The Beast Within

"Thanks, officer," he said. The policeman patted Bill on the shoulder and headed out. After the nurses got Bill calmed down and situated, they gave him some more medicine and he fell asleep.

By the end of the second day, Bill had been transferred to a private room in another part of the hospital. He was starting to get his strength back and was able to walk up and down the hall before going back to bed. The hospital put him on a special cardiac diet and gave him infusions to bring his blood levels back to normal.

Thanks to Mike, several people from the office sent flowers to Bill's room with cards encouraging him to get well "soon." He smiled at that.

On his third day, he was sitting up in his bed, watching the news, when Mike and Ralph entered the room.

"Hey, Bill," Mike said as they entered his room. "How're you feeling?"

"Better," Bill said. "Almost human, even."

"Well, you sure look better than you did the other day," Mike said. Ralph shook his hand and the two men sat down next to Bill's bed.

"So, Bill, would you mind filling us in on what's really going on?" Ralph asked. Bill looked nervously at the two men.

"Is what we say here confidential?" he asked. Ralph nodded his head.

"Absolutely," he said. "What gets said here stays here between us. Think of me as your therapist, okay? The same rules of doctor-patient confidentiality apply."

"Okay," Bill said. "I'm pretty embarrassed about all this, you know."

"No need to be, son," Mike said. "We're here to help but we can't help if we don't know what's been going on with you."

"Alright," Bill said. After giving Ralph permission to record the interview, he filled them in on the events of the last three and a half months, from the time Sara made her first announcement to the encounter in ICU that landed her in jail. Ralph stopped a few times to ask questions and took notes as he listened to Bill's story. When Bill finished, the two men appeared shocked.

"My God, this sounds like one of those stories you read online, doesn't it," Mike said. Ralph smiled at that.

"Yeah. I've never heard of anything so outlandish," he said.

"So, is there anything we can do?" Mike asked. Ralph thought for a moment before answering.

"I'll need to make a call, but I think there is," he said. "Ordinarily, I'd advise getting a lawyer and filing for divorce, but I think this case requires something more, especially given the physical and emotional damage that's been done. A divorce is stressful enough even under the best of circumstances, but this..."

"What are you thinking?" Mike asked.

"I remember a seminar I attended in New York a while back. The speaker said he was working on a special kind of treatment specifically designed for cases of extreme emotional damage. It's not been approved by the FDA or anyone else, but he said he's open to looking at cases where there has been significant distress. Maybe he'd be interested in this," Ralph said.

"What are we waiting for?" Bill asked.

"Keep in mind, Bill, that if he decides to take your case, it could be expensive and since it's experimental, your insurance wouldn't cover it. And there's no guarantee he'll even look at you," Ralph said.

"Don't worry about the cost," Mike said. "I'll take care of that."

"Okay," Ralph said. "I'll make some calls and get back to you. Meanwhile, Bill, I'd like to come by and talk with you one on one for the next few days if you don't mind."

"I'd like that," Bill said.

"Good. Then it's settled. I'll start making calls today when we get back and hopefully I'll get an answer soon," Ralph said, standing up. Mike stood up as well.

"Are you going to be okay?" Mike asked. Bill nodded his head.

"Yeah. I'll need to talk to an attorney and get a protection order, though," he said.

"I'll see what I can arrange. Maybe I can get someone from legal to do that for you," Mike said.

"Thanks," Bill said. He shook their hands and settled back in bed after they left. He felt better than he had in weeks.

Ralph came by and held impromptu counseling sessions with Bill for the next three days and Mike, true to his word, got one of the company lawyers to file an order of protection keeping Sara and Bruno 500 feet away from Bill and his place of work. They could stay at the house so long as Bill was in the hospital or undergoing in-patient therapy, but had to vacate as soon as they knew he would be back. The attorney suggested Bill take measures to protect his finances.

Mike also brought Bill's laptop from work. Connecting to the hospital's guest wifi network, he logged into his bank account and made a number of changes, paying off and closing out their joint credit card and moving half of their funds into a separate account in his name only. He had the statements and forms mailed to his office. Her ATM card still worked, so she would still have access to some funds.

