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Carrigan
Present
Aquick google search and three phone calls is all it takes to find a gynecologist willing to see me at short notice. The Uber driver pulls to a stop outside of the modern skyscraper where the doctor’s office is located and I inhale slowly, trying to calm my erratically beating heart. I didn’t give them my real name when I booked the appointment. It’s probably ridiculous to imagine that my parents might have been able to find out about this appointment and bribe the doctor, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I need to do this today, while my resolve is still firm and before my parents have any clue what I’m doing.
Handing the driver a tip, I climb out and head for the doors, wishing that I wasn’t wearing these clothes that made me feel rebellious this morning, but now just feel infantile and ludicrous. My hair is still a little damp, drying into my natural waves that I usually straighten into oblivion before I leave the house each morning. I feel unprepared for this meeting without my armor of designer clothes and flawless makeup but I push forward regardless, because if I don’t, I’m not sure I’ll ever find the courage to do this again.
I ride the elevator up to the twentieth floor and push open the heavy gold framed glass door that leads into the doctor’s reception.
“Good morning, can I take your name?” the receptionist asks politely.
“Priss Windsor,” I say, refusing to consider why the fake name I gave, is Carson’s surname and the nickname he gave me.
“The doctor is just with a patient at the moment but I’ll let her know you’re here as soon as she’s finished. Please take a seat, can I get you a drink?”
“A glass of water would be great, thank you,” I say, forcing a brittle smile to my lips as I turn and take a seat on a comfortable leather chair. Inhaling long slow breaths I try to calm my racing heart. Until this moment I’ve tried to be pragmatic about this part of my ‘breaking the will’ plan, but now that I’m here in a strange doctor’s office waiting to be examined, I start to panic.
If I was closer to Tallulah, or if my friends were real friends—not people that my parents wanted me to befriend, or people who thought it would benefit them to be friends with an heiress—then I wouldn’t be here alone. The thought of having anyone in my life who I trust enough to have my back at a time like this, seems almost comical to me. I literally can’t name a single person who is interested in me for purely altruistic purposes. Not even my sister and she truly is a good person, but even she wants something from me.
If I wasn’t the key to cutting this noose around both of our necks would she want anything to do with me? I doubt it and I wouldn’t blame her.
This isn’t the first time I’ve sat waiting for an exam just like the one I’m going to request in a minute, in fact this will be the fifth one of these humiliating tests that I’ve had to endure. The first time I was fourteen years old and the doctor my parents took me to was a man. Fourteen years old and hooking my legs into stirrups so a fifty-year-old doctor could confirm that I was in fact still a virgin.
A shudder of revulsion cascades through me when I think about that day, how my mom made me go into the room alone, how scared I was and how ashamed I felt after it was over.
“Miss Windsor, if you’d like to come through,” a female voice says, jolting me from my thoughts.
Rising from my seat, I follow the smiling nurse out of the reception room just as the receptionist returns with my glass of water. The nurse leads me down a hallway, opening a door for me and gesturing for me to enter first. She closes the door behind herself and then picks up a clipboard from the counter.
“Miss Windsor,” she starts.
“My name is actually Carrigan Archibald. I apologize for the subterfuge, but I need to make sure that no one knows I’m here. My situation is a little, delicate,” I say, forcing a polite smile to my lips.
“Oh, err, okay,” the nurse says, her eyes widening a little. “Well the doctor will be in to speak to you shortly, there’s a gown on the bed, so if you could get changed then fill out these patient forms for me please.”
“Thank you,” I say, reaching for the clipboard and then waiting for her to leave before quickly undressing and pulling on the blue paper gown. Climbing onto the end of the examination table, I lift the clipboard up and start to fill in the form wondering how much information I can leave blank if I’m paying cash.
A decisive knock on the door draws my attention and I lift my head just as the handle turns and a woman enters the room. “Hello Miss Archibald, I’m doctor Nestor, what can I help you with today?”
“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice,” I say, lowering the clipboard to my lap. “I have a somewhat unorthodox problem that I’m hoping you might be able to help me with,” I say, cringing as I try to decide how to word this.
The doctor laughs. “Trust me I doubt there’s anything you can ask that I haven’t heard before.”
A scoff falls from my lips. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I say, then I start to explain about the will and it’s the stipulations. I don’t tell her everything, just enough that she gets the gist. “So I’m here today because I need you to examine me.”
“To confirm you remain a virgin?” the doctor interrupts.
“No, to confirm that I’m not a virgin anymore.”
To her credit the doctor’s only reaction is a raise of a single eyebrow.
“I need written confirmation that my hymen is no longer intact that I can use as evidence,” I say, unable to meet her eyes now.
“You want me to write a letter to confirm you’re no longer a virgin?” she asks slowly.
“Look, I don’t want this money. You might not understand that, I’m sure most people would think I’m crazy. But I need to break this will because the clauses tie my life up in knots, they keep me bound to its stipulations until I’m twenty-five. This is the only way out. So can you help me, or do I need to find another doctor?” I say, forcing myself to look her in the eye and not back down.
Her nod is slow and unsure to start off with, then her movement becomes more decisive. “Yes, I can help. With your permission I’m going to ask my colleague to witness the exam and then she can also provide a written confirmation, two independent statements will be beyond question.”
