DOCTOR
DERANGED
By Randy
Romero
“Do you
think I’m crazy, doc?” It was a very difficult question to tiptoe around when
your patient had a loaded gun pointed in your direction.
Frank
Bloom’s patient had followed him hundreds of miles to Bloom’s secluded upstate New
York cabin. Bloom was alone. He never married or had kids, and he didn’t have a
girlfriend. He was married to his work. He’d treated hundreds of patients over
the years. But he’d never encountered a patient anything like Michael Loomis.
So there
he was, a hostage in his own cabin, with Loomis brandishing a handgun in his
direction. No point in calling for help. He screamed and he was as good as
dead. Not like anyone was around to hear it anyway. The cabin was deep in the
woods and miles away from the main road. There were no other cabins or houses
for miles in either direction. Nobody was coming to his rescue.
The
cabin had been in Bloom’s family for two generations and was his only getaway.
Few people knew about it. His patient must have gotten to one of them. What had
he done to them? Dr. Bloom was almost afraid to ask.
The
cedar one-floor cabin and its marvelous wooden interior had not been altered
throughout the years. The only thing Bloom had fixed was the plumbing, which
was in desperate need of an upgrade. There was a single bedroom, bathroom,
small kitchen, and red brick fireplace. The furniture, minus the sofa and the
glass coffee table, was all hand carved out of pine and oak. The cabin had electricity,
but sometimes Bloom opted to use kerosene lanterns to create a more rustic
atmosphere. Some nights he’d sit on the porch and stare up at the stars for
hours on end. But not tonight.
“Well,
doc? I’m waiting for your answer. Do you concur with all the other shrinks? You
think I’m crazy?” Michael Loomis asked.
“It’s
all subjective,” he said. “What’s normal for the spider–”
“Is
chaos to the fly. I’ve heard that one before. You’ll have to do better than
that, Bloom. Now answer the question. Do you think I’m crazy?”
“I think
you’re unwell,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “But I don’t believe
that you’re beyond help.” He’d been in high pressure situations before. He knew
to avoid direct eye contact, knew not to make any sudden or unexpected
movements. And he knew not to show any fear. On the inside, he was terrified.
On the outside, he was wearing his poker face. He showed just enough apprehension
and compliance to let Michael think he was in control of the situation.
Bloom
felt like he was trapped inside a goldfish bowl. Every move was under scrutiny.
There was nowhere for him to hide. He was fully exposed.
“That’s
why I like you, doc. You haven’t given up on me. You still think you can help.”
“I know
I can, Michael. Just give me a chance. Why don’t you put the gun so we can talk
things out.”
Michael cocked
the hammer of the gun back. Bloom tensed up momentarily, then relaxed. He’s
not going to shoot you. He followed you all the way here. He wants your help.
As long as he needs you, you’re safe.
“Sorry,
doc. My trigger finger got a little itchy. Sometimes you’ve just got to scratch
it. I suppose it runs in the family, huh?”
“Take it
easy, Michael. Don’t do anything rash. I only want what’s best for you.”
“Spoken
like a man with a gun pointed at his head.”
“Spoken
like a man who truly wants to help you,” Bloom said. “You came all this way. At
least let me try. Think of this as one of our sessions. But before we go any
further, I need to know one thing. Michael, how did you find me?”
“Your
secretary. She wasn’t very helpful at first. So I had to be more persuasive.”
“You
didn’t–”
“I didn’t
kill her if that’s what you’re thinking. I just persuaded her. I’m not
going to lie, I had to rough her up a bit. She’s a tough cookie, that secretary
of yours. A lot of heart. I didn’t know I had it in me to hurt a woman. But
like I said, I guess it runs in the family.”
No
wonder Dr. Jacoby recommended him to me, Bloom thought. He’s a
lunatic. I’ll be sure to thank Jacoby in person if I make it out of this alive.
“Speaking
of family, tell me about your brother,” Bloom said, deflecting and stalling for
more time.
“You
already know about my brother.”
“What
was it they called him?”
“You
know what they called him too.”
“But I
want to hear you say it.” Dictating the conversation gave Bloom some semblance
of control.
“Dr.
Deranged.”
“Tell me
about your brother again. Start from the beginning.”
“It’s a
simple story. My father was a world class surgeon, and my brother was a
delusional nut job who wanted to follow in his footsteps. Ben started off slow,
dissecting animals, taking them apart, stitching them back together. I knew
about it. I should have said something. Our dad was clueless. I don’t know
where he got the animals from, but I assumed he was trapping and killing them
for practice.
Dad had
enough money to put Ben through medical school. It was around that time that
people started disappearing around town. You know what they say about serial
killers. They start by torturing and killing animals. But eventually it’s not
enough. It didn’t take long for him to graduate from animals to people. His
first real victim was Nadine Hurley. You remember the urban legend about the
guy who wakes up in a bathtub full of ice with one of his kidneys missing?
That’s what happened to her. He kept her alive for a little while in that
bathtub, so he could perform other surgeries.
Then
there was Shanna Moore. She was a runaway. Nobody questioned her disappearance.
But everyone questioned Ralph Benedetto’s disappearance. Ralph was a foreman in
the carpenters union. He had family, friends, lots of connections. His body
turned up a few days later. His eyes had been removed. My brother used a
scalpel and carved them out without even damaging the sockets. There were more
that followed, before and after he graduated. Over the years, the bodies just
kept piling up.”
“What happened
when your father found out?”
“His
first instinct was to tell the police. But Ben decided to perform a little open
heart surgery. That’s when I came forward. I had to or I would’ve been next. It
was him or me.”
“Tell me
about your time at South Oaks.”