The policeman's prediction also came true. Sara and Bruno were held at the county jail for 96 hours but were released on their own recognizance after the judge decided neither of them had actually struck Bill. The threats, which had been captured on the hospital's surveillance system, were deemed irrelevant.

There was no fine, no probation, nothing. Not even a warning to "play nice" with others. So much for the "justice" system. The two were served with the protection order the day they were released from jail.

Finally, the doctors declared that Bill could be released. Ralph, however, managed to have the order changed showing that Bill would be released into a "private rehabilitation center," owing to what he called "extreme emotional distress" which he explained was probably the "root cause" of Bill's heart attack.

Ralph and Mike showed up in Bill's room the day before he was to be discharged.

"Good news, Bill," Ralph said. "I spoke with Dr. Steiner and he's agreed to take your case. You'll be transported to his private research center as soon as they're finished with you here. From what he tells me, you'll be there for three weeks, maybe longer. Mike and I will go by your house when we leave here, collect your things and let your wife know that you'll be out of touch for that period of time. Dr. Steiner says he doesn't want you to have any contact with her while you're under his care. Any questions so far?"

"Where is this place?" Bill asked.

"It's a nice research center on the shore of Lake Arrowhead," Ralph said. "They have everything you could ever need, including a weight room and Internet access, and I'm told the rooms are quite nice."

"Do they serve black bean burgers?" Bill asked. He had gotten quite used to them after eating them at the hospital. Ralph nodded.

"I'm sure they can scare some up. Are you going meatless?" he asked.

"Nah," Bill said, "but I am going to start watching my diet a bit better from now on. The hospital here serves them as part of their cardiac diet and I've developed a bit of a taste for them."

"Smart move," Ralph said. Bill removed his wedding ring and handed it to Mike.

"When you see Sara, could you please give her this?" he asked. "Tell her I don't want it and I won't be needing it any more." Mike took the ring and put it in his pocket.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. Bill nodded.

"Absolutely. Tell her she can fuck herself with it for all I care. I'm done with her," Bill said. Mike and Ralph headed to Bill's house to collect his things. They also wanted to check the place out to see if they could corroborate his story.

Pulling up into the driveway, the first thing they noticed was the unkempt yard, which had not been kept up for at least two weeks. They knocked and Sara opened the door, dressed only in a bathrobe wrapped tightly around her body. Her hair disheveled, her eyes red and puffy, she looked as though she had been "rode hard" and "put away wet." Mike had known Sara for a long time, but he hardly recognized the woman who answered the door.

"Hi, Sara, we're here to get Bill's things for his rehab," Mike said. Sara invited them inside.

The first thing they noticed was the smell. Dirty clothes and oily rags were everywhere. The house looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in quite a while. Walking in the kitchen, Ralph saw a large dog dish with the moldy remnants of what looked to have been food at one time. He also noticed the floor around it was splattered with moldy food.

"Do you guys have an animal?" he asked. Sara shook her head.

"No, I'm allergic to dogs and cats," she said. "Sometimes Bill brings in a stray and feeds it, though." Ralph nodded and looked around a bit more. The sink was filled with dirty dishes and there were used pots and pans on the stove. He saw trash from various take-out joints and figured she didn't do much cooking.

He also noticed some odd ingredients on the kitchen counter and the table along with a pile of empty soda bottles. Interesting, he thought to himself.

Bruno's motorcycle was also parked in the living room, on top of what appeared to be a fairly expensive rug. The rug showed tire marks and oil and several tools along with oily rags lay next to the bike.

"So, you dudes bring some beer?" Bruno asked as he came downstairs.

"No," Mike said. "We're here to get Bill's things. Where are they?"

"They're upstairs," Sara said. "I'll show you." She led the two upstairs into the guest room.

"Doesn't he keep his clothes in the master bedroom?" Ralph asked.

"Uh, no," Sara said. "After Bruno moved in I put his stuff in the other room."

They went through the closet, grabbing several pairs of jeans, some t-shirts, a pair of tennis shoes and other items they thought he might need. Mike went into the master bathroom and grabbed Bill's toiletries. He looked around the master bedroom and saw the strap-on dildo Bill told them about. The bed was unmade and the entire room reeked of sweat, urine, feces and sex.

He packed two suitcases with Bill's things and went back downstairs, Sara on his heels.

