Chapter 14

Tonya felt something warm flowing against her body; she tried to look around, but her head wouldn't move. Neither would her arms, legs, or any other part of her body, she soon realized.

"You're in a whirlpool bath, Tonya," the Doctor said, "It's to help you relax after your feeding. It tends to be kind of..." a grin started to appear on his face, "... stressful...".

"How... how'd I get... here... ?"

"I took you out of the chair after you exhausted yourself," he explained, "After about an hour, you'd cried yourself to sleep. How do you feel now?"

Tonya had to think about it for a while; after all the torment she'd been through, she thought she'd be miserable, but...

"I feel... okay, I guess..."

"More relaxed? Feeling better about yourself?"

"Mmmmmm...", Tonya thought for a moment, "Yeah, I do..."

"A lot less of the hurt that you were feeling?"

Tonya had to think about it for a while. She thought about the pain from her parents, Jeff, the Olympics, Nancy; she could barely feel any of it now.

"Yeah! It's like it's hardly there anymore..."

"Excellent!", the Doctor replied, "That was exactly what was supposed to happen! You see, what I did was force you into a state of catharsis; I drove you to your breaking point, then I let you cry until you got everything out of your system."

"So does that mean we're... done?", Tonya asked, hopefully.

"Oh, by no means," the Doctor responded, "But we're over the biggest hurdle now, so it'll be easier from now on..."

"So what happens next?", she asked.

"Well, you'll go into training;" he explained, "Nancy will be your trainer. She'll work with you to build up your self-esteem, and help you get your life going again."

"NANCY???", Tonya responded, shocked, "Why would SHE help ME?"

The Doctor pressed a button, the whirlpool shut off, and the water started draining. When the water had drained sufficiently to allow him to reach in, he unfastened Tonya's wrist restraints, then her forehead, waist, and finally ankle restraints, and she was free! He helped her out of the bath, and handed her a towel; as she dried herself off, he spoke.

"I think I'll just let you find that out for yourself, Tonya; when you get dried off, I'll take you in for your first session with her..."

Soon, Tonya was done drying herself; the Doctor motioned her to follow him, and he led her out of the room. They walked down the hall, and came to a closed door. He opened it, and they walked in.

There was no chair in the middle of this room, and Tonya felt a flush of relief. She looked around, and saw several items sitting on a table, but nothing that she felt any inordinate sense of fear about...

Yet.

"Tonya, face away from the door, kneel down, with your knees spread apart, and your hands behind your head," the Doctor ordered, as he left the room, "Then wait, and don't move!" The door closed.

Tonya did as she was ordered; she started to worry about the "training" that Nancy would put her through. As she waited, the fear grew inside her; 'What is Nancy going to do to me?' she wondered.

In the next room, unbeknownst to Tonya, the Doctor and Nancy were monitoring her intently; Nancy turned to him.

"Should I go in now?"

"No," he replied, "The longer she has to wait, the more scared she'll get about what's going to happen to her; she'll be much more cooperative that way. You're not in any big hurry, are you?"

"Oh, no," Nancy responded, "I was just wondering why you were waiting so long, that's all. I guess it makes sense..."

On the TV monitor, they could see Tonya starting to fidget; she was getting very restless as she tried to maintain her position of obedience. She flexed her leg muscles as best she could without losing her increasingly uncomfortable pose, but the expression on her face told of her discomfort. The two watched and waited for a couple more minutes, then the Doctor turned to Nancy, smiling.

"It's time..."