At Dawn, in the Forest

Dr. Willow was an old, middle-age man, that was the only way to describe his age. Dawn had no idea how old exactly he was. During her long stay in this unknown place she never heard anything about his age, which was a shame. Dawn liked to set up the profiles of the people she met here, it was both time consuming and smart to do so. She hoped to use the information against them. She only knew that he must be older than his wife Dr. Klein, that he couldn’t be a senior yet, but was also older than an average middle-aged man. Therefore, old, middle-age man. Dr. Willow had a good physique for his age except for his protruding stomach. Dawn had experienced his strength a couple of times and he was way stronger than he seemed to be. So she was careful. He had reading glasses, but he didn’t keep them in sight, not wanting to show or admit that he needed aid while reading. His wrinkles were mostly around the eyes and he had a neat beard, you could see it was being trimmed every day. The hair on top of his head was darker, a dark grey color, which slowly faded out in a lighter grey into his beard.

He looked like a nice, warm and loving grandfather from a distance. A new grandfather, someone who’s first child just got their first child as well. But once up close he was everything but warm and loving. His eyes were ice cold, matching their color, light blue. Dawn always tried to avoid those cold blue orbs. Dr. Willow’s personality was more stable than Jack’s but a very dangerous one. He could give you the impression that everything was all right, that nothing was wrong and when he thought you had fallen into his trap he would turn against you. Dr. Willow liked control and he tried every sickly move to get you in his web of lies only to be eaten up. He was the biggest reason why Dawn was careful to wear her heart on her sleeve, to show any emotion at all.

Dawn hated his name the most, Dr. Willow. His last name was named after a tree! How could a wicked and evil person like him get such a beautiful last name. Dr. Willow was nothing like a tree, he didn’t take after or cared for anyone but himself. He didn’t offer protection or food. He was more like a nasty fungus that killed everything in its path, growing fast roots, and destroying everything in its way. Dr. Klein, on the other hand, had a fitting last name. She was a petite black woman who had her hair always nicely done in a low bun. She always wore a pearl necklace and had red lipstick on. Her nails were neatly taken care of and she didn’t show much of her personality. She helped her husband mostly and Dawn had a feeling that was her only job. She also had a feeling that Dr. Klein was the brains of the pair and that Dr. Willow was to keep their subjects in line. She always saw the female doctor busy on one of the computers or tablets, making notes on their many note blocks, and coming up with ideas when they hit a problem.

The moment Dawn was strapped in the chair she tried to replay Planet Earth in her mind to keep her distracted. It was hard though, the three of them often spoke to each other or her, which made it difficult to concentrate. Tuning them out was a tremendously hard job if you were afraid and terrified for what is about to happen but you can’t express it in any way. Her body language was often not enough, often she was hooked up to a cardiac event monitor. Dawn’s heart rate would be exposed and she tried everything in her power to keep her heartbeat steady.

“What’s on the schedule for today?” Dr. Willow asked his wife. “First we need a blood sample,” She responded without taken her eyes off the tablet.

Without asking Jack got the supplies for blood withdrawal and went to work. While the needle went in, protruding Dawn’s skin, she thought about the second episode of Planet Earth. The episode discussed the seasonal forests. When Attenborough was done with the taiga and moved southwards in the episode Jack was done. “Run those samples quickly and then we can see if we can go ahead with our new experiment,” Dr. Willow ordered Jack. A disgusting smirk plastered on Jack’s face when he heard ‘our new experiment’.

If Dawn was allowed to show emotion a visible shiver would run down her spine, but she couldn’t so she carefully clenched her fists and let them go again. While she waited and the doctors were discussing something, possibly horrible for her, she continued with the episode in her head. Attenborough had now moved further south to South America and discussed the siblings of the redwoods, the alerce trees. They were big, tall old trees with a white bark.

Jack entered the room and showed the results to the doctors immediately. Dawn tried to keep her mind on the episode of Planet Earth, but it was hard. She didn’t want them to start their new experiment.

Results were passed around the three of them and Dawn heard agreeing sounds being exchanged, to her great displeasure.

“It seems, subject 400185, that the amount of silver and wolfsbane have lowered, so we can go ahead with our new experiment.” Keep your face straight, keep your face straight, keep your face straight, Dawn repeated in her mind. Dr. Willow came closer to her until he stood beside her and looked her in the eyes as he brought the awful news to her. “We have decided to take a closer look at your bones, so today we will start removing pieces, to see how fast they grow back.”

Dawn couldn’t help herself, her face paled. She wanted to run, to escape, to be anywhere but here. She wanted to be with her brothers in the treehouses they built. But she couldn’t, she had to stay put and any indication she tried to break free would only result in more pain during the experiment.

Dr. Willow caressed her cheek. “Don’t worry, my little wolf, as long as you behave, all will be well.”