The man she buried is back and knocking. She thought she put that man out of his misery. The ominous noise starts again. “KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!” Always in a row of three knocks.

She is Heidi, a successful neurosurgeon who has been married to Milo for the last 10 years. As a seasoned surgeon this means many late nights for Heid. Which in turn means a lot of time away from her husband. As a woman emotionally it’s difficult to navigate such a relationship but Heidi chose to do those long work hours. Heidi also chose to come home early last night. She had a patient whose surgery didn’t last the amount of time she had planned. So, she decided she would come home early and surprise Milo. Well, she did, and she also got a surprise herself when she walked into the bedroom.

Heidi walked into their house, that she had bought with cash, and found Milo with some woman, a brunette maybe, Heidi didn’t even care to remember at this point. Both parties stood up stunned and naked. Heidi just glared at them. Heidi is used to blood, organs and other visual traumas most wouldn’t be able to handle. However, this was different. Heidi noticing her body shaking and unable to breathe she left the room and went into her office. Her cat Jemima was on her desk purring immediately as soon as Heidi went over to clutch her close. Jemima has been with Heidi for 11 years and can sense the impending doom. Jemima tenses and leaps from Heidi’s arms and flees in fright. “Great” Heidi thinks, “Now I’vee scared Jemima thanks to that man.” Ugh she signs loudly, “What more damage can this man do to me.” This thought immediately infuriates Heidi. Heidi hears screaming and then a loud door slam. Her husband Milo walks into Heidi’s office and has tears in his eyes. Heidi immediately starts laughing in disbelief. “Are you crying because you were caught in the act?” Milo starts to speak but Heidi just walks out of the room. She goes into the bathroom and locks the door. She has no desire to go into that bedroom ever again. She has no desire to speak or look at the man again. Heidi has decided to only refer to him as the man from now on. The man keeps knocking on the bathroom door which seems to go on for hours. Heidi calm as can be decided to shower and get ready for bed. If only that’s what happened. As a surgeon Heidi keeps a lot of medication on standby in the house in case there ever is an emergency. Well to Heidi this is an emergency. There is a man in her house who does not belong her. She goes into her bathroom closet and takes out her medicine bag. She loves this bag her father, also a surgeon, now retired gave to her. Her treasured bag is from the 1800’s and used to belong to the famous Scottish Surgeon John Hunter. John Hunter was known for being a thorough Doctor so of course the bag has so many compartments, but Heidi knows exactly where the Succinylcholine is. The medication only takes 60 seconds to create complete paralysis and lasts for 4-6 minutes which is enough time Heidi decides as she fills the syringe. The man is still knocking and weeping outside her door. Heidi could hear the sorrow singing desperately from the man’s voice. To Heidi, a seasoned neurologist – an all-knowing brain surgeon who had diagnose Milo as a Narcissist, she knew she had to end this ordeal for good. If Heidi had any empathy left, she would throw away the syringe and open the door and fling herself into his arms. The time for empathy has been erased and Heidi opens the door and calmly says “Let’s talk tomorrow”. Heidi knows this man so well she knows he will keep asking to talk about what she just witnessed. This man being so annoying which is ultimately his own proverbial nail in the coffin. Heidi say’s her final words to the man, “You are nothing to me and nothing shall you remain”. Heidi sticks the syringe into his left thigh muscle. The man stares at her with his dark empty eyes and begs the question, “What have you done?” Heidi does not entertain his question and simply waits the 60 seconds until he is a lump on the floor. Heidi grabs her penlight from her pocket and checks on the man’s pupil response. Heidi pinches the man’s leg to test his reflexes. Ah, quiet! – she now has time to perfectly assess the situation. As usual a quick thinker Heidi has what she considers another great idea. One of the benefits of loving Halloween is that Heidi had an old coffin set up as a coffee table. Morbid as it may seem, she did get it from one of her med school buddies. It was handcrafted with such a beautiful design that Heidi wanted it for her home. Heidi knows she has a limited amount of time to get him into the coffin. A woman who loves her rowing machine such as Heidi, thankfully has no problem getting him into the coffin and quickly. As she finally gets his legs in, she sighs again in relief that this man will never hurt her again. She closes the lid and allows the world to spin as she falls to the ground in exhaustion. “Ah! My only regret”, she declares to herself, “is that I have to waste such a good coffin on this man!” Heidi lets out a laugh. Laughter as Heidi knows is the best medicine.

Peace and quiet encapsulate Heidi. What seems an eternity to Heidi is only six minutes - if one were counting. Heidi knows it’s only a matter of moments before the man might awake. Heidi gets up and kicks the coffin over to the left side of the room where there is a trap door. Heidi carefully opens the hatch and proceeds to kick the coffin with all her might as it goes barreling down into the basement, they have no use for. Until now that is. At this point of impact, the man who was knocking at the bathroom door is now knocking from inside his new home, a coffin. “KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!” This will become the sound Heidi will hear for the rest of her life. “KNOCK KNOCK. KNOCK” Every 60 seconds Heidi can hear those knocks. Whether she’s in the middle of surgery or about to give birth to her first child years later. “KNOCK, KNOCK KNOCK!” The sound matches every beat of Heidi’s ice-cold heart. These words created a new world for Heidi to hide in. She lives her life as someone else now, but she can never escape the sounds of ““KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!”.

Jen

@Jenmaler

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

Jenmaler