Mystery, Phrase Prompt, Short Story

Reconstruction

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for Jolene’s It’s Story Time.
The prompts are shown below;
here’s where they took me.

Image by Me & ChatGPT

Dr. Isobel Diaz-Granados had rebuilt faces for fifteen years, but she’d never been asked to erase one entirely.

The library’s rare books room was empty at this late hour, save for the woman waiting between stacks of forgotten medical texts. She wore a silk scarf that couldn’t quite hide the surgical precision of old scars along her jawline.

“You’ve refused me three times,” the woman said, her voice like a velvet glove. “Now we begin the dance again.”

Isobel’s pulse quickened. She knew she should leave, report this to someone. But the woman stepped closer, and Isobel caught her scent …. vanilla and something darker, more dangerous.

“What you’re asking of me is illegal. You want to disappear.”

“I want to become.” The woman’s fingers traced Isobel’s cheek, a touch both clinical and intimate. “You’re the only surgeon brilliant enough, reckless enough. I’ve watched you. The experimental procedures you perform after hours at the clinic.”

Isobel’s breath caught. No one knew about those. “Who are you?”

“Someone who angered some very powerful people. Someone who needs your hands to survive.” She pressed closer, her lips nearly brushing Isobel’s ear. “I can pay you in ways you’ve never imagined. Information. Access. Protection. Pleasure.”

The fluorescent lights hummed overhead as Isobel weighed ethics against intrigue, safety against the electric charge running through her body.

“One consultation,” Isobel whispered. “Tomorrow. My private office.”

The woman smiled, a smile that would soon belong to someone else.

NAR©2026

The prompts: 1. Person who never gives up; 2. Plastic surgeon; 3. Secret meeting; 4. Library

This is “Behind the Mask” by Michael Jackson

It’s story time!

All text and graphics are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

24 thoughts on “Reconstruction”

  5. Fantastic story, Nancy. Plastic surgery can change how you look, but it won’t change who you are but being paid in ways you’ve never imagined would probably be enough incentive for anyone to do the job. 

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