Chapter Eight
Julie's Point of View
I saw her calm face crumble before my eyes, replaced by features of true terror that I hadn't imagined.
She was trembling as she extended her hand cautiously in the air like someone trying to tame a wild beast, and said in a broken voice:
"Julie... calm down, please put the scalpel down from your hand—think about what you're doing!"
I pressed the tip of the scalpel slightly against my skin, looked into her eyes with blatant defiance, and said:
"No... I won't!"
She said in a pleading tone, all signs of strength having vanished from her voice:
"Fine... I will ask them to leave, does that put you at ease?"
I felt a strange euphoria as I saw her defeated by my persistence. I did not move the scalpel away from my face even by a millimeter; instead, I continued to watch her movements closely like a hawk, waiting for the moment the two guards would leave the room so I could breathe a sigh of relief, if only for a little while.
I said to her with a firmness my voice had never known before:
"Yes, make them leave the room... now!"
The doctor did not hesitate; she ordered them to go out immediately. As soon as the door closed behind them, I exhaled a little, but I did not loosen my grip.
She said, trying to regain her professional tone:
"Now Julie, leave that scalpel before you hurt yourself."
I laughed with a bitter sarcasm that shook the corners of the room, and said to her:
"And take off my clothes so you can examine me... right? Do you really think I am that naive? The scalpel stays here, until we agree on new rules for this game."
She told me, in a desperate attempt to add a professional character to the situation:
"Julie, this is a normal examination... I am a doctor and you shouldn't be ashamed of me. Every girl who enters here undergoes the same examination, and we must perform it for you too; this is a necessity."
I saw her shoulders slump, and she finally seemed to surrender before the sharpness of my words and the sternness of the scalpel threatening their plans. She said in a low voice, devoid of that fake professionalism:
"Fine, Julie... I will ask you and be honest with me; do you have any scars on your body? And have you ever had a sexual relationship before?"
She was looking at me expectantly, as if asking me for a way out that would save her face before Olivia and Robert.
Even though I was well aware that my answer was what would determine my 'selling price' in their filthy market, I looked directly into her eyes and answered with total honesty and steadiness:
"I do not have any scars on my body, and I have never had sexual relations before."
I said it while feeling a lump in my throat; the truth that was once a source of pride for me had now become mere numbers increasing the value of the deal.
The doctor was writing the words quickly on the paper, then she pressed her stamp firmly as if closing this annoying file.
She looked at me with eyes full of caution and said in a low voice:
"You can put the scalpel down now... and we will keep what happened here between us, do we have a deal?"
She was offering me a silent bargain: my silence regarding her attempt to humiliate me, in exchange for her silence regarding my rebellion and madness with the scalpel.
I finally put the scalpel back in its place on the metal table, and the sound of its clink announced the end of the battle.
I looked at her coldly and said in a mocking tone:
"Forgive me... I don't have money to pay you for this exam!"
Then I turned with all my pride, opened the door, and walked out into the hallway, leaving behind a defeated doctor and a room that witnessed my first victory in this cursed place.
The two guards were waiting for me outside like shadows that never fade, but I noticed something suspicious; every time I went out, there was a different guard.
New faces, cold and frozen, as if they were constantly changing their skins so that I wouldn't feel safe with any of them, and so that the siege around me would remain renewed and never-ending.
After we crossed that long hallway that seemed endless, I found Olivia standing at my room door as if she had been counting the minutes.
I didn't wait for her to speak or ask about the exam; instead, I immediately seized the opportunity to impose my request in a calm but firm tone. I said to her:
"I want new clothes... right now."
My words were a declaration that I was not about to break, but rather about to impose my conditions in this elegant prison.
She looked at me with disdain, curling her mouth sarcastically as she said in a biting tone:
"Do you think yourself a princess to give me orders?! There are already clothes in your closet, wear something from them and don't stay in these dirty clothes."
Her words were aimed at crushing the pride I had regained before the doctor, as if telling me that the clothes I would wear were not mine, but merely a new packaging for the merchandise they were preparing.
I looked at her with complete seriousness and did not back down before her mocking tone. I said to her:
"And do you call what is in that closet clothes?! They are show costumes and short, shiny evening dresses... do you really want me to wear them while I sit alone in my room?"
My voice trembled with disgust; every piece in that closet was designed to strip me of my modesty and turn me into something that incites instincts, nothing more.
Olivia laughed with a provocative cackle that echoed through the hallway, and said in a tone dripping with poison:
"This is female clothing, my dear, but it seems you didn't learn this in your home, and that's why you resemble wild sows more!"
I froze in my place; her words were gnawing at my dignity and shamelessly trying to erase the image of the girl I used to be in my home—the girl who knows that femininity is pride and not just shiny, short fabric.
Fire ignited in my chest, and I no longer cared about the consequences; I looked at her with a gaze that pierced her mask of coldness and said to her in a voice dripping with venom:
"Unfortunately, not all homes are like yours... not everyone has a 'Doctorate in Whoredom' like you!"
A terrible silence fell over the hallway, as if the words had frozen the air between us. I saw Olivia's features stiffen, and her eyes widen with a shock she hadn't expected from a girl she thought she had succeeded in breaking.
Olivia could not bear the impact of my words; I saw anger explode in her eyes like a volcano, and she approached me with lightning speed.
Before I could retreat, her strong hand reached out to sink into my hair, pulling it with immense force that made my head snap back, and a faint cry of pain escaped me, which I choked in my throat.
Her face came close to mine while she trembled with rage and said with the hiss of snakes:
"Who are you calling a whore, you wretch?! I will show you how regret feels for every letter your filthy tongue uttered!"
Despite the pain tearing at my scalp, and my wound which began to throb with a sharp ache as if firing poisoned thorns into my face, I drew a cold smile full of defiance on my lips.
I looked into her eyes, wide with anger, and said to her with a deadly calmness:
"Don't lose your temper, dear Olivia... you don't want to become a 'wild sow', do you?"
My words were like a blade thrust into her pride; I used her own insulting description of me to describe her miserable state now as she lost control.
I felt her grip loosen little by little, as if her strength had been sucked away before my coldness.
She took two steps back, adjusting her shaken attire, her breath still rapid from suppressed anger.
She looked at me with deep-seated hatred and said in a tone carrying a black threat:
"Fine, Julie... we shall see what Mr. Robert will do to you when he learns of your insolence!"