"So, where will he be? How long will he be gone?" she asked. "I need him to come home and do his chores."

"He's going to be gone for a few weeks and he's asked that you not be informed of his whereabouts. After what happened at the hospital, I'm sure you can understand," Mike said.

"Can I at least call him?" she asked. Mike shook his head.

"No, Sara. He doesn't want to hear from you," he said. Mike reached in his pocket, pulled out Bill's wedding ring and handed it to her. She accepted it with tears in her eyes. "Bill said he has no further need of this. He had some other things to say, but I'll let him tell you in person."

"I only wanted to liven up our marriage," she whimpered as she looked at the ring in her hand.

"Well, I think you've certainly done enough," Mike said.

"Please tell him that I love him and I'm sorry," she said.

"I'll tell him, but I doubt he'll listen," Mike told her. "Goodbye, Sara." They left Bill's house and headed to the office. They planned to take Bill's stuff to him in the morning before he got discharged.

"Did you see that house?" Ralph said. Mike nodded his head.

"I've been there many times, had dinner with the two of them. They always kept the place spotless," Bill said. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think Sara's on drugs." Ralph nodded.

"I tend to agree. That stuff in the kitchen looks pretty suspicious," Ralph said. "I can't help but wonder if that Bruno character is cooking something up there. It sure looked pretty volatile."

"Maybe I'll get security to keep a loose tab on the place. If there are drugs involved, we'll need to get the authorities involved," Mike said. Ralph snorted.

"Yeah, and they can give them a ticket and tell them not to do it anymore, right?" he asked.

"Right," Mike said in response.

The next day, they went to the hospital to see Bill off. They gave him his suitcases and filled him in on what they observed at his house. Bill shook his head.

"Sara said she loves you and only wanted to spice up the marriage," Mike said. Bill laughed.

"I'd hate to see what she'd do if she hated me," he said. "This marriage is over. I'm done with her. I'll be filing for divorce the first chance I get. I've had enough."

It was close to 1:00 in the afternoon when the nurse came by with Bill's discharge orders. After she went through all the instructions, she handed him a heart-shaped pillow and showed him how to hold it on his chest when he got up or sat down. She also gave him his prescriptions and informed him that he might feel compression pains in his chest for a while.

Afterwards, Bill rode a wheelchair down to the lobby, where he saw a white van marked "Arrowhead." Two orderlies in blue scrubs moved Bill to the van, where he said goodbye to Mike and Ralph.

"Thank you for everything," he said, shaking their hands.

"My pleasure," Mike said. "Just get well and come back home, okay? If you need anything, just let us know."

With Bill safely in the van, the orderlies got in and headed out. An hour later, they made it to the facility. The orderlies wheeled Bill inside where he was met by a short, balding man with a large mustache. Smiling, he shook Bill's hand.

"Welcome," he said with a slight German accent. "I'm Dr. Franklin Steiner and I'll be taking care of your treatment. Come, let's get started. The orderlies will take your things to your room." A third orderly pushed Bill's wheelchair and followed the doctor to a large, nicely-appointed office. After securing the chair, the orderly left the office. Dr. Steiner pulled out a folder and placed it on his desk.

"I've had a chance to go over your case and I believe we can help you," he said. "The only concern I have is your cardiac health, but the hospital says you should do just fine as long as we take it slow. Let me be clear about something here. This treatment has not been approved by the FDA yet, but we do have approval for human trials. That means this is all experimental."

"But it will work, right?" Bill asked. Dr. Steiner shook his head.

"Oh yes, it will work. We just need to approach your case with extreme care. Before we get started, I'll need you to fill out these forms and sign the document in the back. It's a formality, but due to the experimental nature of what we do, it's an absolute requirement," he said. "Basically, it states that you understand this is experimental and do not hold us responsible for any unforeseen results or reactions."

Bill filled out the forms, read the disclaimers carefully and signed. Dr. Steiner looked everything over before explaining his treatment.

"Let me explain a bit what it is we'd like to do. I understand you've been subjected to some fairly extreme sexual distress at your wife's hand, correct?" he asked. Bill nodded his head. "Now, you're feeling insecure, scared and emasculated as a result, right?" Bill nodded his head again. "And you need a way to, how shall I say it, make things right with yourself - regain your manhood and deal with those who have done you wrong. Am I right?"

