This was the first time Marija had seen the hallway, since it had not been visible from her bed when when the door was open. It was lined with doors, some of them open, and she walked past them she could see other patients in their beds, and nurses interacting with them. Oddly, many of the other patients were wearing pajamas, and some of them were wearing robes. She passed an older man on his way from the bathroom, and he was wearing pajamas, a robe, and slippers. He looked at Marija and smiled. She couldn't look him him in the eye, she felt naked. She held the back of her gown tightly, and walked slowly one bare foot at a time on the cold tile floor.

"Marija, I don't have all day for this. What are you going so slowly for?", said Dr. Stephens. His words were impatient, but his tone of voice was calm.

"Sorry, Doctor. I just.. you see, I'm not wearing anything under this gown, and..."

"And?", Dr. Stephens leaned in close towards Marija, semi-trapping her against a wall.

"Well, I'm trying to be careful"

"Why?", he said almost in her ear.

"I don't want any of these people to see my, you know"

"What?", he whispered directly in her ear, his breath on her neck.

"My bare bottom", she whispered back.

"Well you should have thought about that earlier. But I see maybe this punishment is causing you too much stress. I'm not rescinding my decision, but here.. walk with me."

He put his hand on her back, and grabbed the two sides of her gown, holding them closed for her. He kept his hand on her back the rest of the way down the hall to the elevator. She was acutely aware of how low on her back his hand was, it was right up in the small of her back. But she walked faster now that she no longer had to manage the gown herself.

At the elevator, the layout of the buttons made it clear to Marija for the first time that they were on the 4th floor. Dr. Stephens pushed the button for the 2nd floor, and they waited for the elevator to appear. Marija crossed her fingers hoping there would be no one on it.

Unfortunately, it was occupied. There was an old woman in wheelchair, and the wheelchair was being pushed by a young man in scrubs. He was tall, dark black skin, with a shaven head and a small beard at the point of his chin. He was probably about three years older than Marija. He cracked a smile at the both of them, but said nothing.

The elevator stopped at the third floor, and the young man pushed the wheelchair out and down the hall. The door started to close, and Marija breathed a sigh of relief.

But it was not to be. A boy of about 16 or 17 years old put his arm into the door to stop it from closing, and stepped in insistently. His eager eyes immediately bored into Marija, mentally stripping off the insubstantial gown. There are three kinds of people who are most unable to control the wanderings of their eyes: the very young, the very old, and the very drunk. As long as he doesn't say anything, thought Marija.

"Hi. What are you in here for", the boy said cluelessly. He was wearing jeans, vans sneakers, and a hooded sweatshirt, but the hood was down behind his back. He had sandy brown hair, styled with bangs. He was, to girls his own age, considered cute. Marija had no time for him. She said nothing.

"I'm just here to visit my mom", continued the boy, unaware he was being ignored on purpose.

There an awkward moment of silence as Marija continued to say nothing.

"Son, I hope your mother is doing OK, take care", said Dr. Stephens as the elevator stopped at the 2nd floor, and he hustled Marija out the door.

"Bye", said the boy, not to the Doctor but to Marija, as the door closed in front of his face.

Thank god, though Marija, the ophthalmology department was right here, according to a sign.

She was shown by the doctor into a room that was far worse than she'd expected: it had its own waiting room, and its own receptionist desk, and, of course, a group of eye patients who were all fully clothed, waiting on their appointments. There were several old people, and a middle-aged woman with small boy, and a young woman about her own age. Marija wouldn't look at any of them.

"Don't worry, you won't have to wait, we don't need to see a specialist", said Dr. Stephens to Marija.

He turned to the receptionist and said, "we just need to use one of your exam rooms".

"I'm sorry Doctor, there aren't any empty right now."

"I'll be right back", he said. "Don't let this one leave"

Doctor Stephens disappeared down a different hallway, leaving Marija alone at the reception desk, clutching the back of her gown. He was gone for several minutes, and it seemed like an eternity.

"Excuse me", Marija said to the receptionist, "may I go to the bathroom?"

"I'm sorry sweetie", said the large middle aged woman behind the desk. "He said you need to wait here".

"Oh, I should have told him I had to, I didn't think it was going to take this long"

"Oh honey. I know.", and then she leaned in close, "look, I know he's being kind of demanding on you. He... sometimes does this kind of thing to his students. He says its educational for them."

Marija whispered back, "he does this to all his students?"

"No, no, sweetie", said the big woman. "Only the tender morsels. He does it about once a year, to just one, always to a real young, pretty one"

"Oh", said Marija. She knew she'd just been called pretty. In fact she had just been told that Dr. Stephens must think she was pretty. "But I think if I have to stand here much more, I'm going to wet the floor"

"Ok, ok, but don't tell him", she said, and motioned Marija towards yet a different hallway. Immediately on the left was a ladies room, and she was glad to see it. She tried the door, and it was locked. She was about to knock, when she could hear someone actually defecating inside. Ew, she thought. I'll wait... but how long do I have? She heard a massive and disgusting fart, recoiled in horror, and knew it was going to be a while.

Across the hall was a men's room. Hmm... I wonder if it's occupied? She tapped on the door, no response. She tried the knob, and it opened. Inside was a sink, a single toiled, and urinal. She dashed in hoping no one saw her go into the wrong bathroom, and locked the door.

As soon as she had finished and washed her hands, she heard a knock at the door, and her heart stopped. It was going to be a man. Oh well, she steeled up her nerves and opened the door.

It was Doctor Stephens. He looked neither pleased nor particularly surprised to see her there.

"Come with me", he said, and put his hand on her back to guide her around various turns until they came to an open exam room. He put a piece of paper draping on what looked like a dentist's chair, and sat her down in it. He dimmed the lights, and turned on a projector. It projected a series of letters and numbers on the opposite wall.

She was forced to read progressively smaller sets of letters and numbers, with first one eye and then the other. She made it all the way to the smallest size, her vision was fine. He turned the projector off and turned the lights back on. She assumed it was time to go, but he stepped over the door and closed it.

"You disobeyed again, Marija, I told you to wait"

"But.. I really had to go!"

"I realize that, but I have no choice but to discipline you. You need to learn to do as you are told. Stand up"

She stood, grasping the gown behind.

Dr. Stephens opened a drawer and took out a pair of scissors, and stepped behind Marija. She heard four quick snips.

He held out his hand, and showed her he was holding four pink strings, the ties from the back of her gown.

"I was going to re-tie these for the walk back. Now they stay off for the 72 hours. When your gown is changed, I'll instruct the nurse to cut these off the new one. You understand why this happened?"

"Because I didn't do what you said"

"Right. Now let's get back to your room. Your eyes are fine"