Call The Police

A morbid sort of fascination kept me looking at the app even as I signed in at the clinic. It must have gotten into my contacts, because most of the women in my life were on there, with a score next to them. Veronica my date for tonight was sitting at a solid -57.

The app had tabs for profiles on the ladies, as well as a few other tabs that were greyed out, none of which were labeled. What a weird fucking thing.

“Bryce?” A redhead, with a bump on her cheek popped her head out of an office. “I’m ready to see you now.” She had a lab coat, over a pink pair of scrubs, with white shoes. Her hair was straight as a razor, went a little bit past her shoulders. She patted down the crinkly paper on the examination table, and told me to have a seat before closing the door. “I’m Nurse Valentine, your sheet says you’re experiencing chest pains?”

Nurse Valentine? What a world.

“Um yeah, I can actually show you the problem, if I unbutton my shirt.” I’m not a total slob and was wearing a nice button up for Veronica. Before I could undress I heard my phone chime. I looked at it a bit rudely, and saw:

Valentine Porter, Profile Added.

Creepy.

I set my phone down and unbuttoned my shirt, so she could see the evil star seared into my chest.

“Oh my goodness!” She gasped and leaned forward. “Was this hazing?” She looked up at me seriously.

“No! I don’t know how I got this, it just appeared on me during a date.”

She grabbed a few cotton balls, dabbed them in something and began to treat my wound. “Stuff like this doesn’t just appear. It’s pretty obvious this is a brand.”

“But…”

“You shouldn’t be trying to protect whoever did this to you. This is going to be a lifelong scar, and there will be more victims if you don’t speak up.”

“I’m really not protecting anyone. One moment I was on a date, and the next, my chest was just hurting.” As I argued this I was hissing, as she swabbed blood and gunk away from my tender wound. Whatever she was using stung.

“You were with someone, and they didn’t see anything?”

“What would they see?” I asked, clawing my nails into the seat. “The devil come up with a scaling hot pitchfork?”

“Do you remember your whole date? Is there any blurriness to the night, any lost time?”

“No, I…” Well now that she mentioned it. “I guess, there is some, some stuff I don’t remember.”

“I think you should go to the police.”

“You think she hurt me?” I asked somewhat in shock. I didn’t know Veronica that well, but women don’t do this sort of thing.

“I think someone did, someone dangerous to you and the other students.”

I tilted my head back and sighed. What a bummer. “I’m going to have this forever?”

“Probably.”

“That’s so fun.” She finished up cleaning my wound, and was taping a bandage to my chest. “Please tell me, someone has had a worse night than me.”

She smiled, and snapped off a piece of tape. “I did have one kid, come in, and tell me that his heart was missing.”

I laughed. “He must have been stoned out of his mind.”

She nodded. “He was eating a second edible, while I was examining him. He wouldn’t let me take it until I promised not to tell the nurse about it.”

“Wow. Who was he?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Come on!” I begged. “I’ve been branded by satan, let me have a win here. Besides if he was that high, I don’t think it’s any secret who he was.”

She laughed, and snapped off her latex gloves. “Okay, fine. His name was Brian Sodders, he’s in one of the frats.” Valentine Porter +3SP (-67SP)

What the? When she answered my question, I got some weird feeling. I don’t know if this accurately explains it… but I felt like in a video game, where an experience bar filles up.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry.” I shook my head. “This night is catching up with me.”

She nodded, and helped me up. “Okay, well go to the police before you go to bed, okay?”

“Right, yeah.” I gave her a weak smile, and buttoned my shirt back up. “Thanks Ms. Porter.”

She gave me a weird kind of smile. “I didn’t… how did you know my last name?”