“I
voluntarily committed myself. I had a little breakdown after I found out about
Ben. I was afraid of what I might do to myself, to someone else. I didn’t know
myself at all. I had to get away from society. Until I was better.”
“Do you
feel better, Michael?”
“If I
was, I wouldn’t be seeing a shrink.”
“And why
are you seeing a shrink? Don’t answer that. I’ll answer for you. Because you’re
strong enough to admit you need help. So let me help you, Michael. Put the gun
down. What are you going to do, shoot me? Shoot the one person dedicated to
getting you the help that you need?”
“Smooth,
doc. Real smooth. But I think I’ll hold onto it for now.”
“Michael–”
“Call me
Mike.”
“Mike,
what happened to Ben, after you turned him in?”
“He
wouldn’t go quietly. The cops gunned him down.”
Bloom
was silent for a moment.
“Is that
what you think happened?”
“I know
that’s what happened. I was there. I saw it.”
“Let’s
go back even further. Before your father’s death. Before the murders your
brother committed. Tell me about your mother?”
“You’re
really getting to me, doc. You know what happened to my mom. You’ve heard
everything before. About my brother, my father, my mom’s death. I think you’re
stalling, trying to figure a way out of this.”
“I’m
just trying to get to the root of it all. I know I’ve heard the story before.
But I want to hear it again. So please tell me what happened to your mom?”
“It was
supposed to be a routine procedure. She didn’t trust any of the other surgeons.
Only my dad. So he volunteered to perform the operation. But he was nervous. He’d
been drinking. Things went wrong. It was the only patient he’d ever lost. I
know it tore him up inside. He almost lost his medical license, but it was
eventually ruled an accident. But he was never the same man after that. He lost
something that day. Not just a wife. He lost a piece of himself. We all did.”
“I’m
sorry, Mike. It must have been a very traumatic experience. And that’s it,
Mike. That’s the root. Where it all started for you, for your brother. That was
the catalyst that led your brother down that dark and violent path. That’s the
reason you need help. It all stems from that incident. That’s why you can’t
remember what really happened to your brother. Your father accidentally killed
your mother and you couldn’t cope with what you did to your brother. Not after
what happened to her.”
“I told
you what happened to Ben. The cops pumped about fifteen rounds into him.”
“Think,
Mike. Think. You know that’s not what happened. You’ve created this fantasy,
this fugue state to hide your guilt. You killed Ben when you found out he was a
murderer. He tried to attack you with a scalpel, but you managed to take it
away. You stabbed your brother in the neck. That’s why you were in South Oaks.
That’s why you came to me.”
Michael
Loomis froze momentarily, as if stunned by this shocking revelation. Then a
sick smile spread across his face and he could no longer contain his laughter.
He was cackling like a mental patient.
“Ah I’m
just messing with you, doc. I know I killed Ben. He was the perfect fall guy.
He wanted to follow in our dad’s footsteps. He had the medical degree and the
surgical tools. It was the perfect setup. Nobody questioned his motives. I do
sort of feel bad about it though. I miss him sometimes. But like I said, it was
him or me.”
“It was
you…” Bloom said and trailed off. The horrible reality of the situation began
to dawn on him. His poker face vanished, replaced with a mask of fear.
“You’re–”
“Dr. Deranged.
I hated that name at first. But it’s grown on me. Everything I told you was a
lie. Well, not my mother’s death. That really happened. I always resented my
father for it. And Ben, he was always daddy’s favorite. He was the one that dad
put through medical school. He was the one with a future. He never killed
anybody. He never even killed those animals. That was all me. I had a treehouse
out in the woods. Dad didn’t know about it. Neither did Ben. That’s where I
would perform my little surgeries. But it wasn’t enough. So I killed Nadine
Hurley. And Shanna Moore. And Ralph Benedetto. And Carol Peterson. And
countless others.
Of course
that means I also killed my father. Like I said, I always resented that bastard
for what he did to my mother. I took my time with him. I drugged him, cut him
open, split his ribcage, and took out his heart. And Ben took the fall for it. And
I’ll tell you the truth about South Oaks. I had myself committed to stop myself
from killing people. But it didn’t work. That’s why I’ve seen a slew of shrinks
since then. That’s why I came to you. To cure me of this affliction. But now
I’m starting to think it’s not an affliction. This is who I really am. I’m not
sick. I don’t need your help. I just need to embrace who I am.”
“You’re
wrong. It is an affliction. A disease. You can’t control your impulses. If you
confessed, you wouldn’t even go to prison. They’d deem you unfit to stand trial
and ship you back to South Oaks. I can assure of it. I’ll testify in court if I
have to and tell the judge you weren’t yourself when you killed all those
people. It’ll work. I promise you, Mike. You just have to trust me.”
“Sorry,
doc. I’m done trusting you. This session is over. I’m afraid we’re out of time.”
“So
that’s it? You’re just going to shoot me in cold blood and walk away?”
“To be
honest, the guns not even loaded. But it worked, didn’t it? Certainly fooled
you. And no, I’m not going to shoot you. I had something special in mind for
you. I even brought my tools…”
***
It was
dawn by the time Michael Loomis finished his work.
“Don’t
be too hard on yourself, doc. You tried your best to help me. You really gave
it your best shot. But you can’t win them all. I appreciate you being there for
me though. Well, some of you is there for me. Of course, some of you is over
there. And some of you is over there. I certainly made a mess this time,
didn’t I?”
Bloom’s
silence was revealing.
His
dismembered corpse was scattered all around the cabin. Michael had used a bone
saw, taken him apart piece-by-piece.
Michael
changed his blood spattered clothes and said a final goodbye. “Farewell, Bloom,”
he said and turned to leave the cabin.
“The doctor
is in,” he said and a malevolent grin crept over his face.