"That's pretty much it, doctor," Bill said. The doctor shook his head.

"Let me try to explain my hypothesis in plain English if I may," the doctor said. "That should help you understand what it is we want to accomplish. Each of us have various defense mechanisms to help us cope with extreme situations. Sometimes, we fall back on an alternate version of ourselves, what could possibly be described as an 'alter ego,' if you will. That alter ego could manifest itself in many ways. A normally quiet, unassuming individual could suddenly become boisterous, arrogant and overbearing, for example. Those not familiar with this behavior from that person would suddenly have a much different opinion of him or her.

"From what I've been told, you are such a person. Ralph tells me that you're normally quite friendly, open and accommodating. You try to please those around you and you're not one to make waves. When confronted, you seek to resolve the situation as peacefully as possible. Am I right so far?" he asked.

Bill nodded in agreement.

"The same thing applies to your wife. You loved her so much that you were willing to go along with her in the hope that she would eventually return to her usual self. But that didn't happen, did it?" the doctor asked. Bill shook his head.

"Over time, her behavior became even more outrageous. You responded as you normally would, but were ultimately overrun by her new and outrageous behavior. This, of course, became a shock to you as this was out of the norm for her. Am I right so far?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, that's pretty much it," Bill said.

"In other words, her alter ego took over in response to what she perceived as a problem in the marriage. Instead of dealing with her issues in her normal loving way, she allowed her inner beast to take over. In short, the woman you married is gone, replaced by a completely different persona, the total opposite of the one you knew before.

"So, we need to unleash the inner beast in you. Right now, you probably feel like a wimp. That's normal. What we need to do is put the wimp away, at least for the time being, and allow your inner beast to come out until the source of your distress is gone," he said.

"There is one thing you should know, though," the doctor said. "In some of our other trials, the 'inner beast' has actually caused physical changes in the subject. They're not permanent, but they can be unpredictable and in some cases, quite violent."

"What kind of physical changes are you talking about?" Bill asked.

"A marked increase in bone and muscle mass along with a logarithmic increase in strength are not unusual. We have seen other side affects, but those seem to be related to the subject's unique situation," the doctor said. "You won't turn green or anything like that. That only happens in the movies," he added, laughing.

"If I do change like that, though, what happens afterward?" Bill asked.

"In our experience, once the source of the distress is gone, the 'beast,' if you will, also leaves, never to return. However, those who have experienced physical changes say they're much better able to cope with problems than before and they seem to be in better overall health than before the change," the doctor said.

"So what happens now?" Bill asked.

"Well, it is a bit late in the day, so I'll introduce you to your personal staff and we'll get you situated for the night. I do want to take some blood and urine so we can do a workup overnight and I want a full set of X-rays. We'll start you on an IV tonight with some saline and other preparatory medications and we'll begin our work early in the morning, about 6:30 or so. I want to do a deep hypnotherapy session with you so we can hopefully understand the full nature of your issue," he said.

"That will take up at least three hours in the morning. After that, I want to do a full-body MRI scan and run some tests to measure your physical fitness. Once we've done that, we can plan the rest of your treatment. Any questions so far?" he asked. Bill shook his head.

"No, not right now," he said. The doctor pressed a button on his phone before standing up.

"Good," he said as the orderly returned to the office. "Let's go meet the staff assigned to you, shall we?" The orderly followed the doctor, pushing Bill in his wheelchair. They finally arrived at their destination, which looked like a nurse's station on the side of a long hallway. Four very attractive women in blue medical smocks stood as they arrived.

"Ah good, you're all here," Dr. Steiner said. "Please allow me to introduce our guest, Bill Dalton." The women all smiled and greeted him. The doctor introduced each of them to Bill.

"This is Angela, your dietitian," he said. "Ingrid will be your physical therapist," he added, referring to a short-haired blonde who obviously worked out. "Linda will be your day nurse," Dr. Steiner said, pointing to a petite woman with short dark hair. "And this is Gretchen, your night nurse," he said, pointing to a taller blonde woman who wore her hair in a bun. Her eyes twinkled as she smiled at him. He smiled back.