holding the bust to his side and then he swung as hard as he could. When it made contact with Melissa’s head, I heard a very loud, hollow thumping sound, and then Melissa fell to the floor.

James moved out of sight, but it sounded as if he dragged Melissa’s body to the other side of the room.

He walked back over to me on the couch and when he made eye contact with he, he said, “This is getting really fucking messy, Rachel. I’m sorry for hitting your friend. She’s still alive, but I will kill her if she continues to be a problem.” He sighed. “However, I don’t have a lot of time, so let’s take a look at that chip.”

He grabbed the scalpel from the table again and while I couldn’t feel it slice into my stomach, I could feel the pulling and tugging while he dug around for the microchip. “I know I’m close…. Ah.” He held his hand up to my eyes to show a small metal oblong device. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” He clicked his tongue and reached over to the coffee table to put the microchip in a plastic bag. “Now it’s time to stitch you up.”

I heard the shuffling of more items and then felt more pulling and slight tugging on my stomach. I stared at the ceiling instead of catching his bloody hands whenever he rose them up. But then suddenly, I saw another figure behind James.

Melissa! Oh my god. Melissa, knock him the fuck out!

She was standing silently behind James as he worked on me. Blood dripped from the side of her head down onto to her clothes. She held a fireplace poker in her hands. I closed my eyes as she lifted her arms up. There was a loud swing and then a wet cracking noise, and then I felt James’ body weight on me and a massive amount of something warm and wet, which I assumed to be blood.

Melissa immediately called 911, gave our location and advised that multiple people were hurt who needed immediate attention. She wasn’t sure if James was alive or not, but she put the call on speaker and shoved him off of my body. He made a loud thud as he hit the floor.

She grabbed a pillow and held it up to the side of her head that was bleeding, and then she knelt down on the floor next to the couch and hugged me tight. I was still unable to move, and while she didn’t know I was paralyzed, I think Melissa had pieced enough together to figure that out on her own. She audibly sobbed onto my chest while tears silently fell from my eyes and down either side of my face.

We stayed like that for a while and I stared at the ceiling until I heard the police knock on the front door and then heavy footsteps running into my apartment.

So, that’s everything up until this point. I’m not sure what’ll happen next, I just hope I’m not paralyzed for much longer.