A Twist Of Noir 076 - Michael J. Solender

THE PATIENT WILL SEE YOU NOW - MICHAEL J. SOLENDER

Originally Published at Powder Burn Flash 04/08/09

Dr. Payne awoke nauseous, eyes burning, and a huge welt on his head where Blaine had sucker-punched him. The massive forearm blow across his brow minutes earlier came as Payne was readying the Novocain for Blaine's cracked tooth.

Now he found his ankles and knees were immobilized as he was duct taped into the stiff, plastic covered dental chair in his own operatory. Several bungee cords pulled his arms taut behind his back with the same efficiency that rendered his legs useless. Still blurry from the blow, he made out Blaine accelerating the high-speed drill into a frenzied buzz.

Blaine began to approach him deliberately.

"Blaine, what is going on?" Payne asked in a pleading voice, his eye twitching. "You...you've been my patient for years!" he half-screamed in his nasally, whiny voice.

"Exact-a-mundo," Blaine stated, accelerating the drill into overdrive, "your turn now."

BIO: Michael J. Solender is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, NC. He writes a weekly Neighborhoods column for the Charlotte Observer and NEVER runs with scissors. His fiction has appeared online at 6S, Powder Burn Flash, Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers, and Flashshot (soon). He blogs here: not from here, are you?